(y/n pov)
You took a sip of your drink before setting it back down, legs outstretched in front of you. You tied yet another bow on a bouquet and shook your head, tossing it to the side. You answered your phone not bothering to check who it was.
"Hello?"
"Hey, how's it going?" You sighed into the phone, taking a sip of your coffee before replying.
"Terrible, Gray." He chuckled on his end. "So many flowers; only one y/n." He laughed some more and you smiled, setting it on speaker before putting the phone down.
You continued tying them together in nice little bouquets for the flower girls to hold. "You need help?"
"Lisa's out of town, remember-- at a friend's." You messed up the bow and groaned, trying to retie it. "And my parents aren't here-- and remember that one friend that was supposed to help me? She's on some trip with a bunch of other girls." You could practically hear him smiling. "Stop."
"Well, what if I told you," he paused and you heard his flicker go off. He was driving. "I'm pulling up in front of your building right now." Your eyes widened.
"Wait--" you scurried over to check the window, and there he was, parking at a visitor's parking space. "Oh man, you gave me no warning, Gray-- I thought you weren't coming 'till Saturday!"
"Well, surprise." You sighed, rubbing your forehead. You watched him get out of the truck, phone at his ear. You looked back. Your apartment was relatively clean.
"Well, get up, then," you said with a sigh. "You can help me." He chuckled and you ended the call.
You threw away a few stray chip bags and straightened out your couch, just as there was a knock on your door. You got it and greeted him with a smile. "Hey."
"Hi," he replied, going in for a hug. You hugged him back and he walked into your apartment as you locked the door. "Woah, these are better than in the pictures," he said, looking around at the fake flowers.
"They were supposed to come tied," you complained, dropping back into your spot on the ground. He chuckled and stretched. "So, how was the flight?"
"Fine," he sighed, heading to your fridge. He grabbed a Gatorade and headed to your couch, you snipped off another piece of ribbon. "I've been spending so much on flights, going back and forth."
"Well, you can't exactly drive." He nodded, drinking. He sat the bottle down and slid onto the floor. "So three pink ones, two white," you said. He grabbed the flowers and you watched him tie the ribbon around it. "Gray."
"What?"
"Do you not know how to knot a bow?" He frowned, looking at your others. "Grayson."
"Oh."
"Like this," you sighed, showing him. He frowned, watching you do it a few times. His was a little lopsided, one loop bigger than the other, but you found it kind of cute. "Okay, yeah."
"It's so much easier on shoes," he mumbled, grabbing more flowers. "This is dumb, you do it so much better." You smiled.
"It's fine, no one's gonna care." He shrugged. "So you dropped your things off at Lisa's?" He shook his head.
"I only decided to come this morning and she's already gone-- no key, so I grabbed the truck from the driveway and came here." You frowned. "I took an uber there, don't worry; my suitcase's in the truck. I'm getting a hotel for toni--"
"What?" He shrugged. "You can just," you paused, "stay here." He looked up.
"Oh, well," he shrugged again. "I mean, isn't that-- like, I don't know."
"Didn't Ethan and e/w live together up until like two nights before?" you asked. Gray shrugged.
"Yeah, but that's, like, different." You shrugged back and avoided eye contact with him as you went back to the flowers. "I mean, I don't know, y/n."
"I don't want you to like, stay at a hotel; you already have been spending so much money on getting flights and shit fo--"
"I don't really care," Gray said with a shrug. He handed you a flower. You thanked him. "Well, if you're cool with it, I'll stay-- my shit's in the truck." You nodded.
"Yeah, for sure."
"I mean, we'll be living together soon, anyway, yeah?" You looked up.
"Oh," you whispered. "Right, yeah."
"You-- you didn't want to?" You shook your head.
"No, no, I just didn't think about that." You stretched your legs out in front of you. "I guess I should sell this place, then." He nodded.
"Do you have a person to--" you shook your head. "Okay, I've got a guy; hope he sells houses in New Jersey too." You thanked him and he shook his head.
"So, when would I, like-- come there?" Gray looked up and shrugged. "Day of?"
"Uh, well, night of, yeah, I guess." You nodded. "Well, depends on what you wanna do and how soon you're gonna sell this place, yeah? If you don't sell it before, we can come back--" he cleared his throat, "here for the night."
"Yeah okay."
"Or, we fly back to LA right after the wedding." You nodded.
"That works too." He nodded back. You couldn't help but feel like something was missing. He sighed. "So, what do you want for dinner?" you asked. He shrugged.
"Whatever works." You nodded.
This was gonna be one awfully awkward evening.
---
"Thank you very much," Gray said with a smile as you handed him a glass of wine.
"You're very welcome," you sighed, sitting on the couch across from him. You sipped quietly for a moment.
"So what else do we have to do?" he asked. You looked up. "Wedding wise, I mean."
"Um," you thought for a moment. "Well, we have a few weeks still."
"Well, I was just talking to the house selling guy while you were showering," Gray said. "And he said he'll come to check the place out."
"My place?" you asked, gesturing to the room. He nodded. "Okay."
"He said we can get it sold for a good price if it's as good as I make it seem." You smiled. "So then, we should probably book tickets for the day of, just in case."
"To go straight to LA?" He nodded. "I guess I should start packing too then, huh?" He nodded.
"Probably-- I can probably take some stuff, you know things you don't use that often, on my trips back and forth-- so we don't have much to take during the last week." You nodded.
"Yeah, that'd help." He stared at you for a moment.
"Hey, y/n?" you looked up from your glass.
"Hm?"
"Are you sure you wanna do this?" You nodded. "Like, really, we don't have to if you don't want--"
"No, I do, Gray." He stared at you. "I really do, Gray."
"Okay." You smiled. "I love you." You nodded.
"Love you too." You finished off your glass and sat with it in your lap. He sipped on his and looked out the window, one arm extended across the back of the couch, one leg folded over the other, ankle at his knee. "What-- what are the fans saying?" you asked. He looked back at you.
"The fans?" You nodded. "I don't really know," he admitted. "I haven't really cared to see." Your eyebrows raised a little.
"Oh?"
"I don't really know-- their opinions are all over the place," he said with a sigh. "I don't want it to-- you know, bother me." He stood and stretched, his shirt raising a bit.
"That makes sense."
"And it won't-- I just don't wanna let it be able to." You nodded. "Well, should I get my stuff from the van?" he asked. You raised your eyebrows. "I still don't mind not--"
"No, no-- yeah, go get it." He nodded and you smiled as he let him out through your door. You went to check your bedroom, cleaned it up a bit before you heard the door open again. "Hiya."
"Can I shower?" You nodded and pointed to your bathroom. He set his overnight bag on your bed, rummaging through it for stuff. You smiled and headed in, locking the door. Feeling a bit tired already, you cleaned up a little, in the kitchen and the living room, slipping into your bed with a sigh, just as Gray came back, towel bundled up in his hands.
"You can just leave it next to mine on the rack," you said with a smile. Gray nodded and hung it up before running a hand through his hair. He set his bag back down on the floor and stood, hands on his hips. "Getting in?"
"Mhm." He grabbed his phone and laid down, with a sigh. You laid on your back, phone in your hands before you tossed it to the side. "Well, good night, then?" You nodded.
"Do you want me to turn off the light?" you asked. He smiled.
"I'm not sleeping yet, but if you need it off to sleep--"
"No, no, I can leave it on for you." He nodded and you turned away from him to shut your eyes. He cleared his throat a little and you felt the bed shift as he turned. To face you or not, you couldn't tell.
Nonetheless, you were still up by the time he got up to turn off the lamp by your side of the bed. You closed your eyes, pretending to sleep as he flicked it off, leaving a gentle kiss to your forehead before heading around to his side.