Work Text:
Elena would have a waterfront view.
Taking a deep breath, Kip lowered his arms and centered his balance between the soles of his feet. Shamelessly enjoying the sunshine on his face and the honest-to-God breeze coming off the Pacific Ocean.
“What are you doing?”
Not opening his eyes, Kip smiled. “Warming up.”
“That looks suspiciously like yoga.” He could almost feel Elena walking around to set up her mat next to his. Risks of being friends with someone since freshman year of high school. “This is not a yoga deck.”
“A few yoga stretches won’t ruin my form,” Kip said, raising his arms again. “Besides, Eric put a lot of effort into teaching me how to do them correctly.”
“You stand still and lift your arms.” The metallic thunk of an overpriced water bottle being set down. “Who’s screwing that up?”
Kip exhaled into his movement. “There’s a little more to it than that.” Arms down by his sides, he opened his eyes. “How did you even get this place?”
The promotion Elena had worked so hard for at her job had come with the bittersweet caveat of moving to the other side of the country. California was the land of opportunities, with all kinds of beautiful areas to live in, but it was so very far away and Kip had been quietly grateful that Elena had been a good enough friend to look a little sad when she told him she’d accepted. He was so, so happy for her, but in the years since she’d moved, there had been days when he would have given almost anything to be in the same time zone again.
But she was still his friend. Still Elena Rygg. And that meant that while her first apartment out here had been something mere mortals might stay in, six months later she’d found and leased this place. At a monthly rate that would make her neighbors glare daggers if they knew. A beautiful split level with almost as many windows as walls, looking right out over a strip of undeveloped nature onto the Pacific itself. It honestly reminded him a little bit of episodes of Giada at Home, except every inch of her kitchen wasn’t white.
“Thanks for the leftovers, by the way.” Her hair back in a low pony, Elena was doing her own warm up stretches. More basic, gym class stuff, and if he didn’t know better Kip might think she was risking hurting herself just to spite him. But pilates kicked tougher asses than theirs, so there was no way Elena didn’t warm up properly. “My freezer is once again fully stocked.”
“I didn’t make them as leftovers,” Kip laughed. Sometimes he thought he was the only person in his life who actually enjoyed cooking. “And you didn’t answer my question.”
Rolling her shoulders, Elena was the one with her eyes closed this time. “Part of the deal was I not talk about the deal.”
“Bullshit.”
“No shit.”
Kip dropped his head to one side and gave his friend a look she couldn’t see. “Complete shit.”
But the lopsided smile suggested that maybe she was telling the truth. It was Elena, though, so instead of continuing to fight she opened her eyes so she could smirk more effectively. “I guess you’ll just have to keep coming back until you get it out of me.”
“You mean I’ll just have to keep coming back and restocking your freezer.”
Bending forward so she could touch her toes, Elena didn’t deign to answer that.
The sea breeze kept them company in their companionable silence as they both finished their warm ups of choice. Elena in her blue sports-bra-that-wasn’t and her brand name pink leggings. Kip in a pair of athletic shorts and a tight, matching blue tank top that he may or may not have forgotten to tell Scott about the first time he wore it around the apartment.
“Please don’t think about sex with your hot boyfriend while you’re wearing those shorts.”
“I’m not thinking about sex,” Kip said, taking a deep breath of a different kind, “and he’s not my boyfriend.”
Elena’s head snapped around fast enough to challenge that girl from The Exorcist. “We are literally years past that joke, Kip Grady.”
“He’s not,” Kip insisted, bending forward to hide the smile he couldn’t fight. “He’s my fiance.”
Elena’s water bottle smacked into his shoulder with impressive velocity.
“Ow!”
“Christopher Grady, you stand the fuck up this instance.”
“Please don’t call me that,” Kip said, straightening up and meeting Elena’s furious surprise with his own joyful smile. “Elena -”
“You flew all the way out here,” Elena started. “You called me multiple times -”
“I wanted to tell you in person,” Kip said.
It was always impressive to watch Elena flail. “I will actually kill you.”
And then Kip was being squashed to death by his best friend’s massive hug. Doing his best to return it as she shrieked into his ear, loud enough that one of the neighbor’s tiny pure bred dogs started yapping its head off in confused support.
“When?” Elena demanded, finally letting him go. “How? Who? I mean,” she waved him off even before Kip could open his mouth, “I know who.”
“I will tell you after we survive our morning pilates,” Kip said.
Elena’s eyebrows couldn’t have climbed higher if they tried. “You will tell me right fucking now.”
“No,” Kip said, insistent. “This is a big day, and a big thing, and I want to celebrate it properly.” Now it was his turn to cut her off before she could open her mouth. “I got us reservations at that place down on Mileston St. The one you’ve been raving about for two years.”
“That kind of restaurant is usually for doing the actual proposal,” Elena pointed out.
“Um…yeah.” Kip grinned. “Which makes it the perfect place to tell you about mine.”
“I will legit kill you,” Elena said, beaming through her rage. “How dare you not call me the minute, the second it happened.”
“I was a little busy kissing my new fiance.”
“I literally don’t give a shit.”
Kip sighed dramatically. “Fine. If I ever get proposed to again, I will call you before I kiss the guy.”
“Um, you will never get proposed to again,” Elena said, “because you two are insufferable and perfect and the definition of meant to be together, and the only way Scott would leave you is if he died. And then you’d probably die of a broken heart or some shit and leave me behind.”
“Here in this beautiful house with this movie-perfect view,” Kip finished.
Elena reached over to punch him, gently, in the shoulder. “Oh my fucking God, Kip.”
“I know.”
“He proposed.”
“I know.”
“I need every. Single. Detail.”
“And I promise I will give them to you.” Kip smiled. “I even have photos.”
“Pics or it didn’t happen,” Elena agreed. Then she turned to face the ocean, squaring her form and taking a deep breath. “Alright, bitch. Get in formation. You’re gonna need every last rep if you want to look good for your wedding day.”
“I’m pretty sure he’ll take me as I am.”
“Well I won’t give you away looking less than your best.” Taking another deep breath, Elena smiled and Kip thought he saw a tear slid down her cheek. “I swear to God, Grady. Every. Single. Detail.”
“We can even order the same dinner,” Kip said, matching his friend’s position. “Though we should probably skip the celebration sex.”
Elena burst out laughing, setting the neighbor's dog off once again, and Kip closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Basking in the sunshine, and his friend’s company, and the magnificent man waiting for him on the other side of the country. With a shy smile and a warm hug and a pair of rings they’d picked out together tucked into their sock drawer, waiting for a day that Elena would definitely be there in person to see.