Falling With Style {Chris Evans}

twenty-eight

The purple carpet of the worldwide premiere of Endgame seemed to go on for miles, or at least that's how it felt for Mila who felt so small in Chris's world.

Every few steps felt like she would see a familiar face that was not actually so familiar. Seeing people like Gwynneth Paltrow, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo, Don Cheadle, and Josh Brolin standing just a few feet ahead of her, sometimes waving to not just Chris but her as well, felt so surreal. She was used to seeing them in these "costumes" playing very specific roles. Even though she was seeing them in person right in front of her, she knew that they still had a role to play with all these cameras and fans watching them.

Nothing could have truly prepared her for this. Not enough conversations with Chris where he talked about all the premieres and parties and behind the scene features, not enough pep talks with Ashley and Dominique on the plane, not enough Google searches from past movie premieres, nothing. On the nearly four hour plane ride to get to Hollywood, all she could think about was what the tabloids would say and overthink about how she would look if she wasn't constantly ready for every camera flash. She totally forgot to prepare herself and a script for being surrounded by celebrities, people like Chris that were used to this and may have even forgotten what it's like to go through small towns and have family traditions.

Except, they weren't exactly like Chris because he had given her the most amazing opportunity to get to know him. They had held hands and taken pictures plenty of times before the premiere, but doing so in front of paparazzi, family, friends, fans, and his co-stars was totally different.

Did his co-stars know about her? What did he say to them, if anything? Was his family watching the whole thing? Would fans approve?

She hardly noticed how far she had zoned out until Chris gently tugged his arm that was holding her own to get her attention.

"Hm?" She asked, blinking up at him confused.

He laughed at this, looking down at her, "I asked if you were doing okay."

What did she even respond to that? They were currently walking at a slow pace along the purple carpet where different actors, actresses, their dates, and the crew that made the movies possible walked just as slow in front of them and posed. It wasn't their turn quite yet to go in front of the backdrop where the paparazzi was allowed to take pictures, but they walked at such a slow pace to keep it moving.

She was surrounded by loud noises from fans trying to get the attention of these celebrities. She was surrounded by the sounds of cameras clicking along with their flashes of light. She was surrounded by a million strangers in a place that she had never been, across the country from what she knew as home. Most deafening was the fact that she was surrounded in a shroud of self-consciousness. She had to keep her head held high for pictures, as advised by Dominique and one of Chris's public relations managers who said it ensured candid pictures got good angles of the two of them, and it made her look more confident. Aside from that, Mila reminded herself to hold her head high to also just keep from looking down at her chest and feeling poor about her image, or overthinking how she looked in the dress that Chris always admired every time he looked at her. She knew this because he would smile into her brown eyes before dropping his own blue eyes down to take in her visage. It was flattering coming from him, more than flattering, but suffocating when people who wanted to tear her apart and critique her on everything in their first public debut were all around her.

"Just fine," she smiled at him, lying through her teeth. It felt like there hadn't been a single moment since she got off the plane with her two friends that her heart wasn't racing and her mind wasn't overthinking.

Chris knew better than that. He only gave her a reassuring smile before dropping their arms. She tried not to panic, losing the one physical touch that was keeping her from completely going into overdrive, but she let out a breath of relief when she realized what he was doing.