Throughout the week, Chris and I talked every night and just like when we were apart before, we would FaceTime until we both fell asleep. This way we could wake up together no matter how far apart we were. With award season coming up quickly, and Chris having a good deal of time off recently, his team was pushing for him to be a presenter if possible. That way his face would still be relevant and as they had so delicately put it, 'keep his fans fed with new content'. Apparently he hadn't been out there or in pictures enough for the agency to be comfortable with since he had a girlfriend and the holiday season had been in effect.
What better way to get people talking than to pair him with Scarlett if possible. He did tell me what they were hoping to set into motion and I told him I was fine with it. In actuality, I really didn't think I should have a say in something like that. He is his own person and I have to trust him to know what's right and what may be considered taking something too far. If that trust wasn't there, we had a problem. She had a husband now so I figured the same applied to them as well.
So, the pairing with Scarlett was already a possibility, but at the same time, Chris wanted me to accompany him as his date and didn't seem to budge on the idea, he was adamant actually. I wasn't sure how his team felt about that but I also didn't ask.
Since Chris was famous for bringing Scott and other members of his family to awards and premieres, I knew it would be a big deal when the time came for me to be his plus one. We had started out small with Scott posting a few things along with Sebastian and Chace. It would be bigger than the Jimmy Fallon Show. Neither of us really acknowledged it after it aired since we still wanted to maintain some privacy. It was also one of those times we made sure not to look online either. We had posted a few pictures, mine being private, but Chris didn't want to hide the fact that he had a girlfriend even though he still wanted privacy, so these posts and appearances had been baby steps and were done gradually. Then there was the charity event, with the behind the scenes fiasco we just dealt with. The pictures from us arriving would come out with everyone else's and hopefully nobody caught wind of what Jenny had done. That was why I tried to finish the night there without showing the emotion that eventually came later. Now we had the impending award season and premieres for him and a few for friends. Then it would just become a normal, regular thing for me to have to get fitted for dresses to match 'Chris Evans the movie star'.
As soon as it was announced, within days of the concept being brought up, that Chris was definitely listed as a presenter, along with Scarlett, the chatter did start. Luckily for me, I was with Scotty when it started. Unfortunately, Chris was filming and we hadn't made our way to the point of reuniting with him in LA. Scott insisted we were not dropping our tiny, few day vacation just because Chris' fans were whispering about him, yet again, always being paired with Scarlett. He told Chris to tell Megan to handle it and not look online, just throw himself into work and relax. I did agree with Scott. After the past week of events, a little space would be good, and if he was anxious about how I was doing with the comments going around, he should imagine how I actually felt with what had already happened.
I was handling things okay though. I expected this and even though it still annoys me that people fantasize about Chris being with Scarlett, I can't change it so worrying does nothing. That's par for the course of being with him. It's the world he lives in, as long as he doesn't act on it. I know he comes home to me and falls asleep with me on video if we aren't physically together. Plus, it did make me feel good, as nervous as it would make me, that he was almost begging for me to take the first step of being his plus one from now on.
It was nice once the meetings were done, early I might add, and the next installment of my novel was set to go to the final phase of publishing. That meant I was free to spend time with Scott.
We would be moving to our next stop tomorrow so we decided to go out and walk around before packing up. As long as Scott had a hat on, it was kind of easy for us to go incognito. He wanted to go shopping first and then find a quick bite to eat somewhere. The first thing I had done was change into jeans, a tee shirt and sneakers, then grabbed my sweatshirt I brought of Chris' for comfort. Before we had left home, I even sprayed an extra little bit of his favorite cologne on the inside so it smelled even more like him. My hair had been down in the meetings, so I threw it up in a ponytail so it didn't get all tangled sitting on the hood. I didn't even try to touch up my makeup because I hadn't put too much on earlier anyway. Basically, I was now in my comfortable, everyday attire that Chris and I had lived in for the past few months while we were home.
I still wasn't used to just buying whatever I wanted just because Chris had the money, but Scott was. He had an armful of clothes for me to try on and had picked out some things for himself along with a tee shirt for Y/K/N. After I was done, I kept only one pair of shorts, a tee shirt and a tank top, something new to take to LA with me. I packed some clothes with Chris to have there for me since he would have multiple bags already. That way I only had my carry on when I made my way to him. When Scott noticed I only kept three of the items he had something to say about that.
"So, out of all that you took in that fitting room, you're only keeping those?"
"Yeah. Chris has my clothes for LA packed with his stuff and he does have a washing machine at the house, correct?"
"Don't be silly. Yes he has a washing machine. But I know Chris gave you one of his credit cards, and he did it for a reason. If you aren't keeping these clothes because of the price, just use the card."
"Scotty! No. I am not using his card. I'm using my card."
"He wants you to use the card. He wouldn't have given it to you if he didn't."
"I only took it because he insisted and I told him I'd keep it for emergencies to make him feel better. And Y/K/N doesn't need any more clothes so you can put that shirt back that I saw you sneak in that pile."
"You do know I also have a card he gave me and I'm using it?"
"Of course I know. I mean, he is my boyfriend, he does tell me things, ... most of the time." Scott glared at me for a moment due to my dig at his brother for not telling me about Scarlett. "Anyway, that's you, not me. I'm not using it, end of story."
Scott's tone changed into a mumble as he started looking back through the pile in his hand, putting a few things back.
"Way to blow the mood Trouble. Make me feel even more like a freeloader, why don't you?"
"Scotty, I'm not judging you or trying to make you feel a certain way. You do what you want to do and I'll do what I want to do."
While he was deciding what to keep and what to put back, I hurried to the cashier since he was occupied. That way I could pay before he tried to sneak his way into somehow paying for my items with Chris' card. By the time he realized I was gone, I had my bag in my hand and was waiting up front for him. He walked up to the line and looked at me carefully with a knowing look before speaking only so I could hear.
"I'm still getting the shirt for Y/K/N because I want to be a cool uncle."
I spoke in the same tone. "You aren't his uncle yet."
Speaking out the side of his mouth Scott chuckled with his words. "Key word is, ...yet. Might as well be. Don't look at what I bought either."
"You better not have anything in that pile for me."
"Then you might want to walk over to the side."
"Scott Andrew, I'm being serious."
"Oh stop it. My brother may or may not have asked me to pick something up for you so I'm just doing what I was told. He likes my taste when it comes to buying things for you."
"Please tell me you aren't buying me intimate wear."
"Get a grip woman. I mean, I would if he asked me to, not that I want to even think about any of that scenario with what you wear or don't wear when you and ...."
I stopped him. "Don't even finish that thought. Let's just finish up and get something to eat."
It was a good thing we were next in line and after laying his pile down, the cashier began small talk with Scott while I watched and then it happened. A second younger lady walked up, looking at Scott and I could tell she recognized him before she spoke. She started folding the clothes to put in the bag while the other woman continued to scan the tags.
"Aren't you Scott Evans?"
I immediately looked down to pretend my fingers were very interesting and took one step to the side as Scott answered.
"Why, yes I am."
The girl smiled and asked if she could get a picture. Of course Scott couldn't resist. "You sure can."
As if the timing couldn't be worse, my phone began to ring. By the sound, I knew it was Chris and it was FaceTime. Usually, he only did that when he knew I was somewhere that I wasn't around strangers. That's why I had a cute Avengers theme ringtone for when he called. Of course he decided to randomly use it right now.
After yanking it from my back pocket, I was trying to silence it but the girl recognized the sound immediately which told me she was a bigger fan than we realized. Mental note, change Chris' damn ringtone off of the Avengers theme. It was not cute in times like this. I hit the decline button which, of course, didn't work because he called back. I tried to text him but he called again. Glancing up, there was no reason to try any longer to hide it. She was staring and I hit accept as I was turning the volume way down and spoke quietly to the concerned face looking at me on my screen. "Everything's fine, I'll call you right back." Then I hung up and texted Chris that we were in a store, we were fine but someone recognized Scott and to give us a few minutes.
Looking back up, I saw they had taken their picture and Scott was back at the counter, still checking out. I already had a vibe that this woman seemed kind of snobby and like she thought a lot of herself. Completely opposite of me. I felt like she was sizing me up though, as she turned her questions to me. "You're Chris' girlfriend aren't you? It's cute that your ringtone is Avengers. You were on Jimmy Fallon with them in October. You know, people look so different on t.v. with more makeup and lighting. I didn't recognize you before, but it makes sense now, being here with his brother. Is he here too?"
I knew if I let myself speak too much that I'd tell her where she could go. Or better yet, just tell her that he was here, just laying in bed naked at the hotel, waiting impatiently for me, his lover, to return so he could have whatever ways he wanted with me into all hours of the night. I smiled tightly before giving her the shortest answer I could before I said too much. "He's working."
"Oh that's fun. A little shopping with his brother while he works? Is it for a new movie?"
There was no way I was answering this lady about his work, even if I could. "That's confidential, so it's only for the people closest to him to know. Scotty and I are on our way to meet up with him in a few days." Turning away, I began to look at my phone so I didn't have to look at her.
Scott stood a little straighter, done with his purchase and bag in hand. I felt the air change somehow and I knew Scott was going to say something. "Well, it's a good thing she's one of those women who doesn't need a lot of makeup to be beautiful. That's probably why you didn't recognize her, it's one thing that drew my brother to her...she's not fake at all. She's one of those naturally pretty people, the kind that is like, what you see is what you get. They are very much alike and like to just hang out and be comfortable, not have a bunch of materialistic shit, you know? Just each other. I wish more people could see it because it's so adorable, but you know how it is? Some people like to keep some things more private than others. You really can't blame him with the way some of his fans act sometimes. There's a few that get a little too intrusive."
The cashier looked like she wanted to crawl in a hole and hide as Scott kept speaking. The lady who had made her comments, well she stood there, speechless. She looked from me to Scott and repeated her actions a few times as he spoke. I raised my eyebrows and shrugged because I thought she deserved it, but after it looked like he wasn't going to stop, I spoke up while I tugged at his arm to leave.
"Sorry. He's a bit over-protective of his best friend and brother."
As I guided Scott away I noticed a girl behind us that had her phone out now also, registering who he was. I began to speed up my step so I was in front of him, knowing he'd keep up. If he let me out of his sight in New York City, Chris would be livid so I used that to my advantage. I could hear Scott breathing heavily behind me before he spoke up. "Why are we in such a hurry?"
"Oh, well you know, Mr. Inconspicuous, there was a phone out behind us in line and who knows what that bitch will say to people or online about her Evans encounter."
We slowed down and ducked into the restaurant we had already looked up before venturing out. It was just a quick little pizza joint so we picked a corner table near the back. Thankfully we hadn't been followed. "Was I supposed to just let her talk about you like that, because I can promise you if Chris was here he..."
"Scott, stop. If Chris was here we wouldn't be here right now because we would have to stay in the hotel."
I hadn't meant for it to sound like that and I could tell I had taken him off guard so I tried to fix it after we gave the waitress our drink orders. "Scott, ...Friendly, I'm pulling the bff card right now. Please. I need you to be my friend right now and not his brother. Please don't tell him I said that because it came out all wrong. You know I didn't mean it the way it sounded."
"I know. I won't tell him. Look, I know it has to be hard being his girlfriend...". The waitress brought our drinks and we ordered a pepperoni pizza. After she left he continued. "...and I know there is nothing normal about any dates the two of you go on because of who he is, but I meant what I said. Watching the two of you behind closed doors, where everything is normal, is adorable. I sound like a broken record, but I'm saying it again. He loves you and ..."
Rudely, I tried to interject before the lecture. "I know, I'm just saying..."
Scott then cut me off. "...no, let me finish. I'm not trying to rehash things everyone has already talked about. I'm just saying, I admire how you stay. In the past, girls have either gotten tired of how set in his ways he is, how stubborn he is, how his fans act or a lot of things that come with being him. Hell, the only reason I stay sometimes is because he's my brother."
"You do realize you aren't always the easiest to be around either right?"
Scott chuckled along with me before continuing. "Nonsense! All I'm saying is thank you for being you. I have seen him grow so much over the past year and it's all because of you. If I didn't know it before, that situation we were just in would have made it clear. You were calm and took the rude comments in stride while I wanted to tell her where she could go."
"I wanted to tell her that too, I just bit my tongue instead. Scott, I know some of what's said about Chris having an average woman when his fans think he should be with some super model or beautiful actress younger than him."
"First, nobody can beat you in any category because you are what he's been waiting for. Most of what you just described are high maintenance or fake and that's why they are still single. Secondly, what have I said about looking online at that bullshit?"
"Sometimes I just want to know. Others, my cousin tells me and sometime Y/K/N sees it and wants to vent. It is what it is and always will be. Okay, enough talk about this subject. I'll always be insecure and you'll always say nice things because of how close we are. Plus, I'm just ready to have fun and that subject isn't fun or going to go anywhere."
Before Scott could say anything, his phone began to ring. After looking at the screen, he looked up at me and I figured it had been too long for us not to have called Chris back. I had texted him about Scott getting recognized and he hadn't heard back from us because it took longer than I thought. Scott answered the phone.
"Hello." He was quiet and I could actually hear Chris speaking loudly. The waitress brought our pizza and I thanked her as Scott closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. I pulled out my phone and knew exactly what Scott was listening to. A lecture from his brother because I now see I have multiple texts asking if I was okay. Plus another phone call which must have been right before Chris called Scott. I forgot to turn the sound back on and we were so busy trying to get out of the store and to the restaurant unseen that it slipped my mind. Poor Scott pulled the phone from his ear a little and looked up at me. Giving him a sympathetic smile, I called Chris.
Scott smiled and said goodbye to his brother and immediately began to eat, as my call connected. Chris was not as loud when he answered.
"I'm sorry, I just needed to know you were both safe and you weren't answering me..."
"I'm sorry too. I forgot my sound was turned off and didn't see you had texted until you had already called Scott. That's my fault. We got wrapped up in trying to get out of the store and not be followed here where we are eating. The one lady was so rude and Scott put her in her place."
"What happened? Why was she rude?"
I told Chris a quick version, and of course he reacted just how I expected. My concern was if the girl was too irritated, how much she would post on social media, so I told him he may want to let Megan know. Then I told him we would call him on video when we got back to the hotel.
Once I hung up, I started to eat and Scott spoke up. "I hope he realizes he won't be monopolizing all of your time on the phone while you are with me right?"
"I think right now he is pretty irritated, not at you or me, but he reacted exactly how you'd expect. You'll need to go easy on him for right now, he was just worried."
"He should be irritated."
"Let's not start again."
—————————————
The only thing that came out of the incident at the store was the picture of the lady with Scott and a caption that he was shopping with his brother's girlfriend. She said he was kind of defensive when it came to me but in his defense, she probably let jealousy get the beat of her and could have been a bit nicer to me. I asked Scott to thank her for acknowledging that and that we really appreciated the comment. So, at least that turned out well. The poor girl did have to shut her comments off though because people started hounding her about anything and everything that could be asked about Chris and I.
The picture and her disabling her comments, which was the right move, stirred the pot even more on tumblr though. Tons of fake things started going around and it seemed like every hour Chris was spotted or with someone other than me. We knew it wasn't true because he was at work and talking or texting with Scott and I regularly. I eventually told him I lost count of everyone he was supposedly with and to stop looking online because I had tuned it out. Some of the things these people came up with were ridiculous. I told him to concentrate on work and we'd be together soon.
Scott and I had a few days at the beach and it was really nice. I had a lot of time to just think and get through some of my thoughts on things that had happened in the past few weeks. Even though everyone told me I was adjusting well to what comes with the spotlight my boyfriend had, it didn't always feel like it. From Jenny cornering me, to the realization that Chris really had been with Scarlett, to the rude sales lady acting like she didn't recognize me because I was not all dolled up, to the rumor mill on social media. It had been a lot in a short amount of time. I found myself staring out at the waves at sunset one night where it was peaceful and just tried to clear my mind.
I woke the next morning to a post from Scott on Instagram that he had tagged me in. I didn't even know he had taken the picture.
@scottevansgram
This will be a long one folks so hold in tight. I have to get my feelings out on this one and it is so important, I need to share it. (She may just kill me for it though, but she's worth it).
This girl has become such an important person. Not just to me, but to my whole family. This is my love letter to her. One of my best friends. My confidant. Sidekick. Other half. Soulmate. My diamond in the rough. Partner in crime. My TROUBLE maker. I didn't know I was missing you until I found you and now I will never let you go. I am literally weeping as I write this because it hurts to think of any kind of life for me without you in it, that's how much I've come to love you and rely on you! I mean no disrespect to ANY of my other friends, but if you've seen us together, you know exactly what I am talking about. We even finish each other's sentences and thoughts and it drives some people crazy (you know who you are😉). Watching you look out at the ocean within your own thoughts tonight has brought me into my own. You don't even realize that I know what you're doing, but I see you, as I sit on the balcony here, writing this. In a little over a year, I have gained so much, all because of a flat tire. (That is a story for another time folks). Some people will never realize that they let one of the best things on earth slip through their fingertips. I am such a selfish person for reasons I will not go into, but that person's loss is another person's gain and I hit the lottery. This holds true in more ways than one in this scenario (also not going into detail on that one either). You underestimate yourself constantly and never believe me when I say you're worth more than all the money in the world. Hopefully you've learned by now, I'm ALWAYS right when it comes to things I have a hunch about. Just believe in yourself sweetie, you are one of the purest people I know, and with you, what you see is what you get. If you have an issue with something or someone, you let them know. Sometimes they don't realize it until days later, but you said what you needed to. You don't hesitate to call me or 'others 😉' out on our shit because that's who you are.
I gained a best friend, another family I consider as one of my own, and a new world through your eyes. You are the missing piece I hadn't realized I needed to this puzzle called life and everything fits so perfectly now that I'm going to glue you in and make you stay. (Corny but I'm going with it). I love you MY Trouble maker. Never change but always remember your value!
~your Friendly~