Almost Too Good (A Chris Evans Story)

Part 3: Gucci, Baby

'Okay wait, you're a million percent sure they meant me?' I was staring at Amy, my eyes wide and mouth agape. One minute I was mid-baking session, with my hair in a bun and flour on my face, and the next we were sat in the living room space of my New York apartment hearing news I never thought I'd hear.

'Adrian, I swear to God, if you don't say something else I'm phoning Gucci right back and telling them you're not interested.' She wore a serious expression but I could tell deep down she was just as shocked and excited as I was. Not ten minutes ago, I had torn myself away from my kitchen and answered the door to Amy telling me that my agent Magda had called and said that Gucci wanted me to be the new face of their upcoming fragrance campaign. Gucci. GUCCI!? My mind was still trying to fathom the very idea of it all when Amy reminded me that 'Magda needs to let them know by mid-day tomorrow, shall I call her to confirm?' she beamed. I couldn't help but give her the biggest smile I think I've ever given and yell 'YES YES YES!' as I waved my hands above my head.

I couldn't help myself. I jumped on Amy and wrapped her in a tight hug. 'Can you believe it!?' We both knew that it was my dream to be the face of a designer brand. A person can always be in partnership when it came to clothes and whatnot but to be the face of a company meant that you were representing the brand. And now I, Adrian Warner, am representing GUCCI.

'I know! I can almost smell your excitement Adrian haha' I pulled myself off of her with a laugh. 'I do not smell!' I joked. 'Well something does.' She replied.

I gave her a strange look and was about to comment on how she was killing my vibe when suddenly, I smelt it too. It smelt like.... burning? All too quickly it clicked in my head. MY PIE! I tore myself off the couch and ran the short distance to the kitchen as fast as my two legs could carry me. I took my oven gloves and opened the oven to reveal a black cloud of smoke. I wafted it out of the way and retrieved the remnants of what was going to be a delicious Shepard's pie.

Amy had made her way to the kitchen by the time I had set my new chalky blackboard down on the counter. I didn't mind too much, I was too hyper to feel hungry. What did sadden me was what a waste of food it was. I adored to cook and I LOVED to eat, so spoilt food was not my favorite sight.

'You know.....' Amy started, 'I happen to know something that might cheer you up' she goaded with a smile. I rolled my eyes and joked back, 'let me guess, I'm the new face of Gucci.'

'Nope. Well, yes. But that's not what I meant. D'you know who else is the face of a Gucci fragrance?' I shot her confused look as I began to clean up my counters, '...no. Who?' Her lips pursed into a smug smile. 'It's none other than your Mr Hero, Chris Evans'. Well that caught my attention. I stared at her, slightly shocked. No way, he was a face of Gucci? Wow. I hadn't even given him much thought since our meeting a couple of weeks ago...

Okay, that was a lie. I had dreamt about him twice since, but that didn't count in my books. I had become resigned to the fact that I'd probably never see him again. Truth be told this information did kind of excite me, but I'd never let Amy know that.

'That's cool.' I replied, nonchalantly. 'Good for him.' At my cool demeanor Amy shot me a skeptical look. 'Good for him? You don't care at all that you'll be on the same brand as Mr Ass?' I laughed at her little nickname. 'Don't you mean Mr America?' 'No. I mean Mr Ass.' She deadpanned back, causing me to scrunch my nose up in a smile at her. 'Whatever, I mean, what are the chances we'll even see each other, never mind be in the same campaign?'

Apparently, very high. Two weeks later as I sat down with a member of Gucci's public relations team in a sleek all-glass office, I realized that fate had made its mark on us. Marcus, the best looking gay man I'd ever laid eyes on aside from Zachary Quinto, informed me that Evan Rachel Wood had decided to step down as the face of Gucci Guilty and instead of having me front their new fragrance, they had decided that they wanted me to take over from her. It was a lot of new information to process but I was slowly beginning to understand it all. 'Don't worry. Gucci Guilty is one of the most popular campaigns we've ever run. You won't be paid less and it'll be a shared workload, so it's a win-win if you really think about it.' I offered him a smile despite my apprehension. 'Shared workload?' My head knew the answer already but I couldn't stop myself from asking. 'Oh right, yes, well it's a dual fragrance, one is a more masculine fragrance and then the other one is for women. So Chris Evans, the actor, Captain America and what-not, you heard of him?' I offered him a deep smile and a nod. 'Great! So Chris is the face of the male scent and you'll be the new face of the feminine one. Sound good?' It sounded perfect but I had to be sure I had my facts straight.

'When you say shared workload? What exactly does that include?' Disappointingly, to me it meant that we represented the fragrances separately but only had to do half the publicity. 'Well it normally stems from two or more, depending on the popularity, television commercials that then spawn the backdrop for the publicity and campaign shots.' Wait, we'd be working together? Directly?

Ignoring my confusion, Marcus continued on. 'So the commercial is the inspiration for the pictures. Despite it being in the same setting the whole process, the footage, the publicity pictures, everything is all shot over the period of about a week and is done on location. The last one was shot in the South but I think the team are looking into something a bit further afield this time round. Shake it up. Start afresh.'

He proceeded to get out a large, black, leather-bound diary and began flipping the pages. 'So we have the shoot week currently scheduled for the end of August and then the actual launch party will be in October, pending confirmation.' He looked up at me sharply and finished with 'any questions?'

All I could do was stare back at him wide-eyed, feeling as though I'd just been through the eye of the storm and back out the other side. It was pretty straight-forward but the reality of the situation was beginning to dawn on me. Me. The face of Gucci Guilty. With Chris Evans as my co-star, per say. It seemed like I was in another one of my dreams except this one was blissfully real. 'Nope, no further questions your honor.' I replied eventually. 'Great.' He smiled and closed the book, standing up in the process. I followed suit.

'Well, it was a pleasure meeting you Adrian and I'll be in touch with any updates we have for you. I know that Carol is going to be calling you in a couple of weeks to discuss the shoot and any ideas we have for it. So until then, take care and welcome to Gucci.' I beamed as I shook his hand. We exchanged our goodbyes and I began to make my way out of the office with a smile that I just knew I wouldn't be able to shake for the rest of the day.

When I arrived home, the first item on my agenda was to make my way towards the kitchen to pour myself a glass of orange juice to celebrate. As I took off my coat and hung it in my coat closet, something caught my eye and I noticed that there was something on my kitchen counter. As I made my way over to the kitchen, I could see exactly what my mystery invader was. There in front of me stood a beautiful bouquet that consisted of an assortment of gorgeous pastel flowers like Dahlia's and Gardenia's and Lavender. The bouquet screamed summer to me and I couldn't help but smile just looking at them. Where did these come from? 

Beside them sat a bottle of Champagne and a note that I hoped would shed some light.

Hey Adrian, hope today went well! I was dropping off your dry-cleaning when the delivery guy knocked with these. No idea who it's from but whoever they are, they fancy ;) I think there's a card in the flowers.

See you tomorrow!

Amy x

The note left me even more confused. I was under confidentiality so aside from Amy, Magda and everyone at Gucci, who had already sent a congratulatory basket, nobody knew. I delicately dove into the flowers and sought out the card.

It was a small pale pink envelope buried next to a tulip. I took it out and read it aloud to myself.

To Adrian,

Welcome to the Gucci family. I look forward to working with you in the future.

Best,

Chris Evans

P.S. I imagine you'll be an even cooler Aunt now, right?

I laughed loudly at the last part. I loved how he had sent such a formal and professional note, only to throw in a sweet reminder of our first meeting at the end. I couldn't believe it. He sent me flowers...

My face bore a dreamy smile as I reluctantly laid the card down on the counter and took the champagne to the fridge to cool. Orange juice would just be rude now.

I was still smiling as I set the flowers down on my dining table. I had nothing scheduled in film-wise until this shoot, so all I could do now was wish August would just hurry up already.