Off Ice.

Chapter Fifty-Six.

Avery

I'm graduating college today.

The past two and a half weeks literally flew by. I was busy with end of semester assignments, finals, and working double at the library just so I could spend as much time with Joyce as humanly possible before I leave. And when I wasn't doing all of that, I was helping Cam move into his new apartment and finishing packing up Casey and Grace's house.

A lot has happened. The Sharks won the first playoff round against Vancouver in only 5 games, and he told me that he wanted to get the job done so he could be here for graduation with no stress. I really don't believe that's the reason the team won so quickly, but I'm gonna let him rock with it. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for Case. The Kings lost in 6 to the Oilers, who will be the Sharks opponent in the second round.

I felt bad for Case, he played incredibly well the entire series but unfortunately the team as a whole just lacked. To put he bluntly, he was one of the only guys who clicked during the series. He scored five times in six games, which is pretty incredible since he isn't a typical goal scorer. He's been torn up about it, since he's officially not a King anymore, but I know he's only going to go up from here. Weirdly enough, I think that coming back from that injury has made him a lot stronger. I'm not going to say it was a blessing in disguise because if I could take that awful day back I would in a heartbeat, no questions asked, but he did come back determined and with a new outlook.

On the bright side of his loss, he's going to fly out to Seattle the day Grace and I get there so that they can look at houses. I'm pretty sure they're going to rent again, just because they're not really ready to buy a house just yet. He would've come along with us for the ride, but the car is packed and it's going to be a long drive to be cramped up. Besides, he's going to bring Delilah with him and the three of them are going to take their time finding their new home.

Finn got in late last night and no matter how much he argued, I went to go pick him up. His flight landed at 1AM, so he wanted me to just stay home and get some sleep while he just took an Uber, but there was literally no way in hell I was letting that happen. This is it. We made it past the hump and I was way too excited to see him as soon as he was here.

He kissed me so hard when he got into the car, I thought that I was going to pass out from how lightheaded I got. It was like we were both just exuding the excitement we were feeling about the fact that we're not going to be long distance anymore, and neither of us could seem to pull away to take a breath.

We didn't pull in until 2:30 since there's traffic literally all the time in Los Angeles, so we were pretty delirious by then. He was stunned at how there was literally nothing left in the house besides boxes and the odd piece of furniture, and I could see it starting to hit him. It's really over. Our time in LA is complete.

It's a bit bittersweet, knowing today is my last day here. Sure I'll come back to visit Cam, but once Grace and I ride away with the U-Haul in the morning, that's it. My time here is really done.

Speaking of U-Haul, Finn and I went to go pick it up this morning and he and the man at the place hooked it up to the back of my car while I stood there looking pretty. I could've helped, it's not like I wasn't able too, but I just have a strong hot boyfriend who decided to wear a tank top and I just happen to like watching his muscles tense when he does physical activity. And sweat. He was definitely sweating.

I drove it back so I would get used to driving the car with the huge trailer attached to it and it wasn't as difficult as I thought it was going to be. I'm sure Grace is going to drive through the cities and for a decent amount of the trip though. She's the better driver and feels a lot more comfortable with that stuff than I do.