Author's Note: I do not own anything of Marvels. Only the OC characters.
As always, thank you so much to all those have continued reading this story.
Chapter 5
Having Steve in her life was easy. He fell into the role of friend faster than she believed possible. It wasn't awkward like she believed it would be at first, it just felt natural. As if he had been a part of her life for much longer than the few weeks they knew one another. They began to fall into a routine. Every morning they would meet up for a run, and then grab breakfast after. They spent there mornings together before parting for the day. They would also try and meet up at least 2-3 times during the week at night.
The last week however had unfortunately been busy for Anthea, preventing her from being able to see Steve outside of their morning runs. The USMLE was tomorrow, and she'd spent every spare minute she had at the library holed up. She was walking home when she noticed someone waiting outside her apartment building.
"Steve?" Anthea called out, grabbing his attention. He was leaded up against the building with his arms behind his back. "What are you doing here?" she asked.
"Thea! I came to wish you luck on your exam tomorrow." He pulled his hands out from behind his back, revealing a bouquet of sunflowers. "I'm going out of town tomorrow, and I knew I wouldn't be able to see you. So I wanted to make sure to stop by and wish you luck. As well as an early congratulation, as I know you are going to do amazing tomorrow. Not a single doubt in my mind." He smiled at her as he handed her the flowers.
Anthea smiled to herself, "Thank you Steve, I really appreciate this. I've missed seeing you, and definitely needed this tonight." She brought the flowers up to her nose smelling them.
"The woman I bought them from, she said the sunflower is supposed to bring you good luck. I thought it was fitting, plus I find it hard to look at a sunflower and not smile. I feel the same when I'm around you."
She laughed and them smirked at him, "I'd watch myself if I were you Rogers, flattery will get you nowhere."
He gave her a smirk, "Anywhere with you is enough. Speaking about being with you," he said, giving her a pointed look while raising his eyebrows, "I should be back in two days, and I was wondering if you'd like to go spend the day together. You know, to celebrate you being one step closer to becoming a doctor."
Anthea smiled, the idea of spending an entire day with Steve was tempting, however she remembered her plans with Erica. "As much as I would love to spend the day with you, I'm afraid I can't." She looked up at him then, seeing the disappointment in his eyes. "I promised Erica a few weeks back that after we finished the examination we would get away from New York for a bit. Go on a vacation, just the two of us." She said with an apologetic smile on her face.
"Ah I understand, how about after you get back? I'll steal you away for a day, somewhere Erica won't be able to find us." He joked.
Erica had become slightly jealous of Steve's presence in her life. Erica was used to it just being the two of them. She was an only child growing up, and her parents weren't around often. Although she would never admit it, she was worried that Anthea would forget about her and leave her behind. It wasn't just with Steve, but also with Jacob and Clayton. She was worried about being abandoned.
"She doesn't mean any harm by it, she just doesn't want to be left behind. She had a rough childhood. But I think she will be okay with you stealing me away for the day. Especially since we are getting away for a week."
Steve smiled, "Good, anyways, I'll get out of your hair now. I know you probably want to get some rest before tomorrow." Steve moved forward and wrapped his arms around her in a hug. "Good luck tomorrow, and have a safe trip. I'll miss you while you're gone." He said into her hair.
Anthea wrapped her arms around Steve, "Thank you Steve, for everything. Believe it or not I think I might actually miss you as well. I'll be looking forward to seeing you when I get back." She smiled as she pulled away.
"Goodnight Thea." He began to walk away before, stopping when she called out to him.
"Steve!" She ran up to him, "Look, I don't know where it is you're going exactly or what you will be doing, but please be safe." She said looking up at him.
Steve smiled and placed a hand on her face, "Of course Thea, I wouldn't risk missing a day with you."
The day of the examination passed easily for both Erica and Anthea. "We're done! Our first boards are in the book, and now we just need to make it two more years and then we will be doctors!" Erica was practically beaming as she spoke.
"We've still got to wait on the results before we start celebrating."
"Thea, don't you even think of trying to ruin this for me right now. We've spent months preparing for this day, and I know for a fact that we both knocked it out of the park. Scores be damned. Now, let's go back to the apartment and finish packing. We are flying out on the redeye tonight."
"I'm sorry, I can't help it sometimes." She said sheepishly. "And I still can't believe your parents are flying us out to Hawaii, it's too much."
"Thea, how many times do I have to tell you, it's fine. Look they're loaded. If they want to spend a ridiculous amount of money on a vacation for us then fine. Especially when you consider that they couldn't even wish their own daughter a congratulations in person." She said looking down.
Anthea wrapped her arms around Erica. "Congratulations Erica! You are one step closer to becoming the greatest doctor the New York has ever seen."
Erica laughed and pushed her away. "Please, if anyone is going to be the greatest doctor in New York it's you." Erica walked ahead, but Anthea could see her discretely wiping her eye.
"Please, who ever said I wanted to stay here. We have the world at our feet." She joked. She looked over at Erica and saw her getting uncomfortable.
"Well, I figured since you found your match in America's Sweetheart you would stay here with him. You two seem to be getting awfully close."
"Hey, Steve is a friend. Yes, he is my match, but we agreed to keep things platonic. Steve may be a part of my life, but so are you. I wouldn't be here right now if it wasn't for you, you're my best friend Erica. Steve will never be able to change that, or get between us. It's you and me."
Erica stopped, and stared at her. "You mean that?"
"Of course, I would never let anyone come between us. You're stuck with me, remember?"
Erica came up to her and wrapped her arms around her, pulling away after a few minutes. "Ok, enough of all this emotional talk, let's go home and pack. We've got a beach with our names on it, with some hot guys waiting for us."
The vacation was much needed. After months of stressing over boards and the end of their second year, laying on the beach was exactly what they needed. They'd been gone for a week and were heading back tomorrow. They were laying on the beach when Erica turned to her.
"So I know I haven't been the most supportive of Steve's presence, and I promise I'll work on that, but how is that going? What's it like finding out your match is a super soldier from the 40s?
"It's different, hard to grasps honestly. I still can't wrap my mind around it completely. To be honest, most of the time I try not to think about Captain America. He's just Steve, an old fashioned guy who has more manners than all the guys in our class combined. He's unbelievably sweet and supportive, and is constantly trying to distract me when I get too caught up with work. He's... He's just Steve."
Erica turned around fully, giving Anthea her full attention. "And 'just Steve' is just a friend? Because with the way you describe him, I'm wishing I had a 'friend' like that." She finished with a smirk on her face.
"Yes Erica, he's just a friend. I told him when we first met, and he respects that. I can't be more than a friend to him."
"Oh when you first met you say, so after he heroically saved you in the middle of the invasion? After he promised to find you? Or are you referring to the meeting you had, after he spent weeks trying to find you. Searching every damn hospital, which you definitely should have been in, to find you."
Anthea glared at her. "After, and like I said we are just friends. Oh, and since when did you decide to start pushing for me and Steve. You use to glare at him every time the three of us spent time together."
"And I told you that I'm a changed woman now. I've come to accept Steve into our lives and am now working on making you see reason. You have an extraordinarily attractive match, who happens to be a superhero, that looks at you like you are the only person that matters. I'm sorry, I'm just having a hard time understanding what's stopping you from."
Anthea sat up, and turned around and glared at Erica. "Look, having a match doesn't promise you happily ever after. I can't and won't just fall into a relationship with him on the basis that we were 'destined to be'. Because that's bullshit, and it's not true. I've seen first-hand out wrong 'destiny' can be."
"Then don't! Don't jump into a relationship with him! But all I'm saying is give the poor man a chance. If you want to be his friend, then that's great. But, all I'm saying is if you ever change your mind, give him a chance. I know how stubborn you can be. You could be madly in love with the poor guy, but still refuse to become anything more. Just because he's your match." Erica reached out to grab her hand. "You're family Thea, and I just want you to be happy. And if Steve makes you happy, then let yourself be happy. Even if its 5 years down the road. Just promise me, that if you ever do start having feelings for him, you'll give yourself the chance to be happy."
Anthea sighed, and squeezed Erica's hand. "Okay, I promise. If I change my mind about just being friends with him, I'll let him know and see where it goes."
"Okay good, now we have one night left in paradise and I plan on making the most of it. Starting with the tall, dark and handsome over there."
