Standing in the Kitchen of Jen's house, with the various scents of cinnamon and spices from Chris' legendary cooking, Mel was still in shock. For the time being she had forgotten about Andre's betrayal, the murder, everything from the past week just seemed like a distant mist in her mind because of the latest bombshell dropped in her world.
She had arrived barely an hour ago, and been surprised by both Colleen and Anele being there. The group of friends had of course been disappointed with Andre not coming. Mel had explained that 'his little sister who was just about finished school had said she was going to sleep over at her boyfriend's house, and Chris being the man of the house since his dad had died, had to sort it out'. The group understood, and Mel was relieved that herquickly concocted story was holding out.
When she had asked what the occasion was, knowing that there were no special dates of any of her friends at this time of year, they merely invited her inside. She had guessed for a while that Chris and Jen had been dating, but no one had ever told her, and living so far away from them both, despite the constant texting with Jen, she had never known if her suspisions were right.
She had walked into the house and was given a glass of fresh OJ, and watched silently as Jen strolled to Chris and kissed him. It had not been just a peck either, but by Mel's own slack jaw and wide eyed reaction, she knew this was a passionate kiss that easily lasted over a minute. Jen and Chris then turned to face Mel, Chris spoke first saying "Well, the occasion for Colleen, Anele and me to fly in to Jen's tiny little town and you being invited for the drive up here was our engagement party!" and he squeezed Jen tightly as she showed off the rock on her hand. Mel snorted the orange juice up her nose with such a shock. Sure, she had figured maybe they would finally come out that they were dating, but never had she imagined for a second they were already engaged!
The subsequent conversations, questions and arrangements which took the better part of an hour had left her brain feeling like mush. She had not brought with any party dresses for the weekend, in fact with the events of the last week, she had barely planned on staying for more than just the night and leaving at the crack on dawn. But they had a whopping big engagement party planned for the next evening being a Saturday. Jen being ill and tired so much, had allowed Colleen and Anele to do all the planning, with the provision that the evening's events were not too exhausting for Jen. And Mel didnt dare skipping out on such a big event for two of the few people she cared about the most. Jen already had her dress for the party, but Colleen and Anele had known that Mel would not have a dress, they knew if she came with more than just a pair of jeans and a bikini they would be lucky, so they had decided to make a day where the 3 girls would go dress shopping and get their hair and nails done for the party the next day.
Mel was overjoyed for Jen and Chris. At the same time she was feeling gutted, she looked at how happy they were and wondered if she was ever going to find a man of her own, who would treat her like a real woman. She didnt want a repeat of the men she had dated, like the Momma's Boy who had her doing his laundry and cleaning his apartment before they were dating for even 3 weeks. Or the Control Freak who 'confisctated' her phone because she was talking to other men (the other men happened to be Chris, Andre and her dad) on the weekend. Or Mr Emotional who had cried and needed constant reassurance just because she had not answered his 15 text messages and 7 missed calls during a single day's work time. Ugh, she shuddered. No, she probably would never find that happiness. The problem with finding a perfect man was that there is no such thing as perfection in the world. Anyway, she had bigger things to think about right now, like being a fugitive, and finding a dress that fitted, and finding a murderer, and getting an engagement present. Definitely no time for a man in her life just yet.
Sitting at the bar, sipping a gingerale and watching the dance floor with fascination, Mel admitted to herself that it had indeed been a glorious party to end a fantastic day. She actually felt like a whole new woman; her hair had been layered and given honey hilights which really brought out its lustrious and rich brown curls like never before, every time she turned her head the curls would bounce around her shoulders, now just longer than shoulder length. The new black halterneck dress that reached the floor in a heavy fabric that hid any unwanted bumps and showed just the right amount of curves and the silver kitten heels. For the first time in a very long time she felt like a woman, unfortunately the men at this party had been noticing. 'Where did Jen & Chris find all these wierd people' she absent mindedly wondered as she watched another poor dejected fellow slink away after she had turned down another offer to dance. It wasn't that there were no ellligible guys here, nor that she wasn't interested in them, it was just that she had bigger fish to fry right now.
"Is this seat taken?" a plain little man asked her nerveously. He was about her height, which was not that short, but he stooped in his boring brown twaid suit. His hair thinning far too early in his life, he couldnt have been more than 35 years old.
Not in the least attracted to him, but rather out of pity for him, she consented to his joining her hoping the guy just wanted a drink. Although she was in no mood for small talk, or any conversation for that matter, the little plain man introduced himself as Pavlo, and begun telling her his life story. She listened to him telling her his father was from Brazil, his mother a South African and he grown up here, then she stopped listening. "What on earth did I do to encourage this annoying narration" she asked herself silently as he explained how his second wife had run off a few years back, and then started on describing his career. Only half listening, his voice was becoming a white noise only paused by his frequent gulps of the beer in his hand. After 20 minutes Mel was begining to get irritated and was about ready to snap at the guy to shut up and leave her alone, she took a breath and turned to face the man she was about to yell at, when something he said caught her attention.
"So now I'm working at a dead-end job in a cell phone company where we track stolen phones and occasionally help with the police tracking fugitives via their cells. You'd think its exciting, I thought so when I took the job. But all I really do is log onto the website and type in a phone number, and watch a little red dot blinking over a map. Thats it, I never get to go out there, I never get to have any fun." He took a huge gulp of the third beer he had ordered in the last 20 minutes and continued bitterly "I'm single, I'm balding before my time, and I'm stuck in a boring dead-end job."
She smiled as a plan hatched in her mind. For the first time since he sat beside her she decided to really engage "But Pavlo, you are an important part of society! And just think what fun you could have tracking random people when you are not busy tracking fugitives." She gently placed a newly manicured hand on top of his "It sounds fascinating to me, I would love for you to show it to me."
"I dont know, I'm not supposed to use it out of ofice hours or for personal use." He replied halfheartedly.
'hmm, this might not be as easy as I had hoped' she thought. Deciding to up the game a touch, she moved her hand up his forearm a little, and tried her most seductive voice "But Pavlo, how else are you going to make an excuse to invite me back to your place?"
His eyes lit up as he realised the implication "Well I suppose just tracking someone once wont hurt, especially if is someone we know."
"Are you sure? I really dont want to get you into trouble." She looked up at him through her long lashes and blinked "Maybe we shouldnt."
"Of course we can!" He emphasized, adding "Who would you like to track?"
Gently rubbing Pavlo's shoulders as she stood behind his chair. She watched as he typed in his username and password, it was even a regular website that could be accessed anywhere in the world. Mel shook her head in disbelief. It had worked, her first time flirting. Heck, she knew there must be some kind of serious judgement reserved for the freaks who used flirting and their bodies to get what they wanted. She figured this was special circumstances and gave her a free pass, plus it wasnt like she was going to sleep with the guy. Yes she had led him to believe that she wanted to jump his bones, but hell it wasnt actually going to happen.
"Lets track Chris' number, see where him and Jen are." She whispered lips brushing against his ear.
He shivered with excitement as he furiously typed in Chris' number. He glanced at her, stating "It takes a couple of minutes to load."
"Ok, I'll go grab us something to drink" and she turned towards the kitchen.
She quickly crushed 3 sleeping tablets into his drink. They were strong enough to knock him out until the middle of tomorrow, but not strong enough to hurt him. She had about 20 minutes before they fully kicked in, but her flirting had maybe been a little too much, she hoped she could hold him off until he was knocked out.
Ten minutes later, they had finished looking at Chris' movements over the last 12 hours. He had been all over the town. They had looked up Jen's number and seen she had been to most of the same places at the same time Chris had. They looked up Pavlo's own number, and even Mel's mom's number.
But Pavlo was now getting impatient. He yawned, and swiveled in his chair, staring at Mel he said "goodness woman, you are gorgeous!"
She blushed, he was mildly attractive and it was so nice to hear the compliment, but she really didnt want to sleep with this guy. After all Mel Cooper had standards, and these were not her standards!
He took her hand and kissed it. Standing up he leant in towards her, his nose only millimeters from hers, he whispered "I'm done looking at the screen, I want to drink you in and really get to know you"
She shuddered, now what?
He led her by the hand to his bedroom, and she quickly said "Can I use your bathroom please?"
"Sure babe, its" he yawned again, stammering and looking for the words "its, its just down the hall, second door on the left."
"I'll be a couple of minutes" She said, fleeing down the hall.
'Oh crumbs! How long can I stay here before he comes looking for me?' She wondered in panic. If she said no to him now after all that flirting and he was slightly drunk, she feared he might force her or hurt her. She knew nothing about this man really. Darn it, why did she have to lay it on so thick? She sat on the closed pot, head in her hands for a couple of minutes. Standing up, she quickly rumaged through the medicine cupboard, there were a few condoms there, she tossed them into her handbag to hide them. Flushing the loo, she washed her hands and face, touseled her hair a little.
Dropping her bag on the floor, she sat on the bed next to him, he was still awake but fading fast.
"Pavlo," she started, he grinned at her "do you have protection?"
His smile dropped and he stood up, swaying a little "I'll go fetch."
He staggered as he walked away. Mel heard him go into the bathroom and scratch around in the cupboard, he was in a hurry and knocking things around.
He staggered back, "Could have sworn I had in the bathroom" He held onto the doorframe for support "I know I have in the car, I'll be right back, dont move."
She watched him stumble out and a few seconds later she heard the thud of him colapsing.
With a sigh of relief she jumped up, grabbing her bag, she decided to take his car and carefully picked his keys out of his hand.
Her's was still at the engagement party, when she was leaving she left Anele with the keys after grabbing her backpack out the boot and telling her she wasn't going to be back for the night. Plus, she thought, it wont do any good to be driving around in the black hatchback when the cops are sure to be looking for it.
She looked at Pavlo snoring on the floor, thought about the sleeping tablets she had drugged him with, and decided it was safe to use his computer to see where Felix was now. She sat and typed in Pavlo's username and password, the website opening up, typing Felix's number in the search bar.
Silently thanking the programers who created this tracking equipment and Chris & Jen for inviting a lonely and sad man to their party.
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