Off Ice.

Chapter Thirty-Five.

Finn

I just need everyone to calm the fuck down.

Avery's been pacing around our room all morning, switching between her freaking out and jumping around with pure excitement. She can't stop chanting that Grace is getting married.

And then I have Casey who called me while Grace was in the shower, talking about how he was going to throw up, how Grace was going to find out and it was all going to be ruined, how she's going to say no. I finally just told him to take it one step at a time and that if it makes him feel better, he could get into a plane crash before they even get here.

Avery smacked me really hard when she heard me say that, but I was just trying to make the point of saying that he can focus his energy on other things that he's doing before they got here. He understood what I meant.

But now it's almost show time. We're on our way to Harmons to meet with them and Avery's leg is bouncing like crazy. I finally put my hand on her knee and look over at her, "Aves, baby. Relax. It's going to be fine."

"I know. I just- I want everything to go right," she groans, putting her head back on the seat rest. "Like, you were right, what if she doesn't finish her coffee? What if she just doesn't look at the bottom of the cup? What if they give her the wrong cup?! What if Dot starts to go crazy and she's stressed about her? What if Casey chokes? What if she suddenly decides she wants an iced coffee-?!"

"Hey," I stop her, taking her hand that's fidgeting in her lap. She sighs as I hold onto her, "Stop, eh? Everything is going to go just fine. Whatever is supposed to happen is going to happen. And in an hour or so, our best friends are going to be engaged. Okay?"

"Okay," she answers, taking a deep breath as she closes her eyes. I bring her hand up to my lips and cushion them against her knuckles to try and calm her down. I already know that I'm going to have to calm Case down too once we get there, but I'm not sure how I'll approach that since him and Avery are a bit different.

I mean, I guess I could kiss Casey's hand. It's probably not the weirdest thing we've done.

Actually, it's definitely not.

I can feel Avery relax though, which is good. We're just about at the coffee shop when her phone dings in her lap. I can see her check it out of the corner of her eye and she groans a bit, "They're pulling up."

She's acting like she's about to walk her best friend into a jail house, not into an engagement.

A few minutes later, we're also pulling in and I see Casey and Grace getting out of a rental car. Avery lets out another breath before she says, definitely to herself, "Okay, this is fine. Everything is going to go just fine and Grace is going to be surprised and she's going to love everything about it. Everything's going to be fine."

I just give her leg a reassuring pat and get out of the car so that she doesn't see me laughing at her, but she definitely knows I am because I hear her start to say, "Hey-!" But I closed the door before I could hear the rest.

When I'm rounding the car, she's getting out and giving me the fiercest scowl she's given in a long time but I've gotta admit. It's not really intimidating because she just looks fucking hot when she does it.

I sling my arm around her shoulder as she continues to glare at me, so I press my lips to her forehead and say, "Very intimidating, baby."

"You're the worst," she shakes her head, but I can see she's smiling. That's about all the teasing I can get in because Grace sees us and her eyes light up at the sight of Avery, "Oh, bitch!"