Daylight

Chapter Ten

It took almost half a day for Sebastian to get everything finalized, but it wasn't long before he was sitting his suitcases on the floor of Ava's room. He sat on the edge of the bed and smiled. Chris will never believe this.

Ava felt as if she were walking through a dream. There were times she literally pinched herself to remind her that it was real. This was... huge. In a way that kind of felt too scary to talk about out in the open right now. To bring a man back into her home... it was a day she didn't see coming until him.

Now as she leaned against the doorframe of the bedroom, the smile on her face was bright. "Have you realized you've made a huge mistake?" she asked with a tease.

Sebastian looked over at Ava and shook his head. "No," he chuckled. "I just realized that Chris would think I'm crazy. That's all."

"You should call him," she suggested, pushing herself up off of the doorframe to take a few steps into the room. "I have a lot to do to get ready if we're still going on that date tonight." Luca was supposed to have his sleepover tonight. Ava was off a rare two nights in a row.

He nodded before opening his arms for her to sit with him. "What if I do a video chat? Would you like to meet him?"

She closed the distance with just a few steps and lowered herself down onto the bed next to him, brushing her hair back behind her ear. "Meet him?" she asked, raising her brows. "I, I mean, sure... if you want me to," she replied, a smile tugging onto her lips. His famous friend, Chris. Captain America Chris. She felt oddly nervous, as if meeting him were like meeting Sebastian's mother.

Seb turned and kissed her cheek. "Chris is really laid back. You don't have to be in the frame right away either. It'll help you decide if you want to say hi."

Ava couldn't help but smile, nerves softening as she met his eyes. She nodded before she spoke. "Okay. I can do that," she agreed, reaching out to rest her hand on his leg.

He leaned in to steal a gentle kiss then he turned and quickly found his phone and began scrolling through his contacts. He quickly found Chris and asked for a FaceTime chat. "I'm sure he'll be surprised, but I think he has downtime, so he should answer."

The nerves in her belly tingled but Ava breathed through. She could see that she wasn't in the frame yet, so as the phone rang, she held her breath without even realizing it.

Chris was sitting in his trailer on the set of the newest film he was working on, feet propped up in front of him as his eyes scanned the script in his hand. He heard his phone start to ring and dropped his feet to lean forward and pick it up. An easy smile started as he accepted the call and his friend's face came into view.

"Seb!" he greeted with a friendly smile. "What's up, lover boy?"

Sebastian laughed, smiling at his best friend. "Not a whole lot. Enjoying my time off. What about you?"

"I'm hoping for some time off soon. I got a few things slated, though, we'll see," he replied with an easy shrug. "What are you doing with all your time off? You still seeing Ava?"

"I am," Seb smiled, feeling heat rush to his cheeks. "We've gotten pretty close pretty quick," he added, glancing over at her.

"Pretty close? What does that mean?" Chris asked with a knowing grin at the corner of his lips.

Ava smiled shyly and exhaled a soft laugh, inaudible to Chris on the phone.

Sebastian rolled his eyes. "I'm not giving you those details, you know that. I will tell you that I'm staying longer here for sure. Ava... offered me to stay with her."