Fifty Shades of Average

Chapter 23

A/N: FSOA was ranked #265 under General Fiction and #949 under Romance!!!! Please just take one second right now and vote for this chapter so that the ranking can go up :) I love my readers to death, so much. Literally words cannot explain how grateful I am, so thank you all x

P.S. Take a couple minutes and reread the last chapter so that you understand what's going on :) This was a very difficult transition for me into my junior year, so I apologize for the unfair and brutal long wait!

P.S.S. Another reason why the update took so long is because no one votes and I recently got 11 votes on the last chapter (I was looking for 12), so vote for faster updates!!!!

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After I stepped out of Mr. Grey's office that day, I haven't seen him since then.

One week later and I haven't spoken to him once.

Not once.

Truthfully, I don't know how I feel about that. My subconscious wags her finger a me 24/7, scolding me for making such a rash decision and constantly reminding me of all the cons of not seeing him.

Today, Monday, marks the first day of my second week as an intern here at Grey Enterprise Inc. I didn't mean for Mr. Grey - shoot, Chris to make arrangements for me to never see him at all. I just meant no public associations. I'm very happy that people have started to stop staring at me like I have two heads, but upset that it took me cutting Chris off for it to happen.

And when he held me last Friday at La Maisonette...I still can't get that moment, that surge of emotional feelings out of my head.

It felt so....Real. I don't know how else to describe it. Time seemed to slow down around me, but my heart was racing at a million miles a minute. That's never happened before and I honestly feel a little afraid.

The emotional turmoil I'm in every time I see him is more than what I've experienced in high school alone. Says something, right?

Before Chris interrupted the dinner that night, Axel was perfect. Too perfect. He took me out to what was obviously a very expensive place, seeing that Chris was there. The food tasted great and I really did have a lovely time. I love to laugh, and Axel does a great job making me do just that whenever we're together.

I'm not blind, so I know for a fact that Axel is interested in me. For the most part, we've been texting every day or so since we went to the mall that one time, but lately he hasn't texted me. He usually texts me with a joke or something funny that never fails to brighten my day. I smile at the thought, but frown when I check my phone to see that I have no new messages.

Oh...

Crap.

Well, shit.

How could I be so dumb?

The headlines.

The freaking headlines.

I am 100% positive that Axel saw the paper.

"Chris Grey Takes Home Sexy Mystery Woman from Club. Another one night stand from the CEO?"

I need to give him an explanation, for the sake of our friendship. I refuse to lose my only male friend over an article written by a lady who obviously didn't get her facts straight. I continue to read over the work I was assigned by Adrianna, but my mind keeps getting distracted and I don't read as much as I'm supposed to in that amount of time. Bringing out my phone, I text Axel in an attempt to fix what the paparazzi has damaged.