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“Ow, Mel!” Katherine shifted her weight to her other foot… again. “Can you not poke me, please?”

“I’m sorry,” Melody muttered as she removed another pin from between her lips and pinned the skirt hem in place. “What can I say, this hunger is making it hard to see straight.”

“Did you seriously skip lunch again?” the performer asked with one of those snide tones as if she was some elite member of the theater and Mel was some charity case they let in. Normally the two got along just fine but the AC breaking not even two hours ago had put everyone on edge.

“Breakfast, yes. Lunch…” she looked at her wrist which didn’t even have a watch on it. “Lunch was supposed to be 12 minutes ago but someone decided this had to be done now.” Harvey was waiting outside, hopefully in his car with how long this was taking, which was only contributing to her own irritation. “I’d like to get this done, so if you’d just stop moving then I won’t accidentally p***k you.” Or maybe she would because Katherine was being a bit of a b***h.

The auburn-haired woman sighed heavily and Melody could only roll her eyes dramatically in response as she finished adjusting the hem height around the back of the skirt.

“There,” she stood up, wiped her hands off on her pants, and put the tomato full of extra pins into her sewing basket. “Go back into your dressing room, take that off, and take it to my station. Then maybe go take a break and go to Starbucks or something,” she suggested since all of them could honestly probably use a Refresher or something cold to drink. “I am going to be gone for the next hour, so if you need me, tough s**t.”

Katherine blinked in absolute shock at Melody’s crass response before exiting the fitting room. “Who the hell pissed in her Cheerios?” Two of the other ladies tried to stifle a laugh but were abruptly cut off when they heard Mel in the hallway shout back “I HEARD THAT.”

Once back at her station Melody deposited her sewing kit on her desk and grabbed her side bag from the lower drawer. “Ugh…” Melody rubbed her face with both hands to smooth out the nearly permanent crease between her eyebrows before heading out the main entrance.

Cameron saw her, raised a hand to get her attention, and moved to intercept but she strode by with little more than an unamused side glance before pushing the door open and stepping out into the blessedly cooler air. Still hot but less stuffy and not at all like the sauna that the fitting room had become.

But then she saw Harvey, leaning against the side of his car with a soda in hand, looking relaxed in the shade and Mel could not help but pause and give herself a moment to decompress and leave work behind her so she could enjoy the next hour with the one person she actually wanted to be around, except for probably Stacia but she actually got to take her lunch on time.

“I am so sorry, please forgive me.” Her shoulders sagged a bit as she approached him and with heavy arms, gave him a defeated hug. “I promise I tried to leave on time.”

“Does ice count?” Melody replied with a widening grin. One brow raised in question though her gaze drifted off to the side knowing that the answer was undoubtedly no.

With bated breath, she waited for the exasperated sigh she knew was coming, and even hazarded a brief glance back up to see if her answer at least prompted an eye roll from the genuine honesty or at least his version of ‘the look’.

“The air conditioning has been out for the last few hours. Don’t worry, I’ve been having water instead of coffee but food was kind of the last thing on my mind until you called,” she admitted.

His text came just before Stacia had offered to make a run to the teriyaki shop down the street, which was why she told her work besty not to worry about her for food and that they’d get lunch together later this week. She didn’t argue or inquire why, which was strange behavior but Melody was busy and couldn’t really consider the reason for her easy acceptance.

It was kind of vexing how Harvey could so seamlessly go from making her heart flutter from a gentle kiss to making her feel like a scolded child with how he held her face in his hand. What’s worse was that although she narrowed her eyes at him in warning, one of those ‘be happy I like you’ kind of looks, a part of her really wanted to stick her tongue out at him.

Melody resisted seeing as he relinquished his hold rather quickly.

But that damn smile of his. Ugh… he is going to be my ruin. Her lips pulled into an amused half smile as she shook her head and followed him to the side of the car.

As the two flirted in the shade of the tree, a silver prius pulled into a vacant parking spot about thirty feet away. A moment later a young woman with short lavender hair stepped out wearing a pair of sunglasses and a sun hat. In her hand was a takeout bag of food full of left overs for lunch the next day.

Seeing Melody outside, Stacia approached, raised a hand to greet her friend then realized that her bestie was not alone. “Oh ho… what do we have here.” A smile tugged the corner of her lips into a widening grin just before she ducked behind one of their co-worker's blue trucks.

“I appreciate your concern,” but she’d been doing this long enough that she knew her body’s limits. Melody caught his chin between her index finger and thumb, and turned his head toward her so she could return his earlier kiss with one of her own. “I will find a way to make it up to you later.”

Stacia clicked her tongue in amusement, “Go ge em’ gul.” Her comment was spoken only loud enough for her own ears since she didn’t want to interrupt their moment and after a few more seconds of watching she started walking back towards the building as if she didn’t notice Melody and her handsome roommate over there flirting.

“Greedy.” She commented teasingly.

“I could…” Her tone and the way she leaned her head to the side made it seem she was honestly considering the idea of calling out the rest of the day. Conditions at work were not ideal and building engineering only just arrived to service the AC maybe 45 minutes ago and they still didn’t have it running yet.

“But… wouldn’t that kind of defeat the purpose of bringing me food?” Her grin widened as if she’d won some small victory.

“You are shameless,” she commented despite the fact her mind had swan-dived into the gutter for a brief moment there and swam with a couple of possibilities. Thanks Stacia for making me read those books and for putting these ideas in my head her mental voice was laced with vast amounts of sarcasm.

Loathe to let go so soon, Melody seized the opportunity when he shifted to kiss him one last time. “A small appetizer then,” she teased with an added playful wink. “Desert will have to wait until I come home.” Perhaps she would stop by the store on the way home and pick up a few different flavors of mochi and off him a massage as he relaxed on the couch.

That was something she’d been told she was good at by a few friends; head, neck, shoulder, hands… even a foot massage if he wanted or preferred but not all at once. Leave a couple of options as a treat for something later.

“Right now, though… I’m actually starting to feel a bit famished.” A statement punctuated by the sound of her stomach growling loud enough that someone standing a few parking spots away could have probably heard it.

Melody reached inside the car and took a peek at what was inside the cooler where she saw some home-made wraps, guacamole and pico. “I feel spoiled. Here I thought you were just bringing maybe a half-sandwich from Subway or one of my bag salads in the fridge,” maybe a hardboiled egg to go with it if he was feeling nice.

But this went above and beyond the level of anything she could have asked for, especially since he brought it to her at work of all things.

“Thank you,” honestly she felt touched by the effort he put into it.

“Unfortunately Cameron didn’t leave for lunch and with how hot it is in there, I can’t recommend eating inside. But, if you don’t mind driving a couple of blocks, there is a small park with a covered picnic area.” She’d gone there on a few occasions recently now that the weather was warmer.

Amused by the mental image of Cameron getting decked, Mel chuckled, her eyes closed and shook her head knowing that it would be more trouble than what it was worth. Regardless of Cameron’s insistent advances that boarder lined harassment, it wasn’t worth the risk of Harvey getting in trouble or hit with assault charges on her behalf. Maintaining distance between them was undoubtedly the wisest course of action.

“I’m not too worried about being late by a couple of minutes,” or an hour even at this point. “I don’t mind eating here, though. Especially since you managed to find a perfect spot with shade. However, there might be a third option…” Her smile shifted into something a bit more mischievous. “We could run away, play hooky. Unless you have a meeting with a client later then we can just stay here” Mel added just in case he still had plans to get back to once he got home.

“But I can send Stacia a message and tell her I’m going to call out the rest of the day and maybe take you to my wonder instead” A place far away from here where nobody could disturb them and the theater would be out of sight and out of mind. Alternatively, Harvey was always welcome to join her this weekend for something of a more extended stay.

Either way, Melody was sure that nobody would miss her. That the performers and a few other people were gossiping about her attitude these last few hours. In her defense, however, heat exhaustion seemed to have the added effect of dissolving the barrier between thoughts and verbal comments especially when dealing with someone who was exceedingly irritating.

“What are your thoughts?” She could definitely be ok with postponing eating if it meant being able to run away with him.