The Girl Next Door (Chris Evans Fanfiction)

Chapter 31

Lisa was surprised when she heard the doorbell to the house ring. It was after dinner long after the sun had set and she was expecting any visitors. Scott was in LA, Chris was out back, Carly was just putting the kids to bed and Shanna was sitting next to her on the couch in the living room.

"Who is that I wonder?" Lisa said, looking at her youngest daughter. "I'm not expecting anyone."

Shanna's eyes grew wide while she asked, "Do you think it's Erica?"

"I can only hope," Lisa was honest as she quickly got to her feet and hurried to the door.

When she pulled it open, she was disappointed when she didn't see a curly headed woman but instead a tall thin man. Lisa quickly ushered him in and closed the door behind him before she greeted him, "Hi Dave, I didn't expect to see you here tonight."

"I didn't expect to be here," He couldn't help but chuckle. "I hope I'm not interrupting."

"You're only interrupting Chris' moping and grumpiness," Shanna rolled her eyes.

Dave shoved his hands in the pocket of his jeans and asked, "So I take it that Chris isn't handling this too well either?"

Lisa huffed, "That's an understatement. He has been so grumpy and touchy and when he's not like that, he's moping around like a teenager. I finally told him a few days ago that I wasn't going to listen to him anymore."

"Especially after he told us Erica came over and wanted to talk to him and he shot her down," Shanna was so ticked off at her brother and informed Dave, "Scott wanted to fly back here just to beat him up after that."

Lisa nodded before she had to ask Dave, "How is Erica doing?"

"Um she's okay," He shrugged, not wanting to make it worse by telling them how torn up she's been. "I'm not normally one to interfere but I just feel like her and Chris need to talk, even if they end up sticking with their decision to break up and I'm not making a whole lot of progress on Erica's side so I figured I'd maybe come over and see if I can do some good over here."

"Well Erica may have a wall up, but Chris has erected the Berlin Wall so good luck," Lisa shook her head thinking about her stubborn son.

She told him where he was so Dave walked through the house and out to the back deck. He saw Chris' bulky frame sitting on the edge of the deck in the moonlight while he threw a tennis ball, making Dodger run after it before he joyfully brought it back to Chris and hoped for him to throw it again.

"Pretty cold to be out here tonight," Dave made his presence known before coming to sit down next to Chris.

He let out a long sigh, not really wanting to have to talk to Dave but knowing that since he was here, it was unavoidable. Chris just shrugged, "Yeah it's is."

An awkward silence settled over them before Dave began, "Chris, you know why I'm here to talk to you."

"I appreciate what you're trying to do, but Dave it's really not worth it, I don't think anything will make a difference now," Chris was cold and flat, a complete opposite of his normal joyful and exuberant self.

"I'm not here to tell you that you should marry her," Dave said truthfully. "If you don't truly love her and want to marry her, then I'm going to be the first one shoving you out the door because you don't deserve her," He stopped for a moment while Chris couldn't help but chuckle, knowing that Dave would be the first one to tell him to back off. "But I don't believe that's really the problem here."

Chris threw the tennis ball forcefully before he retorted in a clipped tone, "What do you think the problem is then?"

He just laughed before scratching at his short grey hair, "Honestly? I think you and Erica are too damn stubborn."

"But that's not why we fought in the first place, that's what the problem is," Chris felt the frustration and hurt bubbling up in him.

Dave turned so he could look at Chris in the eyes and asked him, "From your point of view, what do you think you guys fought about? What was the problem to you?"

"That she can't accept my life! I know my life sucks sometimes, the paparazzi and gossip and all of that shit is terrible but that's not my entire life and I thought that Erica wanted to be with me no matter what and that we were going to do this together," He knew that he had gotten too angry at her but he was just so hurt. "Do you remember when we first got together and how she turned me down at first and how hard it was for her?"

He nodded so Chris went on, "I've always been afraid that one day she'd realize it was too much for her. Then everything seemed to be going great and we went to the Oscars and it was so perfect for me, it felt so good to have her with me and it seemed like she handled it great. Then suddenly after the show, she just freaked and it was like my worst nightmare coming true."

"Then why did you tell her that you thought that this all was a mistake?" Dave was confused. "It doesn't make sense to me that you wouldn't talk to her the other day when she came over."

Chris rested his elbows on his knees before bringing his head down to rub his hand over his face. He took a few deep breaths while stroking his beard and then lifted his head again and told Dave, "Because she said that she maybe didn't want that to be her life.... And I don't blame her. I don't know if I was in her position if I'd want to be with me either. I think Erica is better off not being married to me."

"Don't you think you should let Erica decide that?"

He just shrugged his broad shoulders while rubbing behind Dodger's ears. Dave knew that there wasn't much more to say so he patted Chris' shoulder before standing up. Before he left, Dave told him, "Chris, you and Erica fought. Everyone fights, they just do. It's not about if you'll fight or not, it's if you love each other enough to work it out and that's something only you and Erica can decide."

Chris nodded, even though in his heart he didn't feel like it was that simple. He felt like there was so much more to it that wouldn't be resolved that easily and his anxiety convinced him that was so.

Dave decided to just say one last thing before he left and let out a soft sigh, "Chris, when you came to me and asked me if you could marry Erica, you told me that you couldn't always promise her an easy life, but you could promise that you'd always love her... now is the time to decide how much you really meant that."