Hogging The Elevator

Emery's heart raced when she stepped in. It was his first trip into the elevator in some time. She pushed five. He pushed six. She smiled. He smiled. The elevator began it's ascent.

Things were going swimmingly for the first three seconds of the ride. This was Emery's first social interaction in four days and he was digging the vibe. (That's how he was talking these days. He had been "digging vibes" and inviting people to "shindigs" all over the east side.) Liseli looked calm, happy to see him, and no longer interested in avoiding him. It was a blissful three seconds.

On second four, the elevator pulleys ground to a halt and his illusion that she was thrilled with his company was destroyed by her blood curdling scream.

It was 4:35pm. They were stuck between the third and fourth floors. Somebody from an upper floor was going to have to call the elevator from above them to get it unstuck. (That bizarre truth was one of the many things residents of 17 Greenwich no longer questioned, just performed with familiarity.)

Emery took a quick mental tally. Everybody who could have helped was at work and not likely to return for another four hours. This was the age of the downturn, after all. With each worker performing several jobs at once, leaving before 8pm was no longer a possibility. But this was all just playing into his master plan. Four hours of uninterrupted time with Liseli in a 3'x3' box. For once he was glad their elevator was uncomfortably small. He smiled, turned to her, and opened his mouth as if he was going to make a joke. He couldn't think of one, so he just said, "Hi."

"Hi."

"Stupid elevator, right?"

"Yup."

"Have you been good?"

"Um, sure. Yeah. Good."

She looked at Emery with concentration. He smiled again, this time a celebratory smile to himself. She leaned in. His fingers and toes tingled. This was it.

"Can you push the alarm? You're blocking the button panel."

He had forgotten about the alarm. The emergency people were always thinking of ways to ruin moments like this. Perfect moments when you finally have the chance to say what you've been thinking for years to somebody without fear that they will run away or, more likely in this case, just casually walk away and go back to avoiding you.

"Oh, right. The alarm. I'll get on that."

"Thanks."

He pushed it. This alarm was a hypocrite. It was un-saving him. It was actually ruining his life instead of protecting it.

It took a few anxious minutes, but finally Aggie from downstairs heard the alarm and, complaining the whole way about how they were ruining Lidia's nap, stomped her way to the fourth floor and pushed the button.

"You know the rest of us need to use the elevator too!" she said, as if they had been intentionally hogging it.

"We'll try to be more considerate next time," Emery chuckled. Finally he'd thought of a joke.

"I'd appreciate it," Aggie screeched as she stomped back down the stairs.

Emery turned to Liseli, hoping that they could at least share a laugh at Aggie's expense that, over time, would grow into a marriage. Dancer feet are sneaky, though. She was already up the stairs and out of sight.

There was only one thing to be sure of in the aftermath of this colossal failure at seduction. Liseli now knew he was unemployed.

Another four days went by before Emery hit the elevator again on his way home from a "shindig." Liseli, however, had apparently learned her lesson. He saw her ghost flying down the stairs as he made the slow ascent up, this time without stopping.