"What Have You Been Doing This Evening ?"

Debbi's stomach grumbled for lack of food as she left the club. The smell from the fast food burger joint was too much to resist and she thought one burger would not do much harm to her careful healthy eating diet. She had just paid and collected the bun when she heard someone calling. "Hey, Debbi !"

She turned to see a group of four young men seated at a table by the window, three of whom she recognized from one of their customers. She wasn't in any mood to interact but it would be rude to ignore them and not conducive to good customer relations. "Oh, hi. Fancy seeing you here" she returned the greeting. It was Charlie who had called over to her. "This is my mate Sam from our accounts department. He pays all those exorbitant bills your company sends us." Debbi nodded at Sam. "You know these two reprobates" Charlie laughed, indicating the engineers. "Oh yeah, hi, how's the network ?" Debbi asked. "Seems to all be running smooth now" one of the engineers grudgingly admitted.

"What you been doing ?" Debbi felt obliged to ask. "Oh, just winding down after a hard day at the coal face. Couple of pubs, couple of clubs" Charlie replied. Debbi felt her cheeks flush. Had his been the voice she thought she recognized in the club ? "How about you ? What have you been up to this evening ?" Charlie asked the obvious question. "Oh, just been to see a movie" Debbi improvised. "Yeah, what one ?" asked Sam. "Er, the latest Marvel blockbuster, forgot the name already" Debbi bluffed. There was always a Marvel blockbuster on somewhere she reasoned. "Any good ?" asked one of the engineers with a smirk. "Oh you know. The usual kind of thing. They're all the same after a while" Debbi continued to bluff. "Yeah, I guess. A bit like dancers in a strip joint" the other engineer said, to laughter from his colleagues.

Debbi's face burned. Damn this blushing, she thought. Why can't I control it ? She clasped her burger tightly. "Oh well, better get going. Work again tomorrow" she said, anxious to get out of there. "Sadly true" agreed Charlie. "Think what it must be like for people moonlighting at two jobs" he said pointedly. "Er, yeah" Debbi replied. "Well then, see you around." She hurried away. "Don't be a stranger" Charlie called after her and she could hear the others laughing.

Debbi cringed. She was certain that group must have been in the club and had recognized her in spite of the wig. The thought turned her stomach and she cursed the manager for introducing her as Debbi but consoled herself that it remained deniable if necessary and there would not be any photographs of her.

Back in the burger bar, the four young men took out their phones again. "Even prettier in person" said Sam. "But she was still a bitch" the engineers insisted unreasonably.