Here I was, waiting for the elevator, again. That's the problem with working on the tenth floor, I thought. I pushed the down arrow, again. Yeah, that always helps. There should be more than two elevators in this big building. I wish I hadn't needed to come in on a Saturday, especially a gorgeous beach day like this. Just another slave to the dollar, but this slave was making her escape!
I had finished up my work fairly quickly without the usual workday distractions. My beach bag was over my shoulder, I hadn't wanted to leave anything sitting in the car in the nearly deserted parking lot. Just my luck, someone would break a window for the bag, just to find my swimsuit and beach blanket. I judged that I still might be able to spend a couple hours soaking up the sun...if this elevator EVER came.
Startled momentarily by the sound of footsteps behind me, I turned to see who else had been stuck working today.
"Hey Tom. Catching up on some work?"
I'd had my eye on Tom since he started at the office three months ago. From the moment I saw him, I hoped he would ask me out. He's gorgeous, tall (okay, almost everyone is tall to me, but he was a good head taller than my 5'2"), sandy blond hair (cut short, yet fashionable), crystal-blue eyes that you could just sink into and a fit, tanned body if his nicely-muscled arms were any guide. His sense of humor meshed well with my own and he wasn't all caught up in his own ego like most men in their mid-twenties. We'd had intelligent and thoughtful conversations in the break room. I learned that he had broken up with his long-time girlfriend recently (they'd grown apart) and didn't want to rush into another relationship. I swear I'd nearly blurted out, "What about just sex?" Of course, I wanted more than that, but sex was pretty high up in my thoughts considering how long it'd been since I'd last had any. Instead, I'd told him that waiting was probably best. Still, when I bent over at the water fountain, holding my long hair back, I could feel his eyes tracing my curves. Nobody could prove I sometimes waited to get water until he was headed that way, right?
"Yes, Jen," Tom replied, breaking me from my reverie. "Following the never-ending paper trail I'm afraid."
"These darn elevators are taking forever," I smiled back at him, pushing at the down button again. "I want to get to the beach while there's still daylight."
Bing.
"Your chariot awaits, m'lady."
We moved into the elevator, exchanging small talk as the floor numbers clicked down. A grinding sound and an abrupt stop almost caused me to fall. Only Tom's hand on my arm kept me upright.
"Tom..."
"Yes, Jen?"
"Tell me the elevator didn't just stop."
"Jen, the elevator didn't just stop."
I glanced around in disbelief at the unmoving car and then gazed at Tom.
"Do you always do what people tell you? Exactly?"
"Just you," he said with a small smile.
"Funny, but I would appreciate it more at the beach with a drink than stuck in this piece of junk elevator."
"Oooh, an invitation? Let's see, there should be an emergency button or something around here."
Tom examined the panel and pulled open a little door set in it, revealing a telephone.
"Even better, I hope," he said.
"If we get out of here, of course you're invited," I responded to his earlier comment, my stomach fluttering a little bit. Had I waited too long to say something, did I sound stand-offish? Desperate? I was over-thinking this, wasn't I?
"I'd like that, been working too much recently."
He opened the cabinet and picked up the telephone handset. I could hear it ringing. Tom gave all the relevant information, listened for a moment, and hung up.
"Good news, or bad?" I asked.
"An hour," he said with an apologetic grimace.
"There goes most of the day. And of course there's no AC in here."
"At least the phone worked, I was worried for a minute. I'm sorry, Jen."
"Not like it's your fault, Tom. I'm just glad I'm not alone. I'd be pretty scared."
"Then, I'm glad I'm here, too," he said warmly.
"At least we won't have to stand. I have my beach blanket."
We spread the blanket out and settled down to wait. Within minutes, we were sweating pretty heavily. It was getting stuffier and hotter quickly.
"I'm glad that I didn't have to wear a suit today," Tom blew out.
"I wish I had worn shorts and not this sun dress, I was planning on changing later," I said, managing to fan my chest and face a little by gently flapping the bodice of the pale yellow dress.
About 15 minutes later, our clothes were drenched, and the heat was becoming nearly unbearable. We were both trying to fan ourselves, but to little avail.