Stuck in an Elevator

Ding! The elevator came to yet another stop on its journey down to the ground floor of the office building I worked at, letting the two passengers besides me off and one more on.
         I was on my lunch break and was eager to get to the lunch date I had planned; so I hadn’t realized that someone had entered the elevator because of my intent examination of my wristwatch. I jerked as a gray-coated arm reached in front of me to push the button for the second floor. I allowed my gaze to follow the well-dressed arm up to the well-dressed body to which it was connected, and up to the face of the one man in the entire building I did not wish to see.
         “Hello, Rachel.” He smiled at me with his toothy, pure white grin that never ceased to infuriate me.
         “Jack,” I gave a slight nod of acknowledgement then pretended to become completely fascinated with the elevator buttons.
         The doors of the elevator closed and it lurched as it continued its descent.
         Jack held his briefcase in his left hand and fiddled with his Blackberry with his right. I stared intently at the red numbers that counted down the floors: 8…7…6…5…4…
         Suddenly the elevator emitted a terrible screeching noise before unexpectedly coming to a halt, sending me crashing to my backside, and Jack to lose his grip on both his briefcase and his blackberry, sending them flying in two different directions. The briefcase flew to the floor and rested near my feet while the phone soared into the air, clanked against the wall, and shattered into a million little pieces on the elevator floor.
         Before either of us could recover from our momentary shock, the elevator was cast into sudden blackness, which was soon replaced by the dim glow of the emergency lights.
         “Great. Just great. My phone is completely beyond repair…” Jack had started to pick up the bits of plastic that had been his phone, seeming completely oblivious to the entire situation.
         I pushed myself to my feet (“thanks for helping me up, Jack!”) and gave him a withering look. “Are you serious? The elevator just broke down and all you can care about is that your phone is shattered?”
         He stopped gathering up the pieces for a moment and looked up at me with a rather condescending expression. “Pardon? Have you forgotten that a phone is exactly what we need in this particular circumstance?”
         I paused. I hadn’t thought about that. “Well—did you ever think that maybe I have a phone?”
         He picked little bits of phone out of the elevator carpeting. “Well then, by all means, get it out.”
         I fought the urge to knock the shards of that stupid little gadget out of hand. I have never had any idea what people see in that man, he is the most self-important man I have ever met…
         Not to mention the twerp that stole my well deserved promotion.
          I straightened my jacket and dug my phone out of my handbag. But when I went to turn my phone on, it didn’t respond.
         The stupid battery was dead. I had forgotten to charge it the night before.
         “Well?” Jack was standing up now, an eyebrow arched inquisitively.
         I just glared at him. “It appears that the battery is dead.” I dropped my phone into my purse and slumped unceremoniously against the wall.
         “Well it looks like we’re stuck in here.” He said as he too leaned against the wall.
         Thank you, captain obvious. I mentally chided myself for thinking so immaturely. We were both grown ups here, the least I could do was act like one.
         Jack dug in his briefcase for something, paying me absolutely no mind. This suited me fine since I really didn’t have any desire to start a conversation with him anyway. I eyed the buttons on the elevator, squinting in the dim light in order to see the little pictures. I examined each button twice, but there was no emergency call button or any such thing in sight.
         “What kind of a crackpot elevator is this?” I muttered under my breath.
         “What was that?” He said looking up from his most likely feigned search.
         “Absolutely nothing.” I slid down to the floor and rested my head on my knees, trying to decide just how I was going to survive being stuck in this ridiculous elevator with Mr. Pompous Ass…
         I mentally slapped myself for not acting my age. Again.
         I promised myself then and there that I would never get into an elevator as long as I lived. If this was what being lazy was going to lead to, fine. I’ll take the stairs.
         Jack slid to the floor beside me with a sort of professional grace that (much to my chagrin) caused my stomach to flutter ever so slightly.
         I mentally slapped myself once again for thinking such things.
         Jack was a man that could cause almost any woman to melt into a sultry little puddle in his arms. I refused to follow that norm. Although I won’t deny that Jack is indeed a handsome man: broad shoulders, bright blue eyes, well groomed blonde hair. He might as well have been a Hollister model. He was also always impeccably dressed, which drove me insane. I’m a sucker for a man who takes the time to actually make something of his appearance.
         “So, Rach, how’s the secretary job going?” This annoyed me, he knew how much I hated my job.
         “Oh fine,” I lied. “Same as usual.” I avoided looking at him by inspecting my fingernails.
         “That’s great. You know, I just happen to be in need of a secretary at the moment. Maybe Mr. Lensk would be willing to let you switch?” He flashed me that cocky smile of his.
         I shot him a withering look. “You honestly think I would want to work for you? You’re insane.” I turned my head away from him and stared at the wall.
         I heard him chuckle. “Aww come on, why not? You can’t possibly hate me that much can you?”
         I whipped my head around to face him, trying to best not to let my bitterness towards his getting my promotion affect my temper. “Actually, yes, I can.”
         He looked stunned. Obviously he thought I had been joking. “Why is that?”
         I glared at the wall in front of me, if he couldn’t figure it out for himself then why was he the one who got promoted rather than me? It really wasn’t fair.
         A look of realization graced his irritatingly attractive features. “Don’t tell me you hate me because I got the promotion you wanted.”
         I turned to look at him, contorting my face into a grotesquely perky mask. “Give the man a prize.” My tone just dripped with sarcasm, I almost annoyed myself.
         He looked at me bewildered. “Why in the world do you hate me for that?”
         I sighed heavily, now I remembered all the other reasons I had no patience for this man. “Among other things, I started working here long before you did. I worked hard for three years to get to wear I am: Secretary to the CEO himself. And I was so close to becoming his partner, but then you waltzed in. You flashed him your pretty-boy smile and presented him with your bottomless bank account and taa-daa! He has a new partner, and I’m stuck right where I was: with a job that I hate that has horrible hours and bad pay.” I yanked a piece of my unruly brown hair behind my ear and crossed my arms over my chest.
      He looked at me incredulously. “Why have you never said anything about it?”
         “I didn’t think I needed to.”
         I saw him inch closer to me in my peripheral vision and made to move away, but was thwarted by his hand on my arm, keeping me in place.
         “I’m sorry.”
         I turned to look at him, shocked. Had he just apologized? That seemed completely out of character.
         “Pardon me?”
         “I’m sorry.” He repeated. “I was completely ignorant to how you felt about all this.”
         I blinked.
         “I suppose you should be the first to know about this since you’re his secretary and would have been his partner had I not come in… well—Mr. Lensk is retiring.”
         “Wh-what? Retiring? You’re lying. Mr. Lensk is hardly a day over fifty—“
         Jack held up his hand to silence me. “He has so much money already that he didn’t feel the need to stay when he could be off sipping margaritas at a beach house in Tahiti,” He gave me a penetrating look. “That’s why I’m promoting you. You can be my new partner-- if you want.”
         Well this was just beyond belief. Mr. Pompous Ass had just offered to promote me, and straight to the top rung of the proverbial ladder no less…
         “I-I-I—“ I couldn’t quite get the words out. So I stopped, inhaled, and tried again. “I’m not exactly sure what to say.”
         He flashed me his smile again, but this time I couldn’t bring myself to be irritated by it. “Well then don’t say anything.”
         I felt my face flush. Worst. Timing. Ever.
         He grinned wider. “Although there is something you could do to thank me.”
         Well that sounded suspicious, so I glared at him hard before replying. “And just what would that be?”
         Jack’s smile didn’t falter in the slightest. “Have dinner with me this Friday.”
         That caught me off guard. “Dinner?”
         Jack nodded. “How does Kabuki sound? Or maybe Red Lobster if that’s too fancy for you?”
         I nodded dumbly. “Uh… ok.”
         Jack’s smile returned, bigger this time. “It’s a date then.”
         Just then, the lights flickered back on and the elevator jolted to life. We both leaped to our feet as the doors opened to the third floor hallway. Several firemen stood there along with a few janitors. Even a few of my coworkers were standing there.
         “Are you both alright?” One of the firemen asked.
         “Spiffing.” Jack replied, flashing his smile yet again.
         “You two are lucky, one of the elevator belts snapped. If it hadn’t been for the faulty emergency breaks you wouldn’t be alive right now.” The firefighter explained.
         “Wow…” I stood there wide eyed.
         Jack looked at them incredulously. “Wait, wait, wait. If the belt snapped, then how did you get the elevator down to this floor?”
         “We used a pulley system.”
         Jack still didn’t look convinced, but accepted the explanation anyway.
         After a few minutes of explanations and questions, Jack and I were free to go. Mr. Lensk gave me the rest of the day off and Jack headed for the stairs to go back up to his floor. Just before we turned to go our opposite ways he turned and grinned at me.
         “I’ll see you on Friday. Seven O’clock sound good to you?”
         “Seven sounds good.”
         “It’s a date.”
         “Yes, it’s a date.”

         ~Fin.~