"You do know that you're the most ridiculous person on the face of the planet right?" Chris chuckled while helping her put a bow on the dog house she had finished building in the back yard. "I mean, having a birthday party for Jacky... okay whatever, but you don't need to wrap his presents and put bows on them!"
"I want to make it special for him!" Erica argued. "Also you're the one who had a banana shoved in your ass so I think you're the most ridiculous person ever, not me."
Chris slapped his hand to his chest before shaking his head, "I knew I should have never let you watch that movie!"
"Oh you're never going to live that down, I hope you know that," She laughed, patting his shoulder.
Their conversation was interrupted by hearing both Jacky and Dodger bark, alerting them to the people coming into the back yard. The whole Evans clan came boisterously with gifts for Jacky and shortly after, Erica's Uncle Dave came and once he got introduced to everyone, he had to go over and laugh at the new dog house in the back yard.
"What is this? The Ritz-Carlton for dogs?" He cracked up, looking over the elaborate dog house.
"It's just a dog house!" Erica defended.
"Erica, it has glass windows and shingles on the roof.... I think that classifies it as overblown," Chris crossed his arms over his toned chest and laughed.
"I like it!" Stella giggled, walking into the dog house and sitting inside, quickly followed by Ethan and Myles who called for Dodger and Jacky who ran over and tried to smoosh inside with them.
"See, they appreciate my artistry," She motioned.
Erica then remembered something she had and ran over, grabbing party hats and put them on Jacky and Dodger, making everyone laugh while the dogs played. Chris couldn't help but take out his phone and video the dogs playing while wearing their party hats while Erica called, "Dodger, Jacky, come here! Come here babies! I have treats for you!"
Both of the dogs came running and Chris ended his video while Erica gave them each a treat. While this was going on, Chris uploaded the video to twitter, loving to share Dodger videos and having him play with the adorable golden retriever only made it cuter.
'Dodger is living his best life at his friend's birthday party' Chris typed out a caption before posting it and then shoving his phone back in his pocket.
Everyone gathered around the table Erica had on her desk and enjoyed sitting around, eating some birthday cake until Dave told his niece, "I brought Jacky a birthday present since I think at this point, he's the only kid Erica will ever have"
Erica gave her uncle a playful smack before pulled the box open and pulled out the rope that Jacky loved to play with. She smiled before showing Jacky who was happy to trot over and bit one end and Dave held the other end to play with him.
"I got Jacky a little something too," Chris patted the dog's soft fur before pulling an item out of a bag he brought and Erica laughed when she saw the item.
It was a stuffed animal lion that played 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight' when you pressed it's paw. Dodger had that toy and the two dogs loved to lick and bring it around with them whenever they were at Chris' house.
"I figured Jacky needed one of these too since they love it so much," He said while the dogs both immediately ran over to the toy. As it started playing it's music, the dogs started howling to sing along, making everyone laugh while Chris added, "Hey that howling sounds a lot like you when you sing Erica!"
Everyone cracked up even more while Erica tried to hide her smile and give Chris a playful glare, "Don't make me beat you up Evans."
"I'd like to see you try," He smirked.
Lisa, Shanna and Carly all shared a look while hearing their flirting but Scott interrupted their silent conversation while staring at his phone, "Uh oh Chris, you opened a can of worms."
"How's that?" Chris wondered while scratching at his beard.
Scott smirked while looking at Erica and then back and Chris and showed the video he posted on twitter, "People heard Erica's voice in the video and now want to know who she is and if she's your girlfriend."
Chris slapped his hand to his chest, tipping his head back and laughing at the response. He hadn't even realized that she was talking during the video but leave it to the fans to notice and then wonder who the mystery woman's voice belonged to.
"Here it comes Erica, everyone's going to be obsessed with Jacky now that they think it's my girlfriend's dog," Chris laughed while looking over at her.
She just chuckled and shook her head, pretending the just brush it off even though internally, she was terrified. Often times, Erica kind of forgot that Chris was famous. He just didn't act like somebody of his star status, he just was like a regular guy and because of that, being reminded that he had millions of fangirls freaked her out.
The other part that bothered her was that it only reminded her the greater divide between them. Sometimes when she would be with him, it seemed like they were the only people in the world... she felt like she was the only one who mattered to him. She was crazy about him, but being reminded that there wasn't a chance between the two only made her upset.
Erica didn't let on to any of this and only laughed it off. While Scotty began reading some of the comments, Jacky and Dodger ran to chase after a squirrel over by one of the trees in the backyard and Erica let out a soft sigh of relief since this gave her an excuse to get up and leave the conversation.
She followed the dogs over and played with them after the squirrel had gone away. Erica gave herself enough time to take a breather and try to push everything from her mind, although it didn't work. At one moment, she heard Chris' adorable boisterous laughter and she looked over at the deck where everyone was sitting and looked at Chris. His gorgeous hunky frame sat on the plastic chair, his legs crossed, one arm propped up resting against his bearded jawline and the other resting on his leg. His loud voice filled the air and he absentmindedly looked over at her and made eye contact then gave her a wide smile that showed off his pearly whites. It practically made Erica's heart ache and in that moment, she knew she had to let her feelings for him go.