Forgotten

Part 51

Nichole's POV:

"Where's your sidekick?" a female voice asked from across the room.  Not expecting anyone, I looked up from my desk that was piled nearly to the ceiling with photos shoots that I was busily trying to sort through.

And although I recognized the voice, I preferred to pretend that I didn't. Or better yet, that it would just disappear.

I rolled my eyes, as I glanced up to see Sydney, uninvited, entering my office and making herself comfortable in a seat next to my desk.  Unimpressed, I looked back down at my work and continued to shuffle through the photos.

"My sidekick?"

"Yeah, your little girlfriend", she said.

"First of all, she's not my girlfriend.  She's my fiancé", I corrected.

"Whatever", she said, indifferently.

"And for your information, she's in school", I said flatly, avoiding all eye contact.

"School?"

"Yeah. Alexis started college this fall."

"Oh how cute", she smirked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, stopping what I was doing and glaring at her.

"It doesn't mean anything.  I was just commenting that she's a cute kid."

"Oh my God.  Are you gonna start with the shit again?  She's not that much younger than me."

She laughed.  "You like them young.  Nothing wrong with that."

"Shut up", I said, looking back down at my work. The fact was, I was busy and I didn't really have time for all this.

"Well, hopefully she'll gain the freshman 20, or whatever the fuck it's called."

I stopped what I was doing and looked up at her again.  "What the fuck does that mean?"

"You know what it means."

"No actually I don't.  Please enlighten me."

"It means she's way too skinny, Nichole.  And I'm not trying to be rude or anything, but she would look a lot better if she gained some weight.  I mean, she's like a goddamn stick.  And it's just gross."

Suddenly, I could feel my body begin to tense, and anger within me began to rise.  Because the fact was, she was completely out of line.   It was one thing for her to take shots at me.  But Lexi was off limits.  And I wasn't about to let her get away with it.

"Actually you're wrong.  She's not too skinny.  She's perfect just the way she is", I shot back.  "And I'd appreciate it if you'd keep your rude comments to yourself.  And I told you before not to talk about Alexis or even mention her name.  She's none of your concern."

She laughed.  "Whatever."

"Look, Syd.  I'm busy here, I have shit to do.  So if you don't mind getting the fuck out, that would be great."

"Sorry, no can do.  You're stuck with me."

I looked at her, confused.  "What do you mean by that?"

"Me and you are working on a project together."

I completely stopped what I was doing.  Because she had stopped me dead in my tracks.  "What project?  No one told me anything about a project."

Just then there was a knock on my door.  And sure enough, it was our boss.  Fuck.

"Oh, just the two ladies I was looking for", he said, as he sat down.  And it was at that point, that I knew what Sydney had said was true.  And unfortunately for me, he spent the next hour, going over a project that he wanted us to work on.  Together.