High Heels in New York (14 page)

“Oh.
” He walked over to the bushes and leaned over, grabbing something from the ground. He walked over to her and extended his hand again, “Found your cell phone.”

She quickly grabbed it and put it back inside her handbag.  “Thanks.”

He smiled at her again. “Are you sure?”

“I
’m sure,” Melissa was flattered but she knew it was better for both of them if she didn’t. If and when she was ready to date again, she wanted to have zero baggage.

“That’s too bad,” he said and then he crossed the street with his devil dog.

Melissa stared at him until he walked out of view.
“Yeah, too bad.”

#

With only ten minutes to spare, Melissa staggered inside the office building. She’s a freelance writer at Hush Magazine; an online fashion magazine. Mostly she rewrites everyone else’s poorly written articles. But one day, she’d hope to get her very own article. That’s what she’s told herself repeatedly for the last four years. 

“Hi Mel,” Claire the receptionist said to her, with her too white teeth and too skinny body.

She tried to sound just as pleased to see her. “Good Morning Claire. How was your weekend?”

“Oh the usual.
Nothing new.”
She sighed, handing Melissa a handful of messages. “Oh, there is one thing,” Claire said, perking up.  “There’s a rumor going around that we’re having an important visitor today,”
she
sing-songs the news and Melissa wants to slap her on her head with her cupcake for being so darn chirpy at this hour. But then, she chooses not to because she’s really hungry.

“All that gossip at nine o’clock on
a Monday morning?” Melissa rolled her eyes and headed
straight to her desk. “Don’t people work around here?”
she said. When Claire giggle as she walked
away
,
Melissa wonder
ed
what the hell she thought was so damn funny.

Once i
nside her cubicle, Melissa opened
the last drawer in her desk and drops her belongings inside. She turns on the desk top computer and decides that after listening to Happy Feet at the front desk, what she really needs is a second cup of coffee from the break room before going Postal on a fellow coworker.  Usually, she could snag fifteen minutes of alone time, drinking her cup of Joe at her desk, before the craziness of the day began. Once again, no such luck.

Lisa Greene and Ashley Thomas were chit-chatting by the coffee machine which was quite odd because no one ever talked to Ashley and whenever someone did speak to Lisa is was to tell
her to shut up. Either way, Melissa didn’t like either of them. And now she would have to be at an approachable distance just to get to the caffeine.

Lisa was an annoying twenty-something kiss-ass who got her How-To column after she began dating the co-owners’ son.  Ashley on the other hand, was the resident nerdy copywriter and well, she was just plain annoying.

Walking over to the coffee machine, Melissa hoped they were too engrossed in their conversation to notice her. Melissa looked at Ashley’s outfit and almost gagged. She was wearing brown knee high leather boots, burgundy tights, a Mumu looking dressed that shagged at the bottom with a cropped maroon jean jacket. It was only seventy-five degrees outside.

“Hi, Melissa,” Ashley said all perky, her round glasses too big for her face. “Did you hear? There’s a very important person coming in today and Regina is going to choose someone to do a story on them. We have a bet as to who it’s going to be.”

Lisa chimed in, “I’m telling you its Lady Gaga.”

“Why would it be her? She’s so passé,” Ashley said.

Lisa screamed, “Blasphemy!” Being a little monster herself she would probably slice Ashley to pieces for saying that. Maybe she should stick around after all, Melissa thought.

“Mel, who do you think it is?” Ashley asked, turning to face Melissa.

Should she tell them that she really didn’t care? Would it be rude if she turned around and walked away without saying anything? She wasn’t in the mood to pretend they were friends so, she poured herself a cup of coffee and then turned around and went to her desk without uttering a hello.

When it was time to attend the daily production meeting, Melissa wasn’t too eager to join in with the rest of her group and listen to Regina, the editor in chief, tell everyone- meaning the low end of the totem pole, the lowly ones that begged for stories like dogs begged for scraps- what their individual goals were for the week. Since the important articles of the magazine were already completed and the important writers didn’t need babysitting, she was able to focus on daily and weekly articles, A.K.A, they write the crap that fills up the empty spaces. And, Melissa knew that she would get stuck with the rewrites. Why? Because she always got stuck with the rewrites, while people like Lisa were given a How-to-column. How Lisa was allowed to write so much as an email was inconceivable. The chic couldn’t even tell the difference between a verb and an adjective. So, with the hopes Regina would forget she was there, Melissa sat furthest away from her, slouching in her chair.

“Lisa,” Regina began, her red round glasses barely hanging on her nose, “I need a quick and fun article on upcoming fashion
trends. Ashley, I need you to create a Poll on which celebrities looked the best during the Oscars.”

“Which celebrities?”
Ashley asked.

“I don’t care. Just do it.” She instructed, “And Carmine, you can do the rewrites.”

What? Did the universe finally give Melissa a break? Was she finally going to get a story to write? Melissa sat up straight in her chair, ready to hear what her goal was.

“Melissa…” Regina
finally said and then looked directly at her,
making her feel very self-conscious. “You’re going to be doing a two page piece on a very important person. She’s asked for you personally so please, don’t mess this up.”

OMG! It was true. For once, gossip around the office wasn’t just hearsay. Was it Donna Karen? Or was it the
Louboutin
genius himself? Melissa was so damn giddy that could scream and she actually almost did when she saw the person she had to interview.

“Everyone please welcome a very important person in the fashion world. I expect you all to welcome her with open arms,” Regina said, looking at the conference room door and extending a hand. “I introduce you to no other than…Valerie Clark.”

10

After the remaining flicker of hope Melissa held so dear inside her heart burned out, she stood outside Regina’s office, pacing back and forth and trying to pick the right way to tell her that she couldn’t do the article on Valerie. How could she? The bitch stole her man and her best friend. She wasn’t about to sit down with her and act like nothing happened for the sake of an article or her career.

“What?” Melissa screamed
out to Ashley who’s standing off to the side staring at her.

“You’re so lucky,” Ashley said, her eyes widening with admiration.

“Why does everyone keep saying that?” Melissa yelled. “Trust me I’m not lucky.
This is not luck. This is hell,” s
he said, slamming the back of her head against the wall.

Ashley’s eyes widened. No one had ever seen Melissa rant like this. She was usually the calm and quiet one. But could you
blame her? She hadn’t even had the time to mourn the death of her almost-marriage and here she was, about to interview the lover of her ex-fiancé.

Having no other choice but to decline this rare and paramount opportunity which she was most sure she would never see again in her lifetime, she grabbed the metal door handle. As she was about to push it open, she heard Regina’s voice.

“It was such a pleasure to meet you,” Regina opened the door slowly. “Let me get Melissa for you so you two can get better acquainted.”

Frantic, Melissa high tailed it to her desk, grabbed her things and snuck out of there.  Claire the receptionist stood up from behind her desk holding more messages in her hand as Melissa ran past her.

“Sorry.
Emergency.
Gotta
go!”
Melissa shouted. She pushed the button to the elevator a bazillion times before it finally opened. Once inside, she dug inside her handbag for her cellphone. “What the fuck is this?” In her hand is not her very expensive and very new
iphone
. Oh, no. Instead, she’s holding a ragged and old flip phone. “Yuck!” She holds it away from her with two fingers. The guy from the park must’ve swapped phones.
Unreal.
You think he’d try something more subtle if he really wanted to see her again, she thought.

Once outside, she dialed her cellphone number from the ragged flip phone and held it away from her face. Claude picked up on the first ring. “I want my cell phone back,” Melissa screamed.

“I was hoping you’d call.”

“If you think you’re getting
a date you’re sadly mistaken,” s
he said, quickly walking around the corner. The last thing she wanted was someone she worked with to see her and ask her to come back inside.

“Hey, it was an honest mistake. It could’ve happened to anyone.”

She knew better than to believe him. Living in New York made you more suspicious of men like him.
And to think that she had liked him.
It was only for a minute, but the fact that she even considered liking him was a big deal for her. But she wasn’t about to start trusting him after what he had done. “I highly doubt that.”

“Would you believe me if I told you that I was distracted by your beauty?”
This guy seriously needed to learn new pick-up lines.

“No.”

“Well then, I guess we should meet up so I can give you back your phone.”

Knowing that she had to go back to work and that this stranger had her cell phone did not sit well with her. So, she decided on the easier thing to do.
“Fine.
Meet in front of The Tick-Tock Diner in thirty minutes.”

“You got it,
”
he said and hung up.

Melissa reluctantly went to meet Claude. When she got to the diner, she was out of breath from having to walk the ten blocks to get there. He was waiting for her, waving her cell phone in the air above his head and flashing his pearly white smile. There was no devil dog to be found.

“Hi,” he said, grinning.

She grabbed the cell phone from his hand. “You’re lucky I didn’t call the cops and had you arrested for theft.”

He stood up, pulling a chair out for her. “Stealing means taking something that is not yours with the intention of not ever giving it back. That was not my intention.”

“Well, if your intention was to get a date with me rest assured that this is not a date,” She tells him, still standing. He was trying really hard. She had to give that to him but she wasn’t going to fall for it. After what she’d been through with Jonathan she wasn’t ready to trust anyone.

“All I wanted was an opportunity to show you what a great guy I am so that you’ll want to go out on a date with me. So you see
,
calling the authorities would have only wasted their time.”

“Well then you’ve wasted your time,” Melissa said, showing him her him her hand. “I’m engaged.”

He looks at her hand. A confused look overcomes him.

“What?” Melissa said, looking at her hand and realizing that there was no ring. She had taken it off and never put it back on. “I was engaged,” she whispered, finally sitting down.

Claude walked back to his chair. His facial expression was hard to read. “I would say that I was sorry but then you wouldn’t be here with me. Is that bad?”

She didn’t know what to say. She just met the guy and he was already coming on a little too strong. An uncomfortable feeling came over her and she got up to leave. “Look, I’m flattered, but I really have to go back to work.”

“But you’re already here? Listen, how about you let me buy you an early lunch and we can call it even. After all, my dog did
bust up your knee pretty bad,” h
e said.

Since her morning had already been completely wrecked and she never did get the chance to eat her cupcake, why not spend a few minutes procrastinating?
“Fine.
But it’s not a date.”

“Great!” He called the waiter over and they placed their orders. “I love this place. Have you been here before?”

“Yeah, a lot actually.
During college,”
she said, snapping the napkin open and placing
it on her lap.

“Oh really?
Where’d you go? You look like a state girl.”

“Rutgers.”

“What you’d study?”

“Look, I get that you’re trying to do this thing where I say something about me and then you say something about you. Then we find out we have something in common and then someone comes up with the great idea about meeting up again but we don’t have to do that.
Seriously.
We can just sit here. Quietly,” she whispered.