forever | chris evans

one | i love you's

"bev! come out and look at the picture perfect sunset!"

chris exclaims, stepping out of the car and running towards the beach. he looked back at me with his lit up face. smiling at him i thought to myself, god, he was one picture perfect man. i've known chris for fourteen years out of my twenty-five years of living, and for some strange reason the universe decided to let us openly fall for each other only 5 months ago, and i don't think i've loved life more since.

"i'm coming, baby!" i answered whilst closing the book i was reading, they both die at the end. we've been out all day on a road trip from boston to a beach in rhode island, because we both have been busy with work mostly all week. so, we decided to both take a day off and enjoy each other thoroughly.

chills run through my body as i step onto the cool sand with my bare feet and start making my way over to who i thought would surely be the love of my life. as i get closer he stretches out his arms and smiles with his pearly whites wider than i've ever see him smile.

"you're so beautiful, bev," i get a wave of euphoria as i hear the kind compliment, and the adorable nickname i've earned from him over the past few years. he embraces me in his arms and kisses the top of my wavy and sandy hair. "i. love. you." he said in between kisses to my forehead. a part of me was taken aback, for this was the first time he's told me that. it's always been a few "love you's". this time it sounded completely genuine and true. not that any other time we've almost said it wasn't true, it was just different.

it felt right.

i look up at him in his sparkling blue eyes, being hesitant on whether or not to say it back. almost as if he could read my mind, his gaze switches from one of my eyes to the other and says, "it's okay, sweetheart. say it back when you're ready. i'm not saying it with the expectation of hearing it back, i just want you to know i mean it with every part of me." i could feel tears pricking my eyes. how on earth did he always know exactly what to say to make me emotional?

if there was one thing i knew about chris, it was that he wasn't afraid to speak how he feels. in some situations it wouldn't come in handy, meaning if we were in a fight, he'd usually say exactly how he feels and sometimes, coming from my perspective, it's hard to grasp. on the plus side, it made for good communication. we almost never misunderstood each other. so, because of that, i caught myself slowly becoming the same way.

"i love you, too. more than you can imagine," i say, satisfied with my ability to say it with so much confidence. "more than this beautiful sunset, more than anything. i always have. i didn't know it was possible to have so much love for someone, until you proved it to me."

as if his face wasn't lit up enough, his eyes squint as he smiles bigger than before. he lifts me up and spins me around until setting my feet back on the sand. no one else was on the beach that evening, it was perfect. the only other thing accompanying us was the crashing of waves, and the echos of our laughs filling out the silence.

"oh my god, beverly. to be honest, i was terrified you wouldn't say it back. i've been planning on the perfect time to say it to you, truly, for months. you don't know how happy this makes me," he holds my hand in his as we walk down the beach. "and to think i've said it to your friend taylor before you drives me crazy." i laughed, remembering the strange memory.

•••

i watched as taylor abbey, my best friend, stormed out of the restaurant building. it was around 10:30 p.m. and she had asked me to pick her up from a date.

"that piece of shit. he doesn't know his left from his right. you know what he talked to me about, all night? all the girls he's been with, his acting career, even tried to get me to drink more, and- ugh. he's just so frustrating. you know, i really had big hopes for that guy. he just let me down." taylor ranted as she sat in my car in the parking lot. i just set taylor up with a guy i've known since we were kids, chris evans. when i met him, he was a quiet kid who kept to himself a lot. now, saying he's a bit of a jock would be an understatement. but she insisted, because she decided to come to a dinner my family and the evans' family had. and he was hot.