Falling With Style {Chris Evans}

thirty-three

"You tell her, or I will."

These were the last words said by Henry before he walked off set, leaving Chris hot with anger. They had just gotten into it regarding the YouTube video Ashley posted just the week before. Her videos usually got a couple of hundred-thousand views. The ones that featured Mila noticeably got triple that. The video mentioning Mila and the rumors just hit five million views. It was even trending on Twitter for a brief moment that very morning because people were making memes of Miranda.

Chris had his arm folded. He was standing backstage near the refreshments bar, where cold drinks and fresh food was waiting for all of the cast and crew. He was joined by Scarlett who made small talk and eventually, Sebastian joined too.

"What's wrong with him?" Sebastian asked, nudging Chris as if he wasn't there. Scarlett looked up from the glass of wine she had just poured for herself. She laughed, "I've been talking his head off, that may be it."

"No, no, it was somewhat refreshing to hear about how your kid pisssed in the pool right next to you. Definitely got my mind off things for a moment," Chris half heartedly joked. He cracked the smallest of smiles, but it wasn't enough to fool either of them.

They just stared without even having to ask further. Chris sighed and said, "Mila's best friend made a video addressing rumors and Henry didn't like that."

Sebastian had a feeling that this was what was going on. Of course he had seen the video, but knowing Chris, he knew not to bring it up unless Chris did because he tended to handle things on his own. It wasn't the healthiest, but if Sebastian asked before Chris would have been ready, Chris wouldn't have been as open about talking about it.

"What did Henry say?" He asked.

"He loves to threaten, you know how he is. He wants the video removed and an apology issued to Miranda, and he also wants Mila to take a break from social media," Chris frowned.

Sebastian bursted into laughter and when he saw Chris's expression, he couldn't help but shake his head as he asked, "You're not serious, are you? None of that is going to happen. The video needs to stay up. Miranda is getting put in her place."

"It's bad for her publicity," was all that Chris said.

"Are you kidding me? Who cares about Miranda's publicity? She went on TMZ with Mila's ex-boyfriend as they both lied about you. Whatever hurts her is what she asked for. Mila rarely posts online as is, why would she need to take a break? She's not even the one who uploaded it." Sebastian was in disbelief. It almost sounded as if Chris was really considering having a talk with Mila about this, as if it was anyone's fault besides Miranda's and Vince's.

"I met both of them. They're two sweet young ladies with great heads on their shoulders. How bad can the video be?"

Sebastian scoffed, "It's not a bad video. It's actually really well spoken without contributing to any drama or lying or smearing. According to Chris, Mila's best friend saw her crying with her head in a toilet throwing up. I imagine that no best friend takes kindly to that, no matter how big of a fan they are."

Scarlett turned to Chris and narrowed her eyes, giving him a look that said it all. Knowing him longer than most people on set, Scarlett and Chris had seen each other in really low moments that often were the result of poorly handling tabloids. Of course she was going to stick by him, but a part of her understood where Mila's heart was at and why Ashley did what she did.

Chris only excused himself to make a call. It was now four in the afternoon, hours since he last texted Mila about the video without saying much else. She answered almost immediately with a cheerful, "Hey you."

His normal smile when hearing her voice wasn't there. He felt too overwhelmed to even process that he was speaking to her right now. He finally found the words and immediately asked, "Hey, what did Ashley say?"

"Um," Mila tried to find the words, "she understands it may have caused issues, but she did it for me, not to start any drama or whatever."

She felt childish for even having to say that. Chris sighed and said, "Mila, you don't understand. Henry wants both of you to remove the video and apologize."

Her entire tone changed as she stiffly asked, "Who?"

The sound of her gentle voice silently yet somehow painfully screamed how disgusted she was to hear this. He almost didn't want to answer, "Miranda."

"Miranda!" She cried out.

"I know, it's not..." he was interrupted.

"That's just not happening. She has people casually believing that I'm just a cheater, or worse," she mumbled the last part.

He took a deep breath, trying to appeal to her, "Remember what I told you? We know the truth. The ones who matter know the truth."

"Chris, you're right, but people who know you will see you and think of movies, meanwhile people who know me will see what kind of person I have been falsely painted as!"

She was truly in disbelief right now. Was he really asking her to apologize to his own ex-girlfriend who continuously lies to stay relevant or trending?

"Why can't you and Ashley just apologize?! You knew what you were signing up for being apart of my life and getting to know me for me!"

His volume was a bit louder than he intended. There was a brief pause and just as he was about to use that to apologize, Mila got the last word in. She said, "I knew I was signing up for my privacy to be forever invaded. I knew I was signing up to be some college girl in a celebrity's shadow. I also knew that it was worth it, but I didn't know you'd be asking me to apologize for being called out of my name. I didn't know you'd be asking me to apologize to your ex-girlfriend who is doing what she can to ruin my own personal life and even our time together. I didn't know you'd be asking me to choose you over my best friend who defended me while you stayed quiet the whole time."

Chris hadn't been hung up on in a long time. Even when he had been hung up on, he hardly cared. This time it particularly stung when he pulled his phone away to see that her caller ID with one of his favorite selfies with her was no longer in his screen. He let out a long sigh, running a hand through his hair and tugging harder than he should have.

Behind him, someone adjusted their voice.

"Let's get out of here."