Fated (A Chris Evans Series)

The Ellen Show

1st of September, 2021 was the morning of Denise's last pre-screening, and the morning she received a phone call from none other than Ellen DeGeneres herself. She and Chris were making pancakes for breakfast when her music stopped playing through her Bose speaker and started ringing. "Call from '(213) 962-2543,'" her speaker announced as the marimba ringtone echoed throughout their house. "Call from '(213) 962-2543.'" Neither Chris nor Denise recognized the number calling her. He raised an eyebrow at her and she raised one back. "Call from '(213) 962-2543.'" The robotic female voice repeated. Calls from from unknown numbers made Denise nervous so she was glad her hands were sticky with pancake batter, otherwise she would've had to answer it herself rather than delegate the job to Chris.

"You're going to have to get over your fear of picking up phone calls from unknown numbers, Nise."

"I don't have a fear of picking up phone calls from unknown numbers," she lied and he rolled his eyes as he made his way over. He grabbed her phone and slid to answer as she said, "I just can't pick my phone up when my hands are sticky with pancake batter." She giggled when he shook his head, chuckling in disbelief.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Chris. It's-"

"Hi," the air was knocked from Chris' lungs. He knew there could only be one reason Ellen was calling Denise, but the fact that she was personally making the call made that particular reason all the more special. "Um- I'm sorry, could you just give me a second?" He didn't wait for her answer, he pressed the phone to his chest and turned to Denise with a huge grin. "Wash your hands." He told her, beckoning his head at the sink when she looked over at him. "Wash your hands right now 'cause you need to take this call."

"Why, who is it?"

"Just-" he chuckled. "Wash your hands."

She eyed him curiously then turned to the sink to do as she'd been instructed. Chris slid his own phone off the kitchen bench and into his hand, preparing to record Denise's reaction when she found out who was on the other end of the phone. She was going to flip out, there was no doubt about that. "Here," he handed her phone over when she'd dried her hands. "Smile, you're on camera," he told her as he began to record her.

"What are you doing?" She laughed.

"Filming you," he maneuvered for a better angle.

"Obviously. But why?" She asked. "Who's on the phone?"

"Just answer and pretend I'm not here, but also look over here."

"I think I'm just going to pretend you're not here," she told him as she lifted her phone to her ear. "Hello?" She tried to block Chris' shot with her hand; tried being the key word as he reflected it quite easily. She could only assume from what he was doing that the person on the other end was either someone she'd been dying to speak to, someone with great news, or someone incredibly important. And because it was Ellen DeGeneres on the phone, who wanted Denise to come onto her talk show as a guest- she fell under all three categories. "Who am I speaking with?"

"Hi, Denise." Ellen didn't have to say more than that for Denise to recognize her distinct voice. Chris sniggered at Denise's widened eyes and dropped jaw. All the poor girl could do was gape until she could find the words to respond to the amazing Ellen DeGeneres. "How are you?"

"I- I um-" Denise stuttered. She physically could not get a coherent sentence out of her mouth. Her hands were shaking, her heart pumping. "I-" She stuttered again and immediately, slapped a hand against her mouth, shaking her head at Chris who was mouthing "say something" at her. "I- I- I can't speak, Chris. It's Ellen!" She whispered-shouted at him when she pressed her phone against her chest. "Ellen DeGeneres is calling me, Chris." She was trying her best not to start hyperventilating. "Oh my God, oh my God." She excitedly bounced. "This is amazing!"