A/N: Thanks for reading. Enjoy!

"Christian's not too happy with the fact that Ethan's staying with us, is he?", Kate asks when we step into the elevator on our way to the apartment. Every time I step inside this small space, both my mind and body remember being pinned against the wall by Christian's well sculptured body.

"He wasn't happy about it at first, but he seems to have gotten over it. I explained that Ethan is like a brother who I have no romantic feelings for whatsoever."

"Ethan doesn't seem to think of you in a romantic way or at least I've never noticed."

With the pinging of the elevator, we step on to our floor and begin heading to the apartment. Ms. Herron, our neighbor across the hall, is losing her door just as I reach for my key."

"Ana, Kate, I know it's probably none of my business, but there was a young man going inside your apartment earlier." Although she's nice and sweet, she also loves to stick her nose in the other residents' business and tends to gossip. "He appeared to have a key, but these days you can't be too sure cautious."

"That would be my brother Ethan who I'm sure you've seen around.", Kate tells her. "I gave him my key." Ms. Herron pushes her purse up on her shoulder and thinks for a brief moment.

"Oh yes. Now I remember him. I have a bad memory.", Mrs. Herron says.

"It's fine. You were looking out for us.", I smile.

"I'm off to the store. See you later." Kate turns her head and grins as we watch Ms. Herron walk away from us.

"She means well but damn.", Kate murmurs while I finally find my key and unlock the door. "Maybe we can find a guy for her so she can be less interested in our lives. Mr. Lawrence on the third floor might be a good match for her. I've seen them talking a few times in the laundry room."

"Why do always insist on playing matchmaker with people?", I ask with a giggle.

When we walk inside the apartment, Ethan is sprawled on the sofa with a bowl of chips in one hand and the tv remote in the other. He's too immersed in the movie that he's watching that he doesn't notice us. It's only when Kate stands in front of him, blocking his view of the tv, that he snaps out of his daze.

"Ugh, hey guys. I didn't realize you were already off from work", he says as he brushes crumbs off his shirt. "I started watching this movie, and I guess time got away from me. How were your days?"

"Good up until the point where I came home to find my brother getting chips all over the furniture.", Kate mumbles.

"Don't worry. I'll clean up my mess." He turns his attention to where I'm standing. "What about your day Ana?" Shrugging my denim jacket off, I sit down in the chair next to the sofa as Kate takes a seat next to Ethan.

"It was good.", I reply.

"No it was good before you had lunch with Christian, but you've been smiling like a loon since you got back.", Kate teases.

"So...is Christian your boyfriend?", Ethan asks. Kate leans forward in her seat to make sure she hears my entire answer, but I'm not sure what to say. Christian and I are seeing each other, but would he call himself my boyfriend?

"We're spending time together and getting to know each other.", I shrug.

"They're taking it slow.", Kate says with air quotes.

"There is nothing wrong with taking it slow. If I would have taken more time with some of my past relationships, I would have saved myself a lot of trouble. I'm just glad that you're moving past the shit Bryant put you through. You deserve so much better than him."

"Brother of mine, you've asked about our days so now it's time for you to tell us about your day. What all have you been doing besides watching tv?" Ethan shoves a handful of chips in his mouth and points to the now empty bowl. "And eating."

"After we had lunch, I stopped at the store to pick up some food for your fridge. I got some of that bottled water that you like so much along with some more things. It was the only right thing to do since I'm going to be staying here for a few days. Thank you once again for that."

"You're welcome. Do Mom and Dad know you're in town?"

"Not yet. I was going to hold off on it for a day or so."

"Mom will have a fit when she finds out that you've been in Seattle and not contacted her.", Kate murmurs.

"Which is why I'm going to tell her I arrived a different day. Please don't tell her the truth. I just...I just need some time to relax and regroup before dealing with her and Dad. You know as well as I do that they'll immediately start asking me about my plans for school."

"Which are?"

"I'm still planning to go to graduate school at some point, but I'm at a place in my life where I need to sort some things out. The last thing I want is to start school and not have my head or heart in it, thus leading to failure.", he sighs.

"Fine. I'll keep your presence in Seattle a secret.", Kate agrees. "What should we do for dinner tonight?"

"I'm going to meet up with some of my old friends. I shouldn't be out too late."

"Ana, are you seeing Christian tonight?"

"Not tonight. He's working late." I hear my phone ring from inside my purse. My face blushes as I see Christian's name on the caller id. "Excuse me.", I tell Kate and Ethan while getting up to take the call in my bedroom. "Hello Mr. Grey, I was just talking about you."

"Really? I hope it was all good."

"I was telling Kate and Ethan that I won't be seeing you tonight."

"Ethan.", he murmurs after a long pause.

"Remember what I told you before lunch and our long make out session."

"You're right. I've got a bit of bad news." I sit down on the edge of the bed and brace myself for his next words. "I'm in the middle of deal with a Boston based energy company, and right now the entire thing in hanging by a thread unless I go and try to salvage things."

"Oh..ok.", I stammer. "You're going to Boston."

"Yes. I have to leave around eight tomorrow morning for a three day minimum trip. I really want to see you before I leave, but it's going to be pretty late when I finish up here. With that being said, do you run?" I have no idea where he's going with this.

"I do, but not as much as I'd like. Why do you ask?"

"I run every morning before work. It's a great way to get the day going. Even though my flight is early, I still plan to run tomorrow before I leave. Would you like to join me?" My brain mentally calculates what's he's asking. If he's leaving at eight, he would have to start running very early.

"What time were you thinking?"

"Five thirty. We can get some running in and then grab breakfast. Come on. You know you want to.", he laughs. Of course I want to see him.

"How many miles are we running?", I ask Christian while we're doing our stretches the next morning. With the sun barely up, there's a slight chill in the June morning air, but that should diminish once we start running.

"Five if that's ok." I want to tell him that he's out of his mind, but I simply smile and nod. Five miles shouldn't be so bad.

"Sure. Just make sure you keep up with me."

"Baby, I have no problem keeping up.", he smirks. "Shall we?"

"We shall.", I say as we take off running past Taylor who is going to wait for us in the SUV.

We start off at a moderate pace, trading smiles every few seconds. I'm not sure if it's because Christian is with me and making me feel like I'm floating on air, but the running isn't as bad as I had thought it would be. Well, it's not so bad at first. A little over half way through, my legs begin to feel tired. Almost there. My forehead has streams of sweat trickling down, not the best look to have when you're with a guy who you like.

"How are you feeling?", Christian asks. He doesn't have one sign of sweat on his body.

"I'm feeling great.", I pant. "I could probably run another five miles, but I don't want to be a show off."

"You wouldn't be considering the fact that I normally run eight miles every morning." What the fuck! We're now doubling back to where we started. "You're so fucking sexy right now."

"You're blind! I'm drenched in sweat."

"Oh I'm sure you're drenched all right.", he teases, rubbing his shoulder against mine. "I'm being serious though."

"Well thank you. What I'm dying to know is how you didn't break a sweat?" He stops and points to spot on his forehead.

"Bam, sweat. Of course there's another type of workout that would probably have me sweating."

"Cycling?", I joke as he knots his hands around mine.

"You're a funny one Miss Steele. I'm going to miss you while I'm gone."

"I'm going to miss you, but we'll still be in touch. We can call, text, Skype..."

"Sext?", he asks with hopeful eyes. "Sorry. I couldn't resist."

"We'll see. I recall breakfast being on the agenda."

"You're right."

Following breakfast, Christian and I said goodbye with several kisses in the back of his SUV. Each kiss made me fall for him even more. I ended up being a few minutes late for work, but it was totally worth it. As usual, Kate wanted me to fess up details of our running/breakfast date, and as usual, I only gave her a tad of info. Elliot is taking her to the movies tonight so it'll just be me and Ethan at the apartment, but I plan to make myself scarce as I start on my research for the book fair.

"Ana, I made stir fry if you want to join me.", Ethan says from the other side of my closed bedroom door. I'm satisfied with how much work I've accomplished so I can fit a dinner break in. I push my desk chair back and open the door to find him smiling. "It may not be the best in the world."

"I'm sure it's delicious." He leads me to the kitchen where he already has two plates on the table. "Getting a little ahead of yourself, huh?", I tease while we take our seats.

True to my words, the stir fry ends up being very good. Both of us eat in silence, making me wonder if something is on Ethan's mind. He looks up from his plate every few seconds before returning his focus to his food. The guy is normally chatty and lively, but this is a different Ethan.

"What's bothering you? And don't say nothing because that's not true." Pushing his plate back, he slowly lifts his eyes to meet mine.

"You want to know what one of the worst feelings in the world is? Falling for someone, knowing the two of you could be good together, but not doing anything about it. Then when you finally decide to wise up, it's too late." Could Christian have been right about Ethan having feelings for me? Anguish is on Ethan's face as he waits for me to respond.

"Um Ethan, before you say anything else, I want you to know that I like you, but my view of you may be different than your view of me."

"You don't see me as a friend?"

"Yes. Of course I see you as a friend, but if there's more to how you feel about me, know that I can't give you what you want.", I murmur.

"Ok? Hold on. You think I was talking about you? I'm sorry for misleading you. My words are aimed towards someone else who I've known for a while. We hung out and got close, but when the time came to go public, I freaked because I wasn't ready for that step."

"My advice for you is show this person how you feel. Don't let something good slip through your fingers."

"In order for me to do that, I also need to make a confession which I've struggled with for a while now.", he sighs. "No one knows, especially my family, but I realize the only way I will be able to find peace if to go forward."

"What's this confession?"

"Ana, I'm gay."