Lights, Camera, Coffee in LA Part 2
Ok! Here’s part 2!!! I hope you all like it! I’m really loving writing this one, so I may do more, but we shall see!!
Thank you again to @denisemarieangelina for bouncing ideas around with me and for reading it over!
Characters: Chris Evans x Reader
Warnings: Minor angst (if you squint) FLUFF
After breakfast, I went to grab a shower and get dressed while Michael and Chris discussed the movie project.
Thirty minutes later, I felt more awake and energized. I was excited about being able to spend more time getting to know Chris better. I wrapped my long brown hair up into a towel to soak up some of the excess water before I attempted to wrangle it into any kind of style. While it was towel drying I looked through the clothes I brought with and decided on a pair of boyfriend style cropped distressed jeans with a white v-neck, buttoned down loose fitting tank.
I tackled my hair next, deciding to just comb out the tangles and allow it to air dry. When I didn’t take time to blow it dry and flat iron it, I had a natural wave to my hair. Sometimes it was a nice change of pace to leave it natural.
My phone chimed alerting me to a new text just as I was finishing my makeup. I set my mascara down and picked up my phone to see who had text me.
C: (10:34) I just wrapped up the meeting with your brother, I’ve got a few other things to do this morning, then I’m free. Want to meet at Caffe Luxxe in Santa Monica around noon? It’s close to the pier…
L: (10:35) Sounds great! I’ll see you at noon! I may have to check out the pier after we get our beverage. I’ve never been there. ;)
C: (10:36) Wow! I’m not living that one down. You’ve NEVER been to the PIER?? That’s it...we’re going.
L: (10:38) You’re probably not wrong about that! And you obviously can’t see it, but I’m doing a happy dance right now about seeing the pier!
C: (10:39) So… only happy to see the pier? You can’t see it, but I’m crying over here.
L: (10:41) Wow...needy much? LOL Don’t cry, I’m more excited to see YOU again! ;)
C: (10:42) That’s better! ;) See you soon!
Smiling, I tucked my phone in the back pocket of my jeans and headed downstairs to find my brother again.
It wasn’t hard, he was out on the patio where I’d left him and Chris earlier. He was finishing a phone call as I sat down in the chair Chris had been in.
“So, figure out what you’re doing today?” Michael asked after hanging up the phone.
“Yup!” I replied beaming at him, “I’m meeting Chris for coffee at Caffe Luxxe in Santa Monica and then we’re going to go to the pier. I’m trying to tame the inner freak out before I go meet him so he doesn’t realize I’m a complete dork.”
“Dork or not he’s the lucky one to get to spend time with you, Little Bit.” Michael replied looking worried, in a way only a big brother could. “Just be careful. I don’t know that you know what exactly you’re getting into here Lena.”
“I thought you liked Chris, Mickey.” I said, frowning at my brother. “Why are you now cautioning me against him?”
“I do like him, Little Bit” He explained, “He’s a great guy, but he’s not just some random guy you met on a plane with a “normal” job. He lives in the public eye, and has a very large fan base. Dating a celebrity isn’t easy. Not to mention, he seems to have commitment issues.”
“Wow” I replied, annoyed with my brother. “I admit that your concerns about him being a celebrity have some merit, only from the standpoint that you’re right, I’ve never dated anyone famous. Not that I’d call going for coffee and hanging out at the pier necessarily “dating”. I don’t even know if he is interested in me that way or if he simply wants to be friends. But you’re not in any place to talk about commitment issues, Michael. Before you met Talia you were a manwhore and said often you didn’t want to be “tied down”. Obviously, people can change and what may be true of someone when they’re younger, may not be the case as they get older.”
I got up from the table to head back into the house. I loved my brother, but he’d always been overprotective of me and never really seemed to get that I’d grown up.
“Lena,” Michael called after me, “I’m not trying to piss you off, I just want you to be careful is all. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“I’m a big girl, Mickey.” I replied glancing back, “I don’t need you to protect me. I am capable of deciding who I am friends with and even who I date.”
“I know that, Lena” He replied, “I’m just trying to look out for you. It’s my job.”
Thankfully, Lia walked out onto the patio at that moment, having just gotten back from her meeting. I needed her to run interference with Michael and give me a chance to breathe.
“She’s not even here for a day, and you’ve already pissed her off I see.” Lia commented, eyeing us both as she sat down in the seat I had vacated. “Does it have anything to do with a certain Captain Hottie?”
“Not you too” groaned Michael, scrubbing a hand over his face in frustration, “You’re not even Team Cap!”
“No, but I’m Team Lena” Lia said, looking at Michael with a raised eyebrow, “And I like Chris. I think they could be good for one another. Now stop being an overprotective brother and tell your sister to have fun today!”
“Have fun, Little Bit.” Michael parroted his wife, “I’m still planning on grabbing stuff to grill out tonight… maybe see if Chris would like to come for dinner?”
I knew he was trying to smooth things over so I cut him some slack for now. I walked back over and gave him a hug.
“Now was that so hard?” I asked, smiling. “I can check to see if he’s available, and I’ll text you to let you know.”
“Have fun, Lena!” Lia said, winking at me. “I can’t wait to hear all about it!”
“Thanks, Lia!” I laughed, hugging her, “I’m so glad you married my brother!”
I left them on the patio and went back inside to grab a drink and head up to my room to finish getting ready.
________________________
A few minutes before noon, I arrived at the coffee shop as luck would have it found parking close by. I pulled my phone out to send Chris a quick text to let him know I’d arrived. He’d text me twenty minutes ago letting me know he was headed back towards the cafe, but that traffic was heavier than he’d anticipated.
L: (11:55am) Just got here, I’m going to head inside. No rush, please drive safe!
I headed inside not expecting a reply as he was driving. I found a quiet table in the back corner where I figured we’d be able to blend in a little more. The cafe wasn’t overly crowded, being noon, so we’d have some semblance of privacy.
My phone pinged with a new message as I sat down. I quickly pulled it out to check it.
C: (11:58am) I’m about 5 minutes away. Be there soon!
L: (11:59am) STOP TEXTING AND DRIVING CHRISTOPHER!
C: (12:01pm) Voice to text, I swear! I kinda like it when you yell at me lol.
L: (12:02 pm) You’re a meatball. You can’t see me right now, but I’m rolling my eyes at you. Just be safe. I found a table in the back corner to the left as you walk in.
L: (12:02pm) Gonna order drinks, whatcha want?
C: (12:03 pm) Hold on, walking in now!
A couple seconds later the cafe door opened up and Chris strolled in, eyes scanning the room. A smile lit up his face once he saw me and he headed back to the table I had claimed.
“That was a very accurate time estimate” I said teasingly, “5 minutes on the dot.”
“Do I lose cool points if I admit it’s what my GPS told me?” He asked, laughing.
“I’ll give it to you this time.” I said, smirking at him.
“I’ll go grab us some drinks,” He said, still smiling. “What would you like?”
“Iced mocha, please!” I requested, “Too warm for hot coffee.”
“It’s never too warm for coffee.” he said, giving me the cocked eyebrow look and failing to look stern.
While Chris went to the counter to get our drinks, I glanced at my phone and saw a missed text from Talia.
T: (12:06 pm) Don’t forget to invite Captain Hottie for dinner!
L: (12:08 pm) LMAO, does Mickey know you’re continuing with that nickname? And I will ask him…if you promise to keep my brother on a leash ;)
T: (12:08 pm) DEAL! And he knows my heart belongs to him...and Iron Man.
I laughed at my sister in law as I tucked my phone away.
“One blasphemous iced mocha for you.” Chris said, and set the drink in front of me, “One normal and perfectly perfect coffee for me.”
“Blashphemous coffee, huh?” I asked, laughing at him. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard coffee referenced in that way.”
“I mean, I just call it like I see it.” He replied, taking a sip of his coffee. “What had you laughing when I was walking back?”
“Lia text me” I said, suddenly nervous to ask him over for dinner. I didn’t want to appear over eager or assume too much about our new friendship. Of course, Chris was perceptive enough to catch the change in my voice.
“Hey,” he said smiling, “I can hear you thinking over there, everything ok?”
“Yeah” I replied, taking a deep breath. Deciding the worst that could happen would be he’d say no, I forced myself to ask him. “She was reminding me to ask ‘Captain Hottie’ over for dinner tonight. My brother is grilling.”
Chris threw his head back and grabbed his chest, laughing. It gave me a rush to know I’d accomplished making him laugh hard enough for the left boob grab twice now since meeting him. I had to laugh with him, because his laugh was actually contagious.
“There’s so much to unpack there” he said, once he got himself under control again. “First, I’d love to come to dinner, it sounds great. Second, I’m not sure how I feel about the new ‘Captain Hottie’ title… at least from your sister in law… I could be open to it from a certain new friend… and finally, were you really nervous to ask me? You’re adorable when you get nervous by the way.”
At a complete loss for words, I took a moment to collect myself and took a sip of my coffee. I wasn’t sure how to handle Chris flirting with me. Was he flirting? Ugh!
“I don’t even know what to say to any of that.” I admitted, blushing. “So, I’ll just let them know you’ll be coming to dinner.”
Chris laughed again, and winked at me as he took a drink of his coffee.
“So, how did the rest of the meeting go with my brother?” I asked, changing the subject.
“It went well, actually.” He smiled, knowing what I was doing. “It looks like I’ll be in LA most of the summer.”
“That’s great!” I exclaimed, a little too enthusiastically, “I mean, since it was a project you were wanting and all.” Smooth, Lena, not at all obvious here.
“It is great!” He agreed, “I’m very excited to do this movie, but I’m also really interested in spending some more time with this fun, gorgeous, wicked smart, and hilarious girl I met on the way out here.”
“This person sounds pretty great” I replied, melting at his words, “You’ll have to introduce us! I could use some friends to hang out with this summer. And did you seriously just use “wicked” as an adjective? You’re so Boston.”
“Alright, Miss sassy pants” he said, tossing a balled up napkin at me, “Let’s head to the pier, see what kind of trouble we can find.”
We spent several hours hanging out at Santa Monica Pier. We rode the roller coaster, ferris wheel, played a bunch of games, ate way too much junk food, and I swear, I’ve never laughed so hard in my life. I really enjoyed spending time with Chris.
After we finished exploring the pier we decided to head down and walk along the beach for a bit before we needed to head to my brother’s for dinner.
“I had a lot of fun today, Chris!” I said beaming at him. “I can’t believe I’ve never been here before.”
“It was fun seeing it as new through you,” He replied, causally reaching out to hold my hand in his as we strolled, “It’s been a while since I’ve been here. I think my nephew Miles was three the last time we were here.”
I enjoyed the feeling of his strong fingers laced through mine as we walked along the beach. I always loved being by the water, but being here with Chris made it even better. It was like we were in our own little bubble.
We walked a little further down the beach lost in each other’s company, laughing, and just enjoying the afternoon. Suddenly, Chris stopped walking, his hand squeezed mine tighter, causing me to stop walking and turn towards him.
“Everything OK?” I asked seeing that he had tensed up, a frown on his face.
“Yeah” he replied, his voice full of tension mixed with what sounded like anxiety. “We should head back.”
I wasn’t sure where the abrupt change in him came from. Had I said something wrong and upset him? I frantically went back over the conversation, not sure what could have upset him.
“Chris?” I started softly as we walked back towards the pier and his car. He had dropped my hand and was moving at a faster pace. I wasn’t even sure he’d heard me. When he didn’t reply, I decided to keep quiet and follow his pace.
It only took a few minutes to make it to the parking lot where Chris’ car was parked. He unlocked it remotely and walked over to the passenger side to open the door for me. Even now, he was a complete gentleman. I quietly got in and buckled my seatbelt waiting on him to walk around and get in on the driver’s side. I kept quiet on the way back to the cafe where my car was parked, trying to figure out what to say to him.
He pulled in next to my car and put his in park, turning to look over at me. I could see the wheels turning in his head. Deciding to let him off the hook and get out of this before my emotions got the best of me, I turned towards him and tried to paste what I thought was a genuine smile in my face.
“Thanks for today, Chris,” I said softly, not trusting my voice, “I had a lot of fun.” I quickly unbuckled the seatbelt and reached over to open the door.
“Lena” Chris jumped out of the car and quickly caught up to me. He reached out and gently grabbed my hand, turning me around. “Wait.”
“It’s OK, Chris” I reassured him, my resolve quickly leaving me, “We can hang out another time…. If you want that is. If not, I had a really great time getting to know you.”
“Lena, stop” He replied, thankfully stopping my babbling. “I had a lot of fun with you today, I like being with you. It’s easy to forget the rest of the world exists when I’m talking to you…. I just got so caught up in you, I let my guard down and forgot to be on the lookout for paparazzi. They followed us on the beach, and I’m pretty sure they got pictures of us together.”
“So, it wasn’t something I said or did that upset you?” I asked quietly, hating that I was feeling so insecure.
“Fuck no,” He replied instantly pulling me towards him and engulfing me in a hug. God, this man could hug, and he smelled amazing, even after being in the hot sun all day. “Lena, I doubt there’s anything you could say or do that would upset me. It’s just that in the past, my relationships often tanked because of the media or over-critical fans hounding whoever I was dating. It would kill me for you to be hurt by that.”
“I’m made of tougher stuff than that,” I replied, “Today’s insecurites aside, that is. I guess I just wasn’t really sure what this was, and didn’t want to assume anything. I thought we were having a great time and then after the beach I thought you wanted to get away from me as fast as humanly possible...or that you were wishing you had some of Cap’s super speed. I’m going to shut up now.”
Chris laughed and dropped his head down so that his forehead was now resting against mine, which brought me up against the solid wall of his chest again.
“This,” he started pulling away slightly to look me in my eyes, “was definitely a memorable first date. That is going to quickly be followed by our second date, which is dinner at your brother’s. Then, being as it’ll be our second date and all, I’m hoping to get to kiss you goodnight after making arrangements to meet up for our third date. I’m thinking Disneyland for that by the way. After that, I plan on continuing to date you until I eventually wear you down and you agree to be my girlfriend. How’s that for transparency?”
“I got stuck on the second date and mentions of kissing.” I smiled up at him, biting my lip, “Is that a hard rule for you… waiting for the second date? Because then I can make the argument that coffee was technically the first date then, the pier was our second and dinner tonight would be third.”
“That’s where you got hung up?” He asked laughing, “Ok, what about the rest that whole spiel?”
“Dinner, kiss, Disneyland, more dates, girlfriend, got it.” I answered, “So back to the second date thing.”
“As long as we’re on the same page.” He joked, tilting my face up towards his. He leaned down and brushed his lips against mine gently before pulling back again way too quickly.
“You’re killing me Smalls” I groaned at the teasing kiss. “You’re not playing fair.”
“Great movie!” He laughed, “I promise to make it up to you, Sweetheart. After our third date.”
“I plan to collect.” I replied smiling.
“I look forward to it.” he said then leaned in and brushed another quick kiss on my lips, “See you in a bit. Drive safe please, precious cargo and all that.”
“Ditto.” I said getting into the car. “I’m really glad I had an early morning flight to L.A.”
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