Even though they managed to get a new phone that day, Scott only set it up while Nick was in his videocall the next day. He had simply been too busy with the date night and a good breakfast and only then he sat down on his sofa and took care of his new phone. It took a while, but since he was used to it, he finished quickly and texted Mitch first:
"Mitchy! I'm online again. Just wanted to let you know. I gotta text my new number to everyone now. Always a pain in the ass."
"Oh yeah, I know. But good that you're back. Any clue if and when you want to meet up this weekend?"
Scott was not surprised that Mitch was texting back immediately, he was probably at home sorting out the clothes he wanted to take on vacation.
"Not yet. But how about lunch tomorrow? Or dinner? Whatever suits you better."
"Dinner would be better, I'm already meeting Avi for coffee around noon. I could book a table or you could drop by for take-out and wine?"
"Take-out and wine! Definitely. We haven't had a proper wine night in forever! I'm excited! I'll drop by at 6?"
"Yes, Queen! Can't wait!"
After this conversation, he started to go through his contact list to send out his new number. Even though it was tedious work, it was a wonderful opportunity to get rid of some contacts.
Time passed quickly and eventually, Nick came into the living room.
"How was the meeting?" Scott asked.
"Long but productive" Nick replied and dropped down next to his boyfriend. "Still I am happy to be on vacation! My boss told me that he didn't want to hear anything from me for the following weeks."
"Yeah, he only said that because you tend to just do a little bit. Remember last year? When we went to Hawaii and you were literally answering work emails at the beach?" Scott said amused. "He just wants you to take a break for once."
"Yeah, but I also remember you scribbling down things every now and then?" Nick retorted. "And don't think I didn't notice you recording voice memos."
"I had this riff stuck in my head and damn it turned out to be one of the most loved songs we recorded so far," Scott said and chuckled. "Guess we both can't help it, huh?"
"True... But I had to promise that I wouldn't do anything work-related" Nick said. "Going to be weird."
Scott chuckled. "I can't promise anything though. When inspiration strikes I need to be ready to at least capture ideas." He shrugged his shoulders- "And on vacation, surrounded by beautiful nature I tend to have my best ideas."
"Mmhm" Nick just hummed. "What have you been up to?"
"Oh, I set up my phone, sent out my new number. And I scheduled a wine night at Mitch's for tomorrow. So I'll be out of the house at 5.30 and I might only be back late. I'll take ubers."
"That's nice," Nick said and Scott was surprised that his boyfriend didn't say anything negative about his plans.
"Yeah?" Scott asked carefully.
"Sure. I wanted to start packing my stuff for Mykonos anyway and if I do it while you're gone we won't run into one another..."
Scott smiled. "Good." He leaned over and kissed his boyfriend softly. "And now? Shall we do something? Head to the beach for sunset? Picknick and everything?"
Nick nodded. "Definitely!"
~
Even though it was Sunday, Scott found himself to be alone for the majority of the morning with Nick being in his office space. Apparently, he had to wrap up a few things before being ready for his actual vacation. So Scott decided to start packing his things for their vacation. He knew that he would need a while and took his time sorting out his things, planning outfits and finally putting everything he wanted to take into his suitcase.
He was almost done, just packing up the last pairs of shoes when he heard the door open. "Hey, Nick, are you done?"
"Yeah, ermm..."
Scott looked up and was taken aback when he saw Nick's slightly pale face. "Nick? What happened?"
The brunette shrugged his shoulders. "It's just..."
Scott knew that something was wrong, he hadn't seen his boyfriend that distraught in a while. "Nick?" He got up and took his boyfriend's hand. "Talk to me, Nick, what's wrong?"
"I... it's my Grandma" Nick finally spoke up. "She passed away last night."
"Nick, I..." Scott didn't know what to say. He too knew the feeling of losing a loved one so he pulled his boyfriend into a tight hug. "I'm sorry, Nick. I am so sorry."
Scott didn't know what else to do and he almost hoped that his boyfriend would break down into tears, mainly because this was something he would be able to handle. But there was nothing.
Nick accepted Scott's embrace, but he seemed stiff. "Thank you," he said. "I think, I'm okay, but I don't..." he shrugged his shoulders. "I just don't know, Scott."
"It's okay, Nick. Whatever you need" Scott said softly.
But Nick shrugged his shoulders once more. "It's just so surreal, Scott. On Friday my Mum visited her and we talked for a while over facetime. She told me that she was excited to see me again. And now she's just gone. And I know I should be crying, but I can't. It's just too much. It's... it's the first time I lose a dear one. My other grandma died when I was a toddler and I never met the granddads. And now I'm just lost."
"No one said that you're only grieving when you're crying," Scott said. "For now we should go downstairs, make you a cup of tea. And then we'll see about everything else. Whatever you want or need, we'll do it. If you want to talk, we'll talk. If you want to be alone, I'll leave you to it. And if you need me to hold you, I'll be there, okay? This is about you and your needs."
Nick nodded. "Thank you. Tea would be nice, but I need to use the bathroom first."
Scott pressed a soft kiss onto his temple. "Okay," he said. "I'll be waiting downstairs." Scott went into the kitchen, started the electric kettle and then fished out his phone to text Mitch:
"Hi, Mitch. I need to cancel wine night. Nick just lost his Grandma. I need to take care of him now. Will text as soon as I got time."
~~~~
