A Different Kind of Us

Chapter 2

"Jesus."

"What do I do?"

Amber was silent again. Sutton closed her eyes, willing the heaviness in her chest to go away.

"Are you sure you can't be friends with her again?" Amber asked. "What if this is the universe's way of directing you to something that's missing from your life?"

"Are you joking? Don't you remember how torn up I was freshman year? I already went through the whole grieving process over her. I don't want to be back in that place."

"Okay," Amber said gently. "Then...put up a wall. Don't let her in. Don't put yourself in unnecessary situations with her."

"I work with her, Amb."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean she has to invade your life again. Listen, everybody has cliques at work. Find the one she's not a part of and hang out with those people. Even if they're lame or weird."

"Okay."

"You'll recalibrate soon enough, I promise. Now talk to me about something different. She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named aside, how was your first day of work?"

Tuesday was marginally better. The new position was overwhelming, and there was a lot to learn about Cyntera's business practices, but at least Sutton didn't experience a feeling of shock when she saw Ada again. In fact, she hardly saw her at all. Ada stayed planted in the sales nook, staring hard at her computer screen, sunlight streaming through the windows and lighting up her sepia-toned skin.

Not that Sutton was looking at her skin. Or any part of her, really.

Debbie, the girl from sales who had offered to tell Sutton everything about Cyntera, provided a welcome distraction to Sutton's grump. She hung out in the legal nook and told Sutton everything there was to know about Cyntera's business operations, their revenue stream, their board of directors, even their founder's obsession with Cyntera's name.

"He once fired a guy for pronouncing the name wrong," Debbie said, with an air of wanting to impress. "This guy said CYN-tera instead of Cyn-TER-a, and Wallace absolutely lost his shit. He sent the guy to pack up his desk, and the next day he came in and delivered a Powerpoint presentation on the importance of names."

"Don't scare her, Deb," Wyatt said, kicking back in his chair. "Wallace doesn't even work here anymore. He retired almost two years ago."

"I'm giving her the scoop. If you want to be successful in any company, you need to know as much about it as possible."

"Isn't Marta going to be mad about you hanging out in here?" Sutton asked. "I'm grateful for everything you're telling me, but I don't want to put you on the line--"

"No, she asked me to tell you all this stuff," Debbie said, brushing off Sutton's concern. "Ada didn't want to do it."

Sutton's heart rate picked up. "What?"

"She asked Ada first, but Ada had too much to do. Which is fine, you know, I mean I understand that people have different priorities at work. But I'm the kind of person who prioritizes teamwork and community over sales logs. That's why I wanted to help you."

"See?" Wyatt said, pointing his pen at Sutton. "It's everything Javi and I told you yesterday."

"What did you tell her?" Debbie asked, swinging her shiny hair back.

Wyatt shook his head. "We gave her the skinny on Ada."

"Oh, Wyatt," Debbie said, knocking his shoulder with her hand. "Don't be like that. Let her form her own opinion."