It was a sunny autumn morning and Ana enjoyed the view of the orange colored parks as she gazed through Christian Grey’s apartment window. She had never expected for their second date to finish in his apartment but if she was being honest she hadn’t even believed in the possibility of a second date at all. Ana had met the young millionaire when her roommate Kate had got sick and couldn’t attend to the scheduled interview she had planned months in advance. Getting the appointment had being an achievement of its own and as the college’s newspaper editor this was an opportunity she could not miss. Her friend coached her through the whole interview several times before the big day and Ana read and re read the questions several times so that she wouldn’t fail her friend.
Meeting Christian had been an interesting event- For lack of a better term and conducting the interview had proven to be not as simple as she thought it would be, after all how can you analyze someone who is constantly trying to analyze you? He met every of her questions with two of his own, seemingly taking pleasure in getting her flustered. So Ana left, a little baffled but happy because she had everything her friend needed, it would be like the flu never happened.
It was needless to say that she was more than surprised when she saw him again at the place she worked; especially considering her job was attendant in a hardware store. It had been funny to see him standing with his sleek grey suit in the midst of the antiseptically white aisles. Turned out he was in town because he had to visit college for a lecture and decided to buy a few stuff he needed. It seemed weird; shouldn’t a guy like him have people at his disposition to do this sort of thing? But who knows, maybe he was doing what he had said in the interview and mixing with common man whatever he meant by that. Still Anna thought it would be wrong to ask so she just smiled and helped him find the stuff he needed.
He was the same as she remembered, always poking here and there hoping to find information about her, it must to be something natural that came with his job, after all he couldn’t have built his business without learning how to measure your competition. However this time she didn’t feel as intimidated as before. Maybe it was because she knew what to expect, or maybe it was because she wasn’t in his office, a place design to intimidate but rather on the hardware store, her workplace. She was always safe there. It made things easier, the talk, the jokes and she found herself enjoying her time with him. The way he teased her put a smile on her lips and made her heart race. She had been thrilled when he asked her out on a date.
She had told Kate every detail, and the two friends had waited anxiously to the night of their first date. They met in an uptown restaurant Ana had never heard before; luckily Kate had and made sure Ana was dressed for the occasion. The place was amazing with its contemporary style and upbeat music. It had seen like the perfect date… until Christian arrived.
It was as if something had changed between them, his mind would go elsewhere whenever she spoke and Ana couldn’t help but to feel terrible about it. She was boring him but she didn’t know what else to do. The entire date was just an awkward clusterfuck after another and she went home wondering whatever had gone wrong. Needless to say Anna was incredibly surprised when he called her and asked her out again. She thought about saying no, did she really want to spent another night like that? But she remembered the fun guy she had talk with at the hardware store and agreed to one more date. She wanted to see if she could find him again. And now here she was getting dressed after he left for work. Ana had to admit the sex had been great but, unfortunately, Christian hadn’t. There was something about him that felt off and she was beginning to wonder whether she had maybe read too much into it.
Whatever, it didn’t matter now, she had no interest to see him again so when she got a text from Kate to go have breakfast she left the apartment with a smile on her face. Who needed weird guys when you had great friends?
When she arrived her friend was already inside stuffing her face in a donnut. Her beautiful blonde curls were a bit of a mess and her eyes were slightly red from sleep deprivation. Today it was a big day for her, she would finally deliver the essay she had spent weeks working on and only needed a B- to have one subject less in the way of her and graduation. It’s amazing still, how even without having slept probably in all night and, by the way that she digs into the fry pastry, having eaten anything at all, Kate is filled with energy. Almost as an adrenaline rush.
-I swear,- She says in between bites.- If that asshole doesn’t give me at least a B, I’ll take his dead toupee and hit him with it until he bleeds.- Yeap, definitely adrenaline. She took a long sip of her coffee and suddenly her shoulders slump and her expression is sad.- God, what if he doesn’t pass me because I reported him to the board? How long will it take to graduate now? Shit, I knew I shouldn’t have done it.
Anna takes her hand and squeezes gently, reassuringly.
-Come on, you had to do it the guy was a pervert. Besides you have been working in the essay forever, if he fails you, you can talk it the board and say it’s prejudice, which it is. It’s the guys first report, he wouldn’t risk it.
-Yeah,- She relaxed.- You are probably right, thanks. So…- Her back straightened up and there was a sultry smile on her lips.- How was your evening?
Anna had to laugh at her friend’s question but the laugh ended as soon as she remembered the night.- It was good, I just don’t think I’ll see him again.
-What? What happened?
So Ana told her the whole story and by the time she was finished they were at the park sitting on a bench, the breakfast well over.
-Shit, I’m so sorry Anna, are you ok?
-Of course I am!- She said, smiling.- Maybe a little disappointed but it happens and I won’t worry about it.
-And I who thought we’d have a rich boyfriend to buy us stuff.- She sighed with fake sadness.
-Don’t worry, we’ll have money and buy those things ourselves.
-We? That sounds like a lot, you be rich and I’ll suck the life out of you.
-Deal.- She agreed, if something had to suck the life out of her she preferred it to be Kate.- So I have some time before college, wanna do something?- Luckily Alex still had her notebook from last class so she didn’t have to stop and go to their apartment. They spent the morning fooling around until it was time to go to college and the rest of the afternoon was rather uneventful that was until seven when she turned on her cellphone.
Kate had been in the kitchen walking nervously around. The professor had said he needed more time to correct the essays so all students should go see him after his next class. That would be in three hours and it was clear that her friend had lost any resemblance of patience long ago.
As Anna checked her phone for news she found something interesting. Or, actually, weird. Three text messages and seven missed calls from Christian Grey.
Holy shit, had she done something wrong? She doubted, especially since he hadn’t told her anything, he had just left. Should she have told someone that she was leaving so they would close the place or something? Maybe broken some security rule? As much as she tried she couldn’t think of a reason for him to call, let alone seven times.
The texts were weird all by themselves:
“Have you eaten? Ask Taylor and he would bring you anything you want.” Who the hell was Taylor?
“Anna, where are you?”
And finally:
“Never mind. Have fun.”
Ok, this was really weird. He surely had been mistaken and called the wrong Anna, right? Yeah, it didn’t seem likely but whatever it was Anna decided the best thing to do was call him.
Somebody knocked the door and Kate sprinted towards the door.
One ring, two, three, four, five…
-Emm… Anna?- Kate calls her.- It’s Christian.
Confused, Anna walks to the door and there, in his typical grey suit stands Christian.
-What are you doing here?- She asked all the more confused. She had never told her where she lived.
-Can I talk with you for a moment?- His tone was calm but for some reason she felt like a child about to be punished. No, that was ridiculous, she was clearly overthinking now.
-Sure.- She stepped outside and gave Kate a confident smile before closing the door. –So what did you..- She was cut off when he kissed her. Eager lips devouring her mouth. It took her a few seconds to think again and push him away.
- I missed you.- He told her smiling as he caressed her cheek. The feeling of his hands on her was starting to feel uncomfortable but she thought it would be rude to back away.
-Emm, ok but what did you want?- He dropped his head to kiss her again but this time she pushed him off and took a step back.- Besides that.
His loving expression turned cold all of the sudden.
-I tried to talk to you but you never answered.
-Yeah I saw but why…
-So you chose to ignore me?- He was angry now, jaw tense and his voice rasp. Anna fought to keep the fear in line, what was she even afraid of?
-No! No, my phone had the battery low so I turned off and I just saw your texts. I was just calling you when you came here.- Still angry, he looked at his cellphone. His expression softened when he saw her call and she relaxed as well, if he had only listened… Wait a minute, why did she had to explain anything? He had no reason to be mad at her and yet she felt as if she had done something wrong. She didn’t like this.
-What were those texts about?- The idea that it had been a mistake had disappeared from her mind and the uneasy feeling she got only got worse.
-I just wanted to see how you were.- He shrugged and his tone was hurt. Again she felt bad for him and it took all of her self-control to remember that she had not done anything wrong.
-And that last one, about having fun?- The second she said it he turned cold, again. What the hell was wrong with this guy? Anna was getting tired and it wouldn’t take long for her to tell him to fuck off.
-Just telling you to have fun in class… after all, you looked so happy with that guy…- Anna gasped, fear definitely settling in. He had followed her?
- You, you followed me?- She could barely keep her voice from trembling as she tried to look for an explanation. There had to be one.
-Anna,- He half sighed, half threatened.- You don’t know how it is like, I was just trying to keep you safe…
-From what?! Oh my God, just, tell me this is some kind of joke. A sick prank that rich guys do with the people they fuck.- Her voice was so loud neighbors would hear but she didn’t care.- You can’t just stalk me, why the fuck would you do that?
-What the fuck was I supposed to do? Huh?- He lashed out on her.- You weren’t at my place and you weren’t answering my calls...
-So you followed me? Dude, we barely know each other, so what if I wasn’t at your place? Was I supposed to stay there forever? – She let out a bitter laugh.-You know what? This is enough, I had enough. Don’t ever call me again, don’t come to visit, which by the way I still have no idea how the hell you knew where I live and I don’t want to know, and especially don’t stalk me.
To her surprise, because she had expected for him to lash out again, that seemed to be his thing when things didn’t go his way, he sighed.- Ok, listen it’s been a long day and I’m sure you are tired.- He tried to grab her arm but she shanked it away.- Why don’t you just eat something, sleep and we’ll talk about it in the morning. You’ll realize your mistake soon enough.- Her mistake?
-Yeah, I don’t think so buddy and I don’t want to see you again, if I ever do I’ll call the police and I’m serious.- She stood there trying to look more confident than she felt. Christian remained silent for a few seconds before storming away. Tears had formed before she could control them and she went back to her apartment. What the hell had just happened?