A Chance Meeting | Chris Evans

Chapter 17

He still hadn't come up with anything. Well, nothing that he wanted to do, anyway. He couldn't think of a way to reassure her that she could trust him that didn't involve him lying to her. Which was pretty ironic, when you thought about it.
He sighed, he was all out of ideas. As much as he didn't want to admit it, it might be time to get some help from the others. They were smart, well some of them were. They might be able to come up with something.
He walked towards the set, bracing himself for the response that he just knew he was going to get. So far everyone had an opinion about him shaving his beard off, from his makeup artist to the food hall guy to the security guards and the runners. People either loved it or thought it was a complete disaster.
They were starting filming inside today against a huge green screen, and he could see that a group of them were there already chatting. Most of them weren't looking, but Scarlett did a quick double take as he walked over and then smiled at him.
Here we go.
'Looking good, Evans.' She said.
The others, seeing her reaction, turned to look too.
'Man, look at you.' Said Mackie, grabbing his chin and rubbing his cheek deliberately roughly.
'Feel that.' Mackie said to Renner, and Renner rubbed the other side of his face.
'Soft as a baby's butt.' Renner agreed.
'Like a girl's.' Said Mackie.
He just rolled his eyes, knowing that they'd go on like this until they got bored, and that if he reacted they'd just get worse.
'Check it out Rob.' Renner called.
Oh great, Rob's coming over.
Rob took one look at his face and climbed up on one of the boxes on set.
'I have momentous news, people.' He shouted to the entire set. 'Christopher Evans has shaved off the thigh-tickler.'
'Robert!' Scarlett warned and he jumped down.
'Seriously though dorito, it looks good.'
'Better than the bum fluff you had before.' Hemsworth said, rubbing his own beard. 'Don't feel bad - not everyone can look this good.' He added, grinning.
'What's with the sudden change?' Robert asked. 'It wouldn't have anything to do with a certain person on tinder who hates beards, would it?'
Chris felt himself blushing slightly and Rob laughed.
Luckily, Liz chose that moment to come over and it distracted Rob.
'Phew, Evans.' She said. 'Looking smokin' hot.' And she waved her hand in front of her face as though she needed cooling down.
'Are you all done?' Chris asked.
'Nah.' Said Mackie.
'Probably not.' Added Renner.
Everyone else just laughed good naturedly

*********

They had a break a few hours later, and he was still no closer to coming up with a solution. But now it had started to go round and round in his head like a loop: can't lie to her but can't tell her who I really am and he could feel his anxiety beginning to rise.
Maybe messaging her would help.

Chris 🤪
Hi Becs

He waited five minutes, drumming his fingers on the table.

Chris 🤪
Becs? Are you there?

After another couple of minutes a reply came through.

Becs📚
Can't talk right now. Busy with a friend

Ouch! That feels like brush-off. But was she really busy? Or was she just pissed off at him? That reply was cold enough to burn.

Chris 🤪
Are you sure that you're not just mad at me?

He kicked himself a little for sending that because it sounded needy.

Becs📚
No

Hmm, not 'of course I'm not mad at you' or 'why would I be mad at you?' And no more details, just 'busy with a friend'. What if it's a guy friend? Oh God, what if it's a date? What if she doesn't want to talk to me because she's on a date? One who tells her the truth.
He forced himself to take a few deep, slow breaths and calm down. She didn't want to talk to him right now, so he'd just have to leave it.
He walked over to get himself a coffee.
'Hey there dorito.' Said Rob walking over to him. 'How's my favourite tinder relationship going?'
Chris ground his teeth slightly - he couldn't handle Rob's jokes right now.
'Should I be buying a hat?' Rob teased.
'Give it a rest Rob, I'm not in the mood.' He snapped.
Rob raised his eyebrows in surprise at Chris's reaction.
'That doesn't sound like the Chris we all know and love. What's up?'
'And become the butt of one of your jokes? No thanks.'
'No jokes. Seriously dorito, what's wrong?'
Chris looked at Rob's concerned face and sighed.
'I think I've fucked it up with her.'
'The tinder girl?'
'Yeah.'
'How?
So he told Rob everything - about the messaging that they'd been doing and that he liked her even more now, but that she started to become suspicious of him and wanted proof that he couldn't give her without lying or giving away his identity.
'You know where you went wrong, don't you? You should have just told her who you were at the beginning.'
'Yeah, that's what Scarlett said.'
'Wait - Scarlett knows you've been messaging this girl?'
'Yeah.'
'Wow. She owes me $50.'
Chris rolled his eyes in annoyance.
'But that's not what we're focussing on right now.' Rob continued. 'Let me see if I get this - she bought all the tinder profile stuff and my cousin Phil's photos?'
'Right.'
'The thing she was suspicious of was you working on the MCU, right?'
'It started off as that, but now I think she's a bit suspicious of everything. She is worried that I'm cat-fishing her.'
'Well, technically you are. Points for knowing the term though - did you look it up?'
'Not helping, Rob.'
'Sorry. You're thinking that if you prove to her that you work on the MCU that she'll believe the other stuff?'
'I hope so.'
'So you need a way to prove this without showing your face or using Phil's face?'
'Yeah.'
'Hmmm.' Rob tapped his finger against his chin for a few moments as he thought. Then his face broke into a grin. 'I've got it.'
He walked over to the other cast members.
'Attention this way people.' He said, pointing to himself. 'Chris's tinder relationship is going down the toilet and he needs our help to fix it. So, after filming wraps for the day I need everyone to come into the break room with their costumes on.'
'Oh and by the way, you all owe me $50.' He added.

********