Over Her Head

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

The Shillelagh

Melanie was immediately self-conscious as she entered the Shillelagh. She could feel the cool, conditioned air against her bare thighs beneath the skirt. Every step seemed to threaten to flash a skin at whoever might be looking. The place was packed with people and the sounds of Eddie Van Halen’s classic instrumental ‘Eruption’ filled the air. She saw Rick and a few of the collectors gathered at a corner table. They had arrived before her because she had stopped to change before heading out of the office. As self-conscious as she felt dressed in the outfit here, it would have been far worse on the collection floor.

“And then the deadbeat says,” Rick announced loudly as Melanie approached, gesturing with his hands for emphasis as the others seemed to hang on his every word. “He says, but how am I supposed to feed my kids? What would you do if you were me?”

“Oh God, that’s a classic,” Mike chimed in.

“So I tell him,” Rick continued, seeming on the verge of bursting out in laughter at his own story. “I say, hey, buddy, I pay my bills. This kind of stuff doesn’t happen to me. Maybe you should take this as a teaching moment with your kids. You can put an empty plate down on the table and tell them that’s what happens when you’re a delinquent.”

The table burst out in laughter, Rick joining in with them. Melanie moved to the empty seat and gave a little wave as she sat down.

“Holy s**t, Rick,” Brian laughed from next to Melanie. “You’re on the verge of an FDCPA violation there. I can’t believe you said that s**t!”

“f**k the FDCPA,” Rick announced proudly, turning to face Brian and seeing Melanie for the first time. “Mel! You made it! And, damn, do you clean up nice!”

Melanie tried to contain her blush as his eyes moved up and down along her body, drinking in the sight of her where she sat. Her hands moved beneath the edge of the table to tug at the hem of the skirt, though she didn’t dare look to see if the tops of her stockings were visible. This was exactly why she never wore these sorts of outfits, she reminded herself. She hated the attention that they always brought.

“Did he do it?” she asked, trying to change the subject away from her appearance and outfit.

“Did he do what?” Rick asked, narrowing his eyes but at least looking into hers.

“Put the empty plate down on the table,” she forced a grin. “I figured he’d be calling you back to tell you all about how his little impromptu class went.”

“Oh, f**k no,” Rick laughed. “To that deadbeat, I’m the bad guy. We all are. He doesn’t pay his bills so we collect money from him the hard way, but we’re the villains.”

Brian poured Melanie a glass of beer from the pitcher on the table. She took it from him with a smile and sipped at it. The conversation revolved almost entirely around work. They were taking turns sharing stories of the many bizarre things that debtors had said to them, each trying to top the one that came before. She had never been so bored in her life.

“Excuse me,” she said as she rose. “I need to run to the little girl’s room.”

Ignoring the lewd comments that a couple of her co-workers sent her way and assuring them that she did not, in fact, need any help, Melanie made her way through the crowded bar and into the ladies’ room. She was disappointed to find someone else inside, so she went into a stall. Closing the door, she sat down on the lid of the toilet and then slipped her phone out of the inside pocket of her jacket. It was time to send Jonathan the picture he had requested.

Melanie waited patiently for the other woman to leave the bathroom and then slipped back out of the stall. She was pleased to see that no one else had entered through the closing door. Opening the camera on her phone, she stood in front of the mirror and snapped a picture of herself. She frowned a little as she reviewed the tiny image on the screen. It looked boring. She wanted to send him something that would fire him up. She wanted a picture that he would keep, not one that would end up in his computer’s trash can.

Giving the door another glance to make sure that no one was coming, Melanie lifted her leg to place her shin against the countertop. Her skirt rode up from the movement. Looking in the mirror, she could see her bare thigh above the stocking reflected in the mirror. Smiling, she snapped another picture. That was the sort of picture she wanted to send him, she thought to herself. She stepped back away from the sink and sent the picture to his phone with one hand while she adjusted the skirt back into place with the other.

Looking down at her phone as she exited the bathroom, Melanie almost ran into Rick as he stepped in front of her. She stopped up short, locking her phone and slipping it back into its pocket.

“Oh hey, sorry, Rick,” she said as she looked up at him. She suddenly wished she had worn boots with heels. He was taller than she remembered. “I didn’t see you there.”

“Texting while walking can be a real safety hazard,” he said with a grin and then laughed as though he were the first person ever to realize this ground-breaking truth.

“Yeah, that and cancer,” she replied. “I’ll see you back at the table.”

Melanie was taking a step away when she felt his hand close on her upper arm. He turned her back to face him, holding her in his grip. She felt little butterflies dance in her stomach as she looked up at him.

“I’m sorry, babe,” he said with another smile. “I hope you’re not mad at me.”

“Mad?” she asked, furrowing her brow.

“Well, yeah,” he answered slowly. His eyes moved down over her body again, taking in the sight of her. “I’m sorry about the misunderstanding tonight. Here you get dressed up for a date and I’ve got you surrounded by all the guys.”

“Oh, no,” she stammered. “I didn’t think. I mean, it’s okay. Really, it’s perfectly fine.”

“I just want you to know that I recognize the effort,” he continued, ignoring her statement completely. “It is so good to see how much you appreciate everything that I do for you back at the office.”

Rick drew her in closer by the hold on her arm, his face coming to hover above hers. For a moment, she thought he was going to kiss her. She wondered if she would stop him if he did. But then he gave her arm a squeeze and flashed a wink before letting her go.

“I’ll see you back at the table,” he called out as he turned for the men’s room. “Order me a Heineken.”