You and Me

Twenty Three.

The next morning confirmed two things for me: One.. I can't drink as much as I used to. Two.. Chris still sucks.
I skimmed through the six text messages starting the second after we kissed to when I left with Elizabeth. The kiss made him angry and confused at first. By the fourth text, he was apologizing for it. I groaned at his pathetic begging to meet up with him before our flights back to California tonight. A public setting would stop him from kissing me again. I think.
A long hot shower quieted the noise in my head. I got dressed to have a cigarette on the balcony. I stared at the texts from Chris. I was typing out the reply about wanting to stay in the hotel room until my flight when another text appeared from him:

Please

I groaned again. He's lucky I need coffee. I erased the words I had typed to send him a different reply.

Okay. Meet me at Ebriks in an hour.

The little coffee shop, Ebrik Coffee Room, down the street from my hotel had an outstanding coffee and brunch menu. Chris knew I had a weakness for coffee and carbs. Ebrik was also a regular spot for the Avengers cast and crew when we were in town filming.

I picked a table outside. The weather was perfect. Not too hot and humid, for once. I gasped with excitement at my favorite waitress, Bridgette, placing a glass of ice water on the table with a straw. Her southern twang and bouncing blonde curls stood out as much as her piercing blue eyes.
"Hey Sarah, how ya doin'?"
"Hi Bridgette! I'm alright. How are you?" I pulled my sunglasses down my nose.
"Oh, you know. Getting through this shift before it gets too hot. Yesterday it was hotter than a jalapeño's armpit!" We laughed together loudly. "Do you want your usual, darlin'?"
"Yes, please! And can you also get Chris' usual started too? He should be here any minute."
"Of course. I'll bring another water too."
"You're the best. Thank you!" I pushed my sunglasses back over my eyes.
"Sure thing, sugar." I smiled at her skipping back inside the coffee shop. A little girl standing on her chair smiled and waved at me. I waved back.

"Charlotte? Sit down, please. I'm sorry." Her mom tugged at her little sundress, smiling at me.
"No, no. It's fine. Hi Charlotte. You have a beautiful name."
"What do you say, Charlotte?"
"Thank you." Her little voice broke my heart.
"You're very welcome." I smiled at her adorable shy smile.
"Hey, sorry I'm late." Chris' voice behind me made me turn my head. He warmly smiled at me. He also knew I had a weakness for tiny humans. I softly waved at Charlotte again.
"It was nice to meet you, Charlotte."
"Nice to meet you." She spun around to sit on her chair. I smiled wide at her mom then turned to face Chris.
"Did you order?"
"Mhmm." I sipped at the water. "I ordered your usual too."
"Thank you. How're you feeling?"
"Hungover as fu—umm..hungover." We laughed at my quick correction. Bridgette arrived with Chris' water and our favorite coffee drinks. She greeted Chris and praised his most recent movie, Gifted.
"I took my daughter to go see it because she's the same age as the little girl in the movie and she just loved it!"
"Thank you. That means a lot."

"You're adorable. Anyways, the food will be out in a few minutes. Let me know if you need anything." We both thanked her as she trotted away. I brought the hot caramel latte to my lips. I sipped at the coffee cautiously. Chris did the same with his small cup of espresso. He blew onto it as he spoke.
"Do you want to talk about last night?"
"Nope." I briskly declined.
"I asked you to meet with me so we could talk about it." I groaned annoyingly loud. The same groan I've had all morning from his stupid texts. I set my coffee down. I glimpsed at a small gathering of paparazzi across the street. I leaned onto my elbows with my hands over my mouth.
"I don't know what it is with you, Christopher. It's like a magnetic pull that takes control over me."
"Maybe we are soulmates."
"Oh, fu—" I remembered Charlotte still behind me. "That's ridiculous."
"I know what you mean though."
"You do?"
"Yeah. I..I don't..I can't..stay away from you." He stammered with the words. I cleared my throat and sipped at the hot latte again.
"But aren't you dating someone?"
"I was. Briefly. She ended it about two weeks ago."
"Why?"
"'We barely see each other'." He quoted her, using his two fingers in the air as quotation marks. A malicious laugh escaped my mouth. He shook his head. I bet he was rolling his eyes under his dark sunglasses.
"Deja fucking vu." I covered my mouth at the outburst. I peeked over my shoulder. Charlotte and her mom had left already. Bridgette appeared again with our food. A stack of three blueberry buttermilk pancakes for me and eggs Benedict for Chris. My mouth salivated from the smell of the fresh blueberries. I drizzled maple syrup on top and between each pancake. Chris cut into the eggs to break the yolk and took a big bite.

"Is that douchebag last night your new boyfriend?" I scoffed, shook my head then shoveled a big bite of pancakes into my mouth. I chewed it before answering, still shaking my head.
"That douchebag used to be my boyfriend back in 2006. He's engaged now."
"What about you and Tom?" The blunt question made me harshly swallow the food and desperately gulp down water.
"What about it?" I finally asked.
"Are you two together?" I covered my mouth with my hand as I bursted out in laughter.
"He's a kid! I'm like eight years older than him and—"
"Sarah! Chris!" A new group of paparazzi startled us, clicking away at their cameras.
"Hi guys! Could you actually just move down the street a little more, please? See where they are? Yeah, just down there. You can take all the pictures you want but just down there. Thank you." I waved my hand to them. The years of dealing with them only gave me the advantage of knowing how to talk to them. My phone lit up to a text notification from Sebastian. I read the text to myself then bounced my body in the chair. "Seb's here!" My fucking savior. I couldn't tell if Chris was amused with the uninvited guest. He continued to eat his food. I waved my hand to Seb after he got out from parking his car.

"What's up, guys?" He leaned down to kiss me on the cheek. He held a fist up to Chris. Chris tapped his fist against it.
"Hey Sebs. Have a seat, join us." He pushed the chair out from the table.
"Thank you, thank you." He vocally sighed as he sat down. Bridgette set down a new caramel latte for me and took Seb's order after small talk with him. Seb stretched his arms above his head. "So, have you guys talked about the crazy shit that went down last night!?"
"Uhh." I hummed. I turned my head to Chris. I swear Chris is going to be wearing the rest of his eggs Benedict if he fucking told Sebastian that we kissed.
"I beat Mackie and Downey at poker! Twice in a row!"
"Oh, shit! No way!" I acted surprised but I was actually relieved. I watched Chris' shoulders relax.
"You guys should have seen their faces. Classic!" I giggled, only imagining how enraged Downey and Mackie would have been. "Rose. You got anything lined up?" The usual actor-to-actor conversation. Only ours was different. We knew we didn't have a lot of time between Marvel movies to do anything else big so we stuck to smaller roles in films or tv. I shook my head.

"No, I think I'm going to take some time off. My dad's going on tour.. again.. so I'll probably tag along."
"The whole thing?" Seb asked. I shook my head again.
"Only until June or July." I carefully observed the surroundings and checked the table behind me and Chris. Everyone around us were gone. We still had to be extremely careful disclosing information so I kept my voice really low. "Mister and Missus Captain America have a cameo in the next one." Chris nodded his head. Seb quieted his voice too.
"No, shit. You guys are going to be in the new Spider-Man?"
"Post-credits." Chris added. He sat back into the chair. I bit my lip nervously. Seb was distracted by his phone to notice the intense stare between me and Chris behind our sunglasses. A slow smirk curled the corner of Chris' lips.