Author's Note:

Here comes the date chapter! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. This chapter is way longer than the others as I felt this chapter was a bit more special. Would you guys prefer longer chapters (probably not as long as this) with an update once a week, or 1500-1700 word length with an update every 3 or 4 days? Let me know! And please review and let me know what you think!

Ana POV

I hurry over to answer the door phone, effectively stopping Kate from saying whatever it was she wanted to say.

"Hello," I say.

"Hey Ana Banana, are you gonna let me up?" Elliot asks me through the phone.

For some reason, I feel apprehensive at about Kate meeting Elliot. Maybe it's because I'm afraid she'll go on another rant about him or his brother or maybe it's something else. Either way, I decide to meet Elliot downstairs.

"I'll be right down," I answer him.

"Bye Kate, have a good night," I tell Kate as I open our apartment door and leave down the two flights of stairs. I go down the stairs as fast as I can in boots without falling, which considering my clumsy nature is quite difficult.

Elliot is standing right outside the door to the building looking as handsome as ever. He is wearing fitted black jeans with a dark blue button down and black leather jacket. Combined with his panty-dropping smile, I can practically feel my knees go weak.

"Hi beautiful," He says kissing me on the cheek when I join him on the sidewalk.

"Hi El," I say breathily. Damn me and my inability to stay cool at times like this. Although, I'm glad it seems like Elliot appreciates my outfit as I can see him looking me up and down just like I did with him. I can feel my face heat up under his stare and I know I'm sporting a major blush right now.

"Are you ready for the first part of our evening?" he asks me.

"As ready as I'll ever be" I smile shyly at him.

He leads me towards a black Audi SUV which doesn't seem like the kind of car Elliot would usually drive.

"Excuse the car, I had to use my brother's and he refuses to drive anything other than these big monstrosities," He says with a smile, mocking the car which I'm sure has cost a fortune.

"So what do you usually prefer to drive then?" I ask him while he helps me into the passenger seat.

"I've got a big Chevy pickup truck, and I just got a Lexus LC 500 sports car," he tells me with a glimmer in his eyes obviously loving his cars. He closes my door and moves around to the driver's door and get in. He is driving us towards downtown when he asks a question I'd hoped wouldn't be brought up.

"So any reason I wasn't allowed upstairs?" He asks me with a smile that tells me he is merely curious.

"Uhm my roommate had a... Strong reaction to me going on a date with you," I tell him while sneaking a peek at him.

"Oh oh that doesn't sound good," he chuckles, trying to make a joke of it but I can hear it's fake and that he's truthfully nervous. I'm not sure how to ask him about what Kate said without sounding like a gossiper, thankfully he takes the reins.

"So what did you she have to say?" he asks me.

"Well... She pretty much hates your brother because of the interview and uhm... something about you being... uhm a manwhore," I whisper the last part. I'm practically chewing off my bottom lip right now, nervous about his reaction as well as his answer.

"Of course she did" he mutters leaving me confused and if possible, even more anxious.

"Okay first, most people either try to kiss my brother's ass, or they hate him so that's nothing new to me. As for the whole me being a manwhore, it's a rumor that's been around since I was about 23. I was very close with a group of friends from college and I still am. Two of them are a lesbian couple, one night when we're out I was dancing with both of them, we were all wasted but you know having a great time, goofing off. Anyways some journalist from the Seattle Nooz was there and took a bunch of pictures. The next day I was splattered all over the gossip rags and the internet. Since then every time I'm seen talking to a girl even when girls approach me, it's documented by some random person and written off as another conquest for me. I mean I'm not saying that I'm virgin or anything but I'm most definitely not, what I've been made out to be by the gossip rags," he tells me with an earnest look on his face.

"But why would people even care if you were going out with a new girl every night?" I ask confused since he's not a movie star or anything but a business owner.

"My entire family is part of the so-called upper class in Seattle and my parents run a charity foundation, so they like to write about us sometimes. Plus I had just started profiting from my business back then and my brother was opening his company," he explains. We pull into a parking at one of Portland's best Italian restaurants. Kate's father Eamon took us both here when we finished our freshman year to celebrate us finding an apartment together for our sophomore year.

Elliot parks the car and gets out to open my door and help me out.

"My lady," he jokes as he takes a bow for me with a Cheshire grin on his face. It immediately lightens the air around us from the otherwise tense talk in the car.

"Dear Sir," I laugh as I make a curtsy. Elliot leads us towards the restaurant with his hand on my lower back but I stop, which in turn stops him.

"Thank you for telling me," I say to him with an earnest look on my face hopefully showing him how grateful I am for him being so open about everything.

"I'm just glad you gave me a chance to explain, it's not exactly the best impression to make on a girl," he says giving me his million dollar smile. We continue to the restaurant. The host greets us as we come in and the second Elliot drops the Grey name, we are immediately shown to a table despite the line by the door. I guess the power of the Grey name also works here in Portland. We are seated in a more quiet corner of the restaurant.

"Do you like wine?" Elliot asks me, as our waiter is here for our drink order.

"Yes, but I know nothing about it, so you can just pick something," I tell him with a small smile. He orders a bottle of red and some water, which I'm thankful for as I'm as lightweight as they come.

"So you know a lot about wine huh?" I ask him, as he seemed to know exactly what he wanted when I gave him free reins over the wine.

"Actually no, but my brother is. We had a family dinner here about a month ago and this is wine he ordered and it was really good, so I figured it'd be a safe bet," he chuckles. We both start looking over the menu, so we are prepared for when our waiter comes back.

"So what are you going to get?" he asks me.

"I'm thinking the pasta with chicken, what about you?" I ask.

"I'm going to go with a steak," he says. Just as he finishes his sentence, our waiter brings our bottle of wine and our water. As he is pouring my glass of wine I can feel his stare on me, I try to ignore it by looking over at Elliot, who seems to be both annoyed and amused at the same time by the behavior of our waiter.

"Are you done staring at my date or are you going to make a bloodbath at our table?" Elliot asks our waiter as my wineglass is about to spill over with red wine. The waiter immediately stops pouring the wine and mutters an apology while practically running from our table. I look over at Elliot and the second our eyes make contact we both burst out laughing. My wineglass is filled to the rim and I'm a little nervous for the first sip and just pray I won't spill.

"Well let's have a drink over that" Elliot laughs and picks up his glass, I pick mine up carefully and we cling glasses even more carefully.

"Cheers, for a good first date, with hopefully more to come," Elliot says.

"Cheers!" I say with a big smile balancing my overly filled glass. I manage to take a sip and put the glass back down without spilling, which for me is a big deal!

A new waiter comes over to take our orders. Elliot asks me about school and my upcoming graduation and I ask him about the charity his parents run, that he told me about earlier in the car.

"It's called 'Coping Together', it supports single mothers who come from abusive relationships, substance abuse, and poverty," he tells me.

"Wow, that sounds like a great cause," I tell. We continue talking as our dinner arrives. The talk is minimal as we're both enjoying our dinner immensely. I'm really enjoying Elliot's company, I'm completely relaxed and comfortable with him unlike how I usually feel around other guys like Paul even with Jose, I still keep him at a certain distance. As our waiter comes around to collect our empty plates, he asks we are interested in some dessert, which Elliot immediately declines and asks for the check. The waiter comes back with our check and Elliot immediately pays and gets up from his chair to come around and help me. I look at him a little confused as we leave the restaurant, which he seems to read right away.

"We have more places to get to which include dessert," he chuckles obviously impressed with himself, which in turn makes me laugh at his silliness.

We get back into the car and start driving away from downtown.

"So are you going to tell me where we are going?" I ask, genuinely curious about what else he has planned for us tonight. From Kate's many dates, I know they usually consist of movie and dinner.

"Nope, you're going to have to wait and see Ana Banana," he grins, he is absolutely loving this. We are pretty far out from the city center when I see what looks like a carnival and I wonder if that's where we're going as I can see nothing else around.

"Is that where we are going?" I asked pointing towards the carnival.

"Or are you taking me out here to kill me and bury my body" I joke.

"Sorry I'm merely taking you to the carnival not quite as much excitement as option number 2," he jokes. We both get out of the car and Elliot leads me over to the entrance with his hand on his my lower back, I can feel the heat from his hand spreading throughout my body from where it rests. Elliot is telling me about how his parents used to take him and his siblings to the carnival when they were younger and how it was one the few times, he really felt like his brother was having fun and they really connected as brothers.

"This was one my favorite things about going to the carnival," he tells as he drags me to a concessions stand that makes funnel cakes.

"Is this the time to tell you, I've never had a funnel cake before?" I ask him looking over at him. His face is frozen in shock and I can't help myself so I start laughing at him. He looks like a five-year-old who just lost his favorite toy.

"You've never had a funnel cake before?" he finally gets out.

"No," I laugh.

"Okay, we are getting one right now, there is no way we're ending this date without you trying some funnel goodness," he says as he goes up to the disk and orders one with chocolate sauce and a drink for each of us.

"Here you go," he says handing me one of the waters. I'm secretly glad that he got us some water as I can still feel the effect of the wine we had at dinner.

Our funnel cake is ready after a few minutes and we go to sit down at one of the tables.

"So what games are you going to try?" he asks me.

"Oh, I'm not. I'm no good at any of these games, they demand some kind of coordination which I don't have" I laugh. We finish our funnel cake, which I have to admit is pretty amazing, and start walking around. Elliot steers us towards the games, he's obviously not going to give up on getting me to play something.

"Come on, choose any game you want and we'll try it," he says with childlike excitement in his voice.

"How about you choose one and I promise I'll try it as well," I say. We might as well play a game he loves since I'll do horribly no matter what we choose.

"Okay but you have to play the first game, deal?" he asks reaching his hand out for me to shake.

"Fine but you have to promise not to laugh," I say shaking his hand.

"I promise," he says with a glint in his eye, which I'm sure means he's going to be laughing his head off in a few minutes. He takes my hand and leads me to the basketball hoops.

"Two games, please," Elliot says to the man running the booth as he gives him the money for the game. The man sets five balls in front me and wishes me luck, and all I can think is I'm going to need it.

"You're up Ana Banana," Elliot says. I go pick up my first ball and get ready to make my first throw.

"Remember no laughing E.T.," I warn him and then take my first shot, which doesn't even touch the rim. I look over at Elliot and I can see right through him. He is desperately trying to hold his laugh and so far he's managing but I'm not sure he'll be able to for four more shots. I continue taking my shots but I'm really not good at this, Elliot has actually succeeded in holding his mask but I can tell he's struggling. I have one shot left and I'm determined to get it in. I'm really taking my time for this and it pays off. I throw the ball and it's spinning around on the rim, it could fall either way but thankfully it falls into the hoop.

"You did it, baby!" Elliot yells and picks me up, spinning me around while I'm laughing my head off with my arms around his neck. Elliot eventually puts me back down and the man in booth hands me my mini-price, a bottle of soap bubbles. But I don't even care, I'm just excited that I managed to make a shot.

Elliot hands me his jacket and gets ready to make his shots. I'm not even noticing if his shots are going in, I'm too busy staring at the way his muscles move under his shirt. Damn, he really does look magnificent, I can't help the tingling feeling I get where no other person has ever been, so try squeezing together my thighs. I focus back on his game, or I might not be able to control myself. He has made all the shots so far and is just missing the last one, he takes the shot and it's like time slows down as the ball goes right through the hoop.

"Oh my God, you did it!" I squeal like a school girl as I jump into his arms, Elliot thankfully catches me and spins me around again.

"I can't believe you actually did that," I say as he puts me down.

"I used to play in High School and I still play sometimes with my buddies," he tells with a boyish grin on his face, he's obviously pleased with my reaction to his game. We are interrupted as Elliot is asked to pick a price from the top shelf, which is filled with big plush toys. Elliot tells me to pick the one I want and my heart can't help but skip a beat. I pick the big beaver and Elliot looks very confused at my choice.

"Can I ask why you picked the beaver?" he asks me as we're walking away from the booth.

"I'll tell you someday," I tell him, thinking he shouldn't be the only one with a few surprises today.

"Fair enough, so another question. Your father is obviously very coordinated considering his job, so how is it that yours is so bad?" he asks me chuckling. I realize I haven't told him much about my family situation.

"Well, he's actually my stepdad. My biological father died the day after I was born in a car accident. My mother, Carla met Ray a few months later and when I was one they got married. Ray adopted me when I was four or five. He could never have kids on his own due to an injury when he was younger, so he's always treated me as his own daughter and he's always been my dad. About a month before my seventh birthday my mother left us, leaving only a letter saying she wanted a divorce and that Ray could keep me," I tell him.

"She just left you?!" Elliot asks sounding very angry.

"She was never really the mother type and I think she resented me for Ray picking me over her. She was never really there when I was a kid, she did her own thing and just left me with Ray all the time, so it didn't really change much when she actually left for good," I tell him honestly.

We keep walking around when I spot a shooting booth.

"Okay, this is one of the few things my dad managed to teach me," I tell him as I drag him towards the booth by his hand.

"You shoot?" he asks incredibly, his eyebrows nearly disappearing into his hairline as he pays the man in the booth.

"I guess you'll see," I say picking up the gun. I take my stand just as Ray taught me and take my aim. I don't miss a single shot and as I put the gun back down on the table I look over at Elliot and he's just staring at me with wide open eyes and mouth gaping.

"Watch out, you don't want to catch flies," I say as I put my left hand under his chin, closing his mouth.

"That was so hot!" he says still looking stunned by what just happened. We are interrupted by the man asking me to choose a price this time, so being the feminist I am, I give Elliot the choice just as he did with me when he won.

"Okay, I'm going to go with the wolf," he says. I'm curious about his choice and even ask him about it but he just repeats the same thing I told him when he asked me about the beaver.

We continue walking around hand in hand and I still can't help but be amazed at how relaxed and comfortable I am around Elliot, nor can I believe some the feelings he's awoken in me.

We start walking towards the car as it's getting pretty late. We are both pretty quiet as we're driving back towards my apartment but as we park outside my apartment building, we both start talking at the same time and end up laughing.

"You first," I say giggling.

"I had a really good time tonight and I hope you did as well," he says.

"I did El, it was amazing and I had so much fun. Plus I really love my beaver," I tell him giggling again as I cuddle my Beaver toy.

"Does that mean you'll let me take you out again?" he asks leaning over the console a little.

"Hmm... Let me think about that," I joke.

"Hey!" he says.

"I'd love to," I interrupt him leaning towards him.

"I'm glad," he says leaning in even more. I can feel my heart pounding faster than it ever has before and I wouldn't be surprised if Elliot could hear it. He leans in the last few inches and after what feels like forever, his lips finally touch mine. His lips are soft but firm at the same time, he's taken control of the kiss but I'm more than happy to let him have it. His tongue caresses my lip, begging for entrance, which I happily give him. Our tongues are dancing, what feels like an erotic dance together. One his hands are on my lower back pulling me closer while the other is in my hair. I have one hand on his chest, loving the feeling of his muscles beneath his shirt while my other hand is around his neck playing with his curls. He groans as I start playing with his curls and I can't hold back my own moan.

We break apart to catch our breaths, our foreheads touching and staring into each other's eyes.

"I should probably head up," I tell him even though that's the last thing I want to do right now.

"Right and I should probably let you," he chuckles. He gets out of the car and comes around to open my door.

"Can I call you tomorrow?" he asks me hopefully as he is walking me to the door.

"Anytime," I say giving him a quick peck on the lips and enter my building making my way up the stairs.

I open the door to the apartment and see that it's dark, so I just head straight to my room. I quickly get undressed and into my bed cuddling with my beaver. I fall asleep with a smile on my lips, thinking about ocean blue eyes and beach blonde curls.