High Heels in New York (12 page)

Literally.

“Oh my God, turn that off!” Melissa yelled at Christina who was raising the volume on the little television mounted to the back of the cab partition. The television was the new marketing platform New York was using to bombard tourists with
information such as which restaurants to try, Broadway shows to attend and other events that needed a boost in sales. It was also designed with a credit card reader on the side so you could charge your cab rides. New Yorkers could tell you that the credit card reader was the best part of the entire gadget.

“At least they used a good picture of you. You know you don’t photograph well,” Christina said as she pressed the off button on the touch screen.

“It’s official. All of Manhattan and visitors know my life sucks,” Melissa cried into her hands.

Christina patted Melissa’s leg.
“It could’ve been a whole lot worse.”

“How?”

“I don’t know. It’s exhausting trying to make you feel better and quite honestly I’m running out of good things to tell you,” Christina pouted.

“Thanks,” Melissa said, turning to look out of the window again. As if on cue, the taxi pulled up to a posh Manhattan high-rise off Fifth Avenue. When she stepped out of the cab she didn’t see the lounge. “Where is it?”

“Upstairs.”

Her eyes span the height of the building. “Are you serious?” She asked in amazement. She wasn’t the type of New Yorker
that knew where all the happening spots were. She was the basic New Yorker. She knew how and when to take public transportation and where the best places to shop were and of course, where to get the best cupcakes. That’s it. So if there was a hot spot off a lounge atop this building it could’ve fallen on her head and she wouldn’t have noticed.

Christina nodded. “It’s owned by some guy who was on a sitcom in the eighties. Apparently, he left Hollywood for New York and wound up opening this place.” She paid the taxi and sauntered past the doorman who had been holding the door for them. “I train him three times a week.”

“When did you become a hot celebrity trainer?” Melissa asked, following closely behind in a pair of black kitten heels and a black wraparound dress.

“I was always hot!” She winked at Melissa as they walked inside the elevator.

“Christina?” Melissa turned to face her, “What if someone recognizes me? I don’t think I could take people staring at me the entire night,” Melissa said, taking a deep breath and willing herself not to faint.

“Stop worrying. By tomorrow it will all be old news,” Christina tried reassuring her but she knew that there hadn’t been any juicy news in Manhattan for a couple of days now. Melissa’s night out tonight would be the last quiet night she was
going to have in a long time. The elevator doors opened and they were greeted by a tanned waitress in white short-shorts and a white halter top.

“Welcome to SPIN,” the waitress said with a huge smile and hands them pink cocktails in a pink sugar dipped martini glass.
“Compliments of the house.”

“Thanks,” Melissa and Christina say in unison. Deep down, Melissa seriously hoped that Christina was right about people not recognizing her. Even though the nightclub was going to be dim and it was probably going to be too crowded for anyone to get a good look at her, she was still scared.

As they entered the main area of the lounge, Mellissa took a much needed sip of her drink. If you could bottle up spoiled princess, Melissa was certain that it would taste exactly like what she was drinking. Looking around the large open space, Melissa notices that there are white halter wearing cocktail waitresses everywhere. There were blonde ones, brunette ones, red heads, all wearing the same exact outfit and sporting the same hairstyle. It was as if she was in a futuristic version of The
Stepford
Wives. When Christina and Melissa walked to one of the bars, they were both pleasantly surprised to see a man behind the counter. Yes, he too was wearing white.
Shorts though.
No halter.

“Cool huh?” Christina asked, taking a seat.

“Unreal,
”
Melissa said, amazed.
She took it all in. The place was beautiful. It was a huge lounge with a 1940’s modernistic décor, surrounded by floor to ceiling windows and beveled peach mirrors. There were plush white couches precisely positioned where you could get the best view of the city and everywhere you looked there was something shiny. “It reminds me of Angie’s closet.”

“Wait until you see the bathroom,” Christina said laughing.

It was only eleven o’clock and the place already had a good crowd. People were quickly gathering in little groups. Living, partying and simply breathing in Manhattan was like being in a high school cafeteria. You didn’t want to find yourself sitting at the wrong table.

“Oh wow. Is that…?” Melissa asked Christina.

Christina turned to look in the direction Melissa was pointing. “Yes, but stop that,”
s
he said, pulling her hand down. “You don’t want to look like a fan.”

“Sorry,” Melissa
said, “I thought he was in jail?”

“He got out yesterday due to overcrowding.”

“Oh.” Unlike Christina, who was on the verge of an obsession with all things Hollywood, Melissa wasn’t up to date with all the celebrity gossip and happenings. She could however, tell you what shoes Katie Holmes wore the night of the Oscars
but she couldn’t tell you who she thanked and what movie she received the award for. Everyone has their priorities.

“Yummy. I think I found my next ex-boyfriend,” Christina said licking her lips as a cute guy walked past them.  Besides looking shy of twenty-one, the guy was looking good in a dark blue dress shirt, open at the throat and black slacks.

“Doesn’t he look a bit too young?” Melissa asked, concerned.

“Darling, if you want to quench your thirst you have to drin
k from the fountain of youth,” s
he said smiling. “I can see myself constantly being naked around him.”

“The only thing constant about someone that young is change,” Melissa said.

“Oh, he doesn’t look that young.”

“Not for a school girl. For you, yes!”

“
Mmm
, I’ll act like a school girl or any other type of girl for a piece of that!”
Christina
said before turning to
Melissa.
“I’m going to say hello. You ok here?”

“Sure go ahead,
”
Melissa said.
She didn’t mind waiting for her at the bar. Not with all the famous people walking around. Being here definitely took her fascination for people watching to a whole other level. She was having so much fun that she wasn’t
even thinking about Jonathan. And for once, it felt good not to worry about anything even if it was for a little while.

Taking the last sip of her drink she was saddened when she finished it so quickly. She placed the martini glass on the bar and just as quickly another drink appeared.

“I didn
’t order that,” s
he told the bartender.

“He did,” the bartender said, signaling to a hot looking guy at the other end of the bar with sandy brown hair and a killer smile.

She didn’t know what to do. Should she accept the drink? Or should she kindly say ‘Thanks but no thanks’? She really wasn’t in the mood for conversation even if this guy was super-hot. She came here to just chill and forget her problems. However, he was still standing at the end of the bar, smiling at her. So, she accepted the drink and mouthed the words ‘thank you.’ Expecting him to see this as his golden opportunity to walk over and begin hitting on her, Melissa waited at the bar. But soon after, he was gone.

“Excuse me,” Melissa said to the bartender who was in the middle of fixing two more pink drinks. ”What is this drink called anyway?”

“A
flirtini
.”

Of course it is, she thought.

Leaning against the bar, she looked around the lounge and tried to spot Christina. She knew she would return with no less than the guys’ phone number, penis size and social security number. Obsession was her number one characteristic.

“You’re babysitting your drink,” Christina said when she returned.

“Actually it’s a gift from a real hot guy.”

“Where?”
She asked, looking around the lounge.

“I don’t know. He just bought me the drink and then he was gone,” Melissa said.

“So what happened after he tried getting you drunk?”

“He didn’t try to get me drunk. It was one drink.”

Christina looked confused. “You mean
,
he didn’t try to get your number?”

“No.”

“You didn’t try getting his?”

“No.”

“Girl, I have no idea why you came out tonight.”

“Seriously?”
Melissa
said in
disbelief. It had been Christina’s idea to come out tonight, not hers. If Melissa would have had it her way, she would be right under those comfortable covers, crying and sleeping.

“All I’m saying is that he could’ve been the one.”

“The one what?
Asshole?
I’ve had enough of those. I just came here to let loose and not think about men,”
Melissa
said before changing the conversation, “So, how old was he anyway?”

“The better question is… will his wife mind?”

“Sorry. I’m sure you’ll soon find another victim.”

“Sweetie, single men are incomplete animals and married men are complete animals,” Christina said, catching the bartender’s attention and ordering another drink. “I have a date with him tomorrow.”

“There is something absolutely completely wrong with men in Ne
w York,
” Melissa said

“Melissa if there’s one piece of advice that I can give you is this, stop taking men seriously. The moment you do it all goes downhill. You have to play with them, treat them like the scum that they are and then kick them to the curb like yesterdays’ garbage.”

Melissa couldn’t believe the advice that Christina was giving her. Okay, who was she kidding? She did believe it. It was Christina after all.

“Mel, if you play with an ass he will flirt his tail in your face. So, don’t get mad at the bitch. Get even with the guy.”

Ironically enough that made total sense to Melissa. She gave a lot to her relationship with Jonathan and it didn’t work out.
Not because she didn’t try or that she didn’t love him enough. It didn’t work because he just couldn’t keep his penis inside his pants. But she wasn’t going to continue to blame herself for it any longer. “Come on, let’s dance!” She said, grabbing Christina by the arm and pulling her towards the crowded dance floor.

They must’ve danced for hours before one of them decided to throw in the white flag and take a breather.

Dehydrated,
Christina retreated to the bar.
“I’ll get us some water.”

“Okay,” Mel
issa said. N
eeding to catch her breath
,
she sat down on one of the white loungers. The dance floor was crowded by now and she could barely see the view of the New York skyline from where she was sitting. But she was too tired to stand up just to get a good view.

“One can only be so lucky to witness such beauty,” a male voice whispered in her ear.

“It’s amazin
g isn’t it?” s
he sighed. Slowly, she turned to face him.

Crap.

It was the guy from the bar.

The look in his bright blue eyes confirmed he wasn’t talking about the skyline. For a moment, Melissa thought that he might be able to make her orgasm just by looking at her. His broad
chest encased in a white linen shirt was teasing her to touch him. She wanted to touch the curves of his body. Get lost in it. She wondered if he was hairy.
And hoped that he wasn’t.
The fantasy quickly looming in her head wouldn’t work if he was. What the hell are you doing? She asked herself. This is not the time to think about sex.

He smiled as if he knew what she was thinking. For a moment, she wanted to say something cute and flirty but the words wouldn’t escape her mouth.

“If
you stand over here,” h
e
said
,
standing and
signaling for her to follow him.
“
And
look toward the Hudson River, you will be able to spy the Statue of Liberty.”

His ass looks real nice in those pants; her thoughts continued to escape her. She didn’t know why but she did it. She walked over like a puppy and stood right in front of him. He was right though, the view was one of the most unbelievable views she had ever seen. She was certain that watching the sun set and rise from where she was standing, would surpass any others she had ever witnessed. Goosebumps quickly covered her entire body when she realized how close he was standing behind her. Her heartbeat quickened. It was exhilarating. She hadn’t felt this way in a very long time.