Count On Me (Chris Evans)

Chapter 2

"I really don't want to do this," Chris muttered, stirring the pot that was on the stove as his family got ready for the big dinner.

"I'm so sorry, sweetie," Lisa felt so bad for her heartbroken son and kissed his cheek. "But to be a supportive friend, you're going to need to meet Stevie's fiance and be kind to him."

Chris just sighed while fixing his eyes on the sauce as he slowly stirred it around and around before asking, "What do you guys think of him?"

The Evans siblings all shared a look with their mother before Scott decided to speak up, "He's a pretentious snob."

"That wasn't very kind, Scott," Lisa looked at him.

"What? You don't agree with me?" He questioned.

Lisa put down the tray of bread before she retorted, "I do agree with you. I don't think he's good to her at all, but I don't get to decide and I love Stevie so I'll support her."

"I can't believe Stevie would marry a guy like that, that doesn't sound like her at all," Chris was confused.

"Well he's drop dead gorgeous, that's for sure," Shanna told her big brother. "And he's a very successful architect and I know Stevie kind of feels like she's not really going anywhere with just bartending and coaching little league so I think she is attracted to how accomplished he is."

Carly added in, "Stevie thinks that Erik is out of her league."

"Are you kidding me? She's out of HIS league," Chris snorted, already hating the guy. "She's out of everyone's league."

The conversation didn't have time to continue because the sound of the door opening echoed through the house before Stevie's parents, who were like an extra set of parents to all of the Evans kids came in along with Kevin and his son Jake. Laurie, Stevie's mom, immediately came over to Chris and hugged him tight, telling him how much she missed him before she whispered in his ear, "I know Stevie told you the news.... I'm sorry sweetie."

Everyone was well aware of his deep love for Stevie and if Laurie and Lisa had their way, the two would be married and having babies by now, but they both knew they had to let their kids make their own choices.

While everyone was getting all their hugs, the moment Chris was dreading came. Walking in was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen... and she was under another man's arm. Chris couldn't help but notice how different the couple looked. Erik was in a tie and nice button up dress shirt that tucked into his well pressed dress pants and shiny dress shoes. Chris saw his expensive watch before looking up at his face, seeing his neatly groomed hair and perfect appearance. In juxtaposition, Stevie had a pair of her ripped jeans, tennis shoes, and her favorite Sandlot tee shirt. Her hair was still kind of messy from baseball practice today and her red sox hat was now planted backwards on her head and Chris felt that she and Erik couldn't have looked more opposite.

Chris eyed Stevie's fiance up and down but he quickly noticed Erik doing the same to him. The two caught each other's gaze and gave each other a look before Stevie brought Erik over to Chris. She squeezed him tight before putting a hand on Erik's arm and looked between the two.

"Chris, this is Erik, and Erik, this is my best friend Chris," Stevie introduced them.

As they shook hands, Chris felt Erik's tight grip and once he saw the look in his eyes, he knew he didn't like the guy.

"I've heard a lot about you," Erik plainly said.

"I haven't heard very much about you," Chris said back, earning looks from the family, silently telling him to back off.

"Well you're going to be hearing a lot more about me now," Erik wrapped an arm around Stevie's waist, pulling her tight against him and kissed her cheek.

Chris knew Erik was non verbally telling him that Stevie was his. The tension between the two was obvious so Lisa ushered everyone into the dining room where they all sat down. The second they all were seated and settled with the table full of food, Dodger came trotting into the room.

"Dodger, you're such a beggar," Chris joked.

"You made him that way, you spoil him terribly!" Carly laughed.

"Not as bad at Stevie spoils him," He retorted as he watched Dodger nuzzle his way between Erik and Stevie's chair so he could put his head in her lap.

She lifted the dog up into her lap so she could rub him and said, "I can't help it! He's my baby!"

"Are you guys going to get a dog when you're married?" Kevin asked his sister.

"I'm not really an animal person so no," Erik answered for them before taking a bite of his dinner.

Stevie meanwhile was enthralled with holding Dodger on her lap and scratched behind his ears while telling Dodger, "It's okay baby, you can come visit me all the time and I'll still babysit you while your daddy is gone."

"And he'll still snuggle with us when we have our movie nights on Sundays and try to eat our popcorn," Chris brought up... mostly wanting Erik to know how intertwined his and Stevie's lives were.

"Stevie and I have been doing movie nights for the past few months and it's been fun, although it seems like we don't usually end up watching too much of the movie," Erik smirked at her, making Stevie blush and slap his chest while he just chuckled.

This shut Chris up and he didn't find himself saying much the rest of the evening. He mostly just listened to the conversations and answered the questions everyone asked him about his time away filming.

He found that most of his thoughts were fixated on Erik and Stevie. He didn't deserve her. She needed someone fun, down to earth, thoughtful, and most of all, someone who adored her for all of her amazing traits and adorable quirks. The hardest thing of all was he knew he was that guy.