Atlas

ᴛʜʀᴇᴇ

"You look awfully happy today, Sierra," Beau notes as I walk into our office, ready to start another work day.

I smile with the brightness of the Eiffel Tower as I take a seat by my desk and turn on my iMac.

I am happy. And a little excited maybe.

"I have a date tonight." I have to tug back the urge to giggle like a little girl.

I haven't really been putting myself out there, ever. Not after what happened. So yes, I am excited to finally have had enough courage to download a dating app and agree on a date.

Though, maybe Tinder is more of an app that will get me killed than lead to me finding my soulmate, but I'm willing to take the risk.

I'd rather die having had at least one date in my life, than not even been on one at all. It was about time I gather some courage anyway.

"You're joking!" Beau slaps his hand to his mouth, staring at me in shock. Yup, I was just as surprised when my Tinder date asked me out.

Don't get me wrong, I happen to think I'm pretty attractive. Not that I would consider myself to be the prettiest woman in the world, but I think I'm all okay looking. I have a decent body, or as Athena would say it "a mafia wife body." I don't quite know what that means, but it sounds nice.

"Not joking. I downloaded Tinder and now I have a date."

Beau groans but it turns into a laugh. "Sunshine, you're going to get murdered that way. Tinder is like the ultimate app for serial-killer."

"Is not."

"Is too," he talks back. "I know of a bunch of cases that ended in death."

"Doesn't mean Ted is one of those serial-killer-dater," I protest, crossing my arms in front of my chest. Ted sure looks well-behaved on the pictures he uploaded.

He's thirty, works as a mechanic, is a single dad and looks...clean.

I'm sure he wouldn't murder me. Not on the first date, at least.

"Ted looks more like a second-date-murderer," I add and go to open my emails.

"I'm sorry, sunshine, but his name alone is a clear indication for being a murderer."

I laugh, though I know I shouldn't. "Just because his name is Ted doesn't mean he's going to pull a Ted Bundy on me."

"Don't judge a book by its cover."

I shake my head, letting the smile stay on my lips. If one of us is judging a book by its name right now, it's him.

"Besides, I kind of thought you had a boyfriend," Beau admits, shocking me a little. But before I'd get to answer, someone comes walking in.

"Ms. Bloom," a high-pitched voice speaks from the elevator doors. They barely opened and Athena's already starting to talk to me. Speak of being rude. "I'm here to let you know, there's a minor crisis happening at the IT support. I'm sure you will have to handle the press because this minor problem might cause some apps to shut down for a while until it's fixed."