The Girl Next Door (Chris Evans Fanfiction)

Chapter 29

"So you know I have to change the subject a little bit," Jimmy Fallon said, looking at Chris who sat in the square chair across from him. "You're now engaged!"

Chris started grinning from ear to ear as he answered, "Yeah I'm really happy."

"How did you guys meet?" Jimmy kept the interview going while leaning his arms on his desk.

Chris rubbed his hands on his long legs before telling him, "Well she actually is my next door neighbor and my dog wandered into her backyard one day and that was that."

"Aww, that's a very cute story," Jimmy said before going on. "I actually got to meet Erica at the Oscars last week."

His eyebrow rose as he asked, "Oh did you? I didn't know that!"

"Yeah I don't know where you were but she was tearing up the dance floor in her sneakers and I went up and introduced myself because I just thought she was hilarious and I had to know who she was," Jimmy said, making Chris tip his head back and laugh loudly.

"If there is one thing Erica loves, it's dancing," He told Jimmy. "She loves singing too even though she's terrible at it."

"You told me backstage that she sings a specific song in the morning..." Jimmy led Chris into the story.

Chris rubbed his hand on his beard before letting out his giggling laughter, "Yeah she'll open her window in the morning and sing the opening song from Beauty and the Beast and then I'll sing along with her."

"I think you have a video that you brought right?" Jimmy said and Chris nodded before they showed the video of Erica bursting out her window singing loudly and Chris' adorable laughter could be heard from where he filmed.

Chris enjoyed talking about Erica on the show and telling fun stories about their relationship. He normally didn't ever like to talk about his relationships publicly but now that he was engaged, he didn't feel all the pressure to keep it silent and to be honest, he just was so happy that he couldn't help but talk about her.

It seemed like everything was just going perfectly. Erica had been handling all the press and attention so well ever since the Oscars last week, not hardly saying a word about it, other than going on and on about how wonderful Hugh Jackman had been. After that, they had spent a few days in California and then flown to New York for Jimmy's show today and another interview Chris had after that. They were going back to Boston tomorrow but Chris was planning on taking Erica out for a nice dinner tonight.

What he didn't know was that while he walked back to the hotel, full of joy, Erica was in the hotel room feeling the exact opposite. Ever since the Oscars last week, she had a gnawing feeling in her stomach that wouldn't go away. She felt like being at the big event only reminded her how much she didn't belong there.

She knew she shouldn't, but for the first time since, she had looked up some of the articles online and felt devastated when she read some of the cruel things people had commented but some of them, she couldn't quite blame them. It was obvious that Erica was just normal, she wasn't a talented star and that terrible thought plagued her that one day Chris was going to wake up and realize that and be disappointed in her.

She watched the interview he did with Jimmy and felt horrified with how much Chris had talked about her. Erica didn't want all of the attention and was afraid that would only show the greater divide between them and when Chris walked through the door to the hotel room, all of the anxious nervous feelings she had been stuffing down for so long came exploding out.

"What the hell Chris!" Erica said, catching him off guard as he gave her a weird look.

"What?" His eyebrows knitted together.

"You showed a video of me on Jimmy Fallon and talk about our relationship a ton without me even knowing? Didn't you think it might be a good idea to talk to me about this first?" Her hands came to rest on the curve of her hips.

Chris had no idea where this all was coming from and he sarcastically threw back, "I'm sorry, I didn't realize I had to consult you about all the things I say and get approval from you first."

"I just thought you might have some consideration for my privacy and see if I'm okay with this!" She retorted.

"Oh so I can't talk about my own fiance now?" Chris was angry and crossed his arms in front of his toned chest while his nostrils flared.

Erica flicked some of her dark curls over her shoulder before telling him, "Um, it's a little different when it's to millions of people on national television! You can be so damn selfish Chris!"

"Me selfish?" Chris scoffed as he pointed to himself. "I'm not the one making demands to someone of what they can or can't fucking say!"

"You know that's not what I'm doing! I'm asking you to have some consideration for me and maybe not tell everything about me to everyone on TV! I've kind of had a lot to handle in the past week!" She tossed her hands in the air, insanely upset with him not noticing that this had been hard for her."Maybe, just maybe, I don't want all your fans seeing videos of me and knowing all this stuff about me so they can have more things to hate and criticize me for!"

"Well this is my life Erica!" He shouted at her.

"Maybe I don't want it to be mine!" She yelled right back.

Hearing those words made the entire room quiet. The previous shouts that echoed off the wall was now changed to silence that was more painful and deafening than the yelling. Chris stood there frozen for a long time until his low voice finally spoke up, "Are you serious?"

Erica stared at her feet while telling him, "Yes... if you're not going to have any respect for my feelings, that's not a relationship Chris."

"Well not being part of my life isn't a relationship either," He asserted before he mused, "Maybe this was a mistake... maybe we aren't right for each other."

Erica swore that she could feel those words ripping her heart in half while her shiny eyes filled with tears, "You mean that?"

His sculpted jawline was clenched tightly, "Maybe."

Without another word, Erica tried to blink back her tears while she pulled the shiny diamond ring off of her left hand. She put it down on the table in the hotel before grabbing her purse and quickly walking past Chris and out of his life.