Sincerely, Sinclair || Sinclair Bryant x Reader ||

Chapter 21: Unexpected Encounters

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"Oh, it's nothing special in there."

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"And why am I coming with you to Sinclair's office again?" Audrey questioned as we walked the crosswalk across the street.

"He left this at my apartment last night. He needs it before the end of the day and this is the only chance I'll have to get it to him," I waved the envelope in my hand, "We'll get lunch afterwards. It won't take me long."

To put my and Sinclair's plan into motion, I had to come up with a "plan" of my own. Audrey was off of work that day (she had actually called in sick for the sole reason that she didn't want to go to work), and I had offered to take her out to lunch on her self-gifted day off. My "plan" to get her to Sinclair's office was simple. I had told her that we needed to make a detour before our lunch date, because Sinclair had left something important at my apartment. There wasn't actually anything of value in the envelope, just a small slip of paper that I had drawn a smiley face on so that the envelope wasn't completely empty.

Audrey looked ten times as tired as the last time I had seen her a couple of days ago. As I mentioned before, Audrey struggled with herself mentally, and it seemed that her rough patches were becoming more and more frequent the older we became. 

Audrey nodded at my response, taking another long drag from the cigarette that was burning between her fingers. We continued to walk through town to get to Sinclair's office building, navigating the lunch crowd and traffic until we walked through the doors. Audrey's reaction was a lot like mine when I first saw the building. It was gorgeous, and very much the kind of place that Sinclair would work.

"He really is living the dream, isn't he?" Audrey gawked, her eyes following the path of the lift as we traveled up to the tenth floor.

"I had the same reaction. This doesn't seem like the kind of building for stock analysts." I snickered at her look of complete shock.

"I chose the wrong career path. I knew I should've paid more attention in our grade school math classes." Audrey announced, which only made me laugh harder.

I had hoped that maybe today would cheer her up. I know that the whole idea was to get that seed of interest for one another planted in David and Audrey's heads, but I really did hope that today would boost Audrey's spirits. I always hated to see her so down and so out of character. I loved my fiery best friend, and she just wasn't the same when that fire wasn't burning. We stepped off of the lift, and the moment our shoes hit the ground of the tenth floor, we were greeted by everyone's favorite receptionist.

"Oh! Hello, [Y/N]!" Lindsey shrieked.

If you don't recall, Lindsey was the elderly tenth floor receptionist who was a fan favorite amongst everyone who worked there. I had only briefly met her once, but she treated me as if we had been friends for a lifetime.

"Hi, Lindsey. You look lovely." I smiled at the older woman, who really did have a wonderful fashion taste.

"Likewise, my dear. Such a pretty girl, you are," She beamed, "And who is this dashing young woman that you've brought along today?"

Based on the way that Lindsey was talking, I deduced that Sinclair had let her in on the plan. I had to stifle my giggle, because I did not want to be the one to give it away. Audrey smiled her most stunning grin, giving Lindsey a kind wave.

"I'm Audrey. I'm just tagging along for a quick errand." Audrey explained, tucking a strand of her red curls behind her ear. 

I took that as my moment to speak, holding up the envelope for Lindsey to see.