The Pharmacist
By A.J. Brown
Two stubborn people tussle over a vaccine dispute


**Note to my readers: I write Custom Stories for those who enjoy my work that
would like a personal story written for them. Please email me at
ajbrown2005@yahoo.com if you would like more information on my Custom
Stories**

On an afternoon when he would have rather been eating 75 cent wings with his
coworkers, Thad Baize walked into door with the 'OPEN' sign on it, into the
Vallier Pharmacy instead. He walked right by the 'PLEASE WAIT HERE' sign to
approach the nerdy looking brunette standing at the counter who looked to be
in her mid-twenties. She was looking down at some paperwork and then abruptly
looked up when he got closer.

"One moment, sir," she said and put her finger up. "Please wait behind the
sign."

She had a high voice and he didn't like the way she looked at him as if he
wasn't good enough to approach her without her permission. He might have been
unshaven with dirty fingernails and some dirt on his 'Grass Ninjas'
long-sleeved t-shirt but that didn't make this pretty young girl with the
glasses and the smooth skin any better than him. She dished out the drugs but
when she didn't want to take care of her lawn properly because she didn't want
to get her precious hands dirty, it was him and his coworkers that people like
her called.

He turned around to see an old lady sitting in one of the chairs, playing
around on her phone, and looking like she was having a hard time figuring it
out. He turned back around and watched the nerdy attendant still looking down.
If Grass Ninjas treated their customers like this they wouldn't be in business
anymore, but these healthcare people always thought they were above everyone
and never had any sense of customer service.

"OK sir, how may I help you?" she said with a sweet smile that almost made him
forget all of the not so nice things he had just been thinking about her.

"Got an appointment for the COVID vaccine," he said. "Thaddeus Baize."

"OK and what number shot is this going to be for you, sir?" she said,
irritating him again. He had told the person on the phone what dose it was
going to be and now that he was hearing her voice he was pretty sure it was
her he had spoken to.

"Four," he said, a bit impatiently.

"Do you have your ID with you?" He pulled his license out and handed it to
her. "Thank you, sir," she said, smiling, and handed it back to him. "If you
could just sign on the screen here, I'll go get the pharmacist for you now."

He did so, and she walked to her right, opened a door, and walked in. When she
came back out, she was followed by a thin woman of close to 6 feet tall, with
long blond hair that was very straight, looking to be a little over 40, with
the white pharmacist jacket on. The two of them talked to each other and the
pharmacist talked to her employee and walked straight ahead, also seeming to
be making a point not to look at Thad. The pharmacist kept walking and then
opened a door all of the way on Thad's right end of the desk and walked in
what looked to be a small room.

"You can go in that door and see her," the clerk said smiling at Thad again.

He walked to a door on his side of the desk and walked in. The pharmacist was
already sitting down with a needle ready.

"Hello!" she said and these women seemed to be much friendlier once you were
talking to them on their terms. "I'm Melissa. Can you confirm your name and
date of birth?"

"Thaddeus Baize," he said, a little annoyed, and then gave her his date of
birth.

"And are we doing your right arm or your left arm today?" She was friendly
enough where it was hard to dislike her.

"Left."

She smiled at him and he pulled his sleeve off of his arm enough to reveal his
shoulder. He tried to show some muscle as he did. Melissa looked a couple of
years older than him, if that, and sometimes these smart ones looked older
than they were. He didn't see a diamond on her left ring finger underneath the
latex glove, he supposed she easily could just not be wearing it when she was
wearing gloves and jabbing people all day, but it was something to pay
attention to nonetheless. When you were 39 and single you always had to have
your eyes open. She stuck the needle in his arm. The fucker hurt and he tried
not to show it, but he couldn't help but wince a bit.

"Doing alright?" she said.

"Yup."

"Alright," she said as she pulled out the needle disposed of it, took off and
threw away her gloves, and started to wash her hands. "You can have a seat out
in the waiting room. Check at the front desk with Johanna and she'll get me.
As long as you look OK you can leave then."

"I'll be passing on the fifteen minute thing," he said as he stood up. "I'll
be fine."

He started to walk out the door. Melissa kind of leaned towards him while
finishing up washing her hands looking like she was trying to get closer to
him without having to move away from the sink. "I'm sorry but it's not
optional. You have to stay."

He looked back to her, prepared to argue, but then decided there was no reason
to. He turned back around and walked back out to the main area where the old
lady was still sitting playing on her phone. She was clearly sticking around
for her 15 minutes. Thad supposed if he was 80 something years old like this
lady looked, he probably would too. But not now.

"You need to stay," Melissa said as she walked out the door, towards him, with
an urgent look on her face. "It's part of the treatment plan you signed when
you got here."

"She just told me to sign on the screen," he said, annoyed. "I didn't even see
anything it said."

"You still signed it and you still have to stay," she said with a bit of a
deep breath. She sounded angry and he was starting to get the impression that
this was the kind of woman that didn't like not being listened to.

"See ya," he said and he turned back around towards the exit. He could feel
her following him.

"Don't even take another step towards that door," she said, almost sounding
desperate. "I'll wrestle you to the ground if I have to."

On his way to turn around to face her again he saw the old lady was now
watching with interest and also saw the desk lady doing the same. He wasn't
walking away from anyone that was going to threaten him, especially in front
of the desk clerk that was kind of cute. He looked at Melissa who had a good
four inches on him but she was very skinny and Thad was still a lot thicker
than she was, him weighing a good 190. Plus, she was a woman.

"Go ahead and try that," he said in his coolest sounding voice he could.

He thought for sure he was calling her bluff and the most aggressive thing she
might do was maybe have the desk attendant lock the exit if she had one of
those buttons behind the desk that did that or call the cops. But Melissa
actually moved towards him. She reached out her arms and with how long the
tall woman's arms were she had him in a headlock before he knew it.

She pulled his head down into her hip with more aggression than he would have
thought she had in her. He felt her arm pushing into the side of his neck and
it felt a lot stronger than he would have expected from the thin long arm of a
woman. It was really starting to hurt his face as she held it into her hip.

He pulled hard on her arm and it felt like he was trying to pull a steel bar
off of him. He could feel his face getting red and the pain in his neck was
getting intense. He gasped as he pulled on her arm and although he was able to
move it a little bit, she still had a strong hold on him. He got his fingers
in more, pulling on her inner arm. It was starting to move a little but he
couldn't get it off, and she was still putting a lot of pressure on his neck.

The pain was making him feel anger as he thought about how he wasn't expecting
this attack and if he could just get free he was going to make her pay,
feeling no need to be a gentleman to a woman that attacked him. He pulled
harder on her arm, now grunting as he did, and finally felt her arm give as he
broke the headlock and pulled her arm away.

He pulled away from her but before he was able to stand up straight, she had
lunged at him, grabbed his arms, and held them behind his back. She pulled him
back closer to her as she pulled his arms closer together behind his back. He
tried to pull free but as skinny as they were, her long arms felt so strong.
He felt the pain in his upper arms as she squeezed them together more and he
felt helpless not being able to move his arms. He looked up and saw the old
lady directing her phone at him like she was taking pictures or even
recording.

"Put that phone down!" he yelled at her angrily.

He tried even harder to pull free thinking his adrenaline would allow him to,
but Melissa still had his arms securely despite his increased anger. Melissa
then spun their bodies around, taking him off balance, and threw him on the
hard floor face down. He felt her thin body getting on top of him to sit on
his ass and flat him while her arms continued to pull his arms closer, keeping
them locked, and causing them more pain. She had wrestled him to the ground,
just like she had said she would. He looked back up at the old lady who had
moved her phone down to make sure it was still focused on them. Her finger
wasn't moving like she was taking photos so she was either just randomly
holding her phone up or recording.

"Put the phone away!" he yelled at the old lady and the smile on her face as
she ignored him enraged him. "Tell her to put that phone away!" Melissa
ignored him. He did not like being ignored. "Tell that woman to put the phone
away!"

"I can't do that," Melissa said. "She has a right to have her phone out.
Johanna, please go put the closed sign up on the door and lock the front
door."

Thad lay there trapped underneath Melissa as the old lady freely recorded him
and the nerdy Johanna casually walked by them to do what her boss had ordered.
Thad helplessly struggled underneath Melissa, his arms completely immobilized
by her. He started moving his legs around trying to use them to prop himself
up but since he couldn't move his body above the waist, it wasn't
accomplishing much. Melissa still didn't seem to like that he was doing that
as she started to lie flat on top of him, still keeping his arms trapped. He
shook his legs more rapidly and felt her methodically wrapping her legs around
the outside of his. Her long legs felt strong, as they pushed his legs
together. She squeezed them closer until his legs were immobilized as well.

He felt her limbs keeping his trapped but he could tell she wasn't putting
much effort into it anymore. He tried to fight but he might as well have been
locked up in steel chains, she had him tied up so tightly. He wiggled around
some more barely able to move and wondered if he should keep fighting. He
could tell he wasn't going to be able to get out of this hold and pondered if
he was going to embarrass himself more if he fought back and couldn't or just
lay there like that.

He was glad they closed the store as at least this ultimate humiliation was
only being witnessed by an old lady and some nerdy girl. Even though Johanna
was kind of cute, she was just an employee and it wasn't the end of the world
that she saw this. Much better than some hot customer walking in. He didn't
care about the old lady and at her age he doubted she knew many people she
could share this with, if she was even recording correctly to being with.

Still, he did not like being trapped like this and he wanted to go out as soon
as he could. He wiggled a little more, trying his best not to do any grunting
and groaning but he couldn't help but do a little bit. He thought about
telling her to get off of him, though he knew she wouldn't, and didn't want to
give her the satisfaction. That was until more time passed and his patience
started to wear thin.

"Get off of me, now," he said in the most threatening, masculine voice he
could muster.

"I'll let you up after you've been here fifteen minutes," she said. "We still
have a little over ten left."

He felt some panic thinking about this woman, this tall woman, cocky, and
probably thinking she was so much smarter than him because she had whatever
degree she needed to become a pharmacist and he was just some landscaper
without a college education. He started to wiggle more, really putting effort
into it. For a brief second he felt like he might be able to get free but he
felt her tighten her limbs again and put a quick stop to that. He had wrestled
his buddies before and been pinned down but he had never had someone make him
unable to move at all. He thought about her long, straight blond hair, her
arrogant expression, and the white jacket she wore. He fought harder, still
with no luck.

He pushed his face into the hard epoxy floor trying to push himself up that
way but it only hurt his nose. The rest of his body was being flattened by
hers and moving it wasn't an option so he kept pushing his face into the
floor, enduring the pain, until it was too much and he had to stop. He felt
his watery eyes thinking how she had caused them to get like that. He needed
to get her off of him but he didn't know how he could and it was driving him
nuts.

He felt her starting to get up and he frantically started to struggle but she
still had his arms locked up. She started to sit up and as she started to sit
on his lower back she let go of his arms. He quickly tried to pull them
forward but he felt her hands grab a hold of his wrists and tighten. He
grunted as he tried his best to pull his hands free but he could feel the pain
on his skin from the feminine hands of this woman who was older than him
squeezing his wrists tightly.

He lay trapped underneath with her sitting on him and holding his arms. She
kicked her legs forward and set her feet down up by the corners of the top of
his head. He watched her use just her feet to kick off the black flats she was
wearing and kick them out of sight. She rested her feet with the black nylons
on them with pants that covered her legs past her ankles and up right on the
sides of his head.

He looked to his left and her nylon covered foot was far too close to his face
for his comfort. He turned his head to the right only to see the same
situation with her right foot. He could see the peach color of her skin
underneath the black nylon since it was stretching out a bit.

She slid her foot up against his face so it was squishing his nose a bit. He
felt the texture of her nylon and could smell the smell of a foot of a woman
that had definitely been on her feet all day. Resenting that she chose to do
this to him, he tried to turn his head in the other direction but it was hard
to move his head with her sitting on him, grabbing his arms, and pushing her
foot against his face.

He struggled and grunted as he finally managed to move his face so his face
was against the floor again. He worked harder to turn it to the left and saw
that she had turned her left foot so the bottom of it was looking at him and
waiting for him. He could see some of the wrinkles and other details of her
foot through the stretched out nylon, right before she pushed it up against
his face.

Now furious, he tried to turn his head back so he was face down but he felt
her push her right foot against the back of his head, keeping him from moving
it. He grunted again and tried to wiggle his whole body but she had his head
trapped with her feet, his arms trapped with her hands, and her bony ass
sitting on his lower back made it so he couldn't move anything else
significantly.

He could feel her nylon pressed up against his face, feeling the texture of
her foot underneath it, and now inhaling that feet and nylon smell with every
breath that he took. He couldn't see her but he thought about that old lady
and her phone. She was old. She wouldn't show anyone that mattered. She
probably wasn't even recording it correctly. He had to believe that.

Would this bitch move her foot already? Who did she think she was holding him
down like this? And she thought she could just put her foot on his face? She
couldn't just do that. But she was doing it even though she shouldn't be and
the fact that nothing was stopping that was what made it so much worse. He
tried again to pull his arms away with no luck. He was stuck under her with
her foot on his face.

He just lay there and from the corner of his eye it looked like she had gotten
her phone out and was playing around on it. He didn't get the feeling that she
was taking pictures since she had a look on her face like she was
concentrating on the screen and not what was behind it. It still added to his
humiliation that she was able to multitask while holding him like that.

Time passed and even though it had seemed like it had been much more than 10
minutes since she had announced that amount of time left, he knew that time
would be going slow in this situation. He wondered if she was even going to
let him up after the 15 minutes or just keep him here because she could. That
made him begin to panic. He started to shake his face around and managed to do
so enough where he slid the center of his face up and her foot was pushing
against his cheek.

"How much time's left?" he asked, trying to sound scary to disguise the fact
that he was basically asking when she was going to allow him to get up.

"Oh sorry," she said, actually sounding genuine and she pulled her feet away
from his face. "It's been 15 minutes. You can go now."

He felt the pressure of her bony butt pushing his lower back down release as
she got up. He pushed on the floor and as he began standing up he looked at
Johanna looking at him and the lady with the phone still smiling and aiming it
at him like she didn't want to miss anything. He felt like he was standing up
for the humiliating part after losing a fight which he realized was exactly
what was happening. No one said anything as he made his way to the exit but he
just got that vibe that Melissa was proud of what she had done but wasn't
going to brag and the other two were pitying him a bit, but mostly laughing at
him on the inside, two things he didn't want them doing.

**

The evening news showed on the flat screen TV that was on the wall but Thad
wasn't worried about that and he grabbed a Bud out of the fridge. It sounded
so good when he cracked the can open as he took a big gulp. He took a seat at
the table and belched as Troy dealt him in.

"Holy shit, Thad, is that you on the TV?" Bruce said.

Thad looked up immediately thinking this had to be a nightmare as reality
never felt this awful.

"According to Melissa Wright, the owner of Vallier Pharmacy, the customer
refused to stay the required fifteen minutes after receiving his COVID
vaccine. That was when Wright decided to take things into her own hands."

"Holy shit!" Troy said.

Thad saw just how pathetic he looked desperately trying to free himself from
the headlock as Melissa stood there, holding him in it, looking like it wasn't
taking much effort to keep him in it. He watched himself break out of it and
saw how teary his eyes looked, how red his face was, and just the look on his
face of a defeated man. He was actually rooting for himself even though he
knew the outcome and was angry watching her trap his arms behind his back as
if he was just learning for the first time that was what happened.

"I politely asked him to sit in our waiting room for fifteen minutes like I
ask everyone who gets a COVID shot here," Melissa said to the reporter and
Thad was just relieved that Melissa kicking his ass was no longer on the
screen. "It's for their own safety. This was the first time I've ever had an
issue with this."

"Alright, why the fuck are we watching the news??" Thad said. "Put on ESPN or
turn this off. I want to play cards." He reached towards Bruce whose eyes were
glued to the screen and tried to grab the remote, but Bruce held it away from
him without looking away from the screen.

"Hold on," Bruce said with great interest. "There's more."

"Put the phone away!" TV screen Thad yelled directly at the screen.

The screen then cut out and then cut to Melissa sitting on him looking
comfortable with her feet in his face. "Ohhh, shit!" Bruce yelled and the
other guys made noises of excitement as well. Why were they showing this? It
wasn't relevant to what happened. He so wanted to just grab the remote from
Bruce and turn this off but figured the more upset he looked about this the
worse it would be for him.

"Vallier Pharmacy refused to reveal the name of the customer for
confidentiality reasons," the reporter said as the screen cut to a big picture
of Thad's Facebook profile picture that was taking up the entire 43 inch
screen. "But we have been able to identify him as Thaddeus Baize."

"Cute smile!" Greg said and the other guys laughed.

"Were you smiling like that when she had her feet in your face?" Bruce asked.

"Are you worried that Thaddeus Baize could try and sue you?" the reporter
asked and Thad was once again glad to have his face off of the screen,
although seeing Melissa's face was making him remember the event more than he
wanted to. "For holding him down like that?"

"Honestly, it didn't even occur to me at the time. All I was thinking about
was his safety. The kind of lawsuit I could have faced if he had left my store
and had a bad reaction to the shot worries me a lot more than anything I could
be facing from trying to keep him safe. So I guess if that happens, I'll deal
with it."

"Alright, can we turn off the fucking news so we can play cards?" Thad said.

"Beat up by a chick, dude," Greg said. "How does that feel?"

"I didn't get beat up!" Thad snapped back. He hadn't looked at it that way and
he didn't want anyone else to. "She totally jumped on me from behind, I wasn't
even ready for it."

"Couldn't get a chick off of you?" Troy laughed.

"My arm was hurting from that shot, so yeah, it's a little hard to pull
someone off of you that totally sneak attacks you, even if it is a chick. You
weren't even there so why don't you shut the hell up?"

"Nope, check right here," Bruce said and as he started rewinding it, Thad
hated society for getting to the point where DVR was so common that it even
functioned on some cheap cable package that a small landscaping company had in
their break room. Bruce stopped it right before he broke out of the headlock
and hit play again. Thad wanted to break the screen. "See you're free right
there. Could have done something about it right then but even though you knew
she was there, she still got you and took you down. Sorry dude, but she beat
you fair and square."

"Fuck that, she's also like six feet tall," Thad said.

"Yeah, she's bigger than you," Greg said. "If she beat you up and all you can
say is that she's bigger than you, than she beat you fair and square."

"And I just had a damn shot, and she sneak-attacked me!" Thad said and he
finally saw his chance to grab the remote from Bruce, did so, and turned the
TV off, really hoping that erased any possibility of them pulling that back up
on the screen again.

"You gonna sue her like that reporter asked?" Bruce said with a curious smile.
"Sue that chick for beating you up?"

"No, don't do that," Troy said. "He'd just make an ass of himself. It will
drag on and even more people will know about it. He'd lose anyway, everyone's
always gonna side with the medical chick over a dude that does landscaping,
that's just how society is."

"I'm not gonna sue her, I'm just gonna kick her ass if I ever see her again."

Bruce laughed. "Just gonna walk right up and beat up a woman?"

"Fuck yeah," Thad said. "Beating up a woman is no worse than sneak attacking
someone that just got a shot and beat ... sneak attacking them."

"I'll give you that," Bruce said. "You just goin' to show right up at her work
and beat her up?"

"If I do that, she'd just call the cops on me," Thad said, nervous about the
idea, and not because of the possibility of the cops being called. He suddenly
remembered all too well what it felt like being held on the floor against his
will. "She better just hope I don't see her off that pharmacy property, that's
all I'm saying. I'm not holding back if I do."

He picked his beer up off of the table that he had been neglecting that was
almost full. He was never much of a chugger but he started chugging and was
surprised at how easily it was going down. He had backed away from chugging
contests before but now he realized he was good at it. He was tough. He
finished the whole thing, looked at his coworkers looking at him, and he
crushed the can in his hand the best he could, trying to keep a tough guy look
on his face. The guys said nothing and he thought he had shut them up as he
went to throw the crushed can in the garbage.

**

Thad normally used his laptop and not his phone when he was at home so it
looked nice and big when he opened up his Facebook and saw he had 15 messages,
compared to the zero he normally had. He looked at his photo in the top corner
and thought how he was going to have to change that immediately, or at least
right after he saw what all of the messages were. When he clicked the red
little square he saw that most of the messages were message requests from
people he wasn't friends with.

"That woman sure taught you to stay around after your COVID shot," read the
first message from a fat chick with a colorful Pride background to her profile
picture. "When will you republitards learn that you have to be respectful?"

"Tell me how much this hurt," another message read from some dorky looking
mother fucker that had screenshot a picture of Melissa locking his arms behind
his back with his red face and teary eyes looking right at the camera. It was
about as humiliating a shot as the guy could have captured.

He scanned through some of the other messages from strangers, not actually
reading them, but able to see that they were all mocking him. He clicked on
his notifications to see that Ella Freeman had posted on his timeline, Ella
Freeman, the antagonizing liberal that he was only friends with because they
knew each other back in high school and he didn't want to be mean and reject
her request, even though based on the fact that she had over 3000 friends, he
was pretty sure she just friend requested everyone she had ever spoken to. He
didn't know if he could get 3000 friends even if he did just request everyone
he ever knew.

"Finally learned your place at the bottom of a woman's feet, huh Thad? LMAO!!"
read the caption right above the picture that seemed enormous zoomed in with
Melissa's stockinged foot right in Thad's face, zoomed in so close that he
could see the details of her stocking as close as he could when it was
actually in his face.

No one had commented on it or reacted with an emoji but he still felt his
teeth clench together so hard thinking about that loud mouth piece of shit
Ella that he felt like he was going to crack all of his teeth. First he
clicked the little arrow in the top right of the photo and deleted it. He then
frantically went to his friends list and blocked Ella Freeman. He thought
about her laughing with satisfaction when she saw she was blocked knowing that
she had gotten under his skin, but it still had to be done.

Once that was done, he went to go change his profile picture. No, that wasn't
going to be enough. He had seen other people always making their accounts
super private, had always wondered why, but now he was going to have to do the
same. But that seemed like too much work. He went and selected the option to
delete his account. It asked if he wanted to deactivate it or permanently
delete it. He had a lot of memories saved on there, a lot of photos from his
partying days, and still from when he dated Stephanie Vitolins for years even
though they weren't even friends on here anymore. He didn't have to think very
hard before he chose the option to permanently delete.

**

"I have some really good news for you," Troy said as he walked in the break
room where Thad was enjoying a large roast beef sandwich from Jeb's,
overloaded with horse radish mayo, the rest of the guys in there as well.

"Nice," Thad said, thinking how he could use some good news.

"I found out where you can find that pharmacist outside of the pharmacy."

When Thad heard 'really good news', he had been thinking maybe Troy overheard
he'd be getting a raise or maybe they were all getting some extra holiday time
off this year. It had been a week and a half since his incident at the
pharmacy and he had finally started to forget about it. This wasn't the kind
of 'good news' he wanted.

"What'd you get her address or something? I can't show up at her house any
more than I can the pharmacy."

"Nope. I was at The Curious Ice Pub on Friday with Beale. Looked across the
bar and I thought I recognized that chick's face right away. Thought maybe I
was just imagining things but I hadn't even thought about it when I walked in
that that bar's right across the street from that pharmacy. And when I saw her
stand up to go to the bathroom, that chick was definitely six foot and you
don't see them too often, and definitely not with long straight blond hair
like that. So I knew it was her."

"Well you should have fucking called me Friday and I would have been over
there in a second. But that doesn't do me a whole lot of good now. You see her
out there again, definitely text me."

"Well the news keeps getting better. Beale and I were tying one on, we were
there for a while. She and her friend were gone by seven. Bartender was some
cute chick who was being awfully friendly with us, I think she might have been
into Beale. Anyway, I sweet talked her a bit. Asked her if the tall blonde
came in there a lot. She told me she's been working there for seven months and
literally every Friday she's there with her friend a little bit after five and
always sits in the same seat right until happy hour ends, and she's out of
there a little after seven. Even got the bartender to confirm she works across
the street at that pharmacy. So you waned your chance, you got it now."

"Group happy hour at the Ice Pub on Friday!" Bruce said eagerly.

Thad didn't look so eager. "We can't fucking all show up there, she's going to
think we're trying to jump her or some shit. She'll run or call the cops
immediately. I'll go over there by myself and take care of it."

"Someone looks a little nervous," Bruce said, tauntingly.

"Fuck that ... " and Thad was going to say more before Troy cut him off.

"I'll go with you. You need to have this recorded so the next time someone
gives you shit about it, you'll have video showing that you beat her when the
fight was fair. She'll be more weirded out if you're there by yourself, she's
gonna think you're stalking her or some shit. We'll just casually go the way
me and Beale did. Around seven when she leaves, we'll leave too, once you're
both outside, you challenge her and say you want a rematch. Even if she backs
down, you got that recorded at least and you don't look like a pussy anymore."

**

When they walked into The Curious Ice Pub about 15 minutes before 6 p.m., Thad
initially thought he saw Melissa immediately, thought that he was mistaken and
that it wasn't her, but then looked closer and realized it was. She wore a
blue tank-top that showed off her long, thin arms and not being in the white
jacket threw him off but he couldn't confuse that face, the face of the woman
who had completely overpowered him, made him stay in the pharmacy against his
will, and up to this point had shown that she was the alpha over him. Seeing
her face brought back all of those strong emotions. He quickly looked away,
partly because he wanted to stop thinking about her for the moment but also
because he didn't want her to catch him looking at her.

"I know what you want," the bartender said to Troy when they had a seat at the
other side of the bar. She was a cute girl, had to be the same one that Troy
had spoken about from the last time he was here. "And for you?" she said to
Thad with a smile.

"A Budweiser bottle and a shot of Black Haus." The bartender smiled and walked
away.

"Don't get too crazy now," Troy said, amused. "You already used the excuse
that you had the shot and that you weren't ready for her attack. You try
saying you were too drunk, that's not gonna work."

The bartender handed Thad his bottle and he watched her hand Troy a bottle of
something that he didn't recognize. He watched her pour him his shot of Black
Haus, not stopping until the liquid was right at the top of the glass. He
picked it up, being very careful not to let any of it spill out, and then put
the shot down his throat. Black Haus often made him feel like he was going to
vomit but the burn this time felt great.

"Just having this and my beer," he said to Troy calmly, and he thought that he
sounded cool. "Just need something to chill me out a little so I don't go over
there and just slam her on the floor right now."

"OK," Troy said and he laughed.

Thad was already drinking his beer and now he was keeping his eyes on Melissa.
The angle he was at allowed him to see the face of who she was with - it was
Johanna. Melissa, the cocky bitch, seemed into her conversation, not paying
attention to anything that was going on around her, so he wasn't worried
anymore about her noticing him. She was a typical one of those chicks, so
absorbed in her own self, that she doesn't pay any attention to any of the
people around her. He took another big swig from his bottle. He wondered why
chicks like that even went out if they were just going to pay attention to the
person they were with. She was wearing that skimpy tank-top showing plenty of
skin so she obviously wanted to be noticed. He looked at her fairly flat
chest, and then her biceps that were well-defined considering how skinny her
arms were.

He kept drinking his beer, now staring her down, as she sipped whatever drink
she had in a fancy looking glass. He felt how light his bottle felt, took
another big swig, and realized it was empty. He swayed the bottom of it back
and forth just to be sure. He did want to be even close to drunk but a Bud and
a shot all within 10 minutes was just enough to give him the courage he
needed. He slammed the bottle down on the bar.

"I'm going over there," he said and he stood up.

"Go get her," Troy said, amused.

"Oh, you were asking for him?" the bartender asked.

"Yeah, something like that," Troy said.

Thad walked towards Melissa with his chest out as she just kept talking to her
employee. He pulled up a stool so it made a triangle with the two stools of
the women, sat down in it, and started staring Melissa down. Even with him
doing that just a few feet away from her, she just kept talking to Johanna
like he wasn't there. He really didn't want to have to say anything but he
could only stare someone down that wasn't paying attention to him for so long.
Finally, she took a sip of her drink and looked at him.

"Um yeah, no thanks," she said to him. "But you have fun tonight OK?" She
quickly looked back at Johanna.

"Oh really?" he said, not taking his eyes off of her. She initially tried to
ignore him but it looked like he had gotten under her skin and she looked back
at him.

"Do you have a problem?" she said.

"Oh, do you know who that is?" Johanna said, softly, be kind of eagerly.
"That's the guy. The news one."

Melissa still had a look on her face like she didn't know what Johanna meant
and he could feel himself really getting aggravated. "Oh yeah, it is you. What
do you want?"

"I want a rematch."

Melissa had been holding her glass the entire time but she set it on the bar.
"You've got to be kidding. My younger sister puts up a better fight than you
did when I wrestle her. I'll whoop your ass any day of the week."

"Then let's step outside and we'll see if you can do it now," he said, now
feeling more confident as he was getting the feeling she didn't want to do it.

"Melissa, just ignore him," Johanna said, and Thad thought she looked nervous.
"You don't need to waste your time with this guy."

"No, if he really wants a rematch, I'll give it to him." Melissa had been
drinking from a thin straw but she took a big drink directly from her glass.
"You want to step outside and do this right now? You almost got me in a lot of
trouble so I have no problem beating your ass again." He watched her put back
the rest of her drink and was glad he had the Black Haus in him because her
confidence was starting to make him nervous. She put up her hand to signal for
the bartender to come over. "I'll close out my tab please."

"Early night?" the bartender said.

"Yeah, well I have some unexpected business that I need to tend to."

The bartender winked at Thad as she processed the card and Melissa filled out
the receipt. Melissa picked up a thin button-up sweater that she had sitting
on the chair and handed it to Johanna. "I'll need you to hold this," Melissa
said and Thad didn't like the way she was bossing her around off the clock.

Melissa stood up and when Thad stood up he noticed that she looked even taller
than she had remembered. He looked down the black pants that she had on and
saw that she was wearing a black pair of high heel boots. Melissa did not look
at Thad as she started walking towards the exit. Thad and Johanna followed and
when Troy joined their group, Melissa didn't seem to notice.

Now that daylight savings time was over it was dark when they walked out into
the parking lot a little after 6 pm. It couldn't have been much more than 40
degrees outside and Thad was a little chilly just wearing jeans and a
long-sleeved t-shirt but Melissa didn't look bothered by it. Melissa kept
walking and Thad wondered how far away from the building she was going to go.

"We gonna do this or what?" he said.

"Not in the parking lot," Melissa said. "You already almost got me in trouble
once. I don't need someone else coming over and putting another video on the
news of me beating you up. If we go way up this trail, there's a clearing up
in the woods. No cameras, no bouncers, no cops."

Melissa didn't look at him as she made her way towards the trail. Johanna just
followed her along eagerly. Thad looked at Troy who just shrugged. There was
no turning back. Thad started following the girls who were not a decent
distance ahead of him. They walked down the dark trail. This was definitely
going to be a real fight that wasn't going to get broken up. They walked for a
little over 5 minutes before coming up on the clearing that Melissa was
talking about. She turned around to face Thad and started taking off her
boots.

"I'll need you to take these too," she said as she threw the first boot she
took off on the ground next to Johanna. "I wouldn't have worn these if I knew
I was going to fight." She threw the other boot on the ground next to Johanna.
She then started taking off her black socks. She rolled them in a ball and
threw them at Johanna who caught them and made an amused, grossed-out look.

"No socks either?" Johanna said.

"I don't want them to get all nasty on the ground." Thad looked down at
Melissa's long, probably size 10, pale, bare feet with no nail polish on that
looked like they already had a bit of grass and dirt stuck to the sides of
them. "Alright, you ready?" Melissa said to Thad. She raised her fists in a
boxing position.

"We're not punching here," Thad said.

"You challenged me to a fight. I didn't punch you at my pharmacy because I was
working and I was just trying to keep you from leaving. But if you want to
fight, we're going to fight."

"Not really fair when I can't hit a girl," Thad said, feeling a bit nervous as
he looked at her fists that were up and she looked ready to use.

"I'm agreeing to fight, so you can hit me. Everyone already saw me beat you in
wrestling so no one's going to say anything if you hit me. No one's going to
see this anyway. Johanna, do you care if he hits me?"

"You already said you don't care so, no."

"What about you?" Melissa asked Troy.

"Nope, he's been talking about how he's going to get you back so he's gotta do
what he's gotta do."

"Alright, we're good, now let's get this over with," Melissa said.

Thad raised his fists and looked at Melissa's long arms guarding her face.
This was definitely as real of a fight as it could be, way out in the woods in
the dark, two people that wanted to hurt each other, with no authority figures
around that could intervene. Melissa started to move around a bit and Thad did
the same.

Thad watched Melissa's arm come swinging at his face and it was too long for
him to stop. Her fist hit the side of his face. It had been a long time since
he had been punched in the face and he did not like the panful feeling in his
teeth and cheek. Melissa's other fist was already coming in and it hit the
other side of his face.

He swung back at her face but didn't have the reach that she did and she moved
out of the way of it. Her fist came back and hit him underneath the eye, right
on the bone. He swung back but those long arms of hers were tough to get by
and she blocked it, the feeling of colliding with her skinny forearm causing
him more pain.

He saw her fist coming straight at his nose, far too fast for him to get a
block up, and he felt her fist crush his nose as his eyes watered up, seeing
the look on her face like she was taking this seriously, through the tears in
his eyes, once she pulled her fist back. She followed that up with a few
punches in a row that all came in too fast for him to defend against and he
got hit with 5 punches within a matter of seconds.

He stood there, his arms wobbling around not properly guarding his face, and
he was completely flustered after absorbing all of those punches. When Melissa
moved in on him, he was too slow and thrown off to defend against her. She put
him in a headlock and yanked his head into her hip. As he pulled on her
strong, thin right arm trying to pull it off of him, she punched him in the
face with her left hand.

He tried harder to pull free from the headlock but her arm was too strong and
while he was fighting the headlock, she kept punching his face. She had a
feminine fist but getting punched by it over and over was really starting to
hurt. He tried harder to pull free from the headlock but every punch he took
to the face weakened him and he didn't have a chance of getting out of it.

After taking a few more punches, a couple that hit the top of his head, he
knew he had to change his plan. He pulled at her leg and even though it was
thin, it also felt strong and pulling it out from under her wasn't working.
Melissa then surprised him with her aggression as she roughly threw him in the
grass so he landed on his back.

He looked at the thin woman with the long blond hair getting down to sit on
him. He put up his hands and legs in a desperate, pathetic attempt to try and
keep her away but she pushed right through his arms and sat on his chest. He
felt her bony ass pushing into his chest as her thin legs closed in around his
ribs to make sure he stayed trapped.

He looked up at the blond-haired woman looking down at him as she pinned him
down. She wound her fist back and even though he saw it coming, he wasn't able
to block from his position, and her fist went right by his hands, punching him
in the face. She then used her left hand to grab his left wrist and pull it
out of the way so she had a cleaner shot for her next punch which hurt more.

He lay there underneath her, the weight of her skinny butt and legs making him
know he wouldn't be able to get her off of him, and all he could do was keep
his hands up and try and block. She continued to find openings and he started
to cry a bit, partly from the pain but also from the frustration that no
matter what he tried, he was unable to stop her.

After taking another punch, he heard the noise of himself starting to cry for
real and he put both of his hands right over his face to try and block it but
also to try and hide the fact that he was crying. He felt Melissa's bony hand
grab his wrist tightly and try and pull it off his face. He fought so hard to
try and not let her and was actually able to put up some resistance. But she
kept pulling and ultimately she won out, pulling his hand away from his face
and exposing half of it. He was about to try and use his one hand to cover his
whole face, but before he could, Melissa punched him in the eye hard enough
where he thought for sure he was going to have a black eye soon enough.

He put his hand over both of his eyes and she punched him in the mouth. She
still held his other arm tightly and he kept trying to pull it free but her
grip was too strong. All the while she kept punching him, in the mouth, then
on the top of the head, and then in the ear. He started sobbing, so frustrated
that she was able to hurt him like this and there was nothing he could do
about it.

"Alright, why don't you get off of him?" Troy said. He pulled Melissa's arm.
She jumped to her feet but put her bare foot on Thad's chest and pushed it
into it. That lay there feeling the force of her bare foot pushing into his
chest and not daring to move.

"You want to be next??" Melissa said, now sounding fired up and having no fear
about taking Troy on. "Get out of here or you'll be on the ground crying right
next to your friend here."

Troy didn't strike Thad as a guy that was going to have any fear of a woman,
even if she did beat up one of his friends, and he listened for his response.
All he heard was the shuffling of feet. Still lying down, he turned his head
in Troy's direction and saw him running away.

"Are you kidding me??" Thad yelled with fear in his voice. "You're just gonna
ditch me here??"

"Sorry dude!" Troy yelled back. "I'm not going to have a girl take us both at
the same time."

There were so many things Thad wanted to yell right then but Troy was out of
sight into the darkness soon after that and Thad couldn't exactly yell at Troy
about what he was when he was still lying there sobbing underneath the foot of
the woman who had just beaten him up. He could feel his heart racing and he
thought about how bad he was going to lay into Troy about this. Yeah, maybe
Thad had gotten beaten up by a girl but at least he had the guts to face her
as opposed to going and running away from her. That was the ultimate bitch
move. Thad thought more and more about how much of a pussy Troy was for doing
that, all trying to mask his fear about the situation he was in. But as
Melissa started to sit down and she sat her bony butt back down on his chest,
he had no choice but to think about her again.

"That's a great friend you have there," Melissa said with a tone so mean that
it stung. "Leaving you all alone here. Now you don't have any witnesses. You
know how bad that news story is going to be for my business, you dolt?"

His face was wide open and she punched him hard in the nose. He felt it clear
out and couldn't tell if he felt blood coming out of it. He felt his eyes
water up.

"I'm sorry," he said, sobbing as he spoke. "I'm sorry, OK?"

"Johanna, give me your phone," Melissa said as she looked up at her and made a
grabbing motion.

"Why?"

"Just give me it."

Thad watched Johanna hand her own phone over actually feeling bad for her at
that moment thinking how much it would suck to have to work for someone who
was so controlling. He watched Melissa start typing something into the phone.

"Here, go down to the pharmacy and get me this," Melissa said and she handed
Johanna the phone back.

Johanna looked at her screen with a look of concern. "You want me to get,
this?"

"Yup," Melissa said with a stern impatience.

"Melissa ... "

"Just go get it! And hurry up."

Thad was briefly able to see Johanna take off in a hurry before she was out of
sight but he saw Melissa with her eyes on her, making sure she was doing what
she wanted. When she looked like she was satisfied, she pulled out her own
phone briefly, looked at it, then put it in her pocket. She then looked down,
grabbed the sides of Thad's long-sleeved t-shirt, and started pulling it off.
He resisted at first but as she increased her efforts, he knew he wasn't going
to win, and he allowed her to do it. She threw his shirt aside.

"Are you gonna rape me?" he blurted out and she laughed.

"Um, don't flatter yourself."

He felt the cold air hitting the skin of his upper body and as he looked up at
the dark sky as he remained pinned underneath Melissa with no one else around,
it started sinking in more what a bad situation he was in. He felt panic in
his body that turned to terror. He thought about how much he hated Melissa for
doing this to him but mainly how mad he was at himself for allowing himself to
get in this situation. Why couldn't he have just stayed the 15 minutes? He
wouldn't be here now, he wouldn't have been on the news, none of it.

He heard Johanna coming back already. People always said that time flies when
you're having fun but he thought about how time normally flew even more when
something unwanted was upcoming.

"Here you go," Johanna said. Thad hadn't thought that the level of fear he
felt could have gotten any worse but it did when he watched Johanna hand
Melissa a hypodermic needle.

"What is that??" he said demandingly but he couldn't mask his fear.

"I don't know," she said as she held it up, looked at it curiously, and
flicked the end of it. "Maybe it's heroin. Maybe it's AIDS. Maybe it's
something what will kill you instantly. Or maybe it's just full of water.
You'll find out soon."

"Y-you get mad at me for messing up your business," he said, feeling his heart
racing. "You stick any kind of substance in me, you're going to lose your
business when you go to jail. You kill me and you'll go to jail for life.

"No, I don't think so," she said and the calmness she spoke with as she
flicked the needle again made him feel like he had some crazy mad scientist
sitting on him while holding a needle. He shook his body but her legs were
just too strong for him. "Your friend's gone. Only one witness here and she's
going to go along with whatever I say." Thad knew too well that was true.
"Some loser landscaper overdosing on heroin, getting AIDS because you just
wanted to get laid so bad you didn't wrap it up, or just committing quick
suicide with potassium chloride, would be much easier for everyone to believe
than a reputable pharmacist pinning you down and giving you any one of those
things."

She began moving the needle towards him arm. "HELP!" he screamed at the top of
his lungs and as he heard his voice carrying through the clear night sky he
hoped it was reaching someone. "SOMEONE HELP ME!" He prepared to yell again
thinking that she was going to cover his mouth at any second but seeing how
calm she looked while remaining focused on the needle distracted him. She was
looking at it with great interest and it gave him that cool tingly feeling he
got sometimes, which he found extremely odd to be feeling at that moment.

"It's so satisfying making a man scream," she said. "I promise you that no one
is going to hear you from out here so you go right ahead and keep doing it all
you want."

He considered doing so, thinking there was no downside, but as he saw the
needle coming closer to his upper arm he felt so afraid that his throat felt
paralyzed. He was about to beg her one last time but then he felt the needle
go into his arm. Whatever he felt going into his arm via the needle, he knew
immediately that it wasn't water.

**Email ajbrown2005@yahoo.com if you would like more information on my Custom
Stories**