Every New Beginning... (Chris Evans AU)

.26.

Opal POV

"This is for me?" I ask, pointing to the box in Spencer's hands.

   "Yep. I was given strict instructions to deliver it directly to you," he tells me as I move out of the way for he and Laura to come into my house.

"Should I be scared?" I question with a slight chuckle.

"We do play some pretty good pranks at the station, but you're probably in the clear." Spencer sets the box down on the island in my kitchen. "He may have also mentioned that you have to call him before opening it."

  "I wasn't sure you were home, I didn't see your car outside," Laura mentions.

  "Oh, yeah. I took it to the shop, it was making an odd sound. AnnaBeth gave me a ride home. Can I get y'all something to drink? Food?" I realize now though that they're not making themselves comfortable, choosing to remain standing.

Laura gives me a quick hug. "No, girl. We just stopped off to deliver this before we head out on our date."

"An actual date. What's that like?" I somewhat whine. When I finally realized I'd like to date Chris it was a little late since he was leaving just a few hours later. My own fault. Lesson learned.

"You two have fun and be safe," I say looking pointedly at Laura.

"I make no promises," she winks back at me as Spencer holds the door open for her.

   After grabbing my cell from the coffee table, I plop onto the couch to text Chris to see if now is an okay time to talk.

Me- Busy?

Chris- Not exactly, but give me five minutes and I'll FaceTime you.

Me- K

   I decide to annoy him by sending him multiple gifs in a row. One being the theme song to Jeopardy as my impatience is becoming very prevalent. Just as I'm about to send the eighth meme my screen changes with an incoming call.

   "Good lord, woman. You couldn't wait five minutes?" Chris asks immediately after I answer, before I can even say hello.

   "What if I told you I just wanted to annoy you to see your reaction?" I tease.

   He gives me a sweet smile, "not possible."

   It's now that I notice his hair is wet. "Were you out in the rain?"

   "No. I was about to jump in the shower when you first text. Thanks to you I just took the quickest shower of my life. I'm not even sure the water got warm."

   He just painted a great image for me, one I'll stow away. I don't realize I'm biting my lower lip. "Opal? You alright over there?" That dang smirk appears again.

   "Peachy keen jellybean." Hoping I covered up my staring and the drool that's attempting to escape my mouth. "So, about this box." I move back into the kitchen, resting the phone so myself and the box are both visible. "Should I be scared?"

   "Nope. Not this time anyways," his eyes dance with mischief. "So, you can open the first box now."

   My brow furrows. "First? There's only this one."

   "Just open the box."

   I grab a knife from my cutlery set and slit the tape that's holding it closed. When I pull back the sides I see other boxes inside of it.

  "Now, find the box with a number 1 written on it," he instructs me through the phone.

   It takes a second to locate it. I bring it out and sit it next to the larger box. It's small, just a touch bigger than the size of a baseball card. I open it easily, revealing a handful of gift cards to restaurants in my area. "For our dinner dates when I'm not there. This way I'm still paying for the date."