City Streets

Aspen sipped on her piping hot coffee, enjoying the warmth that slowly made its way down her throat. The weather hadn't changed but a few degrees and it was enough for her to break out the jacket. She always had an issue with the weather, constantly being cold. One of the things she had missed about being in a relationship, she always had someone to cuddle up against for warmth. Holding her drink in her hand, she turned her head towards Anna, "Where did you say we were meeting Pratt again?" She had gotten into the habit of calling Chris by his last name when he had made a five show guest appearance on her show; there were far too many Chris' for her to keep track of at the time and the name kind of stuck. And for the fact that she had dated one as well.

Anna bit her lip, her only weapon of hiding how guilty she felt was behind her shades. She grabbed Aspen before she could round the corner, "Wait." She let out a heavy sigh, her mouth opening and closing. She wanted to choose her words carefully but she knew that it wouldn't matter. "So, before we go meet Chris, I have to tell you that I didn't agree to this. I was more or so forced."

Aspen rose a brow, her head cocking slightly, "What are you talking - " Aspen stopped short. Ripping off her sunglasses, she spoke through gritted teeth, "Anna," she said sternly. Turning quickly towards the corner, she peeked her head around, her eyes landing on the man they were supposed to meet sitting next to someone they weren't supposed to meet. Snapping her head towards Anna, "Are you kidding me? What the hell is he doing here?" It had been a little over two months since her last encounter with Chris and she was trying to forget about ever talking to him. It broke open old wounds and she couldn't have any of that. She just couldn't deal with talking to him again about their situation. She just wanted to get over it and go on about their separate lives. But, she should have known with Pratt's constant persisting about them getting back together to patch things up that something was going to happen.

Anna crumbled, her hands reaching for Aspen's arm, "I'm sorry, Aspen. I didn't want to trick you, I know you didn't want to see him but Chris is so damn relentless about getting you two to talk." Covering her face, "I should have put my foot down, I mean for Christ's sake, this is your ex boy friend."

Readjusting her hat, she placed her glasses back on her face. Her finger pointing at the blonde haired woman, her words thick, "You are so lucky I love you." Peering back around the corner, she squealed out and grabbed her hat, pulling it as far down as it possibly could go. "This can't be happening!"

"Maybe it won't be so bad. I mean, it's just lunch. And you know how Chris gets when he's around other guys. They'll talk about sports and beer and forget about us."

Aspen shook her head, her chest heaving with dread, "I don't know, Anna. You should have seen the way he looked at me that night. And his words," she closed her eyes, leaning against the brick building, "they seemed so real."

"Maybe they were." She looked at her friend, feeling sorry for her. Anna had the chance of falling in love with her best friend and never having to second doubt things. She didn't go through what Aspen went through and she had gotten to know the Captain America actor quite well; Anna could only guess how easy it was to fall in love with him.

"And maybe I should just leave," she mumbled.

"Come on, I promise it won't be so bad."

Aspen reluctantly agreed, linking arms with the House Bunny actress and rounded the corner that led into the busy streets of Manhattan. She was kind of puzzled why Chris was even in New York, normally when he had his down time, he went back to Boston to spend time with his family. She had gone with him a few times, loving the similarity and difference between her city and his; they were both city kids. She fell in love with his hometown, promising him that she would move there when the time came.

Sadly, she never got the chance to move and thinking back on it now, she couldn't imagine living anywhere but in Manhattan. This was her home, the place that taught her what alleys to take and not to take, the place that made her love the artistic aspect of the world, the place that shaped her into who she was. She couldn't give it up, not for some other place that possibly couldn't compare.

"Hello boys."

Chris looked up from his phone, Pratt and himself had been paitently waiting for Anna to join them for lunch. He was quite shocked to see Aspen alongside the blonde actress, what in the world was going though Pratt's mind, he thought. He stood up abruptly, giving Anna a quick kiss on the cheek and awkwardly looking at Aspen, unsure if the same action was appropriate.

Aspen took a deep breath and leaned slightly in to give him a small hug, her breath caught in her throat at the musky scent he gave off. A smell that she had remembered so well from the night all those days ago. Clearing her throat, she took a seat across from Chris, "Have you been waiting long?"

Pratt shrugged, "Eh, like ten or fifteen minutes. We've been talking about how my boys are going to kick their ass this year."

Aspen snorted, her arms crossing against her chest, "Doubt it, Patriots have been dominating and will kick your little birdies off to the sidelines."

Chris couldn't help but grin at her statement and at Pratt's devastated look. Pratt clutched his heart and pointed a finger at the smug brunette, "You're a filthy traitor!" He gave an open smile and spread his arms out wide, motioning to the world around them, "You're a damn New Yorker," he pointed at her again, "and you're rooting for a Bostonian team?! What kind of shit is that?"

She shrugged, returning his smile, "I didn't even like football till I met Chris, he got me into it. And the Giants just need to step up their game and then maybe I'll reconsider." Aspen leaned forward, her eyes peeking over her sunglasses, "But to be quite honest, I'll root for anyone that goes against your Seachickens."

Pratt stood up, his eyes gleaming with fire and play. "I'll make you eat your words, Vansant. When my team wins, I want both of you," pointing at both Aspen and Chris, "to wallow in your pain and misery by wearing Seahawks jerseys." Glancing at Anna, he motioned for him to follow him, "Come on,"

Anna gave a puzzled look, "What? I just got here, what about food?"

"I know but I found the cutest outfit for Jack that I wanted you to see."

"Now?" She was oblivious to Pratt's plan on getting the two of them alone. "Fine but if I get hangry, it's not my fault." Looking at Aspen, "We'll be right back, you guys can go ahead and eat. I'm not going to make you starve while my husband decides to care about his son's fashion."

Aspen placed her elbows on the table and leaned into her hands, her head shaking at her predicament. She could kill Pratt, absolutely strangle him. If it weren't for the fact that she loved both Pratt and Anna, she would have done it by now. Regaining her composure, she leaned back into her chair, her arms folded back across her chest, "Did you know about this?"

Chris shook his head, "No, I was in the middle of booking a flight to Boston when Pratt called and asked if I'd be in the area." Shrugging his shoulders, "I figured that I fly here and just drive home, it's not that far."

"Kind of out of your way, isn't it?" She questioned, curious to know if he had other plans in his mind.
He knew that he had been caught, he looked down at his hands in his lap, unable to look her in the eyes; even if she did wear sunglasses, "I guess but I wanted to patch things up with an old friend."

She gave a friendly scoff, "Shut up."

"I mean it, I want us to be friends, Pen." He finally looked up, leaning forward, resting his forearms on the table, "If it takes the rest of my life to make up what I did, fine. I just- I want to have conversations like we used to."

Aspen swallowed hard, her breathing becoming staggered from her trying to hold her breath. Did she even want to be friends with a man who showed her the power of love and the lesser of it too? Could she forget about how much it hurt to see him naked in her bed with another woman? She turned her head, forcing herself to look away from him. Chewing on the bottom of her lip, she sighed, "It's not going to be easy."

"So, it's a yes to being friends?"

"I never said that."

"But you didn't not say it, either."

She pursed her lips, wanting to change the subject, "So, how's the family?"

Chris gave a small smile, "They're doing great."

"How long is the drive from here? I see that your parents had moved."

"It's about two hours, nothing terrible. They moved a street over, literally."
Aspen took over her sunglasses, her mind calculating the distance and time. "Oh. That's not bad at all."

"You know," Chris started, "mom's been asking about you. You should come with me, I know she'd be happy to see you."

"Chris," she shook her head, "I don't think - it's not -"

" - just as friends. Just a friend."

Aspen bit her lip, when Chris had taken her to Boston; Lisa Evans had fallen in love with her. The two of them had clicked so perfectly that Lisa never wanted her to leave. Lisa would have just adopted her if she could have. And Aspen loved how nurturing Lisa was, she never got to experience that growing up. Her mother had passed away from complications during Aspen's birth so it had always been just Aspen, her father, and her two older brothers. She would love to see Lisa again and catch up, every now and again, they would exchange text messages but neither wanted to bother each other. Plus, Aspen felt like it was a boundary she shouldn't cross if she wasn't dating her son.

"A friend who you used to date." She stated.

"I promise you this trip will be stay friendly and nothing more. They have three spare bedrooms, you and I won't share one, promise." He held up his hands, "I just know that your company would be ten times better then mine would."

"Nothing more, right?"

Chris smiled, "Nothing more."