A Chance Meeting | Chris Evans

Chapter 96

As Chris watched Becs saying goodbye to his family, his mind whirled at a million miles an hour. He'd seen her reaction when Scotty had suggested he visit the library. Couldn't help but. She hadn't wanted him there. And the excuse that it wasn't a good time due to the renovations? Just that, an excuse.
Why doesn't she want me there? She said that she wasn't embarrassed about the anxiety, but was she just saying that to make me feel better?
He carried on musing as they walked to his car.
'I call shotgun.' Scotty said.
'Becs already called shotgun.' Chris lied.
'I did?' Becs whispered.
'Trust me, it's for the best - if Scotty's in the front we'd have to listen to his choice of music, and no one wants that.' Chris stage-whispered.
'I heard that.' Scotty muttered.

Once they were in the car and on their way, his thoughts returned to Becs.
Is it the publicity she's avoiding because I said how bad it could be?
Or does she just not want people to know that she knows me?
It can't be that though, can it? Because I've met Viv and Ella, they know about me.
But the more he thought about it, the more he realised that when he'd met Viv and Ella it had been unplanned - both times he'd just turned up at her place, Becs hadn't arranged it. And there had been times when he could have met her other friends, but he was sure that she'd made an excuse.
He kept glancing over at Becs, but she was staring out of the window, and she seemed quieter than usual.
He made himself take a deep breath.
You're obsessing about it. Get a grip.
'Okay, here we are.' He said, pulling into one of the spaces at the rear of Carluccio's.
He saw Becs cast a nervous glance towards the restaurant.
'Hey. You okay?' He asked.
'Err...yeah.'
Right.
'Is this where we're going?' She asked.
'Yeah, this is Carluccio's. It's Italian.' He said with a smile, knowing it was her favourite. 'I picked it because we know the manager and he'll let us go in round the back and keep everything low-key.'
'We don't have to walk in through the front?' She asked.
'No.'
She gave him a relieved smile.
'Come on.' He said.

Becs seemed more relaxed once they were at the table and she could see that it was partially secluded from the rest of the restaurant by various plants and foliage.
'So what's good here?' She asked.
'Everything.' Scotty said with a laugh.
'Well, I wasn't planning on eating that much.'
'The spaghetti alle convole is delicious if you like seafood.' Carly suggested.
'We can all choose our own dishes, or if you'd like, they do a shared tasting menu for the whole table where they bring out a variety of different things. We quite often have that when we come here, because it's amazing.' Chris explained.
'I'm happy to go with that if everyone else is.' Becs said.

Everything seemed to be going okay - they were waiting for the food to arrive, and although Becs was definitely quieter than normal, she was joining in the conversation where required.
Maybe she just needs a bit of time to relax.
It didn't take long for someone to recognise him and come over for a selfie. He always made a point to be nice to fans - let them take a selfie and have a brief chat. He wouldn't have a job if it wasn't for them, after all. But he thought that Becs looked a little uncomfortable when they came over, and she'd excused herself to the restroom virtually straight away.
'Is Becs okay?' Scotty asked. 'She seems a little quiet.'
'Yeah. I think she's a bit nervous because it's the first time we've been properly out in public together.'
At least, I hope that's what it is.
'Oh. Well, I've got something that'll make her laugh and take her mind off it then.' Scotty said with a chuckle.

Becca looked at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. Sometimes what a person needed was to give themselves a really good talking-to.
'You need to pull yourself together. You can't freak out and run for the bathroom whenever he's recognised.' She told herself.
And she knew that was the case, she knew that if she wanted him in her life she was going to have to suck it up and find a way to accept it.
Plus, if he notices that you're twitchy, then he'll start getting twitchy, and you can't do that to someone with anxiety problems.
If he hadn't already noticed.
'Right. You're going to go back out there and you're going to join in the conversations, and if someone else comes over, you're going to relax - they're not interested in you. They just want to speak to Chris.'
No need to freak out.
Okay. She could do this.

'Perfect timing.' Scotty said as she came back to the table. 'The food's just turned up.'
'It looks amazing.' She said with a smile.
She caught Chris's gaze and smiled, trying to reassure him that she was okay, but the smile that he sent back was a little wary.
Oh yeah, he noticed.
'So, what's what?' She asked, sitting down.
They spent a while sharing out the food and trying everything.
'Wow, that's seriously garlicky.' Becca said, tasting a chicken dish.
'Too much for you?' Chris asked.
'God no, it tastes fantastic.' Becca said. 'I love garlic.'

For a while they all just chatted as they ate, and Becca found herself relaxing and laughing at their banter as they shared their childhood stories.
'Chris tells me that you love to cook.' Carly said to Becca.
'Yeah, I do.'
'What's your speciality?'
'Umm...probably-' Becca began.
'You should try her chocolate cookies.' Chris interrupted. 'They're amazing.'
Becca smiled with embarrassment at the compliment. 'They are nice.' She said, playing it down. 'But I like to cook lots of different things.'
'Maybe you can teach Chris a thing or two.' Carly said.
'He's a terrible cook.' Scotty added.
Chris chuckled in an embarrassed kind of way.
'Not that you're any better.' Carly joked to Scotty.
'Hey!' Scotty said, mock-offended.
'Oh, you know you suck at it.' Carly laughed.
'They've always been terrible.' She continued to Becca. 'It's a running joke in our family - our mom's birthday is just after Thanksgiving, and every year when we were kids they would bake her a cake.'
'Aww, that's sweet.'
'Yeah, but they messed it up. Every. Single. Time.' She said with emphasis.
Becca laughed.
'But not just a little bit messed up - it was inedible. Either it was so uncooked it was raw, or they burnt it to a crisp. I don't  know how they did such a bad job because they were following a family recipe. Some years I swear that they just threw whatever they fancied in, because it tasted weird.'
'Yeah, we did sometimes.' Scotty said, laughing.
'I think we imagined ourselves as culinary geniuses.' Chris joked.
Carly snorted in derision.
'Well, I'm sure that your mum appreciated the effort.' Becca said.
'Yeah, she did.' Carly admitted. 'But just once it would have been nice to have something that was even slightly edible.'
'You could have helped.' Scotty said.
'Nah. It was too funny to watch you guys screw it up year after year.' Carly laughed.
'You know what you should do? Now that you're adults and can presumably follow a recipe, you should have another go.' Becca suggested.
Chris and Scotty looked at each other.
'We could.' Chris said. 'We must be better than we were.'
'Oh, I don't know. I think you still suck.' Carly joked.
'Becs could help us.' Scotty said.
'Huh?'
'You're good at cooking.' Scotty said. 'You can make sure that we don't do something stupid.'
'I suppose I could...' Becca replied. 'What sort of recipe is it?'
'It's our grandma's Devil's Food Cake recipe.' Chris said.
'Devil's Food Cake? Oh yeah, I've made that a few times. I can help you.' Becca said.
'How soon can you do it?' Scotty asked. 'Mom's birthday is on Thursday, so we're going to have to get a move on.'
'Well, I'm busy all weekend with the library changes and it might go on into Monday, but I've got some free time Tuesday and Wednesday.'
'I can do Tuesday afternoon.' Chris said, checking his phone. 'We've got an early start, so we should be finished late morning. I could pick you up about twelve.'
'Pick me up?'
'Well, your kitchen's a bit small for the three of us - we'll do it at my place.'
Chris's place? Be cool, Becca.
'Umm...okay.'
'Excellent.' Scotty said.