Page 19 of Buried Treasure
Chapter 6
Sydney needed to find some sort of distraction to keep her mind off of what was going on with her former job. Some guy from the S.E.C. had called her earlier in the day, asking about client files that John had. Luckily, Lucy had taught her well.
"You'll have to talk to my lawyer about that," she said.
But that call led to her watching two hours of mindless television before taking an afternoon nap. She had to get out of there, she just didn't know where.
My mom wants you to come over for food
For once, the rookie next door had perfect timing. Dinner gave her the perfect excuse to get out of her apartment without leaving her comfortable, protected bubble.
Tell your mom that I would love to come over for food. What time?
He quickly replied,7 p.m., she said to not wear yoga pants because Andy is coming
Sydney rolled her eyes. All she wanted was a free home-cooked meal with a low-maintenance friend and his mom. Ugh, his mom. Sydney knew Amelia was well intentioned, but she couldn't handle the whole matchmaking thing right now. The last man she put her full faith and trust in turned out to be a crook who stole money from little old ladies. Literally. There was no way she wanted to even think about putting her trust in any man of any kind right now, personally or professionally.
And yet, there she was pulling herself off her sofa, feeling cruddy and gross and in desperate need of a shower. Without thinking about what she was doing, she headed for her bathroom, turned the shower on and let the water heat up. And after the shower, she did as she was told and put on some tight dark blue jeans that accentuated her curves in a more subtle and nice way than her yoga pants. She topped it off with a green sweater that she knew brought out the green in her eyes, and finished the look with a pair of black boots.
Then she waited. Apparently, she was in such desperate need of a change that she was ready way too early. After a half hour of more mind-numbing television, she decided she needed to get out of the house and away from her own thoughts. Bad TV shows could only help her so much before she started overthinking her job, or rather the lack thereof. She needed to get out and be around other people to distract her.
With a bottle of wine in hand, she ditched the trashy reality show she was watching and headed for Ryan's apartment.
"Sydney!" Amelia exclaimed cheerfully when she opened the door. "Oh, you brought wine."
Sydney smiled. "So that's why you invited me over?" she asked as Amelia let her in.
"Well, yes, that. I also made my famous chili, and Andy is here too."
What? She thought she would have time to adjust to seeing him since she was really early. She didn't expect him to also be early. Not that she cared about seeing him, of course. She didn't care at all.
Sydney turned to see Andy give her a sheepish smile from his spot on his knees in front of Ryan.
"What are you doing?" she asked as her eyes narrowed. "I mean, not that you're doing something wrong or whatever. But I'm just confused."
"Um." Andy looked at Sydney and then Ryan, too stunned to have a good explanation.
"He's looking at my stitches," Ryan said matter-of-factly. "Wanna see them?"
"No!" Sydney took a breath and a step back. "I mean, no, thank you," she said in a calmer tone. "I'm sure Andy is doing fine with whatever he is doing."
Andy just ducked his head and went to work, which Sydney took as a sign to head to the kitchen and pour herself a drink. By the time she got back to the men with her wine glass in hand, Andy was done with whatever it was he was doing. The latex gloves on his hands seemed to be holding a gross-looking bandage and some medical tape. He quietly gave her a sweet apologetic nod as he tried to discreetly get past her and head to Ryan's bathroom with his trash.
Ryan sat up a little straighter as she got closer. "My abs still look great though, right, Syd?" he asked, pausing a bit before pulling down his shirt.
"I don't really care."
"You should," he replied, flashing her a big smile. "I have great abs."
Sydney just sat down and took a sip of her wine, once again wondering exactly how she had become friends with him. Poor kid needed someone to smooth his frat-boy edges.
"You need to turn the cockiness down a bit," she told him.
"Really? I thought I was doing OK, like maybe a six or a seven."
"You were at an 11 there, buddy."
"Spinal Tap reference," Andy said as he walked back in the room. "Nice."
