Falling With Style {Chris Evans}

fifteen

"Where are you going?" Ashley asked regarding Mila leaving with her large duffel bag rather than her usual one.

"I'm going to spend the night at the hotel Chris is staying at," Mila said, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.

Her and Ashley shared a few seconds of eye contact before they burst into a fit of laughter and squealing. Mila let out one final laugh before dropping the duffel bag by the door, wiping a tear from laughter, and joining Ashley at the counter on a stool.

Ashley was still wearing her pajamas. It was her lazy day as she brainstormed more ideas for her new line and opportunities. Sofie had been texting her throughout the afternoon and to say it was surreal was an understatement. Since when was she BFFs with a celebrity like Mila? It was all happening so fast.

"Who am I kidding?" Mila forced the next laugh as she rubbed her eyes.

"What's going on?"

"Chris invited me to have a Disney movie marathon with him and I'm trying not to overthink."

Ashley put her hand on Mila's and offered a reassuring smile. "Oh, Mila, don't worry! Just try not to think about where you'll sleep and if you snore. Oh! Don't think about if you drool either. I heard that if you think about drooling before you sleep, you set yourself up to drool when you sleep that night."

"Ash!"

"Sorry, I'm bad at this."

Mila huffed and looked off at the ground before she asked, "Wait, do I snore?"

Ashley laughed nervously in response. Mila only jokingly slapped her hand away before jumping off the stool and going to pick up her duffel bag.

After picking up the food they decided on, a local barbecue restaurant that wasn't far from his hotel, Mila parked a safe distance away from other cars as she carried her duffel on one shoulder and the takeout bags of barbecue on the arm of the other. She made her way to the office to maneuver her way to the hotel room number Chris told her.

The hotel was beautiful. She had only really seen it from the outside, and it was luxurious. It was named Grove Castle and it genuinely looked like it had once been a castle, or at least perfectly modeled after one. The architecture didn't really match the rest of Valdosta, but the age and history of it did.

Colors around the hotel were mostly neutral with red and gold accents and trims to contrast with it nicely as well as to look more like royalty. Every surface was marble, from the check-in counter to the table tops for the complimentary breakfast. Every now and then, marble statues of people unrecognizable to Mila decorated different entrances.

It didn't take her long to find the elevator Chris described, a specific one literally guarded by the most inconspicuous man dressed in black and wearing shades inside a building at night time who spotted her from across the hotel lounge and gestured his head for her to head to the particular elevator he stood by.

She offered a smile as he pressed the elevator button, calling it down for her. It was silent until the doors opened and she stepped inside, pressed the floor, and found that the next few seconds dragged on as the numbers crawled slowly before finally reaching his level. Even the doors felt as though they were sluggishly sliding open before she stepped out.

Mila had spent that entire time overthinking about where she would sleep, if she snored, if she could hold back from singing all the songs she was embarrassed to know by heart from most Disney movies, and now she pushed all that aside to squint at the doors to find the number he texted her. It was when she turned the corner of the dauntingly wide hallways that she saw Chris was actually outside waiting for her, leaning on the doorframe to his room with his head dropped to his phone and scrolling.