The Stranger / Chris Evans x OC

Chapter 90: Notorious

AMELIA

I immediately get up to follow my mother, smiling shortly at Chris before I leave the table. To my relief, I hear my father engaging in conversation with him to make it seem less awkward, as I leave. 

I walk into the house, looking for my mom, and I find her in the guest room, her eyes glued to her phone. 

"Mom," I say as I approach her, "What are you doing? What's wrong?" 

"Amelia, you said he was an actor, you said he was famous, but this," she says as she scrolls on her phone, "He-he's actually famous, not like Taylor-famous, but really famous. There's articles upon articles about him, he's starred in a ton of movies, he's even been to The Oscars!" 

I furrow my brows, trying to get her to look at me but she keeps her eyes on her phone, "Yes mom, I know, he-"

She suddenly snaps her eyes up to look at me sternly, raising a judgmental brow, "Everything is on here, Amelia. The past twenty years of his life, at least. Everything. Movies he's done, how much money he earns, where he lives. Even ex-girlfriends, or should I say, the lack thereof?" 

I scoff, "No, actually, don't say that. Please." 

"He's notoriously single, did you know that?" She says, showing me an article on her phone screen, "He's barely dated anyone seriously his entire life, and he's 40! And there are all these articles about women he's supposedly dated, there are so many it's-" 

"Mom!" I quickly interrupt, taking the phone away from her, "Stop that! It doesn't matter what it says online, all that matters is what he does and say. How he treats me." 

"Are you sure about that?" She asks, placing her hands on her hips, "What happens when he goes back to LA and then one day you'll see news articles about him dating other women, huh? What happens then?" 

"What are you even talking about right now?!" I say, my voice getting louder the more annoyed I get. 

"He's keeping your relationship secret," she says as she points to her phone in my hand, "There's nothing in there about you. He must be keeping you secret for a reason." 

"No," I say as I look at her pointedly, "Actually, he's keeping me secret because I asked him to. And before coming here today, we both agreed that we would go public with this thing. He's not keeping me secret because he's planning on dating other people, he's doing it to protect me." 

"From what?!"

"His fans!" I yell, quickly finding an article titled Does Chris Evans Have a Secret Girlfriend? and showing it to her on the phone, "You see this article? See all of this? Look at the comments."

"What is this?" She asks with a frown, taking the phone from me as she scrolls through the article, "He has another secret girlfriend?" 

"No, mom," I scoff, "That's about me. But read the comments, his fans are fucking ruthless." 

My mom looks up at me in confusion, then back at the phone, "What are you talking about? I don't see anything bad." 

"What?" I say, moving closer to look at the phone, "It's riddled with rude comments.." 

But as she shows me the comment section, I realize that these are some very different comments from the ones I read on that day when the first article came out. 

I haven't checked it since - I figured I already knew enough, that I didn't need the reminder. But when I look at the comments now, they paint a very different picture. 

I hope this is true, he deserves someone!

So happy for him! 

Aww, that's so cute, I hope we get to know who it is!

I will cry when he gets married to someone else but I just want him to be happy

Give that man a baby, girl! He deserves it!

"Huh.." I mumble, scrolling further down, but it's flooded with nice comments about Chris and I, even if they don't know who I am, "What the hell.." 

I slowly forget about my mom standing there, as I keep looking through the comments. There are still the occasional rude or mean ones, but there's an overwhelming amount of supportive ones, which brings a smile to my face. 

It fades, however, when my mom sternly says, "Amelia, I think he seems very nice, but this is concerning." 

I look up at her, the frown back on my face, "I don't know what you expect me to say to that." 

"Sweetheart," she says with a sigh, "You've worked so hard to get to where you are now. Are you sure this relationship is a good idea?" 

I'm taken aback by the question, the disbelief at her words clear in my voice, "Yes, of course I am, mom. And why can't you just judge the person who's here right now, sitting out there? If this was any other guy, you wouldn't be able to look him up or snoop into his private life, and you would have to judge him by his actions and his words. It's not fair of you to judge Chris based on what the fucking internet says, half of it isn't even true, anyway." 

"Okay, but now I don't even know how I could-"

"You could start by smiling at him," I snap, interrupting her, "And then maybe ask him questions, like a normal fucking person would, and then listen to what he replies. I'm sure if you went out there right now and asked him about his past relationships, he would be open and honest with you. But that would also be rude as all hell, because it's not anything you would have done with anyone else. I need you to keep that in mind with everything you're thinking right now - he's just Christopher, and he's my boyfriend. That's all he is. All that other stuff has nothing to do with me, it has nothing to do with our relationship, and it has nothing to do with you, either." 

Her eyes widen slightly as I finish my sentence, clearly stunned and surprised by my stern tone. I've never, ever, called my mother out like this, and I've never talked back before. I've always done everything according to what I knew she would want, expect, and our relationship has been one of mutual respect, but this is crossing the line and I need her to understand that. 

Her hand reaches out to touch my arm as she quietly says, "Amelia, I'm sorry, you're right.. You're completely right, I shouldn't have done that. I apologize.." 

My features soften as I look at her, offering her a small smile as I say, "No, you shouldn't have. But it's done. Now I just need you to go out there and fix it so you don't scare away the only man I've ever truly cared for, like this. Please?" 

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