Chapter 9

The Nominee

"Baby Doll, why the long face? You should be smiling tonight," Kate's voice was filled with concern.

"I'm fine," I lied.

Kate's stared at the road while drove. She sighed deeply before her guilt-stricken voice said, "Ana, I am really sorry about what happened last week. I was drunk and really upset. If I were sober, I wouldn't have blurted it out like that. I didn't mean for things to get so bad."

I gave a sad smile, "You don't have to feel sorry, Kate."

She shook her head and disagreed, "No, Ana! I should have been patient. I know that he's not your type, but one way or another, I knew that you're gonna fall for him. Now he just thinks that he doesn't stand a chance on you. I think I ruined everything."

The way Kate said the words made it seem like somebody just died. While she did my hair and makeup earlier, I finally admitted that I was falling in love with Christian. Her jaw dropped all the way to the floor and the tears followed after. She cried about ruining everything.

"Kate, you know, I'll feel better tonight if you just stop feeling bad about this. To be honest, it's not just about Christian. I feel nervous about tonight too. I mean it's the first time I've been nominated for anything and I feel like if I won't win, then I'm gonna cry," I said.

She shook her head, "Ana, you're already a winner. You are our winner."

That still sounded surreal. I would have never thought that I'd be a nominee myself.

A Week Ago . . .

To say that I had a bad case of hangover was a bit of an understatement. Last night's Halloween Bar Night was one of the most interesting we've ever had. There were a lot of crazy moments, but the craziest one was Christian going all Heath Ledger on me.

Despite the dizziness, the throbbing headache, and the intermittent urge to puke, I'd do it all again. Just to him sing to me. Just to see those gray eyes mixed together with the neon green and pink lights flashing while he sang on stage. I'd take his romantic angle and even his passed-out angle too.

I need to stop blaming the hangover. My lack of focus wasn't because of the drinks-it was because of Christian . . . and the fact that he didn't text back.

- Good morning, Christian. :) I'm having a bad hangover today :( Hope you're doing better than I am.

- Hey, I know I just texted thirty minutes ago, but I'm just really worried. I know that despite the hangover, you're still required to work. How's it going there? :) I hope you're okay.

- Christian, hey. How are you? :)

It's thirty minutes past the lunchbreak and my phone still didn't blink his name. There was something wrong about that. I had three thoughts about this: (1) he was rushed into the hospital because he can't wake up from a night of drunkenness, (2) he was too busy to check his phone since he's obsessed about business plans and all, and (3) he remembered that he sang for me and it was all a big mistake.

Why did I have the feeling that thought number three was the right guess? That made my stomach churn. I didn't want things to be awkward.

"Miss Steele? You're texting during work hours? When have you been so unprofessional?!"

I almost dropped my phone when an extremely aggressive voice came out of nowhere. I looked up and saw Elizabeth staring down at me with such angry eyes. If she were a cartoon, her face would be all red and smoke would belch out of her ears.

"I'm sorry, I was just checking-"

"Checking your phone while at work?! You may be friends with our boss's son but that's no reason for you to act like you're above us. Friends or not friends with the boss, you should respect the rules, Miss Steele!"

Now, I felt embarrassed. Everyone started to look at us and I couldn't stop myself from glaring at her. I saw it in her eyes; it wasn't because of power or how I had broken a rule that she could talk to me in a less dramatic way. It was the look of jealousy and she looked like she wanted to kill.

Christian and I weren't really secretive or discrete about our friendship. Just last night, Noel posted a lot of photos. We were hanging out, but that was outside of work.

I angrily stood from my swivel chair and almost clapped back at her, but a sudden scream came from the pantry room.

"MY MUG!"

That worrisome wailing got everyone's attention including Elizabeth's. She immediately rushed to the room and so did everybody else. Meanwhile I just sat on my chair again, completely angry at how she was treating me. Plus, that was Brady screaming. I didn't want to see that piece of shit.

"Mission accomplished!" Hannah came out of nowhere and she looked victorious.

"Hannah?" I was confused.

"We did it, girlfriend!" Noel appeared beside her and the two hugged each other.

"Wait, what's going on?" What was I missing.

Noel answered with a huge grin, "We avenged you, Ana."

"Huh?" What were they talking about?

Hannah explained, "We had the perfect plan. After knowing what Brady did to you, we were just infuriated! I mean, what kind of guy would leave our friend in a burning building? So, we decided we're going to make him cry!"

Noel crossed his arms and raised both of his brows, "So, I broke his mug."

"The free mug he got from that event?" I asked. Why did I sound so excited?

Noel answered cockily, "Oh yes! While Hannah distracted him with her oozing sexiness, I flirted with the CCTV guy so he'll turn the cams off in the pantry room. When he gave me the signal, I knocked the mug over. Ha-ha! It looked like it died! There was strawberry juice inside. It kinda looked like blood."

Then, I burst out laughing. These two were something else. They danced together and I couldn't help but hug them. Yes, what they did was technically unethical, but it was satisfying. Brady was crying so hard that his sobs were echoing. All of this for a mug from the realtor guy? Yes, the whole office thought he was pathetic.

We stopped our victory dance and tried to play cool and feigned concern as Brady was escorted out of the office. Everyone came back to their cubicles, completely confused as to why Brady acted that way. Some even laughed at him.

The best part of it all was when Elizabeth berated him as they go out.

"You're already 30, Brady. Start acting like one. You're acting like a toddler! GROW UP!"

That made Brady cry harder.

Noel, Hannah, and I shared secret grins. I never saw that coming and the beauty of it was that I realized these two can be my lifelong friends too.

Thirty Minutes Before Work Ends . . . .

With Brady gone, Elizabeth had other things to focus on. Hannah and Noel broke his mug on the day that there was a huge cybersecurity report.

Since Brady was the expert, he knew some things that were unknown to some of his colleagues from the department. Elizabeth was trying so hard to get the report up and running that beads of sweat were showing on her face and creases in her pencil skirt were getting more visible.

Hannah and Noel went back to editing while I can't concentrate on the illustrations.

- Christian, hi, it's me again. I know something's wrong. You're not replying. :(

- Christian, can we talk? :(

"HELP!" I almost dropped the phone again and a really loud voice barged in from the door.

What's up with today? There's a lot of screaming. Elizabeth yelled at me, Brady screamed and sobbed out loud for a mug, and now, Carrick was practically losing his breath while carrying his laptop.

"Help me out please!"

I immediately rushed to his aid. Sooner than later, Elizabeth came too, but she was too late. That put more frown in her face. She looked like she wanted to murder me.

I didn't mind her though. I focused on helping out Carrick.

"What's wrong, Mr. Grey?"

"Can you fix this for me? This is an important meeting," oh dear! He looked helpless.

He was in a virtual meeting with some important people, but he looked like an alligator. I tried my best not to laugh. He accidentally activated the alligator filter on the call and he didn't know how to remove it. With just one click, he looked human again.

"Thank you, Miss Steele," he said.

"No big deal," I smiled.

In my periphery vision, Elizabeth rolled her eyes. I rolled my eyes at her too. If it was her helping out Carrick, then she would have judged him first.

This seemed pretty strange. Carrick was finishing the meeting in front of us. He usually did these types of things in his office. Since he had headphones on, we couldn't hear what was being said on the other end. But we could tell though that it was good news. Carrick looked so cheerful.

The call ended just about five minutes after I took the filter off his screen.

He closed the laptop and placed it on the table beside him.

Carrick cleared his throat and with a modulated voice, he began, "Everyone, good afternoon. First of all, my apologies for barging in. My assistant, Andrea called in sick and I just discovered that I didn't know how to operate a virtual call. We spent half of our time talking with my screen being upside down and when I tried to fix it, I turned into an alligator."

He was laughing at himself and so we laughed too.

"Now, I would like to announce that we are in for such a great opportunity. I was speaking to the organizers of the Bullion Book Awards and Lotus is nominated for Best Publishing Company of the Year!"

We all cheered at that. This was exciting!

He continued, "Not only that but 'Jolts of Year 4000' is nominated as Book of the Year. Its author, Magnus Llorona is nominated as Author of the Year too."

The cheers kept getting louder. My goodness! I spent an entire day illustrating for that book. Magnus was a pain in the ass, but right now, I felt really happy for him!

Carrick cleared his throat once more. He wasn't done yet?

"Lastly, we have been nominated for Book Cover Art of the Year. Congratulations, Anastasia Rose Steele! You are officially a Bullion Book nominee!"

Electricity passed through my body and I froze like a statue. I couldn't grasp the information. Everybody cheered and Noel and Hannah were going gaga jumping around and hugging me because of the excitement.

I was a nominee!

I was being recognized!

While Carrick told me that I would be attending the ceremony next week, my eyes roamed around the room. My co-workers were rejoicing while Elizabeth looked defeated.

This would have been the perfect moment . . . if only a pair of gray eyes were around to celebrate my victory.

Present Day . . .

It's the evening of the ceremony and Kate was driving me to the place. It will be held in this five-star hotel that had the biggest ballroom in the city.

Once we arrived, Kate instructed, "Stay there." I raised my brow.

She went out of the driver's side to open the door for me. I laughed at that. I stepped out of the door, trying to feel the moment. Okay, I pretended that I was Kate Winslet from Titanic stepping out of the automobile. I kind of felt aristocratic which was really crazy.

I looked nothing like Kate Winslet, but I still felt beautiful because of my best friend, Kate Kavanaugh. My hair was in an updo (well, she got me some curly extensions to make it seem like I had long hair) and the A-line gown I wore had elegance. It was red-the kind of red that would tempt someone to take a sip of wine. The front showed just the right amount of cleavage while the sleeves were laced. Kate also lent me her silver jewelry set and strapped heels.

"You look dashing, Ana. I am so proud of you," she gushed before hugging me.

"Thank you, Kate," I told her again.

When she pulled away from the hug, she looked nervous, "Now, I gotta go to that real estate thing, right?"

"Yes, you should. You never know if you'll never try," I encouraged.

Two days ago, I received a text message from Ted Branson, the realtor who had that disastrous seminar. Apparently, he reached out to the attendees to ask if we're all doing fine and if any of us were willing to attend another seminar tonight in a 'fireproof' location. Since Kate was searching for a job, I thought this might be a great opportunity for her.

"Wish me luck," she asked me.

"Good luck," I sincerely wished the best for her.

After that, she got inside her car again and drove off to the nearest fire station. Yes, somehow, Ted Branson had the firemen agree to use a station as the location for the seminar. That was crazy.

"My, my, you look dashing tonight," I looked to my right and Elliott was there.

"Hi Elliott. Thank you," I walked closer to him.

"Now, who was that blonde girl who gave you a ride?" Elliott was still looking at Kate's car which was almost out our view.

"Elliott, that was Kate," I revealed.

"WHAT?! THAT WAS HER?!" Elliott looked really shocked-no, shock was an understatement. Elliott looked like he entered into another dimension.

"Yes, that's her," I sounded confused.

"You mean the scary-looking woman with a gory face was her?"

Oh, right! He never saw her without the makeup. "Yes, that was her."

"She's beautiful!" Elliott said dreamily and I smirked at that. Kate's gonna love this.

"Elliott, come on now. Let's get inside," Carrick called out and we walked towards him.

"So, uhm, Elliott?"

"Yes?"

"Christian's not coming?" I was hoping he would show up.

"I don't think so," he answered with a hint of disappointment in his usually cheerful voice.

I frowned at that. I wish I stopped his drinking from that night. Otherwise, things wouldn't have been this awkward and he would be here.

We met Carrick by the lobby of the place and while he complimented the way I looked, his face said the exact opposite when he saw Elliott.

"Son, why is your suit like that?"

"Sorry, Dad, I didn't mean to."

"You didn't mean to?" Carrick was so confused and I felt the same.

Elliott expressed, "Alright, I just figured it out today. My arms don't fit my suit anymore."

Carrick looked embarrassed about that.

Well, Elliott did look . . . odd with this look. He was wearing his black coat and white shirt inside, but they had no sleeves. There were evidences of the fabric being cut my scissors. However, though, he still looked stylish. Instead of wearing a necktie, he opened the first two buttons of his shirt and there was this gold chained necklace that only wealthy men could afford. He looked rugged and despite this unusual fashion, he still looked like a CEO.

"What? I'm telling the truth, Dad. I've been working out a lot that my biceps are getting too big."

Carrick ignored him and just socialized with everyone.

Alright, there was a lot of socializing going on. Carrick and Elliott were a natural at it. I met a few people who were interested at how I came up with the visuals for Jolts of Year 4000. I even met Magnus, the author, for the first time and to my surprise, he was really young. He looked like a college student who was going to attend a party and not a prestigious awards show.

I was smiling at everyone and repeatedly shared about the whole experience of creating the cover for the book when all of a sudden, a very familiar voice came out of nowhere, making each of the hair in my body stand in disbelief.

"Ana? . . . You're here?"

I turned around and there he was . . . Jose.

Jose Rodriguez, my ex-boyfriend with his new girlfriend in his arms.

Okay, he still looked like a Latino who starred in a telenovela who had mostly shirtless scenes, but that was not the point. Why was he here? And why did he look furious?

The old me would have broken down and left because he was here with another woman but instead, I stood with my best posture and raised my chin up, "Hello Jose. I'm surprised to see you here."

"Surprised? Ana, why are you here? Why are you still following me?"

What the fuck?! I was stunned.

Then, Leila echoed, "Yeah! Why are you stalking my boyfriend?"

"Excuse me?!"

"Ana, you sure as hell know that I'm Pierre Montreal, right? That's my pseudonym. I'm nominated for the award of Best Cover Art. That's why you're here," he said it so accusingly that I almost wanted to act uncivilized and rage on him.

"Yeahhhh..." his new girlfriend added dumbly. What is she? A high school student?

I realized that yelling at him won't make me look good. Instead, I kept it classy. I maintained my composure and retorted as calmly as I could, "Jose, Leila, for your information, I have been nominated for the same category tonight. If you're a real nominee then I'd assume you'd have the common initiative to check the pamphlet."

Jose's eyes went wide as saucers. He immediately grabbed the pamphlet from Leila and when he checked on the list of nominees, he looked like he wanted to melt when he saw my name. I had been with this man for three years and I could easily identify if he felt like he embarrassed himself.

"Okay, you're nominated too, but that doesn't erase the fact that you're still following me around."

I wanted to yawn as this was nothing I had never seen this one before. This was totally him. He could never admit that he was in the wrong. The only time he did that was in Paris when dropped the classic "it's not you, it's me" line on me.

He continued on being an asshole when he added, "It's been months since Paris so just move on."

"Yeaaahhh!" Oh, Leila sounded stupid.

I was about to go berserk on him but then, someone cut in. The someone I never expected.

"Good evening. Apologies for my interference here, but is something the matter?"

I looked at him and there he was: Christian. He was here! Okay, I still felt mad because he'd been ignoring me for a whole week but seeing him in his usual serious expression and in his suit and tie brought me that unexplainable joy. Just his presence alone told me that it was okay.

"It's none of your business," Okay, Jose was rude! Why have I never noticed this before.

"It is my business," Christian said calmly.

"And why is that?"

"Because I'm Ana's date tonight," that shocked me at first but I decided to play along. Christian offered me his arm and I hooked mine with his.

"Her date?!" Jose sounded like he'd never believe that I had a date tonight.

"Yes, my date," I said with a newly found confidence.

"Who are you?" Jose was disgusting.

Christian said in such a stoic yet cool demeanor, "I am Christian Grey, the Chief Operating Officer of Grey Enterprises Holdings, Inc. and the soon-to-be Chief Executive Officer of the Lotus Publishing. I was also a travel journalist who spent a whole year traveling to 50 countries."

Jose looked like someone just punched him, "Wow. You've hit it lucky, Ana."

Christian looked offended at that so his voice went icy when he said, "No, I'm the lucky one. To be here tonight with a beautiful, smart, talented, and funny woman who will most certainly bag the award tonight is an honor."

Jose was silent at that.

"And who are you again?" Christian wasn't direct but he sure knew how to hurt.

Jose opened his mouth to say something but his dumb girlfriend uttered first and in a sultry voice I might add, "He is my boyfriend, Jose Rodriguez, world-famous photographer, panda hater, intensely strong pillow fighter, alpha male lover, and 80's aerobics Zumba enthusiast!"

In that moment, I was pretty sure that he wanted to break up with her. I stifled a laughter while Christian kept it serious.

"That's nice to know. See you later then."

He glanced at me and asked, "Shall we?"

I let him lead me inside. There were tons of questions I wanted to ask. I wanted to confront him about what happened in Halloween. I wanted to ask why he avoided me. I just wanted everything to be okay again.

Arm in arm, we walked inside and my cheeks matched the color of my gown and lips.

Gone was the feeling of vengeance and longing for Jose. That encounter opened my eyes. I've wasted three years. I've wasted my tears.

What mattered most was the man next to me.

And I decided to tell him how I feel tonight.

Author's Note:

I would like to say a really huge thank you for reading this fic. Your reviews from last chapter are definitely not unnoticed! Thank you for letting me take you in this feel-good ride.

Now, I would like to share that I listened to Speak Now (Taylor's Version) today and her new song, Electric Touch reminded me of Christian and Ana in this fic. I sure hope you check it out and let me know your thoughts.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Fifty Shades series and any of the songs featured in this fic.

Thank you everyone and may you have a great day ahead.

Please leave a review.

Thank you very much.