Rain Check?

~28~

Seeds of doubt are horrible little things that can wreak pure havoc over one's subconscious no matter how much someone can reassure you.

Chris hadn't given Dempsey an actual reason to not trust him, even though both are still stumped at how a message was sent from his phone if he didn't have it. And to make himself come across more honest he even offered to have his mother vouch for him considering he'd gone back to her house after shooting and crashed with Dodger on the couch out of pure exhaustion from the full night's shoot.

She agreed to see him Wednesday night, along with his siblings and several of their childhood friends. But there was one condition that she put in place. 

 "All four?" Chris asks.

  "All four," Dempsey insists. "One for each night and then one on Wednesday leading up to your little get together."

  Chris contemplates what she's asking. "That's a huge commitment, Demi. I mean, that means we'd have to spend time together each day of the week up until Thanksgiving." The smirk doesn't quite match the mock disdain he allows to flow through past his lips. And if she even thought about questioning his intentions, he made sure to put her mind at ease by pulling her down to sit in his lap, punctuating his statement with a deep kiss.

  "Are you sure?" she asks tentatively when he releases his grip on her. 

  He scrunches his nose and nods. "Yes. I'd love to watch all four Toy Story's with you."

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

Dempsey POV

  Even though I have thoroughly enjoyed the couple of hours each day I've gotten to spend with Chris, I'm still somewhat dreading tonight's gathering. 

  It's been so nice, just the two of us over the last few days. We'd enjoy lunch and the movie, or dinner and the movie, and get to know each other a bit better. He'd told me a little more about the project he's working on, finally revealing that he's an executive producer as well as the lead. 

  We've laughed over the fact that he's actually happy about having to lose some of his muscle mass from his days as Cap, as he still insists there was no CGI involved. I told him I'm gonna need some real proof of that one of these days. He tells me to feel free to Google him and check the images myself but I remind him that I'm trying not to invade his privacy in that manner, instead letting him know he can show or tell me what he is comfortable with.

  I can tell that he admires me a little more each time that I treat him as just another guy off the street and not the big celebrity the role of Captain America has allowed him to become. 

  "You'll see more of that tonight," he assures me. All of the people coming are from before he became famous, which should put me at ease, right?

  Wrong.

  Even now as I stare into my closet I'm questioning all of my life decisions where Chris is concerned. We're really doing this full on dating 'thing' which means if I want to continue I have to come to terms with the fact that Tara may very well continue to undermine me. 

  But, as Sawyer would say, 'at least I can look good while it happens.'  

  I pull out an orange and brown plaid wool skirt that hits about three inches above my knees, along with an ivory turtleneck sweater and pair them both with knee high boots. Sophisticated but cute, and hopefully will make up for the Cap suit from Halloween. 

  Loose curls along with an understated make up look makes me feel confident without being over the top. 

  But as I'm pulling up to Chris' gated driveway I'm realizing that confidence in how you're dressed can only get you so far. And if the churning in my stomach is any indication of how this evening is going to go, I'm gonna wish I hadn't worn ivory.