"What did I just walk into?"

Sydney softly shrugged and offered a sheepish smile as she let Sarah inside her apartment. "My insanity?"

Piles upon piles of sketches surrounded the living room floor. Some were completed, and some were unfinished. Some were in full color, while others were in black and white. Some of the sketches were images of women, wearing large Afros and superhero garb, while others showed women in various stages of undress.

Sarah walked further into the room and picked up one of the sketches. She shook her head in astonishment. Vivid colors such as yellow, red, and green popped off the stark white sheet. Four women of different ethnicities stood proud, tall, clenched fists, and powerful eyes, with flowing capes behind them. "Who are they?"

"They are the Superbad crew," Sydney pointed out. "I need names for them, but I haven't figured out what, though. Something sexy."

"Hmm…" Sarah carefully thought and pointed to each woman as she rounded out the names. "Heathen, Angelic, Twisted, and Legendary."

"Ooh," Sydney nodded, "I like that. I might keep that."

"Hey, what can I say? My genius works every now and again." Sarah plopped down on the sofa. "So how was Christmas?"

Magical, Sydney wanted to answer. The most wonderful and amazing Christmas she's ever had. It was far too short. "It was nice," she grinned.

Sarah narrowed her eyes before they widened again. Her mouth morphed into a slow, cunning smile. "Just nice? You spent a couple of days in L.A. and all you can say was that it was nice?"

"What else do you want me to say?" Sydney already regretted the question.

"Oh, I don't know. How was the beach? How was the weather?" Sarah casually glanced at her overdue manicure. "How was the dick report?"

Sydney blushed. "Excuse me?"

"Oh, Syd," Sarah gesticulated, "a woman doesn't go to L.A. for a couple of days and it's not business-related. There's a man involved." Sarah eyeballed her girlfriend again and her eyebrows wriggled. "A rich man involved."

Sydney pursed her lips together and debated if she should share the news about Dean. Jane was already doing her investigating reporting and was going to tell Sydney what she'd learned sometime that week. Sarah has never given her a reason to not trust her. "If I tell you, you promise you can't say a word!"

"Girl Scouts, honor." Sarah crossed her heart and held up her hand.

"You were in the Girl Scouts?"

"No," Sarah replied, "so tell me…who's Mr. Man?"

Sydney pranced over to the couch and sat next to her best friend. "Mr. Man is Dean Ambrose,"

"Dean and what?"

"AM-brose," Sydney pronounced. "Like bros before hoes?"

"Um, okay," Sarah softly shook her head, "so what does Mr. Ambrose do?"

"He's a hockey player. He plays for the Kings."

"Does he have all of his teeth?"

Sydney came to the quick conclusion that question was naturally going to be the first one everyone will ask her so she'd better get used to it. "All perfect."

"Nice," Sarah gave her approval. She quickly got on her phone and researched Sydney's boyfriend. The first image before her was a smiling Dean with twinkling eyes and soft dimples. "Oh, he's cute."

"Very," Sydney glanced over.

Sarah pulled up different images of Dean, including his famous nude layout for ESPN's Body issue. He was completely naked with strategically placed hockey gloves. Other shots included him posing that show enough skin, his washboard abs, and model stares. "Oh my…"

"Yeah, it's much, much better in person." Sydney sighed. "Much better."

"Dick report," Sarah softly stated.

"Porn star," Sydney sighed as she remembered her boyfriend's prowess. "Every bit of fantasy. I just…ooh…"

"Ah, he got good good." Sarah nodded. "Whenever a woman pauses and goes, 'ooh', it means her man got that good good."

"Whatever it is, he needs to bottle it up and sell that shit." Sydney commented. "So that's pretty much that."

"Met the parents?"

Dean spoke so highly of his mother and brother, he was actually looking forward to introducing them to Sydney. "Not yet."

"Met yours?"

Dean spoke about coming up for New Year's for a few days. Sydney wasn't sure if meeting her parents was in the cards. While they both decided being together was what they wanted, she definitely wasn't sure if meeting the parents – an event usually reserved for serious relationships – was required. Though Dean hadn't asked if he was going to meet her family, Sydney didn't know how to approach the subject and telling him she wasn't ready. "I don't know if we're that serious."

"You flew to L.A. and you're not sure if you're that serious?" Sarah laughed. "Oh okay."

"It's complicated," Sydney offered.

"No, not really," Sarah shook her head. "Either you're together or you're not. Relationships aren't complicated; it's the people that make it so."

"I don't know if I want to go through the trouble of introducing Dean to my family and we break up months later." Sydney reasoned. It wasn't a far-fetched thought.

"Are you getting married tomorrow?"

"What?" Sydney laughed. "No!"

"Then don't worry about it." Sarah shook her head. "I do not understand why women have to complicate such things. Men are so easy – predictably easy – and we're always complicating shit. When a man sees a white wall, he sees a white wall. When a woman sees a white wall, she's sees continental white or premium white or eggshell or some other stupid shit you read in Martha Stewart Living."

Sydney laughed. "I knew I could count on you for a laugh."

"Yeah, that's what I'm good for." Sarah leaned forward and studied more sketches on the floor. "Have you thought about starting a blog and highlighting your work?"

"What? Nah. I only draw for myself. None of it is worthy to put online. I know how cruel people can be behind the computer screen."

"Then I guess you need to learn how to ignore and ignore often," Sarah shrugged, "you have a talent that's too good to hold back. You need to expose this to the world. Come on, I'll help." She stood up and walked over to the living room, where Sydney's laptop was.

Sydney begrudgingly followed her best friend and pouted like a child who was told they could not go bike riding. "What do I need to do?"

"Well, wipe that sourpuss smug off your face first," Sarah stuck out her tongue, "and then, let's create magic!"

"You're alone tonight."

Dean looked up and saw a smiling Renee standing before him at the local dive bar. Wearing too-tight clothing that consisted of a mini-dress and high heels, he wondered how fast she would talk between letting out breaths. "Renee."

"May I join you?" She asked and sat herself down before Dean had a chance to object. "How is everything?"

"Great," Dean grinned, "life is pretty good right now."

"And how's Sydney?" She asked in a sing-song voice.

"Sydney is perfect," Dean humored his ex, "I'm getting ready to see her in a few days."

"A few days?" The admission caught Renee by surprise, "I thought she just left?"

"Yeah, and I'm going to see her again," Dean slowly shook his head, "that shade of jealousy is really ugly on you."

"Oh, get real." Renee rolled her eyes and Dean raised an eyebrow. "Dean, you know damn well I'm not jealous of your girlfriend."

"You're not jealous but you asked about her."

"I was being polite," she stated with a twinge of curtness, "I promise if she has an accident of some sort, I will not inquire about her health."

"Watch it, Renee." He warned.

"I'm sorry," she offered. A few moments of silence passed before she spoke again. "Did we ever have a chance together?"

He wondered when that subject was going to be brought up. The Talk. He thought they both agreed to be friends with benefits until they got tired of each other. His father became grossly ill and being with his family took precedent over everything, including hockey.

Truthfully told, Dean couldn't say for sure if there was a future between him and Renee. All he knew was that she was the past and Sydney was his future. He took a sip of beer and shrugged. "I don't know."

"That doesn't help," Renee slouched.

"What do you want me to say, Renee?" He asked. "We had an arrangement and I thought it worked well for us."

"But it didn't," she pressed, "it could've been something great."

"I don't know. Maybe." He conceded. Deep down, he knew it wouldn't have been. Renee may have known the basics about hockey but it was clear she didn't care about his career other than how she would benefit from it. A lot of prestige (read: money) came from being a part of the WAGs, no matter what sport.

"I guess so," she dropped the subject and moved onto something better, "that was a great score you made the other night."

Dean raised an eyebrow in surprise. "You've been watching."

"I do take some interest in your career, yes," she was almost offended at his insinuation, "it was a tough loss, though."

"It's always the ones where you know you could've won," he agreed, "sometimes the other team outscores you and you can't help it. Sometimes you have an off night, and that blows. But when it's a series of just stupid mistakes, though…that gets you."

"Better luck next time, huh?" She responded as a server brought over another round of beers.

Dean chuckled. "You always knew how to put me in a good mood."

"Oh, I can do more than that," she suggested and Dean softly shook his head, "what? You know I'm right." Dean let out a soft sigh and Renee noticed what he didn't say. "Am I annoying you?"

"No, not at all," Dean finished up his beer and started on the new one, "you're just making me miss my girlfriend."