Every New Beginning... (Chris Evans AU)

.143.

  "Answer the damn phone, Opal!" Chris yells into the speaker, frustrated by the lack of communication on her part in the last twenty-four hours.

  Twenty-four hours of unanswered calls, unanswered text messages, unanswered Facetime attempts.  Twenty-four hours of distress and confusion. Twenty-four hours of his heart breaking over and over with no sign of repair in sight.

  "Trouble in paradise, Sarge?" Cooper chides, walking into the office area at the start of his shift.

  Chris' head snaps up at the man in front of him. He pulls open his desk drawer before throwing his cell into the  metal causing a loud crash prior to slamming the drawer shut.

  "Sounds promising," Cooper laughs out as he walks over to his locker, unaware of the death glare Chris is burning into the back of his skull.

  "I'd watch it if I were you, Coop. How does a double on foot sound?"

  Cooper looks over at his commanding officer, holding his hands up in surrender. "Okay, okay. I'll back off." He tosses a couple of items into his locker. "I just assumed there'd be sugary sweet words between you and the missus with the wedding being in two weeks."

Chris isn't ready to say a word about the item that now sits on his nightstand in his apartment. "It's not gonna be in two weeks. No reason to rush now."

  Cooper nods his head. "Good. Let the old ball and chain get exactly what she wants. Good idea." 

   Wishing for this interaction to end, Chris hits below the belt. "How's things with Janie?"

  Cooper closes his locker, moving for a quick exit. "Man, look at the time," he glances at his watch. "Better get on it."

  "Yeah, you do that."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Opal POV

  "You gonna get that?"

  My eyes shift over to my vibrating cell phone. After the twentieth call I turned off the sound. Now that it's reached call thirty-five I decide it may be best to turn it off altogether.

  Not like anyone actually needs to get a hold of me right now. Pops is gone. If the girls need me they know where to find me.

  "Yep." I snatch it up off the front desk and quickly shut it off completely. I set it back down and go back to the task at hand, leaving AnnaBeth to feel slightly uncomfortable. I don't really care.

  Welcome to my world.

  I figured out last night around midnight that he'd finally found the ring. How did I know it wasn't just him calling to talk or say goodnight? Because of the text message I received after I declined five of his calls.

  "What the hell is this, Opal?"  with a photo of the ring.

  I didn't answer, which led him to send another.

  "I would guess it slipped off of your finger if it wasn't for the fact that it was in a SEALED envelope."

  "Tell me it's because you want a different ring, Ope. Tell me you'd rather us go pick one out together. Tell me you'd rather get a friggin tattoo around your finger instead of wearing this."

"Tell me ANYTHING, Opal! Please!"

  And with that, my phone went on silent as I just continued to stare up at my ceiling. 

  A clean and clear break is easier right? No calls answered. No text response.

  I'm realizing it may not be as clean of a breakup as I thought, but it should certainly be clear, right?  Returning an engagement ring should put it all in perspective.

  So why doesn't he understand that?

And why don't I feel relief?

  I continue working through the bills that are laid out in front of me, paying each one in order to keep the lights on and the roof over my guest's heads as AnnaBeth ducks back out of my office.

  Another full hour passes before I even realize my office has darkened more than normal, just the light of the computer giving off a glow. I rub at my eyes, feeling the tiredness becoming more prominent from staring at a computer screen for so long. I lay my arms across my desk before placing my head down on top of them, my eyes falling upon my cell phone. Next to it is a stack of yellow post it notes of each time Chris called Magnolia in an attempt to reach me as well.

  I take a deep breath, grab up the cell and turn it back on. I set it down in front of me again, waiting for all of the beeps and notifications to stop. It's a good two minutes straight of electronic noises before there's silence again.

  Just as I'm about to start flipping through the messages I hear a commotion coming from outside my office door. It's muffled but I can hear AnnaBeth's voice, along with another woman's. It gets louder the closer they get to my door.

  I scoot my chair back, ready to stand when my door is pushed open with great force. And in walks my dear best friend. By the look on her face I can tell AnnaBeth had attempted to keep her away, and also that I'm about to get a scolding.

  "I'm sorry, Miss Lucas," AnnaBeth tells me, sheepishly. I wave her off before she exits, her tail between her legs, shutting the door behind her.

  Instead of standing from my chair, I lean further back, bracing myself for the wrath of Lily. Her eyes bore into me, anger flashing back at me. She tosses her purse in the chair and marches around my desk, grabbing the arm rests of my chair. "What did you do?"

  I push my chair back, causing her to release her grip. I stand up and walk away from her. "I don't know what you're talking about."

  Of course I know what she's talking about.

  "Cut the crap, Ope."

  "There's nothing to talk about, Lily. Go home," I demand. I even open my office door to show her exactly where she can go. 

  However, she just marches over and pushes it closed again. "Sit."

  I challenge her, which she's not use to coming from me. I'm always the one in the friend group to normally bow down without issue. Not this time. "No."

  "What happened in the last two days that caused you to break up with him?" She stands firm, her arms crossed over her chest.

  "I'm not doing this with you right now." I storm over to my desk, grabbing my purse from the drawer, snatch my phone off the desk and charge out of my office.

  She follows behind me, all the way out into the parking lot. "Fine. Don't do it with me, but you owe it to him! Do you not understand what you've done to him? No explanation? No response? You're putting him in harms way every moment you ignore him. How do you not understand that?"

  I yank open my driver side door, throwing my purse in. "A response, huh?" I huff, unlocking my cell phone. I open up the latest text message from Chris and immediately begin typing.

  Let it go.

    "Sent. Happy now?" I toss my phone into the passenger seat and climb in, starting the car immediately.

  "Ope!" she shouts after me as I slam the door shut and pull away.

Chris POV

  In the middle of my shower, I hear it.

My phone finally pings. An alert.

  I shut off the water, soap still in my hair. Wrapping a towel at my waist I hurry to see the response. Even if it's not from Opal, maybe it'll be from Lily with some type of an explanation.

Three simple words.

Her attempt to cancel out the last ten months of my life.

Her attempt to erase her permanent stamp across my heart.

Let it go.