Again I don't own anything to do with the 50 Shades Trilogy. I'm just a massive fan here.

Thank you so much for the alerts I have received, as well as the comments. Sorry I took a while to update. I've been busy working hectically, so it has been hard to find the time to update and write. Hoping this isn't bad.


Chapter 4

After school, Kate and I walk towards the movies. Halfway down the road, a group of boys whistle from through the gaps in their car windows and Kate faces them to flip the bird at the group of them rudely so that they see. They shout a few rude things at her, but Kate just shrugs it off, laughing. Kate has always been like that, really; So outgoing and amazing and ballsy.

"God, what total dorks," she says to me in disgust once the guys disappear down the street in their car. "God, some people, Ana..."

"You always get the guys, don't you?" I say to her with a laugh. It's true though; All the boys seem to like her. Always her. I suppose I can't blame them. In fact, in some ways, I am so envious of her.

"What are you talking about?" she asks in confusion. "They were probably whistling at you, too?"

"Yeah, right."

"Why wouldn't they? You're pretty."

I feel myself flush. "No, I'm not," I disagree, while yanking my hair tie out of my hair and brushing the strands out with my fingers to cover my ears. "You're the pretty one. I mean, have you even noticed the amount of guys at school that literally drool at you every time you walk past?"

"Someone's a little jealous," Kate says, but she bumps her shoulder against mine to show me she is teasing. "You just need to get more confidence in yourself, Ana. Start believing that you are hot, and then eventually, all the guys will think you are as well. It goes both ways." She eyes my jumper and jeans combo in a way that makes me feel self-conscious. "You know, maybe you should try dressing a bit differently? I mean, you have the body for it. Why not wear clothes that don't hide it?"

I try not to look too wounded. "You think that's what I just need? A wardrobe change?"

"Yeah. It makes all the difference." I suppose Kate would know; She's always been way more stylish than I have ever been. Kate coordinates her outfits really well, and she doesn't care about showing some cleavage or skin. "Maybe if we find you something a bit more revealing and less... frumpy, then you wouldn't feel so down on yourself?"

I guess Kate is right. I have always been insecure. I don't think there has been a time where I haven't been. My skin isn't perfect, and I get zits on my chin a lot, something that is probably just hormonal and not anything I can change. I don't feel very comfortable in my skin. I'm lanky and all elbows and knees half the time. I guess I don't feel all that up to dressing like the other girls do in my grade, where they show off their skin. I prefer the more laid-back, simple style

Instead of heading straight to the movies, we take a detour into the mall instead. Kate forces me to go into a vintage shop where they sell reasonably cheap clothes, and she gets me to try on different tops that I usually never would have once gone for. I think maybe she is right though; One of the tops, which is sleeveless and a light green, actually doesn't look too bad on me. My arms aren't as gross as I had always thought they were, and it really does make a bit of a difference.

"See?" Kate says in approval, once I head out of the change room to show her the top. "This is exactly the type of clothes you should wear, Ana. No fucking boring, frumpy clothes that granny's would wear. It actually makes you look more mature, too."

It makes me look more mature? If so, then I'm definitely buying it.

"Now what you just need," she says while delving through her school bag, "is to wear some of this." She pulls out her lip-gloss that has a red tint to it, and coming closer, she forces me into letting her apply it on me. Once I spin around to glance at myself in the mirror nervously, it really is amazing what a new top and a bit of bright lip-gloss will do to you. "Great. You should totally wear that top out tonight while we head to the movies, okay?"

"Okay," I agree, letting her shove my old jumper and shirt in my bag. "Are you sure my arms don't look too bad though?" I ask her skeptically, folding them over my stomach.

Kate makes a frustrated noise as she meets my gaze in the mirror. "Ana, your fucking paranoid. You are skinny, and your arms look great. Stop talking down on yourself, its really fucking annoying."

"Fine," I surrender, giving in. "I'll try to stop the negativity."

But even as I pay for my new top and we get back out into the mall, I still feel insecure. I want to put my jumper back on, but Kate just keeps giving me an annoyed look, like I'm being so ridiculous. And maybe she is right? I'm really not as ugly or as bad as I initially thought I was.

As we finally reach the movies and head inside to get in line to buy our tickets, that insecurity over my arms seems to disappear now that we have coverage in a building. Kate swears I'm the most insecure person she's ever met, but still, I'll feel happy once we are in the theater in the dark. We pay to see the comedy together that we have wanted to see for a while, and as I go to pay and order popcorn, suddenly I become aware of the voices from the two people standing behind me, waiting in line.

It's him! Christian! What are the odds that he would be seeing a movie at the same time I was?

He's standing with a girl that looks a bit younger than me, trying to talk to her while she types on her phone to someone. Instantly, I recall our conversation last night about his sister, Mia. She doesn't really look in anyway like him, but then he said he was adopted, didn't he? He definitely wasn't kidding then, about how her eyes are practically glued to her phone. I'm too flustered all of a sudden at his apparition to realize that the person behind the counter is waiting for me to grab my popcorn and leave so that they can be served next.

Unfortunately, it just serves to bring his attention in front of him, to me.

He raises his eyebrows at me, in surprise I think. Feeling idiotic, I hastily grab my box of popcorn before moving away, feeling my cheeks burning. I cannot believe we had the same idea in mind though, to see a movie at this time of the afternoon! Is this, like, a sign that we are meant to be or what?

I catch up with Kate as she stands around waiting for me by the movie posters. I know I probably look suspiciously weird as I glance back at Christian quickly, because she follows my gaze as well, eyeing him up and down. "Who's that?" she asks quietly. "Do you know that guy or something?"

"Actually, he's the guy I was telling you about," I mumble under my breath. "You know, Christian. The guy that came to dinner last night for my Mom."

"You think he's hot?" Kate says, far too loud for my liking. "He's the one?"

I shush her quickly before sending a nervous look into his direction again. He is looking our way, smiling. His sister still hasn't taken her eyes off the screen of her phone. Crap, though. Did he hear Kate say that? Damn Kate and her loud mouth!

"Let's walk and get into the cinema," I whisper to her, my voice an undercurrent of dangerous warning. Once we start up the steps to the second floor, I punch her in the arm.

"Ouch, Ana. What the hell was that for?"

"You bitch," I spit at her, though half-serious. "Could you be anymore embarrassing? I'm pretty sure he heard you just then! God, now what must he think?"

"I bet he's flattered." Kate shrugs, clearly not getting it. In her defense, Kate is used to just being straightforward and letting a guy she likes know that she's hot for him.

"Still, you are so embarrassing, Kate!"

"Fuck, Ana. You really need to loosen up a little," she retorts back in defense for herself. "Besides, it isn't like I told him to his face that you wanted to bone him!"

"I don't want to bone him," I correct her uneasily, feeling the heat gush over both my face and chest. "I just think he's gorgeous. That's it."

"Yeah, well. It's pretty much the same fucking thing, Ana."

Our fight only ends once we head into the cinema to find a seat. We sit up at the front, as we always like to do when we see a movie together. It's always easier to see the movie that way.

"Who was that girl with him?" Kate asks curiously once we sit. She spreads out her legs, her hand already diving into her box of popcorn. She crunches on some noisily. "Was she, like, his girlfriend?"

"Um, no. I'm pretty sure she's just his younger sister. She looked a little too young to be his girlfriend, don't you think?"

"Whatever. But you should maybe ask him out on a date or something?"

I snort, digging into my popcorn myself. "Yeah, because he'd really be interested in going out on a date with me. Plus, that's kind of wrong, isn't it? For all I know, he might still be seeing Mom."

Much to my relief, the lights dim and the movie begins which puts an abrupt end to our horrible conversation.

Ninety-eight minutes later, the movie has ended and we head back out of the cinema. Throwing our empty boxes in the bin, I almost feel like turning right back around and hiding back in the cinema, when I see Christian exiting the cinema next to us with his sister in tow. Yet again, his sister is playing with her phone. When he tries to talk to her again, I think he looks almost irritated that she isn't responding back. My mouth seems to go weirdly dry when suddenly he looks back in our direction, his stroll faltering slightly. Crap, he isn't thinking of coming over and saying hello, is he?

How hot can a guy be, though? He's wearing dark blue jeans, tennis shoes, and a white button-up shirt today. I think he looks even better than he did last night at Mom's house, impossible as that seems. I feel that strange butterfly sensation infect me when it occurs to me that, yes, just to my bad luck, he is planning to come over to say hi to me. I guess its really only polite.

I feel like I'm breathing too loudly when he finally reaches us, and he slips one hand out of his jean pocket to extend his hand out to me. "Ana, here we are, meeting again." He says it almost warmly.

"Yeah. Imagine that."

I move forward, shaking his hand, trying not to appear too bothered by it all. Is it obvious to him how much I like him? Judging by the almost amused smile on his face, it seems so. Not to mention how Kate just screamed it out barely over two hours ago. He was bound to have heard her.

"What movie did you just see?" he asks me with interest.

I blab the name out nervously as his eyes flicker to Kate. He offers his hand for her to shake as well. Unsurprisingly, Kate doesn't bother shaking it. Lack of manners, that girl.

"This rude person is Kate, my friend from school," I explain awkwardly when Kate just stares at him. She hardly appears flustered by him at all. I don't know whether she finds him as hot as I do, but... she's hiding it very admirably well. That's Katherine for you, though; I suppose she has had a lot of more experience with this than I have.

"Kate?" He gives her a smile. "How do you do? It's very nice meeting you, also." He turns back to glance behind his shoulder at where his little sister is standing on the spot, still texting on her phone. He shakes his head at her in dismay. "Don't mind my sister. It's as I told you last night. Half the time, its a challenge getting her off her phone for even one hour."

He brings his gaze back onto me again while shoving both hands into his jean pockets, and I know I'm blushing something crazy. I feel incredibly shy. And stupid. And awkward.

"How is Carla feeling after last night? I trust she is feeling better after having drank all of those glasses of wine?"

"Um, yeah. She had a bit of a hangover this morning, but all in all, she was fine." I nod once, unsure of what more to say. What else do I say? Christian's eyes drift down to my hands as I fiddle with them nervously in front of me. I glance down too, clenching my fingers, trying to make them stop. I really wish I had some of Kate's endless confidence when talking to males.

"How is the finger after last night?" he asks, and finally, I get why he is so focused on my fingers the way he is. My band-aid is still on, covering my sliced finger. The one he kissed better last night.

"It's better," I say, a bit too breathlessly. Especially after you applied the band-aid yourself and kissed it. "It doesn't hurt at all."

"Good," he nods once. He moves back a few steps. "Well, it was good seeing you again, Ana." He's saying goodbye.

"Yes. You too, Christian."

After he walks back to where his sister is, I can't seem to stop staring at him as he goes. His tight denim jeans really suit him.

"You too, Christian," Kate mocks at my side, in an exaggeratedly breathless voice. "God, Ana. Could you be anymore fucking obvious?"

"Really? I was that obvious?"

"Um, yeah," she laughs, bumping against me. "Your eyes were like literally screaming for him to fuck you."

Her teasing just only rubs me the wrong way. While I know Kate is just being silly, its annoying. "Well, what about you, Kate?"

"What about me?"

"Is it so hard for you not to be so rude to somebody for once? Particularly adults?"

"Hey, I'm allowed to do whatever I want. If he gets insulted by that, then screw him. At least I wasn't the one all lusty-eyed with him..."

"I wasn't lusty-eyed!" I argue back.

"Um, yeah, you were. And I'm pretty damn sure he was lusty-eyed, too."

"Grow up, Kate," I grumble at her. God, sometimes I really hate her. Why have a best friend, when they insist on embarrassing you, particularly in front of the guy they know you like and want to make a good impression with?


Once I get home, I hear Mom in the kitchen, fussing around with making dinner while the TV is on full-blast. The news is on, something Mom loves to watch while she prepares dinner. She always complains to me that she can't hear the news if the TV isn't up on its highest volume otherwise.

"Mom, I'm home," I call, before dumping my bag on the floor in the hallway.

"Hey, honey," she calls back over the loud noise. "How was the movie with Kate?"

I head into the kitchen, finding her cutting and peeling vegetables. "Yeah, it was good. The movie was really funny." I don't know whether I should tell her about running into Christian or not. But considering he is possibly going to be her boyfriend in life, I decide I probably should. "Guess who we ran into, of all people, while we were there?"

"Who?" She asks, watching me with confusion.

"Your date from last night. Christian. He was there, seeing a movie with his sister, too. He asked about you." And I may have been totally admiring him while I was at it...

"Oh, really? He asked about me?" Her face breaks out into a smile. "Well, that was rather nice of him."

"Yeah, he asked how you were feeling after last night when you passed out drunk from all those glasses of wine." I can't resist rubbing it into her face, yet again. I just can't.

She makes a face, still embarrassed over her display of weird behavior last night. "God, Ana. You aren't going to let me forget that anytime soon, are you?"

"Never, Mom," I admit with a smile. "There's not a chance in hell that I will ever let you forget that anytime soon." But Mom smiles back with a disapproving shake of her head, so I know she isn't truly mad at me.

"Remember how I told you how proud I was of you last week? That I said you were a great daughter?" She arches her brows at me while she starts peeling some onions. "Well, I take that back, Ana."

"Oh, come on, Mom. I'm just kidding."

"I know you are, honey. I would hope you wouldn't be that mean. We all make mistakes, after all."

"Yeah, and you just picked the worst time possible last night to make one." My heart freezes, as I remember our conversation this morning. Mom and I don't argue very often, and I do hate it when we do. "Sorry about this morning," I tell her, frowning. "I was just annoyed that you keep withholding things from me, particularly about dad."

"Yes, and I'm sorry too, honey." She looks at me so I know she is sincere while she scrunches all of the onion peels in her hands to quickly dispose of them in the bin. "I know it isn't fair on you. But someday you'll understand." As she doubles back from tossing the scraps in the bin, she looks at my outfit with more interest. "I haven't seen that top before, honey. Is that new? Did you and Kate get up to some shopping in the mall before you went to the movies?"

"We did." I shrug. "But don't worry; We just went into one of the cheap vintage stores. It didn't cost much." Lately, we have been real tight with money. I suggested to Mom about me thinking about applying for some jobs to help her out, but Mom flat-out refused, saying she wanted me to focus mainly on studying for now. I still feel bad about it sometimes though.

"It looks nice on you. That color suits you, honey."

I roll my eyes, dismissing her comment while covering my arms with my hands self-consciously. "I don't know. I hate my arms."

"Ana," she says in warning. "You're fine, honey. There is absolutely nothing wrong with your arms, or any other part of you for that matter. You're beautiful."

"Yeah, and that's just something you're obliged to say, because you're my Mom."

"That's not true," she laughs, shaking her head vehemently. "I wish you wouldn't be so hard on yourself." I focus on her more carefully as I stare at her in doubt. There is something different about her. Her face looks different. Then I realize it's the lipstick she is wearing. Mom hardly wears lipstick, unless on special occasions where she wants to impress somebody.

"Mom?" I say suspiciously. "Are you wearing lipstick? Since when?"

She shrugs her shoulders, somewhat embarrassed. "I just simply felt like a change. I actually had another invitation on my dating profile to head out to lunch today with a fellow in the area. I met another gentleman."

I feel my heart stop in my chest. This is news to me. I'm glad that Mom has gotten so many requests for dates and dinners though, because she deserves it, and she's amazing. "Really? You had lunch with another potential candidate?" She laughs at the way I term it. "But what about this Christian from last night? I thought you were into him?"

"God, I don't know, honey." She rubs her forehead with her fingers, suddenly looking the age she is. "We talked this morning and we have agreed to be friends. He was sweet and so very polite. I just feel he is a little too... young for me, whereas the man I met today, he seemed to tick all the right boxes."

"Really?" I ask with interest. "What's his name?"

"Robert, but he prefers to be addressed as Bob. He's two years older than me, which makes him... definitely more suitable to my age."

"Mom, I still don't get why you were so worried about dating a younger guy though," I tell her in disbelief. "So what if the guy is younger than you? People really don't care nowadays."

Mom laughs in a self depreciating way. "I know that, Ana. But I did care. Christian was lovely, but I think he would be more suitable as a friend. He told me he feels the same, in that we would be best becoming close friends."

Terrible as it is, I can't helping letting out a deep sigh of relief at that. At least I don't have to feel bad about lusting over the man Mom was supposedly interested in dating. If they are going to keep it on a friendly level, it doesn't feel as awkward then. Not that I have any chance of being with Christian Grey, of course.

"So you're liking this... this Bob then? This Robert, Mom?"

"I think I am." She avoids my eyes, like she is trying not too appear too overeager. "He was very handsome and charming. And funny. He owns his own business, which seems to be doing well for itself. It's a restaurant."

"Cool. And do I get to meet him anytime soon?" I ask her hopefully.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, you do. I was thinking of holding a party this weekend, just a get together, just a casual fun thing. You're welcome to invite Kate over, too. Bob will be there, honey, so you can hopefully meet him. Alicia, you know, the closest friend from work..." Alicia, Mom's friend and work colleague, I have met probably fifteen times already. She's nice, and she was also the one who suggested Mom join a dating website initially in the first place. "And... also some other people from work. And Christian... I asked him to come along, too."

We haven't had a house party or anything remotely close to it in years. But when Mom tells me that she has invited Christian to come too, she can definitely count me in. Of course, she can.