Little Talks ☇ C. Evans

51 ) surprise

Climbing into Chris's car, Poppy slumped down in the passenger seat and slammed the door shut.

"I hate the paparazzi. I really do." She huffed, removing her sunglasses as soon as she made sure they hadn't followed her to Chris's car. "They never used to follow me around this much."

"Blame Marvel." Chris replied, a small smirk on his face; he, too, found that more and more people looked at him and recognized him in public ever since he became Marvel's Captain America.

"I blame you."

"Me? Why me?"

Poppy raised her eyebrows at him, as if she expected him to know why, "Everyone thinks we're romantically involved, therefore they want to know where I'm at every second of every day. Look my name up online and click the 'news' tab; I guarantee you will see at least six articles with your name featured in them, too."

"It's the business, Pop-Tart. I hate it, too, but going to work every day makes it all worth it. We get to do what we love with the people we love; it's a bittersweet experience." Chris sighed, pulling out into the street.

Buckling her seatbelt, Poppy let out a chuckle, "Who said I loved working with you?"

"You're a brat." He rolled his eyes as a laugh fell past his lips.

"You know, you look a lot different with your beard. I'm kinda sad you're gonna shave it off in a few days." She said, glancing over at him where he sat in the driver's seat, his eyes focused on the road.

He managed to tear his eyes away from the road to look over at her, a ridiculous grin steadying across his face, "Is that an indirect way of saying I'm attractive?"

"Not sure where you got that from, but sure." Poppy smiled to herself, shaking her head at his comment.

"Guess I won't be shaving then." He stated, leaning towards the radio to turn the music down.

"Not sure if Joss will allow Steve Rogers to have a beard. It'd kinda be like Uncle Sam meets Zach Galifianakis." She scrunched her face up, unable to picture Steve with Chris's beard; it just wasn't right.

Chris laughed, "Uncle Sam? Cap doesn't have white hair. Or wrinkles."

"No, but he would if he never would've went into the ice." She pointed out, his laugh filling her ears.

"You're an idiot." He rolled his eyes, still laughing.

"Yeah, yeah. You love me. Anyways, where are we going?" She sucked in a breath, pulling her blonde locks out of her ponytail.

Chris smiled cheekily as he looked out at the road, but remained silent.

"Chris?"

"Don't ask again, because I'm not telling." He warned, glancing over at her with an eyebrow raised at her pouting lips.

"Don't sass me, Evans. I'll fight you." She said seriously, glaring at him, though he knew she was bluffing.

"I'd love to see you try, sweetheart."

Butterflies. He gave her butterflies with only one word, and she hated how he could do that—how he could just mutter out one, simple word yet affect her in such a way.

"You better stop blushing, I might notice." Chris said with a smirk, his eyes still fixated on the road ahead.

It took Poppy a moment before realizing what he'd said, "I'm not blushing."

"Then why is your face red?" He questioned, squinting at her briefly before looking back at the road.

"Because. . .because it's hot in here."

"Well, yeah, because I'm in here."

Poppy rolled her eyes as her phone buzzed. She'd expected a text from Anthony or Lizzie, though when she viewed the name of her old friend from high school on the screen, she lightened up. Reading the message, however, caused her heart to feel heavy.

"Turn the car around," Poppy said, her voice dry.

Chris, still paying more attention to driving than her, didn't realize that she was being serious and chuckled, "Okay, okay. I'll give the jokes a rest."

"No, seriously. I need to go home." She sucked in a breath, trying desperately not to cry in front of him.

"Why? What's wrong?" He asked, pulling into a parking lot on the side of the road, finally peering over at her.

The moment his crystal clear, blue eyes met her's, she was a goner. Her round eyes welled up with tears, turning them a bright emerald color. She felt as if the weight on her chest was unbearable, cutting her lungs off from their air supply.

Putting the car into park, Chris turned to face her, his brows pulled down in concern and his lips in a frown, "Hey, hey, hey. What's wrong, Poppy?"

Unable to allow herself to say it aloud, she held her phone out for him to take. Immediately, he studied the screen carefully.

She watched as the muscle in his jaw flexed, tears streaming down her face. It had taken only a matter of seconds for her whole day to change—only a matter of seconds for her whole world to come crashing down around her, and somehow she knew that Chris was going to be there for her more than he ever had been before.

He was going to be her lifeline.