A Chance Meeting | Chris Evans

Chapter 73

'In here.' Scarlett said, opening a door and encouraging Becca into a bathroom that could have been in a magazine.
Wow. That's a lot of marble and chrome.
Becca stared for a moment, and then caught sight of herself in the mirror.
'Whoa.' She said, horrified.
'Yeah, you're a mess.' Scarlett said, following her in. 'But don't worry, we can fix it.'
'I'll just splash some water on my face.'
'I think it's going to take a bit more than water!' Scarlett said. 'What have you got with you?'
'What d'you mean?'
'You know - makeup? In your bag? What have you got - mascara, concealer, powder?'
'Err...nothing.' Becca admitted.
'What?' Scarlett looked aghast.
'I might have a lip balm at the bottom of the bag, but that's it.' Becca shrugged.
'But how do you touch up your makeup?'
'I don't. To be honest I don't really wear much makeup. The most I can usually be bothered to do is a bit of mascara if it's a special occasion.'
'Hmm.' Scarlett said, regarding her. 'I suppose it's a good job you're not wearing any tonight - it'd be running down your face right now.'
Becca splashed her face with water, and while it made her feel a lot better, it didn't do much for the blotchy skin or the red nose.
'Oh my God, this towel is so soft.' She said as she dried her face. 'Do you think Robert would notice if I stole it?'
Scarlett laughed. 'Probably not, but I think the next person to use the bathroom might.'
'True.'
There was a clatter as Scarlett emptied her bag out onto the side. Becca looked at her questioningly.
'Well, if you haven't got any makeup, we'll have to use mine.' Scarlett said. 'I haven't got much, just powder, mascara, eyeliner, shadow and lipstick.'
'That's not very much?' Becca laughed.
'This is nothing.' Scarlett said. 'You should see my make-up bag at home, it's like this big.' She mimicked the size of a huge bag with her hands.
Becca snorted.
'Hmm, I'm not sure this is going to suit your colouring.' Scarlett said, picking up the lipstick and looking at it. 'Maybe we'll just go big on eyes and downplay the lips.'
'It's really kind of you, but I think I'll skip it.' Becca said.
'Which bit?'
'All of it.'
'You don't want any?' Scarlett asked.
'I'm sure it'd look amazing, much better than I could do.' Becca said. 'But honestly I'm the sort of person that would rub their eyes after five minutes, ruin it all and end up looking like a panda.'
'You really don't want anything?' Scarlett asked. 'Not even a little concealer?'
Becca laughed at the horrified look on Scarlett's face. 'No thanks. I'll be fine.'
'You've got to at least let me put a bit of powder on the worst bits to take the redness down.'
'It's really not necessary.'
'Humour me.' Scarlett said firmly.
Becca shrugged. 'Fine, if you really want to. But I'll probably just end up rubbing it off on my sleeve.'
Scarlett didn't answer, just opened the powder compact and began to gently dab the powder on her nose and around her eyes.
'Okay, done.' She said. 'I've only put the tiniest amount on, but it looks a lot better than it did.'
'Thanks.' Becca said, smiling.
'No problem. Couldn't send you back out to Chris looking all red and blotchy.' Scarlett said with a knowing smile.
Becca looked away, feeling herself blush. She could sense Scarlett's gaze on her.
Is this about to turn into an interrogation?
The sound of a shout followed by laughter came through from the other side of the door.
'Sounds like they're back.' Becca said, relieved by the change in topic.
'Sounds like they're on that driving game again.' Scarlett said, rolling her eyes. 'Mark's probably here by now too - come on, I'll introduce you.'

****

When they walked back into the games room, Becca saw they were indeed back on the driving game. Chris was in one seat and Renner in the other and they appeared to be racing each other with the other guys standing round, encouraging and mocking in equal measure.
'Mark! Come and meet Becs.' Scarlett called.
All of them looked over, including Chris, and his distraction had obviously caused him to hit someone in the game, as there were howls of laughter.
'You ran over Grandma!' Hemsworth laughed.
Becca watched as the unmistakable figure of Mark Ruffalo came wandering over, followed by Robert.
It's Bruce Banner!
'Hi there.' He said, smiling warmly and holding out his hand. 'I'm Mark. Nice to meet you.'
She pushed her nerves down and forced herself to smile back and shake his hand.
'Hi.' She said. 'I'm Becs, or Becca.'
'Wow, eye contact and a handshake, you're getting better at this.' Robert said jokingly to Becca.
Mark pulled a confused face.
'He's mocking me.' Becca explained. 'I was...a little bit starstruck when I met the rest of them, and I kind of embarrassed myself.'
'I know how you feel.' Mark confessed. 'I still regularly have to pinch myself that I'm working with these guys. They're like superstars.'
Scarlett laughed. 'Kind of well-known yourself, Mark.'
'Yeah, but not like these guys.' Mark said, gesturing to the others.
Becca smiled. I like him, he seems very humble.
'Just don't expect her to have watched anything you've ever been in.' Robert said. 'For someone who supposedly loves movies, she's got some serious gaps.'
'Oh, I would never expect that.' Mark said. 'So you're Chris's...?' He left the question hanging.
Oh God, he asked! What the hell am I supposed to say?
Becca felt herself beginning to blush.
'Friend!' She blurted out.
She didn't look at the other two, but she could feel their eyes on her.
'Right.' Mark said.
Change the subject Becca!
'You know I have seen one of your films.' She said to Mark. 'I saw it the other night, it was called Now You See Me.'
'Ah, the magic one. What did you think of it?' He asked.
'I liked it. I thought that it was clever. I like clever films.'
'Well, I can't take credit for that, that's all due to the writers and the director.'
'And I never saw the twist coming.' Becca said. 'But then I hardly ever do.'
Her phone binged away.
'Excuse me.' She said, getting the phone out of her pocket and looking at the screen - it was Ella, probably wanting an update.
'Is there somewhere that I can take this?' She asked Rob.
'Sure - if you go through those doors, there's a patio area.' Rob said, pointing to a seating area outside, visible through huge wall to ceiling doors.
'Thanks.' She said, and walked off.

***
'She said 'friend'.' Rob said, watching her go.
'Mmm.' Scarlett said.
'Maybe she was just embarrassed to be put on the spot.' Mark suggested.
'Maybe.'
'I hope so, otherwise that doesn't bode well for Chris.' Robert said, seriously.
He watched her open the door and go out onto the patio.
'I'm going to go talk to her.' He said.
'Rob...' Scarlett said warningly. 'Don't screw things up.'
'Don't worry, I'll be subtle.' He said, grabbing a bottle and two glasses and heading for a different door.