The Unconventional Family
"Ana, come on if we don't leave now we are not going to make it in time," Jose yells from across our small Portland apartment.
"I will be right there, I just need to find my shoes," I say back before taking one last peek under our bed and I find the Jimmy Choo box for a pair of ridiculously expensive shoes that if I had to pay for them would have cost me nearly a week's salary.
Jose takes my bags and loads them into his car before we embark on our two-hour trip north to Seattle for my best friend Kate Kavanagh's wedding.
It's still hard to believe that she's getting married and just to think four months ago she was single and we three had just graduated from college. We were like the three amigos and now we are down to two. I know Kate felt for the past year like being a third wheel when Jose and I started dating after being friends for so long but we couldn't deny our feelings for one another and both decided to give a romantic relationship a start and here we are living together in Portland and if I didn't know better he was getting ready to propose well that's what Kate seems to think, like she's the expert now. Who is she kidding? She just met her fiancé Elliott Grey a few weeks before we graduated when she went up to Seattle to interview his kid brother the elusive Christian Grey and she met him while he was early for their weekly lunch date and it was love ever since.
Only myself and Elliott know that she's pregnant but I think everyone is starting to suspect that she is. When she came down to Portland last weekend for her final dress fitting, the dressmaker had to let the dress out just a little more to accommodate her little bump. I hate keeping this from Jose as we don't keep secrets from one another but Kate insisted that after the wedding is over everyone can know. She doesn't want people to think that she planned this pregnancy to trap Elliott Grey who by his own admission is a self-made millionaire in the real estate business.
The drive is smooth and I'm glad that we left we did to avoid rush hour and we make it to the church with just a few minutes to spare before the rehearsal starts. I head into the bathroom to change when I hear someone getting sick and I look down and I would recognize those shoes anywhere. I quickly get up and run to the bathroom door and lock it. No one needs to see the bride like this.
"Kate?"
"Ana," Says an upset Kate and I open the door to find her sitting on the floor in her beautiful cream dress sobbing with mascara running down her face. I get her all cleaned up and she still looks just as gorgeous.
"Am I doing the right thing?" She asks smoothing out her hair.
I can't believe the Katherine Kavanagh is asking me such a question. Ever since I met my best friend during freshman orientation she has never made a wrong decision and has never wavered on anything.
"Do you love him?" I say matter of factly.
"More than anything."
"Then you are doing the right thing," I say and pull her into my arms and I can feel her start to relax.
"What if he only asked me to marry him because of the baby," She says rubbing her bump that all of a sudden is non-existent in this very tight dress.
I've only met Elliott a few times and he seems like the real deal. I know Kate said he was a bit of a player before they made their relationship exclusive but the thought is always still in the back of her mind.
As we prepared to head into the sanctuary Kate grabs my arm so that I face her.
"Anastasia Steele, you are my best friend and I don't know what I would do without you. I need you in Seattle with me when this baby comes."
Me? Why me? I'm the last person to help with a baby. Being an only child I've never been around babies let alone ever wanted to have one myself. I know that is a bone of contention in my relationship with Jose as he wants a lot of children and I'm not too keen on the idea. This issue has started to cause me to reconsider if I'm the right woman for the most amazing man that I call my boyfriend. Jose says that he would do anything to make me happy and if kids didn't factor into my life he would make that work. I swear this man would do just about anything to make me happy and that should make me happy in turn.
I unlock the bathroom door just as Kate runs back into the stall to throw up again and I don't look where I'm going and I run smack into what feels like a brick wall.
I should be on the floor by the sheer force of the impact, instead I'm being held up by very two very firm hands that are gripping my upper arms.
"Are you okay," says a very beautiful and nearly melodic voice. I look up and all I can see are these gorgeous yet mysterious grey eyes.
I'm speechless and I don't know how to make my mouth work so I just nod my head.
"Ana, are you okay?" I hear Jose say as he comes to my side; however my rescuer still has me locked in his grip.
"Just being my old clumsy self," I say starting to straighten up and those grey eyes are so urgent on my face I can't help but to look into them.
"So you are the famous Anastasia Steele?" The eyes say.
"Yes," I barely make out.
Kate comes busting out of the door looking so much better and takes in the scene.
"I take it you have met Christian, Elliott's younger brother," she says looking at me with that Kavanagh look. Oh boy, here we go.
I know that Kate loves Jose but she has made it very apparent that we are not destined to be together. I swear she goes out of her way to make that obvious to any eligible and available man she meets. I think Jose has had just about enough of her antics and she sees right through her.
"Ana, come on baby I've got you," Jose says looking straight into those grey eyes and Christian has yet to release me.
"I'm fine," I say struggling for him to free me.
Finally he gets the message and releases me, only his hands mind you. Those eyes are still boring into my soul.
"Let's get this rehearsal started," Elliott announces unaware what has been going on without him.
I almost feel uncomfortable the way Christian has been staring at me during the nearly hour long rehearsal. When I take his arm as we exit down the aisle I feel goose bumps all up and down my body. I don't know how to describe it other than an electrical current that is running from his body through mine.
Once we get to the end of the aisle we are going over the instructions for tomorrow when I realize I've forgotten my purse in one of the pews. I tell everyone to go ahead and for Jose to pull the car out front when I head back inside. As I go and grab my purse another set of hands reach out and we touch once again and that electrical current again and this time I'm sure it's wasn't static electricity.
"As the Best Man it's my duty to make sure that Maid of Honor is well taken care of," Christian says and I try to avoid eye contact as much as possible.
"Well, I think my boyfriend has already taken care of that but thank you," I say trying to be polite as I start to walk out of the sanctuary.
As we reach the front doors, Christian grabs my hand causing me to look directly at him.
"I felt it too," he whispers into my ear sending my body to react in a way it never has before.
At dinner, I purposely sat at the other end of the table from Christian because he was making me nervous. Kate knew something was going on and she kept looking at me throughout dinner and smiling, I could literally kill her right now.
I head to the ladies room to freshen up when Christian somehow corners me in the hallway and I can't get passed him.
"Excuse me," I say but he's not moving.
"How serious are you and your boyfriend?"
His tone of voice is so off-putting I'm insulted.
"Very, so if you can please move Jose will be wondering where I am."
"If I was your boyfriend I would never let you out of my sight Anastasia."
Shit the way my name rolls of his tongue is starting to do things to me so I know I need to get out of here quickly.
Christian is still blocking my way so I decide to duck under his arm and return to the table and I don't afford him a look back.
Saying out goodbyes, I headed to Hotel 1000 with Kate and kissed Jose goodbye just as I noticed Christian getting into his Black SUV and he didn't look happy.
"In the time I've know Christian Grey he has never acted this way around any woman before," Kate says as we get into bed and I have a glass of champagne while she has a glass of sparkling cider.
"Kate, you have to stop this, you know how much I hate it not to mention Jose."
"Steele, you know that I love Jose more than anything but you two are just meant to be friends nothing more, I don't understand why you can't see it. He's holding you back. You should be in Seattle working for Seattle Independent Publishing and not in Portland working at some job you hate so Jose can finish school.
Kate is referring to the small publishing house that offered me a job right after graduation but I turned it down because Jose still has another semester left for his mechanical engineering degree. Jose told me to take the job in Seattle and that he would join me in December but I just couldn't do it. I don't think I could be without him for six months. I've tried to tell Kate that but she thinks that I'm lying to defend him.
"I'm not going to go into this anymore with you. I love Jose and he's not holding me back. We will come to Seattle together, but right now we are where we are supposed to be."
I'm nearly on the verge of tears and Kate finally gets it and drops it.
We fall asleep but all I can think about all night are those Grey eyes.