Beautiful Mistakes

~Chapter 2~

Sydney

"Have you created your profile yet?"

Leave it to Violet to pounce on me the second I walk through the door.

"Profile?" I toss my handbag onto my desk, rifling through it as I pretend to look for something.

"For that dating app I told you about."

"Umm... about that..."

"Sydney!" Violet whines, crossing her arms over her chest in frustration.

She's been on my case about dating since I moved here. She finds it unimaginable that I haven't expressed any interest in frequenting the single's scene in the Big Apple. It's just not something I'm putting energy into. I thought I escaped the dating game by marrying my childhood sweetheart shortly after high school, but life had other plans for me. Cruel, heartbreaking plans.

"I already told you, I don't know the first thing about dating. I would barely be able to swipe right, left, up, down, or whatever it is I need to do, let alone go on an actual date."

"Girl, please. You are young, smart, and hot. You can't let that waste away, especially not in New York City. And as your not-asked-for-but-newly-acquired best friend, it is my duty to make sure that doesn't happen."

"She's right, you know," Ethan, my assistant, says as he walks through the door with coffee and donuts in hand.

"Bless you, Ethan!" I grab one of the cups of coffee before he even has a chance to sit down. There's a deliciously sinful chocolate eclair just begging to be eaten, so I take that too. I try my best to eat healthy but will gladly grant myself a cheat day when I need it, and the week before my period is definitely when I need it. "I really shouldn't be eating this."

"But you will, because you're PMSing, and this will keep your beast at bay, if only for a few hours."

Violet sits on the edge of my desk and takes a big bite out of the strawberry filled donut. "How do you even know this about her?" she asks, icing powder falling from her lips.

"Some of us take our jobs seriously, Vi. Sydney's been here three months. I figured it out within a month." He opens a period tracking app on his phone and shows us the calendar.

"See? It says her next expected period is—"

"Ethan! The entire office doesn't need to know!"

"They weren't paying attention to us until you just screamed my name. I love you, Syd, but I don't swing that way."

He and Violet laugh hysterically while I turn the darkest shade of crimson. I'm still adjusting to the blunt honesty of New Yorkers. I'm used to people being in my business. Growing up in small town, USA, it was a given that people knew everything about everyone else. We just weren't as open talking about it the way my new city colleagues seem to be.

"I'd love to see you explain to Jamie why you have that app." Violet says, inhaling the last bite of her donut.

"For your information," Ethan smirks, "he knows, and he approves. He even said I should buy Sydney a 'Red Kit' filled with chocolates, candles, wine, a lofi music playlist, Advil, tampons, liners—"

"Okay, okay, we get it! Can we stop talking about my menstrual cycle now?" I glare at the two of them, who burst into another fit of hysterics.

"Oh, Ethan, can you be my assistant?"

Ethan shakes his head. "No can do, Vi. I'm no planner hoe." He stands next to me, resting his head on my shoulder. "I'm Sydney's and Sydney's alone."

"You guys are ridiculous."