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Mr. Grey

Freddie rushed home that Friday night so she could change into an outfit more suitable for a date. Harry was home already, but their conversation was brief seeing as how Freddie excused herself rather hurriedly to get ready. She had to redo her makeup the way she liked it, so clearly, it was going to take a while. And it did. By the time Freddie finally finished on her face, she received a text from Damien, telling her that he was about fifteen minutes away from her apartment. Immediately, she spiraled into panic mode, flinging clothes and shoes around her room until she found the items she was looking for. But at last, she found her strappy black heels, zipped up the back of her tight, black dress, and headed into the living room where she was met with Harry and his friends.

Freddie had made them some kind of pork and orzo dish that they were in the process of devouring, so when she walked into the kitchen, she was met with a chorus of praise. She had done it in advance, and she had made a lot of it, so if her evening ended up going to shit, she would have a wonderful plate of comfort food waiting for her when she got home.

"Where are you going so dressed up?" Shawn asked her. He had the hots for Freddie, and she knew it. Actually, everyone there knew it, so when she responded telling them that she was going on a date, they all looked over at Shawn to observe his disappointed reaction.

Nathan though, was quick to come to his buddy's aid, telling Freddie that, "If that fool treats you wrong, you can be sure that Shawn here will be more than willing to make up for it."

Freddie laughed at Harry's friends, rolling her eyes as the both of them stared shamelessly at her. "I appreciate it, gentlemen," she told them, pouring herself just an ounce or so of bourbon. She wanted a little fire in her before she went to Damien's place, because as much as she liked him, she was so nervous to spend time with him alone. She needed some liquid confidence to help her be the person she wanted to be with him- flirty and sexy.

Freddie took a sip of her drink and smiled, "But I think I won't be in need of your services this evening. He's making me dinner."

From beside Harry at the table, Alex laughed and elbowed his ex-roommate, "Do you remember when I would do that for Rebecca here?" Alex looked up at Freddie. "I used to cook for my wife—at the time, she was my girlfriend—and she would always try to fix the mistakes I was making without being too obvious. It was so cute, though, because I would always find her holding the spatula, and she'd pretend to use it like a microphone so I wouldn't know that she was stirring my burning onions."

"Aw, that's so cute," Freddie pouted, placing her hand to her heart and wishing she could have a relationship like that. She liked the idea of being so silly with someone, because that would mean she was comfortable with them, and in her experience, that was proving to be vey difficult to find.

Nonetheless, she didn't have very much time to think about what she was looking for in a relationship, because in that moment, there came a knock at the door. Panicked, Freddie gasped and grabbed her to phone to see if she had missed Damien's text telling her to come downstairs. Sure enough, she had, and now he was at her apartment door, waiting for her to come out. Little did he know, though, that he would be faced with not only his date, but six other men as well.

Quickly grabbing her coat from the couch, Freddie rushed to open the door, her nervousness getting the best of her as she laid eyes on Damien's tall, broad figure standing before her. His dirty blond hair was styled to perfection and his chiseled jaw was lightly peppered with scruff that gave him this sort of edge that drove Freddie wild. It was in that moment that Freddie decided that Damien Altmeyer was the closest thing to Christian Grey she would ever get.

A confused expression crossed Damien's face as he took in the scene before him, as he was not expecting to see so many men inside Freddie's apartment, but upon seeing her standing there in a black dress, he flashed that characteristically charming grin and complimented her.