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Nesta
“You have everything?” Nesta asked, leaning against one of their living room walls as Cassian wheeled his suitcase to the door.
“I think so,” Cassian answered. She watched him do a last-minute check that he had his phone, wallet, and keys, along with a light jacket for the flight. “If not, I can just buy it there.”
“Assuming you’ll be sober enough to think straight,” she teased, following him as he walked to the front of their home.
Instead of doing the “traditional” wild night out that ended with strippers, Rhys, Azriel, and Lucien had managed to convince Cassian to visit Vegas for the weekend instead. Cassian wasn’t a huge gambler, but Nesta knew how much he’d always wanted to go to Vegas, so it hadn’t been too hard for his friends to convince him to spend his bachelor party in Vegas instead.
Nesta followed Cassian outside, his little carry-on suitcase in tow, to see that Rhys’ familiar black Range Rover was sitting in front of their townhouse. The trunk was already open for Cassian to add his suitcase to the mix, and her fiancé waved toward the car before turning back to Nesta so he could give her a proper goodbye.
Cassian leaned in and pulled Nesta into his arms in a fierce hug, burying his face into the side of her neck while she wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned into his embrace. He was just as warm and solid under her hands as usual, and she knew she’d miss him even though it would only be a few days apart.
“I’ll miss you,” Cassian murmured. He pulled back from the hug to fix her with a dopey look, but she couldn’t even tease him for it when she know she was giving him a similar one. “So much.”
“I’ll miss you too, Cassian,” Nesta replied, unable to hide her little pleased smile. He always knew exactly what she wanted to hear, and it was reassuring to know she wouldn’t be the only one feeling their separation. “Have a safe flight.”
“Let’s go, lover boy!” Rhys called out from the car. He honked the horn loudly, and Nesta couldn’t help but snort as Cassian whirled around to flip him off. “We’re gonna be late for our flight!”
“Shut the fuck up, I’m saying goodbye to my wife,” Cassian yelled back. God, she loved him; they weren’t even married yet, but that hadn’t stopped him from using the title more than a little early. “Who I love very much!”
Nesta laughed, pulling Cassian’s attention back to her. “I love you too. Now hurry up, I have to keep packing for my trip.”
Nesta was taking a beach trip for her bachelorette party, she and the rest of the ladies deciding to drive down to Myrtle Beach to spend a few days relaxing by the water. She and her sisters – along with Emerie and Gwyn – had rented out a beach house for the long weekend, and Nesta couldn’t wait to crack open her newest book with the sounds of the ocean in the background.
“Have fun at the beach,” Cassian said. Nesta tilted her face up for a goodbye kiss, and she leaned into his touch as he cupped her face and ran his thumb across her cheek. “Bye, sweetheart.”
“Bye, baby,” Nesta said back. Once he’d put his suitcase in the trunk and got in the car, she turned around and went back inside, though not before blowing him one last kiss.
Their townhouse felt big and empty without Cassian there, and Nesta kind of hated it. She finished packing quickly, and thankfully it didn’t take much longer for her own travel party to arrive outside.
“Get in, loser!” Feyre yelled from her car once Nesta was outside, obnoxiously honking her horn just like her boyfriend had barely an hour prior. “We’re going to the beach!”
Nesta locked her door, placed her weekend bag in the trunk, and replied at a much more reasonable volume, “You’re the worst.”
“It’s only downhill from here,” Elain grumbled from the back seat. She didn’t look pleased to be in the middle between Gwyn and Emerie, but she had the shortest legs out of everyone, so she’d clearly drawn the short straw. “She’s been like this all day.”
“I can’t be excited to celebrate my big sister getting married?” Feyre responded a touch too innocently.
“Because that wasn’t suspicious at all,” Emerie muttered, pulling a snicker out of Gwyn. “Way to sell it, Feyre.”
“Whatever you have planned, just don’t be annoying about it,” Nesta said. She put her giant sunglasses on and shifted to make herself more comfortable in the passenger seat. “This is supposed to be a relaxing vacation.”
“Don’t worry, Nesta,” Gwyn attempted to reassure her from the backseat. She was sitting directly behind Nesta and leaned forward to pat Nesta’s shoulder. “We’re gonna have a great time!”
Thankfully once they hit the road, everything went smoothly enough. They made good time to Myrtle Beach, only stopping once so everyone could get some lunch, use the bathroom, and fill up the gas. Because the summer days were still long, after they’d gotten the keys to their beach rental, they even had an hour or two of sunlight left to enjoy the beach.
Elain had brought some beach chairs, so once everyone had changed into beach-appropriate attire, Nesta was more than content to sit down with her feet in the water and her book.
Nesta left her phone in the bedroom to charge while she showered and changed into her pajamas, and by the time she came back to check it, she saw she had a missed call and a voicemail from Cassian. He’d called her nearly an hour ago and she felt bad to have missed him, so she immediately opened her voicemail and hit play.
“Heeeeeeey, sweetheart,” Cassian said, his words slurring together an obvious sign of how drunk he was. “Nes. Nesta. Babe. I don’t wanna be annoying or anything. But. I miss you. So, so much. I know it hasn’t even been a day but I wish you were here. I lost all the money Rhys gave me and I wanted to buy you something good but you’re not even here to make me feel better and I hate it .”
There was a brief pause as he collected himself, and Nesta wondered what he was going to say next.
“Not that that’s your responsibility because I am a grown man .” He made sure to stress those last two words, pulling a soft laugh out of her. Even when he was drunk, he never wanted her to feel like she was his mom, and wasn’t that just sweet? “I just. I’m having fun, but I know I’d have a lot more fun if you were here too.”
He took a deep breath before continuing. “Not that I’m not having fun. I hope you’re having fun. You work so fucking hard and you never do nice things for yourself even though you deserve it. You deserve all the nice things because you are the best fucking person I know.”
God, he was so drunk. She usually laughed at him for how sappy he got when he was this drunk, but they both knew how adorable she thought it was anyway.
“I just love you so much,” Cassian said. He sniffled a little before he managed to get himself together, and she hoped he wasn’t crying. The guys would never let him live it down if he was. “Okay. Okay. I’m okay. I’ll see you when you get back. I love you, sweetheart. Okay. Bye.”
It was around eleven thirty on the east coast, so hopefully Cassian would still be up even though Vegas was three hours ahead. Nesta called him back and put the phone on speaker as she slowly began braiding her hair for sleep.
“Hello?” Cassian answered after a few rings, his voice rough like he’d just woken up.
“Hi, baby,” Nesta said. So much for him still being awake. “Did I wake you up?”
“Hey,” Cassian said back, clearly delighted to talk to her even though he was half-asleep. “A little, but it’s okay. It’s more than okay.”
“Okay,” she told him with a little chuckle. She finished her first braid and moved on to the second, gently finger-combing her hair before she started loosely braiding it. “Are you still drunk?”
“No,” he replied quickly. Too quickly for it not to be true, and he sighed before amending his answer. “Okay. Well. Maybe a little.”
“Maybe?” she echoed, teasing him just a little. “You sound a little more drunk than maybe, Cassian.”
“This isn’t about me,” Cassian responded. Nesta hoped he could feel her fondly rolling her eyes even from two thousand miles away. “I wanna hear about you. How’s the beach?”
“The beach is good,” Nesta answered. It was the perfect time of year to go, and she was feeling pretty good about where she’d decided to spend her bachelorette weekend. “Water’s warm.”
“You got in it?” he replied, surprised.
“Just my toes,” she told him quickly. She’d never been a huge ocean person, vastly preferring the pool over whatever the hell was lurking in the ocean’s unknown depths. That didn’t stop her from enjoying the water from a distance, though. “Elain brought her good beach chairs.”
He made a happy little sound that made her want to melt. “Proud of you, sweetheart.”
“Thanks,” she murmured. She finished the second braid and pulled back the covers, taking the phone off speaker as she settled under the thin comforter. “I wish you were here to tuck me in.”
“Me too.” She heard some rustling as he shifted around on his own bed. “I miss you and your cold toes.”
“They’re not that cold.”
“They’re freezing, babe.”
“Should’ve thought about that before you signed up to be my personal space heater forever.”
Cassian laughed softly. “Nah. I love you even when you only use me for my warmth.”
“Love you too,” Nesta replied, snuggling further into the pillow she wished was her fiancé. “Stay on the phone with me?”
“Of course,” he immediately agreed. Before they’d moved in together, they’d had a habit of staying on the phone until one or both of them had fallen asleep. They rarely did it anymore now that they lived together and hardly spent more than a night or two away from one another, so tonight would be a sweet callback. “Hold on, I wanna see you.”
Nesta’s phone started vibrating as Cassian hit the button for FaceTime, and she made sure her phone was plugged in and propped up before she accepted. “Hi.”
“Hey, Nes,” Cassian said. He was lying down in what looked like a king-sized bed, one hand propped up behind his head. “You look cozy.”
“Whatever,” she said back, rolling her eyes. “Tell me about Vegas.”
As Nesta listened to Cassian talk about his night, she couldn’t help but feel comforted by her fiancé’s virtual presence. Even though he wasn’t there physically, just seeing him and hearing his voice was more than enough to put her at ease these days. He was her safe place, her comfort zone.
He was the person who’d made her realize that home didn’t have to be a place — it could be a person, too. Some days, she still couldn’t believe she was lucky enough that he’d agreed to be hers.
On nights like this, though, maybe she could believe it a little more.