Not Without You [Chris Evans]

34

Megan's POV

I pulled on a light gray sweater over my tea length dress and looked at myself in the mirror, satisfied at what I was seeing. Tom had said we were going to a show after dinner and it was usually chilly inside so to bring a wrap.       

    "Ready?" Sebastian said, leaning on the doorjamb of my open door, making me look over at him. He had on a light blue-gray sweater and dress pants but somehow still managed to make it look like he'd just left a photo shoot.

    "Yeah. You look nice, Baz." I opened my clutch and shoved a lipstick in it before grabbing my phone.

    "Thanks. You look beautiful tonight, Roşu. Want me to take a picture of you?"

    "Sure," I said, handing him my phone. "This is Em's favorite dress and I don't think I've ever taken a picture of myself in it."

    "Lean forward a smidge to look in the mirror and fiddle with your right earring," he said. "Slight smile," he clarified. "Don't look at me. Pretend I'm not here." I did as he asked, feeling a little silly but he clearly had a certain look in mind, which was different but still fun. "Perfect – all done."

I took the phone back and looked at the photos he'd taken. "You know your way around a camera, Baz. This is great!"

I gave him a quick side hug before grabbing my shoes from beside the dresser and following him to the front door. I slipped on my shoes, resting one hand on his forearm to steady myself. I let go as soon as I was stable again and waited for him to lock up.

    "I've spent enough time in front of them, that's for sure. Maybe someday I'll try directing or something."

    "Really? What kind of directing?"

    "Movie or made for TV movie, kind of like Chris did a while back." We got in our Uber and Sebastian told the driver where we were going. "I stopped by when he was doing it and it got me to thinking."

    "Hmm," I said, "So you're going to be the next Mel Gibson?"

    "Why not? You don't think I could do it?"

    "No, I think you could – I just have a hard time seeing you as Joe or Anthony. Your personality is just so different from theirs, you know. So change of subject – not that I'm complaining, but why am I going along tonight?"

    "I wanted to take Sadie out but she's concerned about the kind of attention we'd receive if we went alone, so I asked Tom if he wanted to come along tonight. You were his choice."

    "Oh," was all I could say to that.

I sat back in my seat and considered that. I liked Tom a lot, but I wasn't sure if I liked him as more than a friend, plus I wasn't ready to be in a relationship again. We were leaving tomorrow and it might be a couple weeks before I saw him again, depending on when he'd have to come to LA.

    "Don't overthink it, Roşu," Sebastian said, taking my hand in his and playing with my fingers. He was always so surprised at how small my hands were next to his. "I know that look."

I stuck my tongue out at him, making him chuckle. "This look?"

    "That one too. We're just going out with friends tonight, okay?" he said reassuringly.

    "Yeah. So what are we going to see?" I took my hand back, feeling better about this already. Dinner and a show with friends I could handle.

    "I actually don't know – I left that up to Tom since he's already seen a lot of the shows already."