The Girl Next Door (Chris Evans Fanfiction)

Chapter 22

"UNCLE CHRIS!" Stella squealed as he stepped into the house.

She came running over to him and he scooped her up, giving her cheek a big kiss before he asked, "Is Grandma home?"

"Mhmm," She played with Chris' baseball hat and pulled it off his head, putting it on hers. "Grammy and Momma just got home from taking Ethan and Myles to school. I got to stay wif' Auntie Shanna and Uncle Scotty though!"

"Oh really? Was that fun?" He asked her, carrying her into the living room where Scott was.

"Yeah! Auntie Shanna made pancakes!" She buzzed.

Scott looked up and held out his hands while asking his niece, "What about me? I helped!"

"Nuh-uh!" Stella giggled.

Chris chuckled while putting Stella down in Scott's lap and told them, "I'm going to let you guys duke this one out. I want to go talk to Ma."

He quickly left the room and peaked his head in the kitchen, finding both of his sisters who told him Lisa was upstairs. Chris took the stairs two at a time and found his mother in her bedroom vacuuming.

"Hi sweetie," She smiled at him.

"Hey Ma," Chris leaned in to kiss her cheek softly. "Look what I got for Stella for Christmas!"

Lisa turned off the vacuum cleaner and looked at the picture on his phone, smiling brightly when she saw the adorable pair of the pink sequined covered minnie mouse ears and exclaimed, "Oh she's going to love those!"

"I got a matching pair for Shanna and Carly too. I thought it would be perfect for our Disney trip," Chris said, sliding his phone back into his pocket.

"You should have gotten a pair for Erica too!" Lisa told him.

He responded to her with, "Well Erica's never been to Disney before so she doesn't have a use for them yet, but also I don't think I can picture her wearing pink ones, I'd need to get her black ones."

"That's true," She laughed, going over to sit on the edge of her bed and patted the spot next to her so Chris came over and took a seat. "Chris, I know that this trip has always been family only and that nobody has brought girlfriends or boyfriends along but if you want to bring Erica... I know everyone would be fine with that. I mean, the kids were disappointed when they found out she wasn't coming and to be honest, so am I!"

"I actually kind of wanted to talk to you about that actually...." Chris trailed off, scratching at the back of his neck.

Lisa smiled at her son before resting her hand on his shoulder and said, "Invite her, honey! We all would be so excited for her to come. It doesn't matter that she's not family."

"That's the thing though," He started, taking a deep breath. "I do want her to come on the Disney World trip but I want her to come as family."

"What are you saying Chris?" Lisa wrinkled up her eyebrows in confusion.

He stared down at his lap while he rubbed his sweaty palms on his jeans and then brought his blue eyes up to her almost identical ones and told her, "Ma, I think I've decided I want to ask Erica to marry me."

Lisa just sat there, staring at her eldest son while blinking slowly. It took her a long moment to fully process the information and when she finally did, tears began streaming from her eyes.

"Are you crying because you're happy or sad?" Chris couldn't help but chuckle, making her laugh softly.

"Are you kidding me?" Lisa laughed. "Of course because I'm happy! Why wouldn't I be happy that you want to marry that wonderful girl?"

"I was just checking," He snickered.

Lisa hugged him tightly before asking, "What made you decide this?"

"Well last night Erica and I were watching a movie and we were laying on the couch with the dogs and she fell asleep on my chest. When I looked down at her drooling on my chest I just thought about how everything I've ever wanted was right there fast asleep on me. She's exactly the woman I've dreamed of being with but it's even better than I could have imagined," Chris said, his own blue eyes now full of tears.

"Oh honey," She cooed, reaching up to cup his cheek. "Erica is so perfect for you in every way. I've never seen you as happy as you are when you're with her and it's obvious that she loves you just as deeply. I can't wait for her to be part of our family."

Chris sat there for a long time, realizing the decision he was making and immediately started crying. Through his tears he mused to his mother, "Oh my god, Ma, I'm going to ask her to marry me. If she says yes, I get to be with her forever. Can you imagine her as a mom? That is going to be the most amazing thing ever, she is going to be the best mom. I'll get to come home to her every day. Ma, do you think she'll say yes?"

"Of course she will," Lisa smiled, wiping some of his tears off of his face.

"I love her so much," He cried, so full of happiness.

Lisa couldn't even respond through her crying and just hugged him tightly while the pair let out their tears of happiness. Shanna happened to be walking by the room as this was happening and looked in the open door, seeing her mother and brother crying and quickly rushed in.

"What the hell? What's wrong? Wait, you and Erica didn't break up did you? Or did someone die? Is the Disney World trip canceled?" Shanna rambled before going to the hallway and calling out, "SCOTT! CARLY! COME UP HERE NOW!"

Within seconds, all of the sibling were in the room, all asking what was happening and Lisa told them, "Everything is fine. Chris just has some news."

"What is it?" Carly was curious.

Chris grabbed the bottom of his tee shirt, bringing it up to wipe the tears from his eyes before telling them, "...I'm going to ask Erica to marry me."

The three siblings stood there in complete shock just trying to take in the information. Carly was the first one to register his words and immediately burst into tears while running over to hug Chris tight. Quickly Shanna and Scott joined in along with Lisa as they all shared a group hug while tears came out of everyone's eyes. They all were overjoyed at the news and were so excited that this was going to happen.

Once all of their tears died down, everyone let go of each other and wiped at their eyes while standing in the room. Scott looked around at his family before finally looking into his brother's weepy eyes and told him, "This is such good news, I've always wanted a cool sister!"

Carly and Shanna both shouted, "HEY!" simultaneously before Carly put her hands on her hips and Shanna slapped his arm, making Scott laugh harder along with Chris.

"Well Erica is dating Chris so she can't be that cool," Shanna teased Chris, making him playfully glare at her.

"I'm so excited to have another daughter!" Lisa buzzed. "She fits so perfectly in our family and oh the kids are going to be so excited too!"

Hearing this made Chris speak up, "Oh yeah.... Nobody tell the kids because we all know that they'll blab before I ask her! I still need to talk to Dave and buy a ring."

Carly came over to sit on the other side of Chris and asked him, "Do you know how you're going to ask her?"

Chris got a big smile on his face before telling them, "I think I know just the perfect way...."