Getting ready.

Melissa was home in her apartment when Vinny’s message came through. She had been brooding ever since leaving Langstone’s the night before. Part of her sullenness was that Vinny had not even bothered to reply to her when she had messaged him. She supposed it was for the best, trying to think of the bigger picture. She’d be better off not associating with his sort anymore anyway. She’d feigned a migraine at the office over lunch and had packed her things up to work from home the rest of the day. Instead, she sat in her apartment and stewed.

At the alert from her phone, Melissa checked the display as saw that Vinny had finally decided to reply back to her. Perhaps finally woken up from a bender at a bar or something equally as wastrel and roguish. Reading it, she couldn’t believe the nerve of this guy to just send her an address and expect her to show up in a swimsuit!

She wanted to text him back telling him to fuck off or just block him entirely. What she didn’t want to be doing is going to her clothing draws and start looking through her swimming costumes. And yet that was exactly what she did. Grumbling and cursing Vinny in general, Melissa sorted through the different pieces she owned. Most of them were respectable one-pieces. She didn’t like to show too much exposed flesh to strangers. One of the only two bikinis she owned was a nice black and gold one that she thought could do seeing as he had specified a bikini. The other was a white, high-cut, Brazilian-style thing she’d bought in Vegas after seeing the other girls there wearing them but never worked up to courage to wear to the pool. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Well, her shame would not remain thereafter she was gone if she’d worn that in public.

Melissa thought the address Vinny had sent her could be a sort of country club or private members type affair. She could embarrass Vinny by wearing something like the white swimsuit. Placing it in a large cabana bag, Melissa added oversized sunglasses, a wide brim had (all to hide her face, not her body) and a lovely patterned sarong. She quickly changed into a simple short black mini dress and flat sandals before dashing out of her apartment to hail a cab to Vinny’s rendezvous point.

After getting dropped off out of the front of address, Melissa grew worried at the scores of people milling together and heading inside. They didn’t look like the people she knew that went to country clubs. They looked horrible. Unwashed, unkempt, the atypical fight fan!

Frowning as she joined the queue entering, Melissa allowed herself to be guided to where an old man was sat at a table taking money and tickets. She didn’t know what to say to him but blurted out, “hello?”

“Hey, sweetheart. Door sales are 25 bucks if you ain't got a ticket.” It was Vinny’s former coach and current owner of the run down boxing gym turned sporting venue.

“No. I’m here to meet Vincent,” Melissa clarified.

The old, pension-aged man looked up at her properly for the first time. “Oh yeah! Vinny’s ring girl,” he said looking her up and down very openly. Then yelling, “hey VINNY!”

“What? His ring girl?” Melissa stammered, “Vincent’s expecting me to…”

The old owner misunderstood Melissa’s confusion. “Sure, he’s expecting you. Vinny told me to look out for you. Said there’d be an Oriental. A looker, but with a… faccia di puttana. That's you, yeah?”

Vinny had been working on top of a ladder inside the boxing ring when he heard his name shouted. Some of the floodlights had gone out and he was checking the connections of all the power points. Finding the loose circuit, Vinny tightened everything back up and then looked over to his old trainer. He was beyond relieved to see that Melissa had actually turned up. Vinny had been 99% sure she wouldn’t show but had promised his coach that she would just so the old Italian man wouldn’t complain endlessly at him for doing nothing about it at all. Jumping down he left an assistant that had been holding the ladder to put it away and went to greet Melissa.

“Vinny! What have you!” Melissa growled at him as soon as he got there but he kissed her the cheek and hugged her hello ignoring what she was saying.

“Mel! I’m so glad you made you. You look fantastic! I love your dress. Is your hair different from the wedding?” he layered on the compliments. “Now come, we’ve got to hurry. The show’s starting soon and you need to get changed.”

“Vinny. I…” she tried again but he’d led her by the arm through the filling crowd towards the locker rooms in the back.

On the way, he made one quick detour by the ring. “You’re going to need these,” he told Melissa as he reached under the canvass apron of the ring to put out the tall heels Carly had been wearing when she’d broken her ankle yesterday.

Melissa didn’t think she’d be able to even stand up in those things let alone walk.

Outback, Vinny poked his head around the door into the women change room and found it unoccupied. “Here. This one can be yours.”

Vinny held the door open for Melissa and then followed her inside. There’d never been a lot of females in the predominately all-male gym so the changeroom was on the small side. Not that Melissa would need much room. She wasn’t going to do it at all.

“Vinny I am NOT putting on a bikini for you and parading myself around in front of those people. It’s a barbaric sport and it’s degrading to women!” Melissa unleashed with a full head of steam.

Vinny flashed his dark brown eyes are her. “Please Melissa. I’m ****. The previous girl broke her ankle.”

“I’m not surprised. Have you seen these things?” Melissa vented, holding up Carly’s unfortunate footwear.

“She was helping an old lady cross the road…”

Melissa crossed her arms

“To pick up a puppy that was going to be run over…”

She glared at his outrageous lying.

“By a bus full of retarded kids.”

Melissa snorted and tried to hide a laugh. “You can’t say that!”

“Of course, I can. The kids were from Queens.”

Melissa breathed deeply, centering herself. Vinny gave it one last shot to take her into it.

Taking her by the arms. “Please Melissa. If you just tried them on I’m sure you would look so fucking sexy in them. You always do. That’s why I thought of you. It’s a huge favour, I know, and I would really appreciate it. I’ll do anything you want in return to pay you back. I’ll owe you one.”

What does Melissa decide?