A/N: Thank you all for your reviews and support! I hope you enjoy this next chapter.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 4: The smallest degree of admiration

Carla and Ray came by the hospital a couple hours later, and Kate's ankle felt okay enough at this point for her to be discharged and brought home. Thankfully, the fracture wasn't so bad that she needed surgery, but the doctors issued her some crutches and a brace for her to use for the next 6 weeks with strict instructions not to put any weight on her injured foot. Kate was disappointed since she was going to have to put in a leave of absence at the coffee shop she worked at, but she bore it reasonably well considering everything.

Ana felt bad for her sister, but in the days that followed, she couldn't help but feel almost envious of the way Elliot doted on her. He stopped by the house every morning for a few minutes before work to see how she was doing and bring her a coffee or croissant from Starbucks. If Ray was hanging around, the two of them would talk about work at the construction site or about Ray's carpentry shop. Both Ray and Carla seemed to really like Elliot, which Ana saw as a good sign - if Elliot and Kate became a real couple someday, then he would definitely have the Steele family approval.

The end of the week soon came around, and Ana wanted to go out for a drink; however, Kate was still laid up at home with her fractured ankle. Incidentally, Ana had a backup plan in the form of her close friend and neighbor Charlotte, affectionately nicknamed Charlie by people who knew her best. Ana and Charlie soon had set plans for a fun Friday girls night out - dinner, drinks, and maybe a little clubbing afterwards.

"Hey Charlie," Ana now opened the front door and smiled at her friend standing on the porch. Charlie had short dark hair and large brown eyes, and tonight she was looking cute in a pair of skinny jeans, a low-cut green top, and a jean jacket.

"Hey girl," Charlie stepped inside and the two women hugged. "I haven't seen you in forever! How've you been?"

"I've been good. A lot of stuff has happened I can't wait to tell you about," Ana grinned, walking over to the coffee table and grabbing her purse. "Ready to go?"

"Ana, Charlie," Carla walked into the foyer from the kitchen, wiping her hands with a towel. "Are you two leaving right now?"

"Yeah, we're just going out," Ana said, hooking her purse over her shoulder and moving toward the door. "I'll be back later."

"Can you take your sister with you?"

Ana stopped in her tracks and dropped her head, dread filling her body. "Mom," she said in a long-suffering voice.

"I'm sorry sweetheart, but Leila wants to hang out with her friend Mariah tonight and I'd just feel better if she were with you," Carla said apologetically.

"Charlie and I are going out drinking tonight," Ana insisted, gesturing to her friend. "It's our girls night out."

"Well, you can just add two more girls to your night out," Carla insisted. "Charlie doesn't mind, do you Charlie?"

"No, of course not," Charlie said politely, though she looked a bit uncomfortable being put on the spot.

"See? It'll be fine," Carla said to Ana, who rolled her eyes.

"Mom, do you really want us taking Leila and her friend to a bar?" Ana asked doubtfully.

"There's actually a Dave & Buster's a few miles south of here," Charlie said, glancing at Ana. "Your sister and her friend can legally come in with us since we're of drinking age. They can play the games while you and I hang out at the bar."

"Perfect!" Carla said happily. "I'll go get Leila."

She hurried upstairs to Leila's bedroom, and Ana turned to look sarcastically at her friend. "Thanks for that."

"Oh come on, your sister's not that bad," Charlie smiled. "It's just for one night. I'm sure we'll still have a good time."

"I hope you're right," Ana said doubtfully. "By the way, you can drive us there Ms. Designated Driver."

Charlie simply laughed. "I guess I deserve that."

About half an hour later, Ana, Charlie, Leila, and Mariah arrived at Dave & Busters, which was packed with college students and young adults playing arcade games and drinking at the bar. Ana bought her sister and Mariah two "Power Cards" and loaded some money onto them, and after about five minutes of them begging Ana to buy them a cocktail (which she refused), they reluctantly went off to go play some video games.

"I guess it isn't so bad here," Ana admitted as she and Charlie sat together at the crowded bar. A football game was playing on the screens, and some college frat guys were watching and cheering for their team. "At least the drinks are cheap."

"Too bad I can only have soda tonight," Charlie shot her friend a sarcastic look, and Ana giggled. "Since I'm the designated driver and all."

"Hey you're a designated driver too?"

A cute guy with a crew cut walked up and smiled at Charlie, who blushed. She nodded silently.

"Cool, so am I," he grinned. "I'm Denny."

"Hi," Charlie said quietly, and they shook hands.

"That's Charlie, and I'm Ana," Ana said quickly, covering up for her friend's shyness. Denny shook her hand.

"Nice to meet you Ana," Denny said kindly.

"Hey dude."

Another guy walked up to Denny and clapped him on the shoulder, and Ana felt her heart stutter a little bit when she laid eyes on him. He had long, shaggy blonde hair that went almost down to his shoulders, and his twinkling green eyes and charming smile made Ana sure this guy was trouble. He had a fit, muscular body, and was wearing a WSU t-shirt with a dark brown leather cuff bracelet on his wrist.

"Jack," Denny greeted his friend before turning to Ana and Charlie. "This is Ana and Charlie. Ladies, this is my friend Jack."

"Hi," they both said, and they both shook his hand. Ana blushed when she saw Jack giving her a charming smile.

"Can I buy you ladies a drink?" Jack asked, looking specifically at Ana.

"No thanks, I'm good," Charlie said politely.

"I'll have a beer," Ana said, smiling at Jack. "Corona."

"A woman after at my own heart," Jack flirted, sending her a wink, and Ana giggled.

"So what brings you two out to a place like this on a Friday night?" Denny asked while Jack moved over to the bar to get their drinks.

"I got stuck watching my sister for the night," Ana said, nodding toward the arcade. "She and her friend are only sixteen, so they're over at the arcade while Charlie and I hang out at the bar."

"Cool," Denny said.

"So what are you and Jack doing here? Planning on hitting up the arcade?" Ana asked as Jack returned with her beer. She took it from him with a smile.

"Eventually," Denny grinned. "We're here with our Delta Chi frat brothers. You can probably hear them over there cheering over that football game."

On cue, all the frat guys began to cheer and shout excitedly over a touchdown, practically drowning out their conversation. Jack met Ana's gaze and he rolled his eyes, causing Ana to giggle.

"Do you ladies want to head over to the arcade? It might be a little less rowdy there than over here," Denny suggested. Ana and Charlie looked at each other, and Charlie shrugged.

"Sure, let's go," Ana agreed, and she and Charlie got up from their seats. Ana smiled and blushed as Jack moved beside her and placed his hand on her back, directing her through the crowd toward the arcade.

~/~

The four of them ended up having a great time playing the games. They started out with skeeball, and then moved over to the Dance Dance Revolution machines; Jack challenged Ana to most games, and while Ana knew she wasn't that good, Jack was kind enough let her win at least half the time. Charlie and Denny played a few games together, but Charlie didn't show a lot of interest in Denny, and he ended up going back over to his frat brothers at the bar while Charlie went off to check on Leila and Mariah. Ana and Jack were now left alone to spend some one-on-one time together, and Ana couldn't bring herself to be too upset about it.

"…So online classes, huh? How do you like them?" Jack now asked her, taking a sip of his beer. The two of them were just wandering around the arcade, watching everyone play the games.

"I love it. It's so much easier to fit school around my work schedule," Ana smiled. "Plus it's a lot more affordable than living on campus."

"Tell me about it," Jack snorted. "I'm barely able to afford going to WSU at the moment. But my frat brothers are like my family - I could never leave them."

"So is Portland home for you?" Ana asked, taking another sip of beer.

"No, actually. I grew up in Seattle," Jack said. "Then I briefly lived in California before moving to Portland for school."

"Oh, that's cool. I actually just met a few people from Seattle," Ana grinned.

"Oh really? And were they awesome and charming?" Jack asked, wiggling his eyebrows, and Ana laughed.

"Elliot's alright, but I think Christian is a bit of an arrogant jerk," she said rather spitefully. "So I guess about fifty-fifty."

Jack blinked, his face falling into a rather blank expression. "Christian? You don't mean Christian Grey, do you?"

Ana blinked before raising her eyebrows, surprised. "Yeah, actually. Do you know him?"

Jack brought his hand up to run through his shaggy hair, pushing it away from his face. "Yeah, I do."

He didn't expound upon that, but his less-than-happy reaction made Ana extremely curious. "I take it you don't like him very much either?"

Jack let out a humorless laugh. "I guess you could say that."

There was obviously a story there, but Jack didn't continue, and Ana didn't think it was a good idea to push him for answers, despite how curious she was. There was a short pause. "I mean, if you don't want to talk about it, I understand," she said compassionately.

Jack let out a sigh before glancing around them. He noticed an empty two-person standing table in a nearby corner, and he took Ana by the elbow before leading her over there.

"Sorry for acting all weird. I just wasn't expecting you to mention him," Jack said once they were at the table. They set their half-empty beers down. "Christian and I actually grew up together."

Ana's eyes widened. "Really?"

"Yeah," Jack grimaced. "Christian's dad and my dad were best friends and business partners for years. Carrick Grey was the CEO of Grey Enterprise Holdings, and my dad was his CFO. Our families were really close - since I was an only child, Christian was like a brother to me and his sister Mia was like my own sister. Carrick loved me like a son, so when my dad passed away from cancer when I was fifteen, Carrick made sure I was financially secure once I graduated high school. He had set aside $350,000 for me to use for my college education."

"What?" Ana stared at him, her mouth open. "He gave you that much money to pay for school?!"

"He wanted me to go to an ivy league university," Jack explained with a wry smile. "Yale or Harvard were his preferred choices. I had the good grades and the connections to get into any school I wanted, but a wrench was thrown into my plans when Carrick passed away when I was eighteen."

"Oh that's horrible," Ana said sadly. "Losing your father, and then later losing your other father figure."

"Yeah, it was pretty rough on me," Jack said, frowning slightly. "And it was rough on Christian too. He was twenty-two at the time, and he had just graduated from Harvard Business School. He was set to take over Grey Enterprise Holdings, and I was about to head off for college - Columbia University ended up being my school of choice. But a few weeks before I was set to leave, I found out the money Carrick had left for me was gone."

Ana gasped. "Oh my God, seriously?"

"Yup," Jack nodded gravely. "Every penny. And a part of me already knew the truth of what happened: Christian had always been jealous of my relationship with his father, and now that Carrick was gone, he was free to treat me with the hatred he'd always really felt. There was nothing I could do except drop out of Columbia and make my own way in the world."

"God, that's horrible," Ana said emphatically, her heart going out to Jack. "You thought you were getting a full ride scholarship to an ivy league university, only to have it torn away from you at the last second! I knew Christian was an asshole, but I had no idea he was capable to doing something so terrible to another person. And to one of his closest friends too!"

"He changed a lot since he took over the company," Jack said. "He used to be not such a huge jerk, but after his dad died and he was left to run GEH, he became much more power-hungry. The money set aside for me was technically his to do with as he pleased, and I guess it pleased him to take back the money and totally fuck me over."

Ana shook her head. "You're way more calm about this than I would be in your situation. How are you able to make excuses for him?"

Jack smiled wryly. "I grew up with the Grey family, and Carrick was a wonderful man. Until I can forget how kind Carrick always was to me, I don't think I could ever truly hate Christian. Plus, my situation in life right now isn't so bad. I managed to get into WSU, which is a great school, and I have an awesome group of friends here in my fraternity that have basically become my family. I'd say life turned out for the best... except now I have a lot more student loan debt."

Jack smiled that charming, all-American boy smile before taking a sip of beer, and Ana felt her heart melt a little bit. After having such a horrible thing happen to him at the hands of one of his oldest friends, he still had such an optimistic outlook on life. Ana's attraction to Jack seemed to grow exponentially after learning what a kind-hearted person he was.

And my first instincts about Christian Grey were completely accurate.

"Hey," Charlie appeared at their table, and behind her were Leila and Mariah, chatting with one another. "It's getting pretty late, so I think I'm going to take your sister and her friend home. Would you like to stay here for a little while or come back with us?"

Ana dearly wanted to hang out with Jack a little while longer, but she knew it was best she stick by her sister. "I should probably head back with you. Just give me a minute and I'll meet you by the car."

Charlie nodded before heading back over to the girls. Ana and Jack exchanged a glance before chuckling.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye," he said with a smile. "I enjoyed talking with you tonight, Ana."

"I liked talking to you too, Jack," Ana said, and then she blushed, feeling suddenly shy. "If you ever wanted to hang out again, maybe you could call or text me sometime?"

Jack's smile widened. "I think that's a great idea."

They exchanged phone numbers before saying goodbye, and Ana walked out of the arcade into the parking lot, the smile unable to leave her face.

A/N: I know having Jack in the story as a potential love interest for Ana is not what a lot of you want to see, but for those of you who know Pride & Prejudice, you have a good idea as to what's about to come.

If you liked this chapter, please leave a review :) Next chapter, Ana thinks a bit more about what Jack told her about Christian. Also, an old friend of Ray's comes by for a visit.