Chapter story maybe? Let me know.

CPOV

I didn't have time for this.

I had a million things to do today, and being interviewed by some college student for a magazine I'd never heard of definitely wasn't very high on my list of priorities.

Or on my list at all.

But I'd promised Sander's that I'd do this interview for him as a favor. I had no idea why, but there wasn't much I could do about it now.

On top of having to waste at least twenty minutes of my time with this ammature college journalist, my whole day had been one giant fuck up - from Carmen, the receptionist, scheduling the wrong meetings, to my newest submissive breaking her ankle on some surfing trip she was on - it was just one hell of a fucking day, so suffice it to say that my mood wasn't the best when Carmen notified me that the aforementioned college student was here.

A few seconds later my office door was being pushed open, and in walked the total opposite of what I'd been expecting.

I had expected someone very professional looking, someone who was attempting to portray the business side of journalism - but that's not at all what this girl looked like.

Messy.

She had a wild mess of unruly hair that was spilling out of the bun she had on top of her head - a bun that was being held up with pencils, no less - the white blouse she wore was at least two sizes too big, and instead of dress pants she had on black skinny jeans with a pair of scuffed up combat boots. Her face was innocent enough - blue eyes, pink lips, slightly flushed cheeks as if she'd ran to get here.

I glanced down at my desk to see where Carmen had written her name on a piece of paper, before standing up to shake her hand.

"Ms. Kavanagh, nice to meet you."

She shook my hand, but also shook her head, "I'm not Kate, my name's Anastasia Steele."

I raised an eyebrow and sat down, waiting for her to get the hint and do the same before asking, "So why are you here?"

"Something came up last minute..."

She was slightly out of breath.

"She would've been here if she could've, but she asked me to come and do the interview instead."

I tilted my head to the side slightly, studying her.

She'd caught her breath, and now seemed just as ready to get done with this as I was.

For some reason this irritated me. She should be happy that I was taking time out of my day to help her. Then again, it wasn't actually helping her if I was understanding her story correctly.

"So you are?"

She narrowed her eyes at me and enunciated her words slowly, "Anastasia Steele, as I said when I came in."

"I'm well aware of your name, Ms. Steele. I did hear you. My question was regarding your relationship to the magazine this is supposed to go in. I mean why did Ms. Kavanagh choose you to take her place?"

"Oh." she said, tucking a few stray pieces of hair behind her ear and leaning back in her seat, "I'm her best friend."

I raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to continue.

"I don't have any relationship to the magazine. I'm not a writer...or journalist I guess." she said, her eyes finally flitting around my office. The strange thing was that it wasn't the usual wide eyed stare I usually got from women her age, but more so a critical eye.

Curious.

"So what do you do, Ms. Steele?"

She looked back to me and said, "I'm an artist."

"Isn't that what every struggling young student who doesn't know what they want in life says?"

"Every famous work of art you have in this overly ostentatious example of your wealth was once created by a 'struggling young student', as you so eloquently put it, Mr. Grey." she fired back.

I was slightly taken aback, because it was rare that anyone ever had such a quick comeback - or a comeback at all - let alone one that sounded educated enough to even be entertained, for something I'd said.

I bit the inside of my cheek - a favor for Sanders.

"Shouldn't you be asking me questions, or do you think I have all day?" I asked with a smirk.

"I was just waiting for you to take a break from the arbitrary stares you've been giving me since I walked through the door." she said with a smile while she pulled out a notepad and a recorder, "So Mr. Grey, how would you say you've managed to build this incredible empire at such a young age?"

I blinked a few times, trying to wrap my head around this girl - Ms. Steele - before replying.

"My parents are both very successful, and they put great value on hard work. So when I decided that this is what I wanted to do, I committed to it one-hundred percent."

Her face was impassive as she read the second question, "What is your favorite thing that your company does?"

"Finding different forms of sustainable energy."

At that the indifference on her face shifted to something else and she asked, "Like what?"

"Like bioengineering solutions. We've actually used some new technology in a few countries and we've gotten incredible results."

"So you like the idea of being able to make countries self reliant so that we don't have problems with certain climates being unable to produce crops, in turn making starvation nonexistent?"

I had to admit I was surprised. Of all people that I would've expected to be interested in and know anything about this particular topic, she was definitely not it.

"Exactly."

She seemed slightly less irritated by my existence and asked, "It's no secret that you're an extremely private man, but would you mind answering a few questions about your personal life?"

"Depends on the questions, Ms. Steele."

"Fair enough." she said, glancing at the notepad with obvious distaste, "Honestly, I wouldn't answer half of these, and my life isn't nearly as exciting as yours."

Great.

I had no idea what people's fascination was with my personal business.

"Is there a woman in your life?"

"No."

She seemed slightly surprised, but didn't comment, instead asking her next question.

"Outside of your family are there any people you're very close to?"

I shook my head, "No. Like you said, I'm a very private person."

"Many women refer to you as the most eligible bachelor around, so everyone's..." she rolled her eyes at the words before continuing, "So everyone's wondering if you're looking to settle down anytime soon?"

I shook my head, "No."

The thought alone of being in a serious relationship - or any relationship that went further than the relationships I had with my submissives - wasn't anything I was interesting in exploring.

"Shocker." she muttered under her breath.

"Was there something you wanted to say, Ms. Steele?" I asked, meeting her gaze across the desk.

"No, Mr. Grey, not a thing." she said, sarcasm dripping from each word.

"So lastly, do you have any advice to the younger readers out there who are aspiring to be like you?"

I couldn't suppress my sharp chuckle at her question.

"What's funny?" she asked, looking over at me, but I simply shook my head.

"Oh come on, you've hardly had any facial expression the entire time I've been in here, and the one thing that get's a reaction out of you is something you're not willing to share?"

Oh that definitely wasn't the only thing that was getting a reaction out of me. Her smart mouth was definitely something that needed to be dealt with.

"I get asked this question often while doing interviews, and the only thing I can think to say, to become successful in whatever you're doing, is just to fucking go for it."

Her eyes widened and she said, "I'll edit that out."

I shrugged, it made no difference to me - it wasn't exactly a secret that I had a foul mouth.

"Well those are all the questions. Thank you so much for your time." she said, closing her notepad and putting it and the recorder back into her bag.

I nodded, "Of course."

She stood, and so did I, shaking my hand before turning to walk out.

"Ms. Steele?"

She turned back around to face me, eyebrow raised, "Yes?"

"How many classical pieces of art are in this room?"

I had no idea why I was asking her anything, but I refused to have her believe that she had won whatever little mental sparring we'd engaged in. This was my world, and I liked to exert control over all things in it, and for the time being, that included her.

"Uh...why?"

"Humor me."

She sighed, her eyes scanning the room quickly, "Five."

Damn.

"Now if you're done testing my observational skills, I do need to go." she said, spinning around to leave again, "Have a good day, Mr. Grey."

Oh no, that just wouldn't do.

APOV

I couldn't say I was surprised, really. I mean he was Christian Grey, multi-billionaire, private, good looking - it would've been surprising if he wasn't a giant egotistical asshole.

I guess society gave him that right - the right to act like he was above everyone else - because he had a few advantages in life.

Though I had read up on his story, what little of it was actually available anyway, and I found out he'd worked incredibly hard to build his company up to what it was now. I had to respect that. If nothing else, you couldn't argue with his business skills.

His social skills, on the other hand, left a lot to be desired, and I'm sure if he wasn't as attractive as he was, he'd just be some bastard rich guy.

But people like beautiful things, and Christian Grey, with his coppery hair, smouldering grey eyes, and sharp and sinful features, definitely fell into that category.

"How'd it go?"

I wanted to throw my bag at Kate's face, but refrained.

She was sick, and I knew from experience that the stomach flu was one of the worsts things, ever.

"He's as stuck up as I said he'd be."

"Oh shut up." said Kate, rolling her eyes, "He's gorgeous, and you probably mistook his natural cool demeanor as 'stuck up'."

"Or...he's just stuck up." I said joining her on the couch, and we both laughed.

"Thank you so much for doing this for me."

"Just remember you owe me one."

"I am forever in your debt." she said dramatically - or as dramatically as she could with a stuffy nose, sore throat, and mostly gone voice.

"Where's Jose?"

Kate shrugged, "No idea. He was saying something about setting up a gallery."

"A gallery for what?"

Kate rolled her eyes and said, "What do you think, dummy? For you!"

"For me." I repeated, staring at her blankly. I hadn't actually had a gallery for my work for at least a year.

Kate just nodded, "He should be home soon though."

I nodded, standing up and said, "I'll put this in your room." I held up the notepad and the recorder, "And I'm going to take a nap. You made me run halfway across campus to catch the bus on time."

She smiled sheepishly and said, "Forever in your debt."

I just rolled my eyes, chuckling, and disappeared into my room.

Having a house with my two best friends was probably the best thing for multiple reasons. There was almost always someone here to talk to, you had to opinion of someone who was certainly going to tell you the harsh truth - and so many more.

And since we were renting the house from Kate's dad, he was pretty lenient about decorations. I'd basically turned my room into a second studio. There was an easel over by the window, lots of paint bottles spread around the room, drawings taped to the walls, paintbrushes scattered across my dresser, and a mural I'd started on the wall across from my bed.

Inspiration seemed to strike at the weirdest hours, and one night I'd just started a mural of Seattle. It was nowhere near done, but it would get there eventually. It's not like I was in a hurry, nobody was going to see it - aside from Kate and Jose when they came in my room.

Now I had to deal with the fact that Jose was setting up a gallery for me.

It's not that I didn't have plenty of artwork, and it's not even that I wasn't grateful - but I was nervous.

It had been over a year since my last gallery, and it wasn't that anything bad had happened - at least in regards to the actual artwork. Plenty of things had been bought, which was great for us because it was helping pay the rent and buy groceries.

But something bad had happened. Something I wasn't sure I was ready to revisit again. The whole reason I had announced my complete dislike, distrust, and unwillingness to enter into any sort of relationship with any member of the opposite sex.

Although it wasn't like that was all that horrible. Kate made it seem like the worst decision in the world, because I'd 'wasn't having wild rabbit sex'.

That wasn't a problem for me though. My virgin status was still completely intact - not because I was waiting for marriage, but because I was waiting for someone who made me feel something. It didn't even have to be love - I wasn't that naive - but a spark...just...something. Something different.

I was willing to wait - especially after last years stupid ex boyfriend incident.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts and picked up my sketchpad before dropping down onto my bed on my stomach. I put my headphones in, turned my music up, and lost myself in the music and in my sketch.

After about thirty minutes I was pulled out of my art-induced haze by a knock on my door, and then two seconds later in bounced an incredibly happy Jose.

I sat up and pulled my headphones out, "Hey,"

"Annie, you're not going to believe this when I tell you." he said, sitting down on my bed.

I raised an eyebrow, "What?"

"I got you a location for a gallery showing."

"Okay..."

"Pace."

Blink.

Blink.

Blink.

"Pace."

He nodded.

Blink.

Blink.

Blink.

"Oh my god!" I launched myself at Jose, hugging him.

He laughed and hugged me back, "Now tell me how fabulous I am."

"You are the most amazing, talented, best-best friend I could ever ask for."

Pace was a place where all the best up and coming artists displayed their artwork, the only thing was -

"Jose, isn't that place crazy expensive?" I asked, leaning back to look at him.

He shrugged, "Benny owed me a favor."

I was going to ask who Benny was, but Kate walked in and flopped down on my bed too.

"So when is this amazing gallery opening going to be?"

I looked to Jose - it was funny how Kate and I always looked to him for most decisions we made. He was like...the Mother Hen.

"Well we need at least a month to get invitations made and sent out, you need to finalize what artwork you're going to be using and where it's going." he said, looking at both of us.

Kate whipped out her phone and said, "So...that means...it'll be Saturday...May twentieth."

I nodded and we both looked over at Jose, who took Kate's phone, scanning the calendar before saying, "Isn't that when you guys graduate?"

Oh shit.

Kate just shrugged, "Sure, but that's in the morning. The gallery won't be till like seven or eight."

"Alright, we'll definitely need to get on this first thing tomorrow." he said, handing Kate her phone.

I was already going through what pieces I wanted to have in the gallery and how I wanted things set up. "Alright. We'll go down to Pace in the morning."

"You guys are going down to Pace, I have to get this interview typed up for the magazine article." said Kate rolling onto her stomach and groaning.

Jose's eyes widened and he looked at me, "Do tell! How did it go? Is he as sexy as he is in pictures?"

I rolled my eyes, "He's an arrogant ass who thinks he knows everything."

"With money and looks like that he can act however he wants." swooned Jose, putting a hand over his heart.

"He's rude under the guise of being sophisticated and distant." I argued.

Jose scoffed, "He is sophisticated, and it's no surprise that he's a private person. With money like that I'm sure he's had his run in with gold diggers."

I groaned, "He's not interested in relationships or settling down. He could care less about gold diggers, they wouldn't get close enough for it to be an issue."

"It's not a crime to be reserved." said Kate, pushing herself off my bed. "But while you two continue this riveting discussion I'm going to go to bed so that I hopefully won't be dying tomorrow."

Jose and I laughed, telling her goodnight, before laying down on my bed.

"Is he really that awful?" asked Jose, looking over at me.

I sighed, "He's...arrogant and judgmental."

"Judgmental?"

"He asked what I did."

"I take it he doesn't like artists?"

I snorted, "You'd think he'd be more appreciative of art considering how much of it he was surrounding himself with in his office. He basically said people call themselves artists when they don't know what to do and are struggling for money."

Jose sighed and said, "He lives in a different world than we do, Annie."

"Tell me about it."

Jose chuckled and kissed my forehead before standing up, "Get some sleep, and take joy in the fact that you'll never have see Mr. Stuck Up Billionaire again."

I laughed and nodded, "Goodnight."

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