Every New Beginning... (Chris Evans AU)

.96.

Opal POV

Time. The one thing in my life that both feels like there's too much, and also too little. Four weeks now stand between myself and Chris, too long. The past 48 hours together, too little.

We now find ourselves in familiar territory: the airport. People hustling around us to get to wherever their next destination is while we seem to be at a standstill, unwilling to move, letting our short time together end in order for our time apart to begin.

I told him I didn't want to sit and wait with him, that it would put too much distance between us. So here I am, leaning against his chest as his back rests against a wall. His strong arms wrapped around me as I do my best to try and get closer to him.

"Any closer and you'll be in my shirt with me," Chris chuckles quietly over top my head, causing me to only squeeze tighter.

"Would that be so bad?" The smile playing on my face, hidden by his white t-shirt.

"Not something you'd hear me complain about." He lifts my face to look at him more clearly as they call to begin boarding his flight. "One day, Opal Lucas. One day, these stupid flight announcements won't be for us anymore." He pauses. "Well, not as individuals," he laughs. "One day nothing will separate us. Not miles, not time." He leans in further, close to my ear. "Not clothing." I shiver at his words as he pulls back, that smug smile I love covering his face.

"Don't make threats you can't keep, Sergeant." I playfully tease him, knowing full well that the look on his face is all I need to know he's speaking volumes of truth.

"No threats here, sweetheart. Nothing but promises." My eyes flicker from his to his lips before he's leaning in, placing sweet soft kisses against my lips.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I sit across from Lily a week later, enjoying a nice quiet dinner. Jameson was on shift, as was Chris, so we thought it would be a great time to catch up.

I place the napkin across my lap before ordering an ice water as Lily orders an iced tea. Even though we've been here a hundred times we still take advantage of a few moments to look over the menu.

"What are you thinking?" Lily asks me, looking around the sandwich page of the menu.

I chew my lower lip a bit, trying to decide. "I'm thinking a salad with grilled chicken. Need to make sure I can fit into my dresses in three weeks."

"Which reminds me," she starts again, setting her menu down on the space in front of her. "Talked to Laura this morning."

That statement scares me. I mean, it hasn't been horrible, but you'd think several things would be off of our plate considering we don't live in the same state where the wedding is actually taking place. But, that's just not her style.

"I'm scared." I feel myself shrinking into my chair as the waiter comes back to take our dinner order. "Grilled chicken salad with honey mustard dressing on the side please."

"Same, but I'll take the fried tenders. Thanks," she tells the waiter after he scribbles his notes. He grabs the menus from our table and leaves us to continue our discussion. "She mentioned wanting us to get ready at her and Spencer's place for the Bachelor/Bachelorette party."

"Why? I'm staying with Chris. I don't see why I can't just get ready there and we meet everyone else at Decker's." Maybe I'm just unable to see Laura's logic in the decision. "Y'all are staying at a hotel, Rae and Anthony too. How does that make sense?"

"She made a small change to things."

"I'm sorry, what? I thought I was maid of honor. Why is she not telling me these things?" I'm getting frustrated now. When given a job, I take it seriously, even something like this. "I thought I did a bang up job for your party. Why is she cutting me out of this?"

Lily holds her hand up to me. "First, take a chill woman." I roll my eyes, lifting my glass to my lips. "Second, she's got a couple of the girls she works with at the salon that's gonna come and do our hair and make up."

"Why?" I groan loudly. "It's just a party, it's not like it's the wedding!"

"She's the bride, let her have her say. Anyways, we're gonna do that and then go to dinner just us girls and then meet the guys at Decker's."

I frown at this idea. I know what dinner will be like with my beautiful friends sans our men. It'll be a lot of ogling from all types of random men while I sit there and watch, wishing for just my one guy. Being reminded that I'm nothing in comparison to the beautiful women I surround myself with. But, when Chris is with me, those thoughts tend to not exist.

"Don't suppose we have any say in this?" I say, disappointed. Unfortunately I can't tell if I'm disappointed in myself for my feelings or the actual event itself.

"Did I let you have any say in my stuff?" I cock my head to the side, raising a brow. "Okay, bad example since you planned most of the Bachelorette party weekend. Why are you so bothered by the change?"

I don't get a chance to answer, thankfully, as the waiter comes over with our food. "It'll kind of be like our last girl's night before another of us take the plunge." I shrug my shoulders and begin eating. "Did you ever imagine this is where we'd be at in life?"

"Nope. I thought for sure Laura would be single forever. Well, not technically single but definitely still playing the field," I admit.

"And you?" Lily says gently.

I give a little, tiny chuckle as I exhale. "Definitely not."

"Would you change any of it?"

I nod quickly. "About 300 miles."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chris POV

"Two more weeks to go to get everything ready," I remind Spencer over our early morning breakfast at Egg Harbor.

"Gettin cold feet yet?" Cooper asks, popping a bite of egg into his mouth.

"Nah. Just ready to make it all official, I guess. It's been nice having her move in with me and all, I'm just ready to say the words and take a vacation," he laughs out.

I'm pretty sure Laura looks at the wedding as more than just spouting some words, signing a piece of paper and having a party. On second thought, probably not. No, I'm thinking more of how Opal would view it.

Try as I might, I couldn't get Opal to give me any information on what her dream for a wedding looked like. The entire 48 hours together, working on the wedding for over 24 hrs of it, and all I got out of her was that she's going to create her bouquet from her Granny's brooches. 

  When she said that I tried my hardest to not give away the fact that Pops had given me her grandmother's wedding band, wanting to pass it along to his only granddaughter. I let her believe that the only way her Granny would be there is in memory of the old pieces of jewelry she'd be holding in her hands as she walked down the aisle. But, I know that's not the case. A secret between only Pops and I until the time comes.

  "Any big plans with your girl anytime soon?" Cooper looks at me. 

  I release a breath, shaking my head. "Nothing until she's here for the wedding."

  "Think she's got anything big planned for your birthday?" he asks.

  "I doubt it," I answer as I toss a knowing look over at Spencer. "We'll be too busy with the bride and groom for too much time alone."  Thankfully Spencer plays along with my statement.

  "Truth. I'm sure Laura is gonna run her ragged. Maybe y'all can do something special after we head out for our honeymoon."

  I nod my head in agreement. "Yeah, maybe." I shrug my shoulders. "Or we'll be too worn out thanks to you and your bride to be." 

  I watch Cooper's face, trying to tell if he's buying into our back and forth. 

  "Hey, did Janie tell you we broke up again?" he asks Spencer.

  Mission accomplished. He suspects nothing.