The Girl Next Door (Chris Evans Fanfiction)

Chapter 5

"Erica! You're not wearing red, white and blue!" Ethan stated the moment that the willowy woman stepped out into the backyard.

This brought everyone's eyes over to notice her arrival while Erica just looked down at her clothing. She thought about her 4th of July outfit and said to the little boy, "Well I have denim shorts, that's blue. And the Red Hot Chili Peppers logo on my shirt has red... and then I'm pale as a ghost so my skin is my white, ta-da! Red, white and blue!"

"You made that up!" Ethan accused her.

She just cracked up while putting her hands on the curve of her hips, "Well I'm at a party with your uncle, Captain America, so I think that's about as patriotic as it gets!"

Erica then kneeled down and looked at Ethan as well as Myles and Stella who had come over to see her and she opened her arms wide while shining her giant beaming smile at the kids and said, "Now get over here and let me squeeze you all!"

The kids giggled while running over and let Erica wrap the three of them up in a giant hug, squeezing them tight and making them giggle like crazy. Chris watched the sight from where he stood next to the barbeque and just admired it for a long moment.

He had only known Erica for about a month but it already had seemed like they were old friends. They constantly were starting their day singing out their windows together, texting one another constantly, especially pictures of their dogs, going out to dinner, marathoning TV shows together, or having dog play dates in their backyards on Saturday. In the past couple weeks, Erica had slowly been introduced to each member of the Evans family and each one of them instantly fell in love with her charming and joyful personality. She now was included on family dinners, running errands with Lisa, babysitting the kids at Chris' house and now the family 4th of July party.

His blue eyes watched her while she kissed the kids cheeks before walking around to each member of the family that were scattered around the concrete fire pit in the backyard and greeted them each with a giant hug and an enthusiastic hello. Chris just loved to watch how she interacted with people but his thoughts didn't have time to linger on it because soon enough her bright smile was in front of him.

"So did you just wake up with a little extra justice and righteousness coursing through your veins this morning, Cap?" Erica joked, her dark eyes sparkling. "I mean, this is like your national holiday!"

"Very funny sporty spice," He pretended to be amused while taking a sip of his beer. "I think the real question here is why did everyone else get a hug and not me?"

She just smiled before standing on her tip toes so that she could throw her slender arms around his neck and press her entire body up against his and squeezed him tight. Chris laughed while holding his beer in one hand but used his other to snake around her waist and pull her tighter against him and return her hug.

Chris enjoyed the feeling of her thin frame pressed up against his firm body. She seemed to fit perfectly in his arms and because she was up so tight against him, her dark curly waves were right against his face and when he breathed he could smell the vanilla scent in her hair.

All too soon she had pulled away and went to sit next to Shanna, grabbing a beer on the way. Chris was over by the barbeque, grilling up the burgers for dinner and Carly had come over to help when Lisa brought out more buns.

"Chris, stop gawking at Erica and pay attention to the food. That side is getting burned," Carly chuckled, pointing to the burgers.

He quickly pulled his attention back to the grill and quickly flipped them while telling her, "I wasn't gawking."

"Yes you were honey," Lisa laughed, patting her son's back. "It's okay if you were, she's very pretty."

"It's not even that, it's...." Chris trailed off.

He turned his head and let his blue eyes find Erica. She was kneeling on the ground with Ethan, Myles and Stella all around her. She helped them open a pack of sparklers and held them out while Scotty kneeled down and lit them before Erica gave one to each of the kids. He watched the way they interacted and when the kids faces lit up form playing with the sparklers, Erica watched them with joy.

"Erica is just so... different. She's not like any girl I've ever met in my life," Chris told them, his eyes still focused on her. "She's just so genuine and so happy being herself. She's not inhibited by anyone else and she's just so full of love for everyone."

"She's so much like you in that way," Lisa smiled at him.

Carly then had to pipe in and said to Chris, "You want to know why I think you like her? I think you like her because she challenges you. She surprises you and keeps you on your toes. She's not afraid to tell you that you're being an idiot or make fun of you."

"I've always wanted to be with someone like that, someone normal that I can have a regular life with away from the spotlight. I guess I just always ended up dating other famous people because that's not only who I was around, but I thought that they were the ones who wouldn't care that I'm famous because they are too. I don't know, Erica is just...." He trailed off.

"Perfect for you," Lisa finished.

Chris thought about it for a long moment, realizing that his feelings for Erica had grown even more than he had realized but told his sister and mother, "I want to be careful though. I mean, I feel like I just always jump head first into stuff like this so maybe I'll just kind of see how it goes."

Their conversation was interrupted when Chris' bulky framed jumped, hearing a crack and feeling a tiny pain on his leg causing him to shout, "Shit!"

He looked over and found the culprit quickly. Erica was still kneeling with the kids and Scotty while they all hysterically were laughing. She had a box of pop-its in her hand and he watched as she threw another one at him, making a loud cracking noise.

Without another word, he took off running toward her, making Erica squeal and get up to run away from him. This only made everyone laugh harder as they watched Erica desperately trying to get away from Chris.

Because of his long legs and amazing physical shape, it didn't take long for Chris to catch up with Erica. His thick arms grabbed her waist and quickly got her laying on her back on the grass. He grabbed her arms and pinned them down with one of his big hands while straddling her hips to keep her from moving.

"Better apologize," Chris taunted while pushing up her tee shirt enough to show her soft white skin on her side where he started to tickle.

"NO!" She shrieked, trying to wiggle underneath him which only made him lean down farther to pin her down more.

Seeing the position they were in, Carly couldn't help but tease them and shout, "Kiss her already!"

Without missing a beat, Erica craned her neck around Chris to see Carly and yelled right back, "You can't tell Steve Rogers to kiss anyone but Peggy! Especially on the 4th of July! C'mon, Carly, that's like in the Constitution or something!"

Chris couldn't help but crinkle his eyes up and let out his boisterous laughter at Erica's response. This gave her the opportunity to wiggle her hands away from his grasp and she pushed his hunky frame into the grass, letting her get the upper hand and tackled him while calling for Ethan, Myles and Stella to come help her. The kids happily all came over and jumped on their uncle, making him only laugh even harder while the rest of the family watched, wanting the pair to get together so one day that scene would be happening with their own children.