Count On Me (Chris Evans)

Chapter 13

Hearing Erik's name made Chris' eyes fly open and he instantly was sitting up in his seat. He tried to lean over Stevie's shoulder and read the text. Stevie could feel her stomach drop and her heartbeat so loudly she swore everyone in the airport could hear it's rhythmic thud.

Her dark eyes scanned the short statement he texted that read, 'What the hell is this? We need to talk.'

The next text that was underneath it was a link to an article. Quickly Stevie tapped on it, taking her to a gossipy news site. The big bold letters that the top of the article read "Has Captain America finally found his leading lady?"

She went on to read the short article and Chris skimmed it over her shoulder. Both people were like statues, practically holding their breath and bracing themselves for what might come.

'On Monday, Captain America star Chris Evans was spotted on set of the new Captain America movie doing reshoots before the film wraps and heads into post production. It looks like saving the world wasn't the only thing on the 35 year old's actors mind when he was seen lip locked multiple times throughout the day with an unidentified brunette.'

Stevie skipped through the rest of the article that speculated who she was and listed all of Chris' previous relationships. It wasn't until she got down to the bottom that all the color drained out of her face at the photos that accompanied the article.

She was happy she had been wearing a Red Socks hat that day which helped to block her face and conceal her identity. Even though in the photos you couldn't see much of her face, you could see all of Chris... and how obvious it was they were kissing. Not only were their lips pressed together, Chris's arms were wrapped around her small frame, one resting on her lower back where it curved in and the other on her hip. Stevie's arms were loosely hanging around his neck and there was no deny what the two were doing.

"Oh no," Stevie muttered, completely in shock.

"Why is it, oh no?" He didn't understand.

"Because there are pictures of us kissing on the internet!" Her eyes were wide.

"Why does it matter?" Chris questioned.

"Why does it matter?" Her voice rose an octave. "It matters a lot! First off your fans are going to be pissed and now you're going to be hounded, we have to worry about paparazzi, we've only been together for like 5 days and I just had a broken engagement a week ago and Erik is texting me about it and is upset!"

Chris looked at Stevie and he was silent for a long time. He blinked slowly and this was one of the very few moments where Stevie had no idea what was going through his mind. He looked angry for a moment but his eyebrows arched and hurt was evident on his face as he asked, "Why does it matter what Erik thinks?"

"I was engaged to him, Chris. I do care about his feelings and I'm sure it hurts for him to see me kissing you," Stevie's empathetic side came through.

"Erik is the one who broke up with you, why does it matter what he thinks," Chris frowns. "You aren't going to respond to his text are you?"

Now it was Stevie's turn to be silent. She ran a hand through her messy waves and sighed, "I feel like I owe it to him to talk to him."

"Are you kidding me Stevie? You don't owe that douchebag a thing!" He was upset.

She didn't respond. Stevie just put her fingers on her temples and took deep breaths. Chris felt like his heart was being squeezed and wrung as he asked her, "... Do you still have feelings for Erik?"

Her head whipped up and she looked at him, the hurt obvious on his face. Stevie's eyes glossed with tears as she almost whimpered, "I don't know, I'm so confused. Last week I was planning what type of cake Erik and I would have at our wedding and this week I'm... I just... I don't even know anymore."

"Are you saying you don't know about us anymore?" He asked with a briskness in his tone.

"I don't know. Erik broke up with me because he said I wanted you and I don't know, maybe I did. Maybe I had feelings for you and I didn't know it. Maybe that got in the way of our relationship. Maybe us breaking up really is all my fault," She felt guilt wash over her.

"I just don't understand why it matters anymore. We're together and that's what matters," Chris felt desperate as he felt the ache of finally having his dream come true and now he felt like everything was being ripped away.

"I just feel like I owe it to him to talk to him," She told him.

"I don't understand why!" He was upset. "Erik treated you like shit and the second he gets jealous and texts you, you're going to go listen to him ball you out and manipulate you again?"

"I DON'T KNOW CHRIS!" Stevie forcefully stated, feeling like her head was spinning. "I am so confused and everything has happened so fast and I'm worried I've just rushed into everything and I just... I don't know okay."

Chris felt like he wanted to cry. He was terrified that she regretted getting into this with him. Maybe she didn't really have feelings for him, maybe she just got wrapped up in everything. Was he just a rebound? Had he ruined everything between them? His anxiety spiked and his thoughts ran rampant as did Stevie's.

As the two sat there in silence, their brains running on overdrive, their flight was called to board. Chris got up and tossed his backpack over his hunky shoulder, silently walking toward the plane, leaving Stevie behind him. She slowly followed and neither of them spoke to one another as Stevie took her seat by the window and Chris sat next to the aisle.

He quickly put in his earbuds, even though he wasn't listening to any music, instead being tortured by his thoughts. Meanwhile Stevie felt like a zombie, not hardly registering any details going on around her. Stevie felt like a semi truck had parked on top of her chest and wasn't moving. Every emotion in her was swirling around in her and she felt like she couldn't take it. She was wracked with guilt about Erik and Chris and she didn't even understand all that she was feeling.

On the flight back to Boston, she sat with her body turned, staring out the window so that Chris couldn't see the silent tears running down her cheeks.