They Call Me Tigris ( Captain America fanfic)

Chapter 10

When we reached the tower I got down from the bike and walked away from the basement straight to my room. I didn't look back even when Steve kept calling me, telling me to wait and asking me if I was okay.
Everything just seemed to have happened so fast, I was feeling dizzy. The people in the streets and what they were screaming at us about how they all believed in us that we'd always protect them in any situation, was haunting me. They didn't understand that things aren't in our hands. They had such blind faith in us that it scared me, because if someday the problem we face is too much for us to handle and things get out of control, they're going to blame us. It's like we have this huge burden on our shoulders.

Then there's this whole thing about Devon. The problem here was not that he was cheating on me and I felt bad about it but that I didn't. For some reason I wasn't experiencing heartbreaking pain like most girls would when they find out their boyfriend is cheating on them. The only thing I felt was anger. Anger that, if I was Bruce, would've caused me to Hulk out by now. And I was angry at only one person: myself.

I was angry at myself for having trusted Devon. I was angry at myself for not listening to Steve. I couldn't believe how stupid I'd been to have fought with Steve defending someone like Devon. It was so clear to me now that I had chosen someone to whom I didn't even matter over someone who, I think, values me more than I deserve. That's why it was so hard for me to face him when we got back to the tower. I couldn't even bare to look at him after I realized how blind I'd been all this while.

This is not about how I was wrong about Devon and Steve was right. This is not about who won and this is definitely not some ego clash. This anger I'm feeling is because of my own stupidity. I hated myself for what I'd done, what I've been doing all this while.

I got into my room and slammed the door behind me. I passed by my mirror as I walked toward my bed and seeing myself angered and disgusted me so much that before I could stop myself, I stood in front of it, pulled out the locket I was wearing-the one given to me by Devon-and threw it at the mirror. There were a ripple of cracks and shattered glass around the spot were the locket had hit the glass. I walked away and buried my head in the pillows on my bed and let out my anger and frustration into it. In the form of tears.

__________________________

I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing and I shifted my face away from the tear stained pillow it was on. I put my phone to my ear and heard Tony say my name along with a lot of noise in the background.

"This is the seventh time I'm calling you Tora, where are you? People have started arriving. Can you come and join the event please?" He sounded a little frustrated and I didn't blame him. I had slept and forgotten to set an alarm or something so that I get ready in time for the party. But you don't really set alarms or plan ahead when you're going through emotional stress and pain and you happen to be crying.

I told him I'll get to the lounge as soon as possible and I went to my closet to take out the dress I was planning on wearing. It was a deep satin blue dress that ended above my knees and had short tapering sleeves which were made of lace.

I started doing my makeup by looking at myself in the mirror in my washroom. I didn't wear it too heavy, I concentrated on hiding any evidence that made the fact that I was crying apparent. Once I was done, I walked out of my room after I wore a pair of metallic ankle-strap stiletto sandals.
I wasn't really in the mood to wear heels either.

The elevator descended down till the 11th floor and I walked out of it into the lounge. A lot of people had already arrived. I kept walking past all the people in search of Tony but it wasn't hard to notice that they all whispered something to each other when they saw me. A random girl whose name I didn't even know stopped me.
"Hey Tora! Remember me?"
Oh god.
"Yes, of course I do! How are you?" Great, so now I'm lying to people I don't know telling them I know them. What's wrong with me?
"I'm good. I hope you are too even though it didn't really seem like that today when you were in the city square."
"What do you mean?"
"You don't know?" She laughed and I felt like stabbing her in the face.
"Everyone saw how you weren't able to handle the paparazzi. You were almost about to pass out. And that whole stunt where you threw yourself at Steve when you saw him! What was that all about?" I felt the anger rising in me. I couldn't listen any longer.
"Enjoy your evening." I said in an unsmiling tone and walked away and I'm pretty sure I heard her giggle as I did.
Now it all made sense. This is probably what everyone's whispering to each other about. As soon as I spotted Tony standing next to Pepper I was so relieved I walked straight to them without looking at anyone.
"Tora, there you are! We were getting worried." Pepper exclaimed when she saw me and embraced me in a hug before someone-her friend maybe-pulled her away saying she wanted to talk to her.
"What is going on? Why is everyone talking about you and Steve?" Tony asked.
"Look, Tony, what really happened is that we were watching the parade and when it got over I spotted Devon standing across the street with some girl when he had told me he'd be working."
"That son of a-"
"Wait, there's more. So I sent Steve away to go buy something to drink or whatever because I didn't want him to see Devon over there because I knew that would lead to a fight. After Steve left, I called up Devon and confronted him and then I started searching for Steve when I bumped into someone and their popcorn bucket fell out of their hand. When he noticed it was me, he screamed out to everyone and a bunch of people started surrounding me. I couldn't bear it. That's when Steve found me and I don't know why, maybe I was just so relieved to see him that without thinking I ran into his arms."
Tony just stared at me for a minute with his eyebrows raised. I honestly didn't even blame him.
"Well, it's created an impression of you both probably having something going between you two, on the public. They think you're together." Tony said and my palms became sweaty again. My heart started beating a triple times faster.
"Then you come here wearing a dress of that color. It might just be coincidence but it certainly doesn't seem like that."
"What's wrong with the color of this dress?" I asked him and he motioned his head toward something to my left. I turned and that's when I saw him.
Steve was standing really far away talking to Sam. He was wearing a shirt of the exact same color as my dress.
I guess Sam might've told him that I was looking at him so he turned and when he saw me, he waved and smiled. Then his gaze shifted to my dress and and the way he smiled changed too. His smile changed from the usual way his lips curled when he talked to someone, to a way similar to how Tony always smiles at Pepper. A smile that isn't shown to just anyone but only to someone special.
And so, when I saw him smile at me like that, I know I must've blushed.

***

Okay so they haven't spoken yet after what happened, but the reason I've written this chapter the way it is, is because the way I see it, Tora is still very confused about her feelings right now. A lot happened in the last two chapters that I felt maybe if I add more, it'll be too much.

But in the next chapter you can expect some SteveTora moments for sure. And also, I might update a little earlier meaning within 24 hours instead of tomorrow.

Thanks for reading!