Falling With Style {Chris Evans}

sixteen

Watching all three Aladdin movies didn't seem like a bad idea at the time, but when Mila woke up at noon, she realized she definitely slept in past her alarm. It was the sound of groaning in the other room that woke her up. She looked around to see that she was in the same room with the projector from last night and came to the conclusion that Chris must have slept in the other room upon realizing she fell asleep. She also looked to her side to see the reason she overslept was due to the fact that her phone was dead. She was having too much fun in the company of Chris to even think about checking her phone.
As if on cue, he came into view when he walked in the room and leaned on the doorframe. She could barely see, her eyes still adjusting to the light sneaking past the partially opened curtains. She squinted at him, earning a giggle. Before she could process what was happening, Chris had taken his phone out and snapped a picture of her sitting upright in the bed with a fluffy duvet in her lap and bouncy brown waves all over her bed head of hair.
"How long have you been up?" She managed to ask, barely moving a muscle. He was already changed into jeans and a plain white tee and the smell of some unknown manly body wash filled her nostrils as he sat down next to her on the bed.
"Only an hour. I wanted to bring you food in bed, but there's literally nothing to eat here. I think I may order."
Mila was very much a morning person. She was also someone who enjoyed having an agenda to look forward to and to prepare for. Oversleeping meant not knowing what was next. Normally, she'd be upset that she missed practice, but she knew today wasn't mandatory although she was looking forward to it. Ashley would be scolding her right now for even thinking about choosing lacrosse practice over a celebrity.
"Oh, that sounds fun. I should probably head back."
Chris overdramatically frowned. He tried to come up with something to say while she looked at her phone. Just looking at the name "Vince" was enough to make her feeling in her gut feel worse. After skimming through the message that she quickly deleted and decided to attempt to forget about, there was no ignoring a sinking feeling setting in. She wanted to be back at her dorm, under the covers where she could cry with the AC at the lowest it was allowed so the blankets comforted her in her isolation.
What kind of host was she? Chris had come to see her and all she wanted to do was curl up in a ball as it felt like the world closed in on her. As if to remind her, he asked, "Are we still on for Wild Adventures today?"
It was one of the top things Chris was looking forward to when they planned out his trip to Georgia over numerous phone calls. Wild Adventures was an amusement park as well as a zoo. Normally, Mila preached against supporting zoos, but the cool thing about Wild Adventures was that it was a free roaming zoo for the animals.
"Aren't you supposed to be laying low?" Mila asked, forcing a smile despite the feeling starting to suffocate her. This was her cue to roll out of the bed and start packing the few things she had unpacked, like her charger and face cleaning products.
Chris shrugged, "Paparazzi thinks I'm in Florida, we can keep it that way!"
She rolled her eyes jokingly before slinging the strap to her duffel over her shoulder. She knew she looked ridiculous walking out of the hotel that looked like a castle in some pajamas, but she didn't care. She wanted to jump into a hot bath that cooked her body before she settled under the covers. However, she would have to persevere for the sake of Chris who was here in Georgia for a good time, not a long time. Literally.
"The park closes in five hours. You sure you want to go?"
"I already got it covered," he smirked.
She blinked with her eyebrows raised, "Do I wanna know?"
He only shook his head, still smirking as he led her out of the room and out of the suite, walking her to the elevator. Once he pushed the button to call it up, he didn't hesitate to pull her into a hug. "Everything will be fine, alright?"
Was she that much of an open book?
She couldn't help but smile at this. Genuinely smile.
"I know," she breathed a sigh of relief into his chest before pulling away as the elevator doors opened behind her. She added, "I'll text you when I get back to my place and shower!"
"Sounds perfect. And this time, I'll pick you up."
Mila narrowed her eyes at him as if to ask if that was even a good idea in the first place. He repeated, "Everything will be fine!"
With that, she shook her head with one last smile as she stepped backwards into the elevator and hit the button to take her to the first floor. Luckily, this elevator would take her through the back parking lot where Chris probably, hopefully, still had a security guard on duty.
To her relief, a different guard had replaced the one from yesterday that she saw. The large, pale man with ginger straight hair nodded at her before looking back forward and around him as she smiled at him and found her way out.
On the drive back, she kept replaying his simple yet reassuring words over and over in her mind whenever it would drift to whatever Vince was talking about this morning over a text message. The time stamp said it was sent at four in the morning. This told Mila that Vince had been up late, probably drinking, because he normally sleeps in past noon every day. He religiously only took classes that started after noon so he could sleep in and have time to recover from occasional hangovers. He wasn't always like that, Mila recalled, but it seemed so long ago.
Whatever was going in and out of her mind throughout the drive was quickly replaced with a blank confusion as soon as she pulled into the parking lot. The normal cars of students parked in their usual places were there, but parked in the middle of the parking lot were probably five or six black SUVs and sedans with tinted windows. Some of them actually parked properly in parking spaces, and others were parked behind cars, blocking them in their spots just for a good angle.
Just as she started to pull into her usual parking spot, Mila realized what this was all about when she got closer and saw the people with big cameras standing along the sidewalk outside of her building. In the center of it all stood Vince, talking to one of the paparazzi. She quickly pulled the steering wheel to the other side, trying to just leave the parking lot entirely and drive away where they couldn't find her, but she realized it was of no use considering the commotion her car caused had gotten her spotted.
She sighed and parked in the nearest parking spot not too far from her unit. As they made their way to her car, she frantically searched her glove box for a hat and was only a little relieved to see an old lacrosse hat.
Mila left the duffel bag in the backseat as she slid out of the car and locked it behind her. With her head low, she crossed the parking lot to head to her door. Soon enough, the camera shutters could be heard and the voices followed soon after.
"Mila Reyes! Did you just come back from meeting Chris Evans in Florida?"
"Is it true you are in school for cosmetology? Is Chris going to make you his makeup artist for his next big role?"
"What do you think about your age gap between you and Chris Evans?"
"Has Chris Evans mentioned any new roles to you that we should be on the lookout for?"
"Can you let the fans know if you two are dating, Mila?"
She felt sick to her stomach. That was only a few of the questions she could coherently understand over the commotion. When she felt a hand grab her wrist, she knew it was too far.
Mila flinched and looked up with disgust only to be relieved at the sight of Ashley who had just run out of their dorm. Ashley offered a reassuring smile before pulling the bill of Mila's hat down to cover her face better as she guided her to the dorm. The last thing Mila saw when Ashley pulled her into the dorm was Vince standing behind some paparazzi with a smirk on his face.
Ashley slammed the door shut, locking it and putting her back to it as she let out a sigh of relief.
"They know where I live?!" Mila cried out.
"They have been here all morning! I called campus security hours ago and they still haven't shown. I guess dealing with paparazzi isn't exactly in their job description or set of skills."
Mila collapsed on the couch. She snatched the hat off her head and threw it across the room where it hit the wall opposite to her and fell right to the floor. She put her hands over her eyes to cover her face as tears threaten to spill.
Ashley sat down next to her and rubbed circles on her back while she was leaned over and sniffling. She said to Mila, "The good news is that I just signed a lease for a three bedroom house outside of town for us."
Mila looked up with wild hair all over. She squinted, "Did you really?"
Ashley nodded with a smile, obviously unable to contain her excitement. Even Mila couldn't help but squeal with happiness. "Ash! How did you pull that off?! It can take months to get approved!"
It was as though that every previous feeling had been taken and thrown out the window at those paparazzi. So simply, Ashley has taken every weight off her chest. Just like that, everyone outside of their dorm no longer existed.
"I've been talking to this realtor for a while now. I know we wanted to move out, but I wasn't sure when the right time was between exams and the show. Once I saw those reporters out there, I knew this was absolutely too far. I hope you're not upset!"
"Upset? Ashley, you are a lifesaver."
"It gets better. It's in a gated community."
Now they were both squealing, ignoring the fact that there was a dozen people with cameras outside trying to swarm them. They were doing all types of happy dances and weird movements until Mila abruptly stopped to say, "Can we afford it?"
They shared a moment where they both paused, really thinking about it only for them both to burst into laughter. "Mila! We'll figure it out! Things are going so well for us, it's about time we did this! One step at a time. We should get packing."
Mila hummed, just remembering Chris who was waiting on her. She nodded and said, "Yeah, I'll start tonight. I promised Chris I would take him to Wild Adventures."
Ashley smirked at this before she furrowed her brows. She asked, "You know today is Thursday, right? They're only open on weekends."
Mila's face went blank. How could she forget that key detail? She groaned and ran to her room to call Chris and break the news, both about the paparazzi swarming her and about the park being closed.
Chris seemed to only care about the paparazzi. He asked, "Woah, wait, slow down, they did what?"
"They're outside of my place right now! I think my ex gave them a tip! He was there," she scoffed under her breath, looking off and overthinking it.
"If you think that's gonna stop me from picking you up in the most attention-drawing car I can get my hands on, you are sadly mistaken."
Mila narrowed her brows although he couldn't see. She asked, "Wait, you're still coming by? I told you Wild Adventures is closed."
He seemed less than amused by this. In fact, he wasn't surprised at all. He said, "Didn't I tell you that everything will be fine, Pooh? Just answer something for me. Do you trust me?"
"Um, yes?" She was sure that she trusted him, but she was unsure where this question was going.
"And are you alright with being seen with me?"
She froze. She hadn't really thought about it. The notoriety on her Instagram account and now the paparazzi outside where she lives was surreal enough. Everything up until now had just been speculation and instigation from the fans, tabloids, and everyone in between.
Her silence was his cue to go on, making it clear what answer he wanted, the answer he was hoping for. "You had fun at Disney, didn't you? You felt it last night, right? The thrill of it?"
She wasn't sure what thrill he got out of it. For her, it was thrilling that so many people wanted to know something that was such a secret between the two of him. What thrill could he possibly feel from hanging out with some college student?
"Yes," is all that she could say, taken off guard from the questions. That was her answer to all of the above and despite her lack of functioning to clarify that, he knew.
Mila could hear the smile in her voice when he said, "Good, then I'll see you in thirty. I hope you're ready."
Before she could get a chance to respond, he had hung up. Thirty minutes?! That was definitely not enough time to get in a hot bath and let her body cook like she had planned, but she wasn't complaining. She took the quickest, most efficient shower in ten minute history before getting ready for whatever was to come on this rollercoaster.