Fated (A Chris Evans Series)

The Alternative

Chris sat across the table from Emilia Morse, an old friend who was now the head of production at Sony Pictures. He licked his lips nervously, his fingers playing with the hairs in his beard as he watched Emilia's eyes graze over his fiancée script; one he'd secretly printed after she'd gone to bed last night. He had no intention to go behind her back but he wasn't left with much of a choice after she turned down his suggestion to pitch it. He truly believed her series in its full, original glory deserved to see the light of day.

The second Emilia lowered the stack of pages down, he asked "what do you think?" He then added "do you like it?" before Emilia could even answer his first question. "'Cause I'll go on the record and say I love it, like- I'd love to direct something like that." Emilia chuckled at Chris' excitement, there was a distinct level of bias as it was his fiancée's work. "I know I'm her fiancé," Chris said because he detected it too. "Which is why I'm asking you, is this worth something?"

"It's good," Emilia nodded and Chris immediately grinned. "But," she continued. His smile faltered. "It's too perfect. There is nothing other than the pre-term labor scenario to spark excitement," she explained when she spotted his narrowed eyes. "There is no drama, no problem, and no resolution. It's too smooth a ride, it's not enticing enough. Yes, it's very romantic and incredibly sweet but- you know you need more than that to make a good movie, or even a television series."

"I know," he sighed, pinching at the hairs of his beard again. "I just- I thought with how messy and chaotic the world is today, you'd want this to help people escape." Emilia sighed then offered an apologetic smile. "Thank you for seeing me anyway, I appreciate it." Emilia nodded in acknowledgment. "Now I'm hoping her meeting with Geoff Davis went well 'cause I really do think she has a future in Hollywood."

"Oh, she does," Emilia assured him, again reaching for the stack of pages in front of her. "Your girl's got a lot of potential, she'll make it far if she gets the right person to look at her work." Chris smiled but it quickly faltered when Emilia said, "I can tell you right now Davis is not that person. He will cancel on her today." Chris frowned, immediately reaching for his phone to text Denise and ask if she was okay.

"Denise is a skilled writer," Emilia told Chris what he already knew. "She's got a gift for telling stories, she also has a very good eye for detail," she continued praising Denise's work as she skimmed read the pages again. "I love her dialogue, and her use of imagery is brilliant. She's got a good balance of clichés and originality, it sets her apart. Her vocabulary could be expanded, but she's getting what she wants to say across so- if it ain't broke." Chris chuckled. "She's good," she couldn't help but show Chris her approval through vigorous nods. "Her talent is- it's rare, under the right wing- she's going to soar."

"She's my one in seven billion," Chris said and smiled. He smiled every time he thought about her, and the idea that she really was his. He glanced down at his phone, trying to convince himself that it was a good sign that she wasn't replying. Her lack of response meant that Geoff was meeting with her and she was too busy to respond. "Do you have any other advice?" Chris reached over and patted the pages like he would a baby because it was a baby; his girl's baby. "I'd really like for this to become something."

"Chris," Emilia shook her head. "It's got potential but that's all it has. Unless she's willing to change the plot, or at least add some sort of conflict to the storyline- I can't help you." Chris sighed, causing her to sigh too. There was a brief moment of pause that reminded Emilia what Chris told her about how he met Denise, an idea sparked in her brain. "You said the two of you met because of the series, right?"

"Yeah," Chris nodded. "I found the link in my Twitter mentions a while back, read everything, and just fell in-love with it. Everything's fairly anonymous on Tumblr, despite my best attempts to uncover more information about Denise, I couldn't find anything. I thought about leaving a message in her inbox but- I don't know, I guess I was too scared to dive into the deep end without first acquiring a lifesaver."