Elevator Ride

“Yes, Sophie, I did get ready. I’m going to the restaurant right after my appointment. No, I ended up wearing the blue dress, I feel more comfortable with it. Fine. I have to go, the receptionist is giving me ugly looks.”

The young blonde woman locked her phone and put it back in her light grey handbag, making her way to the reception desk.

“Hello, Rose Newton, I have an appointment for a wrist X-ray.”

“Insurance card.”

She handed the card over. The receptionist motioned to the waiting room.

“Take a seat, the radiographer will be with you shortly. After the X-ray, please come back here and wait for the doctor to call you.”

“Thank you.” Rose took back her card and walked towards the nearest chair.

She was nervous, she did not want to go tonight, but she could not let Sophie down. She had promised Matthew… It was the last time she would allow herself to be roped into something like that. Matthew looked so eager and desperate when he talked about his brother, the guy had to be a loser.

After ten minutes agonizing over the text she wanted to send to cancel, she heard a man calling her name.

“Oh, yes, I’m here.”

“Follow me please. The X-ray will take place upstairs.”

He led her to the elevator, they got in. She did not lift her eyes from her phone once.

“Important e-mail?”

“Oh sorry. No, not really.” She smiled shyly at the technician.

“Let me walk you through the exam. We’ll just take a few X-rays, from different angles, and then the doctor will have a look and see if anything’s broken or not where it’s supposed to be. It should not be too long, then you can be on your way.”

“My GP said it was most likely a carpal tunnel syndrome, said nothing will show at the X-ray.”

“In that case, we’ll have to do some ultrasounds. That should tell us everything.”

“Can we do the ultrasounds today?”

“I’m afraid not, you are our last appointment. But we can schedule it if it’s needed. And I’m sure a lovely girl like you has better things to do on a Friday night. You did not dress up for my benefit, did you?” He was grinning.

If she did not know that this only happened in terrible movies, she would have thought this guy was flirting with her. She smiled sheepishly back at him. It was going to be a long ride.

Suddenly, with a jolt and a screeching noise, the elevator ground to a halt. Rose reflexively grabbed the radiographer’s arm.

“Oh no!”

Lights flickered and died, a resounding silence fell.

“Well I hope you didn’t have anything important to do tonight?”

“I had plans, but I feel the Universe is telling me it wasn’t meant to be. Maybe this elevator is saving me a lot of heartache”

“Sounds ominous. What were you going to do?”

“My friend set me up on a blind date with her boyfriend’s brother. He’s probably as pathetic as me, needing a blind date to meet someone. I don’t feel comfortable dating, I’d like it to come naturally, you know?” She looked at her shoes, heat creeping up her face. “I’m sorry I’m rambling. You don’t want to hear that.”

“We are stuck in an elevator, I don’t mind.” He smiled. “And I get it, my brother is the same. Keeps trying to set me up with his girlfriend’s single friend. Do you know the guy?”

“Nope! I think she said he was a photographer or something. The way his brother was trying to talk him up, I’m sure he’s some kind of antisocial weirdo. I don’t know why I said yes, but they’ve been trying to get me to meet this guy for months. I just agreed, so that they would stop harassing me. Sorry, I talk when I’m stressed.”

“It’s ok, we will be fine.”

“I’m claustrophobic.”

“Do you have a pet?”

“What? Errr, yeah, I have a golden retriever, his name’s Tempo.”

“I love Golden, do you have a picture?”

“Tons of them, like any pet owner, right?”

“Yeah, I have a German Shepherd, half of the pictures on my phone are of her. The other half is probably food.”

“Oh, I’m terrible with that, I can’t help snapping a picture when I’m out at a restaurant. I just love how they make the plates so pretty.”

“Do you cook?”

“I do, but I don’t decorate or plate really well.”

“I love that part. I wanted to be a chef when I was younger.”

“What made you change your mind?”

“My less than encouraging father.”

“Oh that sucks.” She rummaged in her bag for her phone. “Gosh, I can’t find anything in the dark.”

“Use my phone, here, flashlight.”

He walked towards the doors.

“What are you doing? You’re not trying to open these doors when we’re stuck? Also, stop moving, it makes the lift wobble.”

“Rose, relax, please look for the cutest picture of Tempo you can find, and then find me a very beautiful food picture, ok? I am just calling for help.”

“Yeah, right, sorry…”

He pushed the alarm button. A few moments later, still nothing. An anguished sigh behind him:

“How can you be so calm? We’re going to die in here!”

“Rose!” He took her by the shoulders. “Take a deep breath for me. There you go.”

A distorted voice sounded in the distance:

“Hello?”

“Hi Harry, this is Peter. What’s happening, the elevator stopped and we have no lights?”

“The power grid is down in the entire neighborhood, it will be a while, I’m really sorry. Sucks for your big date tonight”

“Alright, thank you.”

“So, a date?”

“Show me your pictures”

“Way to change the subject. I just spilled my guts to you!”

“And it was very entertaining.”

“And sad…”

“No, that it was not. I told you my brother’s also trying to set me up. It’s not just you, and it’s ok to feel insecure about it. I mean, the guy’s a weirdo…”

“I don’t know if he is, I’m just grasping at straws to rationalize my completely unjustified terror. Anyway, here’s Tempo.”

They spent the next forty-five minutes sharing dog pictures and chatting, Peter was doing his best to make her forget where she was. Rose relaxed visibly, not that he could see her, but he felt she was smiling. He wondered if he should tell her, but then, she might be really upset that he did not come clean right away.

He had seen her name on his schedule in the morning, and after the initial panic, had thought it was actually fantastic, like a preview. He would decide then if he was going to cancel or not. And now that he was laughing with her, he was terrified that she was going to hate him for not telling her who he was. Or that she would just not like him…

“Rose, I - ”

“Oh shit, that’s Sophie. Err, my friend, you know from the blind date. Sorry I have to take that.”

She turned away and answered her phone.

“Hey Sophie… I know, I know… Will you let me speak! There’s a power outage and I’m stuck in an elevator! No, I had just got in the elevator with the radiographer when it happened…. Well it’s a sign maybe, there you go! … Seriously?”

Rose turned towards him, awkwardly.

“She wants to say hi. You don’t have to really, it’s embarrassing…”

“It’s not like I have anything else to do at the moment.” He chuckled.

“Alright, loud speaker it is!”

Sophie’s voice rose in the elevator, she was going to recognize him…

“Hello, radiographer, tell me my friend here is not lying to get out of a date.”

“Hello Sophie, no she is not lying, we are stuck in an elevator, have been for the past hour or so now.”

“You sound familiar, what’s your name?”

“Peter.”

There it was.

“Peter? Oh my God, Peter!!?”

“Yeah, that’s me”

“This is insane. Rose, girl, this is Sam’s brother!!”

“Wait, what?”

She turned towards him, and he could see her eyes moving down to the name plate on his shirt in the flickering light of the phone. Her expression was unreadable.

“Sophie, I’ll call you.” She hung up.

The silence was heavy. She was not looking at him.

“Did you… Never mind.”

“I knew who you were, I’m sorry, I should have said.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“Before or after you said I was a pathetic loser?”

“Sorry about that…”

“Are you mad?”

“I don’t know, not really. I actually feel we talked way more this way than we would have on the date. But now, the pressure’s back, you know?”

“It doesn’t have to be… And full disclosure, I didn’t tell you because I thought it could help me make up my mind about going to the restaurant or cancelling. Does that make me a jerk? ”

“Not sure I’m the right person to judge, I was texting you to cancel when you called me in the waiting room.”

There was a pause, and they both started laughing.

The distorted voice rose from the intercom again.

“Peter? Still here”

They heard laughter.

“Very funny man! What’s up?”

“Listen, it looks like it will be a while until the power’s back, but the fire department’s here, they say your elevator has stopped halfway between floors, so they’ll force it open and get you out. They just need you to stay back until they have it open.”

“Ok, we’ll do that.”

“Finally!”

“I’m sorry you had such a terrible time with me. Obviously, we won’t be able to do the X-ray today, so you’ll have to reschedule. You can ask for another technician if you’d prefer.”

“I did not -”

A loud metallic thumping sound came from the doors.

“Hello in there, all good?”

“Yeah, we’re fine.”

“How many of you?”

“Two”

“Ok, step to the back of the elevator, we’ll have you out in no time.”

Bit by bit, they could see the doors opening, the flashlights illuminating the firefighters working. Rose tried looking surreptitiously at Peter, only to find him doing the same. They started laughing again, only stopping when a gruff voice called out:

“OK we’re ready now, one of you come towards the doors.”

“Ladies first.”

Rose moved forward slowly, and was pulled out of the elevator by two firefighters.

“Here you go, the stairs are this way, you can go.”

“Thanks.”

She hesitated, looked back towards the elevator, where the firefighters were busy pulling Peter out, then rushed past them and in the staircase. She was almost on the ground floor when she heard hurried footsteps overhead.

“Rose, wait!”

“Sorry, I did not thank you for distracting me. I would have had a panic attack in there alone. So, I’m going to go now. I guess I’ll see you for my next appointment.”

“No, wait!” He grabbed her arm lightly. “Let me change quickly, and then, would you, maybe, want to get a bite to eat with me?”

When she did not answer, he added:

“We don’t have to go to that restaurant, I don’t really like it. Too fancy.”

“Oh thank God, I hate that place. I’d kill for a pizza right about now. It’s been a week…”

“Now you’re talking, I know just the place. Give me five minutes.”

“I’ll wait outside, I need fresh air after all that.”

She walked out of the building, a silly smile on her face, feeling lighter than she had in months.