love happy • chris evans (bwwm)

• forty six •

Shout out to @gloryevans

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Lisa looked over at Phoenix, who was sitting next to her in their restaurant booth. "Why don't we start with some wine?"

For the entire ten minutes they had been sitting there, Phoenix had barely spoken a word as she was feeling extremely uncomfortable. It wasn't as if Lisa was doing anything in particular to warrant that feeling as she had been the same ol nice and kind Lisa she had met two and half years ago. Just knowing Chris shared so much about their relationship with her made her feel awkward.

"No wine." Chris shook his head. "Phoenix can't have any so I won't drink any either."

"She can't have any." Lisa repeated, her hunch growing larger. When Chris told her Phoenix would be staying in Boston for 3 months, a certain suspicion creeped into her mind that gave her the idea that Phoenix had to be pregnant. Lisa just didn't understand why else she would leave California for such a long period of time to live with a man she wasn't dating unless a baby was involved. "Are you pregnant?"

Both Chris and Phoenix looked at one another from across the table, each waiting for the other to answer. The silence was all Lisa needed to confirm her suspicions.

"You are pregnant!" Lisa smiled widely. "Congratulations!"

"Thank you." Phoenix replied with a straight face. She could only think about how easily her mother would read her when she and Chris visited Cleveland if even Lisa guessed she was pregnant. As a matter of fact, Phoenix wouldn't be surprised if her mother already knew. Cynthia seemed to know a lot of things before they happened.

"We found out a couple weeks ago." Chris added.

"What does this mean for the two of you?" Lisa asked. "Are you officially back together?"

"No. We're still..."

"Figuring things out." Chris finished for Phoenix.

"So marriage isn't completely out of the picture then?"

"It's not." Phoenix replied which caused Chris to snap his head up. He couldn't believe what he was hearing and that was imminent in his face. "I don't know if Chris told you but my parents are getting remarried in December and I'm really stoked for them. Watching them be so very completely in love with one another and all of that love and fun spilling into the wedding planning has made me a little envious. I think marriage is in the cards for me- for us eventually."

By the time Phoenix finished, Chris was sitting with his mouth practically wide open. He wasn't oblivious to the fact that she had been dropping hints for the last few days about marriage but never in a million years did he think it was seriously something she was really considering. "Hold on a second... What is going on?"

"What do you mean?" Phoenix asked although she already knew the answer.

"I mean you told me on multiple occasions that you never wanted to get married. Then you changed your mind, I proposed, and you said yes. After that, you told me you didn't want to get married again and ended the engagement." Chris listed. "But wait, there's more. You broke up with me because you weren't ready to be in a serious relationship."

"I don't know. Maybe coming straight out of college and jumping into my FIRST serious relationship with NO TIME to grow in between yet everyone telling me that I HAVE to get married had something to do with why I didn't wanna get married." Phoenix rolled her eyes. "I don't think it's odd that watching a wedding planning process between two people that reconciled after 13 years has given me hope that marriage can work for me. I needed to be the one to decide if I wanted to get married or not without being coerced, influenced, and guilted into it by anyone else."

"That make sense." Chris spoke quietly. "I'm just surprised is all. I wish you would've talked to me about this."

"I told you when we broke up that I needed time to find myself again and figure out what I wanted for our relationship." She reminded. "By the time I had things figured out, you had already-" She cut herself off to avoid discussing Chris's sexual history in front of his mother. "I would've come back to you, like I told you I would but unfortunately, that path was taken away from me."

"I don't mean to be nosy but what I'm getting from this is with space and time Phoenix, you realized you wanted a relationship with Chris and a marriage in the future. But before you got the chance to tell him how you were feeling and begin to reconcile, you learned that he slept with his ex girlfriend." Lisa spoke in simpler terms.

"Why am I not surprised that you told your mom?" Phoenix asked with a slight laugh. She had always known that Chris and Lisa shared a very close connection, much like she did with her own mother. Coming from the man that told her when he lost his virginity, Phoenix didn't know why she didn't assume earlier that Lisa knew about the entire situation. One of the things she respected most about Chris was the fact that he shared his faults and flaws more than he did anyone else's. She could only guess that he took the bulk of the blame when explaining the situation to Lisa.

"I'm sorry." Chris apologized.

"Don't be sorry." Phoenix replied sympathetically while reaching across the table to hold his hand. "It's okay."

"Let's talk about the baby." Lisa spoke. "Have you talked about how you're going to coparent or even what city you're gonna raise him or her in?

"We haven't exactly got there yet." Chris revealed. "But it'll probably be L.A. because I want Phoenix to be as comfortable as possible when and after delivering the baby. Her mental health is just as important to me as her physical health and California would make her the happiest."

As Chris spoke, Phoenix looked up at him in awe as if he were the most precious thing in the world. Even in spite of arguments, disagreements, or anything else, he always made Phoenix know her health and happiness was of upmost importance to him; which was a quality she wanted in a husband. She knew that if he was willing to selflessly make sure she was in a comfortable position, that he would go out of his way to make sure his child was the happiest child on the planet.

"Did I say something wrong?" Chris asked when he noticed Phoenix staring at him.

"No, I just love you." She answered with a smile before leaning over the table to kiss him, completely forgetting the fact that Lisa was sitting right next to her.

After their lips touched, Chris placed one hand under her chin while the other held her hand tightly. "And I love you too."

"If this is a preview of your wedding kiss, I approve." Lisa joked. "I'm going to make a bold prediction and say that you two will be completely fine. You two and baby- what's the baby's last name going to be?"

"Evans." Phoenix answered without a doubt, earning her a cheesy smile from Chris.

"You two and baby Evans are going to make a beautiful family." Lisa finished. "I am very happy for the two of you."

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