Fated (A Chris Evans Series)

Moving Day

A few days after graduation, Denise packed up everything she owned into boxes. The day had finally arrived, it was time for her to move out of her shared apartment and move in with her fiancé. Chris had been waiting a long time for it to happen, he'd been ridiculously patient and accommodating but everyone knew he'd enough of living between places. Denise was excited too, it was going to be nice to start the next chapter of her adult life. Her apartment was great but living there made her feel like she was still a university student, a kid who wasn't ready to get married and settle down. Though she wasn't ready for that just yet, she felt that in order to make progress she needed to step away from that part of herself. It was going to take time, that she knew. She was just grateful she had someone as supportive as Chris, who always gently encouraged rather than pressured.

It was because of Chris' supportive nature that allowed the continuation of their long engagement. She still felt guilty but she felt a little better knowing there was a compromise. Before he had no timeline, now he knew if she couldn't find even the slightest success by the end of the year they'd end their long engagement. Denise wasn't naïve, she knew the journey was going to be on a long and winding road with a lot of sharp turns and roadblocks. She wasn't yet sure if it was a journey she was ready for, in fact- all she could think of was how terrified she was of it. But like Chris would always tell her when she disclosed her fears, "you have to throw yourself into doing what scares you." And because she trusted him, she was going to dive right into that pool of fear by meeting with the producers Chris had set her up with.

When she first heard Chris had gone out of his way to get her meetings with producers throughout what was left of May, she thought she'd faint. Statistically speaking, she was sure 99.9% of the meetings she was going to attend weren't going to have positive outcomes. She was actually preparing herself to be rejected the second she stepped through the door; a scenario she didn't think was unrealistic. She knew what it looked like having Chris do what he did, even if she didn't ask- she was going to suffer the same negative repercussions she would've if she did. Hollywood was great at assumptions and they were going to assume she believed she was entitled for a meeting because she was Chris Evans' fiancée.

That wasn't how she wanted to start out, she'd wanted to be professionally as far away from his name as possible. The initial plan had been to look for an internship and start from the bottom up, but she couldn't turn him down after seeing how excited he was. The meetings were a graduation gift, an act a faith that went above and beyond. She appreciated it greatly; his belief that she'd do great things. She just hoped he wouldn't be too disappointed when she came home with rejections because it was going to happen. She wasn't being pessimistic, that was reality. It was going to be a lot of hard work and she was more than happy to work for success. She wanted to take the path less taken, she wanted to let Father Time to do his thing. Chris did all that which was why he was where he was today, she would've been proud to do the same.

However, it didn't matter what she would've been proud to do because she was being pressured to use Chris as an advantage. It wasn't him doing the pressuring, as always he only gently encouraged. The pressure came from her not wanting to hurt his feelings, and surprisingly, both moms. They understood the reasons why Denise didn't want to but they were getting antsy about when their children were going to tie the knot. If using Chris as an advantage pushed that wedding up then they were going to make sure she used him as an advantage. They didn't understand why they were dragging it out, they'd actually pushed for a wedding after Chris finished his Marvel contract. They argued that "Denise can still study and pursue a career while being married." But Chris knew the real reason Denise wanted to wait so he defended her decision even though he did agree with the moms.

While it was partially because Denise was worried people wouldn't take her seriously if they only saw her as his wife, she was also worried about being married. It wasn't a huge concern of Chris, he knew it wasn't about him; the girl loved him dearly. He knew it was the concept of marriage that scared her. She wanted the life she wrote about, they both knew that, but they didn't know if she was ready for it. Was she ready to be a wife, to be a mother? It was scary and she was scared, he could tell and he didn't blame her because she was only twenty-one. At twenty-one, he was doing something far from being a husband and father. Denise wanted to get married and have kids, but she didn't know if she could handle it while trying to find her place in the world; she preferred to have found her place before she took on all that.