Falling With Style {Chris Evans}

fourteen

A/N thank you guys so much for voting, it makes me feel so motivated and excited to write and it makes my heart swoon!!!!!

"What the hell are you doing in Georgia?"

Chris knew he shouldn't have answered the phone. He made sure to request off from work for this week specifically numerous times in order to spend it with Mila for her spring break. Yet here he was, on the phone with his manager who had a tendency of overstepping his boundaries out of fear for Chris and his image. His week here was almost over, couldn't they keep from bothering him for two more days?!

"I told you I was taking a break for a week," Chris said, laying in the bed of the hotel room.

He was still exhausted from getting back into Valdosta from the beach late. It was already noon and normally, he would have been up and out of bed earlier. He did text Mila to see if she was awake, but it seemed that she was still catching up on sleep as well.

"Right, that is what I'm calling you about. For whatever reason, or for whoever, you went to Georgia for, I think it is probably best that you lay low for the last few days of this time off you requested."

Chris laughed bitterly, "That's not really how time off works, Henry."

His manager, Henry, could be heard sighing as if he shouldn't have to explain this. "We got a tip that paparazzi caught you at the beach in Florida and even though they think you're still in the sunshine state, it isn't looking too good to keep getting spotted with that girl when all this stuff with Miranda is still the talk of the town."

The talk of the town was an understatement.

His last relationship ended nearly six months ago, but upon new information being released every few weeks, the break up had been exploited and Miranda wasn't making it any better. It was just another celebrity break up turned into a scandal, twisted by the tabloids. She was using it to her advantage.

Miranda loved talking about Chris in interviews, both fondly and longingly. She loved to address rumors in such a way that neither confirmed or denied them, only leaving tabloids and fans to go wild with speculation. She had been very open about missing him, how sweet he had been as a boyfriend to her, and it seemed in almost every interview, she would find a way to bring him up if he hadn't been already.

He was just glad that she was saying mostly good things about him, though they haven't spoke to each other in weeks. She occasionally liked or commented on his Instagram posts, whether to get his attention or start rumors back up once they had died down.

She was a model. She loved the attention she got when all eyes were on her, but she especially loved the attention she got when she could be caught up in some rumors with a juicy tabloid involving one of the most famous American actors. He was sure that her public image team had something to do with it, probably encouraging it or occasionally giving her a script to memorize for interviews, but he was just as sure that she personally enjoyed how it felt to be associated with him.

Chris, on the other hand, had no feelings whatsoever for her. In his eyes, they didn't leave things on good terms. They had both cheated on each other. Miranda tried to play the victim and he refrained from ending things, forcing himself to have her on his arm for every event just for publicity. The stress of working on the Marvel movies, different photo shoots, numerous fan conventions, as well as paparazzi in general had put him in a position where he was managing his time terribly. He eventually lost interest in Miranda, pre-occupied with other things. When she cheated on him, he didn't acknowledge it. He began to see other women too. It would have been terrible timing to announce a break up or a cheating scandal.

"She's more than just some girl," Chris closed his eyes, trying to remain calm. He couldn't go a few days without hearing from somebody on his team and being involved in some sort of drama.

"Whoever she is, I don't want to hear any more tips about her or you're gonna be confined to California."

Chris wished that Henry could have seen the over dramatic eye roll he just performed. Henry took his silence as a cue to say a few final remarks about what would be happening when Chris returned from his so called time off, and then he hung up.

He sighed. Before he could toss his phone next to him on the bed to start getting ready for the day, he stopped himself once he realized Mila had texted back. She was awake and he quickly called her while he went to go brush his teeth.

"Good morning!" He sang into the phone.

"Good afternoon, what's on your plan for the day?" she laughed. He could hear how sleepy she still was.

It brought a smile to his face.

He hummed as he quickly thought of something. "I was thinking me and you could have a Disney movie night tonight and I take you to practice tomorrow?"

Chris had just thought of it on the spot. He remembered that she mentioned an optional lacrosse practice that was happening during spring break where only freshmen were required to go and both the men and women's lacrosse teams would be training together for it. Mila wanted to go because she liked helping underclassmen, and Chris was interested because it would be his only chance to see her play for a while. A movie night meant that there was little to no chance of them being spotted together. It also meant avoiding possibly putting her identity at risk just for hanging out with him.

"That sounds fun!"

He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Was he actually nervous that Mila was going to say no? Was he looking forward to it that much? Yes.

"Great, I'll pick you up in a few hours and we can grab food before the movie marathon."

"You know, I can just meet you at the hotel with food. It's probably better that way," he could hear the smile in her voice.

He knew it was only a suggestion to better protect both of them, but he frowned. He wished that he could just show her off. He wanted to go anywhere with her, do everything they wanted, and at no cost but time well spent.

It was actually a better plan for her to just show up to the hotel with food, but he wanted to show off in front of her and be the kind of man she deserved. He wanted to show up to her place, open the car door for her, pay for the food, and even walk behind her with a protective hand at the low of her back.

"Fine, but I'm still paying for food."

"Fine," she mocked him and they both laughed. They ended up staying on the phone for nearly two hours before they decided to finally hang up in order to get ready. They were adamant to hang up as if they weren't about to just spend the night together, but they were bursting with uncontained excitement, impatiently waiting to be together again as they both benefitted from an unknown experience from the other that they were still trying to figure out.