A Chance Meeting | Chris Evans

Chapter 71

'Hey you two!' Robert called from across the room. 'Come and grab some pizza before Hemsworth eats it all.'
Becca looked at Chris, slightly nervously. He smiled at her.
'Come on, or Hemsworth really will eat it all.' He said, touching her lightly on the back to encourage her to move.
Okay. I can do this.
'I'm not eating all the pizza!' Hemsworth called back from the driving game.
'You usually eat as much pizza as everyone else combined.' Joked Scarlett.
'I've had three slices.' Robert said.
'Two.' Called out Scarlett.
'Four.' Said Renner. 'And I was really hungry.'
'Yeah well, I can't have had many more than-' Hemsworth started.
'Dude - you've had eight slices!' Laughed Renner. 'I counted.'
'Well, I was hungry.' Hemsworth said sheepishly.
'You ought to watch out.' Robert said with a grin. 'All that muscle'll turn to fat.'
'Yeah, then it'll be 'bye bye sex appeal, hello weight watchers.' Grinned Renner.
'Fuck you.' Hemsworth said, good naturedly giving Renner the bird.
'You're not my type.' Joked Renner.
Becca smiled to herself at the banter.
Scarlett came over. 'It's like working with a load of big kids.' She said to Becca, as Hemsworth blew an exaggerated kiss at Renner.
'Don't let Scarlett fool you.' Chris interrupted. 'She's one of the worst ones.'
Scarlett laughed out loud. 'Yeah, you're not wrong.' She said.
'But we're not so bad once you get to know us.' Scarlett added, and linked her arm through Becca's. 'Come on.' She said and steered Becca over to the sofas where Renner was sitting eating pizza and Robert was on the phone.
'Yeah. That's great. See you later.' He said, ending the call.
'That was Ruffalo - he can make it after all.' He said, turning to Becca.
'Oh...right.' She said.
Another one of them to get used to.
'You okay with that?' Chris asked.
'Yeah.' She said nervously, then continued more firmly. 'Yeah, it'll be fine.'
'We could still get that ice cream.' He joked.
Becca laughed.
Robert frowned slightly in confusion. 'What?'
'I told Becca that if tonight didn't go well we could ditch and go for ice cream.' Chris said with a grin.
'Oh, that's charming.' Renner said with a snort of laughter.
'Well, sit down if you're staying.' Robert said. 'Looking up at you is giving me a crick in the neck.'
I can't tell if he's joking or not.
'Sorry.' She said and sat down on the end of the sofa, curling her legs under her and settling into the corner. She was relieved to see that Chris sat down next to her.
'I was kidding, sweetheart.' Robert said kindly.
'Oh, right.' Becca said, feeling a bit stupid.
She took a bite of the pizza to cover her embarrassment.
'This is good pizza.' She said.
'It certainly is.' Said Hemsworth, coming to sit down with another slice.
'First place with two minutes and fourteen seconds, man!' He said to Renner, punching him lightly on the arm. 'Beat that if you can.'
'No problem.' Renner said, getting up. 'But you could have tried a bit harder - at least make it a challenge for me.'
'Ha.' Said Hemsworth.
Scarlett's phone started to ring.
'Sorry, it's Colin, let me just see what he wants. She said.
'Hi babe. What's up?' She asked. There was a pause while she listened. 'You let her do WHAT?' She shrieked. Another pause. 'Well you were meant to be watching her.' Another pause. 'No, I don't know what gets Sharpie off - have you tried dog shampoo?' Another pause. 'Google it then, or call the Sharpie hotline. Okay. Bye then.'
She ended the call and shook her head. 'Why did I have children?'
'That sounded interesting.' Chris said.
'Colin's watching Rose and he swears that he was only out of the room for two minutes, but when he came back in, she'd apparently drawn all over the dog!' She said.
Becca put her hand over her mouth and laughed. 'Really?'
'He's sending a picture in a minute.'
Scarlett's phone binged. 'Oh my God!' She said in horror, looking at the photo.
'How bad is it?' Chris asked.
She turned the phone around to show them, and Becca could clearly see a small dog who presumably used to be white, but was now all the colours of the rainbow.
Chris laughed out loud.
'Wow.' Becca said.
'Exton did that all over the walls when he was younger. It wouldn't come off, so we had to paint over it' Robert said. 'Exton's my son.' He said to Becca by way of explanation.
'I...er...met him on the way in.' Becca replied.
'So I might have to put up with a rainbow-coloured dog?' Scarlett asked.
'For a while, anyway.'
'Great.' Scarlett said with a sigh.
'So, when's Ruffalo getting here?' Chris asked.
'In about an hour. He said to go ahead and start the movie without him.' Robert answered.
'Speaking of which, what are we watching?' Hemsworth asked. 'And is the popcorn machine working again?'
'You could eat popcorn after all that pizza?' Scarlett asked.
'There's always room for popcorn!' Hemsworth answered with a grin.
Robert rolled his eyes. 'Yes, the popcorn machine is fixed. And in light of the fact that we have a Brit in our midst,' he gestured towards Becca, who blushed slightly, 'I've gone with a British film.'
'Your only stipulations were not sad and not scary, right?' Robert asked her.
'Yes.'
'Well someone recommended one that's set in London and it's meant to be funny and Christmassy with a bit of romance thrown in.'
'Sounds like a chic flick.' Hemsworth said.
'You're getting free pizza and popcorn.' Scarlett said. 'What do you care?'
'I don't.' He answered with a grin.
Becca watched them all chat for a while, surprised by how much more relaxed she was feeling than she'd expected.
They're all being really nice to me. They're trying really hard to make me feel comfortable.
After a bit, Chris touched her hand to get her attention and then leant over and whispered in her ear. 'You okay?'
Becca nodded and gave him a small smile. 'Yeah, I'm fine.'
'You've gone quiet.'
'I'm just acclimating to it all.' Becca said.
'Okay.'
At the next lull in the conversation a few minutes later, Robert said 'Okay. Shall we go through and watch it then?'
****
A/N: Okay first off, sorry, sorry, sorry for how long it's taken to update. I'll try to do better. I wasn't happy with the scene (I'm still not, but what the hell) but I've just decided to post it so that I can move on.
Thanks to everyone who's been reading and voting and commenting - it means so much.
C xxxx