Trying Not To Love You (A Chris Evans Story)

Chapter 15 - Birthdays and Bust-Ups

Jenna spent the days between Thanksgiving and Chace's party actively avoiding both Chris and Scott, after hearing about her drunken revelations by the firepit.

Cara assured her that there was no reason to be embarrassed and they all just wanted to make sure that she was OK, but she still felt awful and believed that she'd ruined a perfectly nice evening.

A couple of days before Chace's party, Jenna arrived home flustered and in a bad mood.

"Hello, love, how was work?" Liz greeted her daughter as she slammed the front door and threw her bags on the floor.

"Horrific. The ward was manic after Darcy and Hannah both called in sick, and one of the other doctors had a family emergency. So we were just short staffed and crazy busy today." Jenna explained.

Liz stepped into the room with the huge bunch of flowers that Jenna had dumped in the hallway, holding them up.

"And what about these? What's the explanation for these?"

"Urgh. Harvey sent them to the ward. The card said something like 'Please do me the honour of having dinner with me' something else in the middle, and then finished it with 'can't wait to see you at Chase's party'." Replied Jenna. "Why can't he just take the hint?"

Liz looked at her daughter with a sympathetic frown on her face.

"I think you need to speak to him love. He obviously doesn't do 'hints'. You need to tell him you don't see him that way" Liz advised.

"I know Mum, I'll speak to him" Jenna sighed.

**********

The day of Chace's birthday party arrived along with a dread in the pit of Jenna's stomach.

She knew she would see Harvey today, and as much as she wanted to avoid him, she realised that she couldn't hide from him forever.

After Liz had popped over the road to give Cara and Matt's address to Lisa, they jumped in the car with Chace's presents and set off.

As she pulled into their driveway, she spotted Harvey's car already parked up, and sat for a few seconds gathering her thoughts.

Liz grabbed the gifts out of the car and they made their way up to the house.

"Hey!" Cara greeted them. "Everyone's in the kitchen come on in. It's just Matt's parents, and Harvey so far, and I'm guessing the Evans' will be here any time now."

Liz gave Cara a hug and a kiss on the cheek as she stepped in the door.

"Hi darling. We've just seen them to give the address, I think they were almost ready to head over." She confirmed.

The three ladies made their way through the lounge and into the kitchen.

Jenna spotted Harvey straight away, in his black jeans, white t-shirt and navy blue cardigan, and she made a point of turning to her Mum to begin a conversation as she grabbed a water from the fridge, avoiding eye contact with him.

Cara had kept her eye on Harvey, making sure he didn't overstep with Jenna, and she relaxed a little when she realised that her cousin had so far managed to avoid a full conversation with him. Matt had told her that he would step in if Harvey caused any problems, but so far he'd behaved, so everyone started to let down their guard.

A loud gasp came from the front of the house, as Chace and Matt answered the door to Lisa, Chris and Scott.

"Mom, Mom! Come see what I got! It's a Captain America shield and a new Hulk toy! This is so cool!"

As Jenna chuckled at Chace's excitement, she excused herself to use the bathroom.

She side stepped Matt's parents, saying a quick 'hello' to them, and disappeared up the stairs to the first floor.