Kiss the Girl: A Chris Evans Fanfiction

29.

In April Chris had a small part in a movie called The Iceman. He had to grow this ridiculous fucking handlebar moustache. I had thought the beard he had when I met him was bad. It was nothing compared to this monstrosity. Oh and you can bet I made fun of him for it.

The issue of Science with my article in it was released and I started getting offers to apply for jobs at some pretty big name Universities. Most of them were so far away from where we wanted to be though. It really hurt. I had Oxford and Berkeley sending me emails inviting me to apply for these permanent positions. I even had the ANU, the school I did my PhD at flat out saying they had a place for me. I couldn't take any of them though.

I felt torn in two. This was everything I'd ever wanted. Only now I wasn't sure if that was the case. When old colleagues and people I did my PhD with found out, they'd ask where I thought I'd be going. I didn't have an answer and they told me I was insane for considering giving up academia when I had now essentially made it and they were all still struggling.

The only two that were even in the realm of realistic based on being close to Chris' family were Princeton and Columbia and they were still nowhere near what Chris actually saw as his life for us. What I saw as our life for us. I didn't know what to do. Should I bring this up with him? Tell him how taking one of these jobs might be something I'd like to do? Or do I just ignore them all until they go away?

Then I had something happen that was so unbelievable I thought they'd made a mistake.

I was told I was receiving an FASEB Excellence in Science Award. Something given out to women who had made a significant contribution to biological sciences in the early part of their career. I had to give a lecture to accept it, and it came with a $10,000 grant. That wasn't much, but it meant I now had an idea. I sent an email to a colleague at Harvard and crossed my fingers.

Chris and I went to look at a house in the Hollywood Hills that his real estate agent put him on to. She said it was a bargain for where it was because it needed renovations. For some reason, despite already having so many things to do this year, the idea of renovating it seemed extra appealing to him.

It wasn't too far from where our current house was, but it was higher up and the first thing I noticed were how phenomenal the views were. I thought Chris already had amazing views. It was nothing like this. We walked through following the estate agent as she talked about all the amazing opportunities. Chris held my hand and bounced around after her. She then let us go and walk through again so we could talk about what we were thinking.

"I can totally see what this will look like when it's done, Em." Chris said. "I think we should get it."

"It needs so much work." I said. "Are you sure you want to add renovating this place to the list of things we have happening this year?"

"We can take our time. It's not like we have to just move straight in. We can just keep staying in the other place. Plus we're not exactly here much." He said.

"The views are nice. I like the walk in." I said.

"I really like the entertaining area. Can you imagine the parties?" He dragged me outside to see them again.

"It is really nice out here. You'll have to get a fence put around the pool though." I said leaning against him.

"But that will ruin the view."

"You know what else ruins views? Drowned toddlers."

He looked at me first with disgust. His features quickly softened and he smiled. "Yeah. We should put in a fence."

"You know, honestly, I don't really care. If you like this. It's fine with me. It's nice." I said.

"You don't seem to convinced, Em. What's the matter?" He asked turning me to face him.