My Italian Nightmare

Chapter 5: The Elevator

I have never understood why I felt so tense in elevators. It didn't matter if I was in them alone or with strangers, I could never get out of them fast enough. Now I was standing in a big, luxury elevator with Angelo Angelico, and was about to go up to his hotel room. My heart was beating so fast against my chest that it hurt.
The elevator had a big mirror on the wall and for the first time in hours I could properly check my reflection. I was still wearing the clothes I put on this morning for the concert, which felt like days ago instead of just hours. A black leather skirt and fishnet tights with platform boots, a red mesh top, a leather choker and lots of rings. And of course my oversized leather jacket that I bought second-hand and that had become almost a trademark of mine. My makeup was kind of smudged like I expected, but it could've been worse. My black hair was a disaster though and out of reflex I lifted my arms to run through it. Then I noticed Angelo in the mirror, observing me and I dropped my arms, self-consciously. Our eyes met. I felt terribly out of place even though usually I was very confident. I had gotten over my body height of just 165cm, which had its benefits even if it sometimes made me feel a bit dysphoric around taller men. A feature that was also not as masculine was my butt – it was a bit too thick to belong to a guy but I would not trade it for anything. The thing I liked most about myself however was my face. Not that I wanted to sound vain, but it was just...pretty. My eyes were grey with green and blue elements in it that appeared the most flattering in sunlight. My nose, although it could never compete with Angelo's, was straight and small, pretty normal actually, but it fit into my face just right. And then to round it all off there was my mouth, formed by fairly voluminous lips that were now slightly parted as I stared at Angelo through the mirror. Angelo however was...words could not describe his appearance, his extensive beauty. No wonder I felt substandard, with Angelo standing behind me, tall with 180cm, lean and the right amount of muscular, his skin of a beautiful olive complexion, his hair thick and brown, his face defined like he was an Ancient Greek sculpture that came to life.
I shook my head to clear it, because I had to fucking stop with those sappy thoughts. He was just a man, at the end of the day. Just a guy.
"What are you thinking?" Angelo grabbed me by my wrist and turned me around so I looked directly at him. The elevator seemed to shrink significantly.
"I..."
But I couldn't get a word out when he was so close to me and when he was touching me like that. I stared at the elevator display and saw that we still had a couple floors to go.
"I know why you came here.", Angelo said and took a step forward, so I reflexively took a step back. I was pushed against the back wall of the elevator now.
"To charge my phone?", I replied and looked up at him. I had never been less in the mood for jokes but I also never had been so scared, horny and drunk at the same time. He smirked in this particular way that made my skin burning hot and said: "You came here to see me." He came even nearer. I was feeling my eyes filling up with tears and I looked away from his face. I couldn't bare this anymore. What the hell had I been thinking, what the hell was I doing here? Angelo's hand touched my face and he raised my chin so I had to look at him.
"Why are you crying."
I wiped the tears away from my face and sighed. "You're too beautiful.", I whispered.
I looked away, ashamed and at the same time I never wanted to stop looking at him again.
Angelo snickered and took a strand of my hair between his fingers, which made me look at him again. "That's no reason to cry, is it?" I looked at him and could literally feel his breath on my skin. I was going insane. I was actually about to die any minute now.
"Sometimes it is", I breathed and blinked through my tears. Angelo had let go of my hair and begun to caress my neck instead. This made me get goose bumps all over my body. My pulse was probably not measurable anymore, maybe my heart had entirely stopped beating in the meantime. He leaned down and smelled my neck while holding it with one hand. I held my breath and closed my eyes for a couple seconds. He straightened up again and smiled crookedly. "You smell so sweet."
I still felt the spot where Angelo's nose had touched the sensitive skin on my neck and sighed quietly.
"Thanks", I mouthed and held tightly onto the elevator railing as my knees could be compared to jello right now.
In this moment, the ping noise of the elevator interrupted whatever the hell had just been going on between us. I straightened myself and checked if I was still able to walk. I staggered a bit but it had to do.
"Come", Angelo said and I followed him into a long floor with a lot of doors to the right and to the left. He pulled a card out of his pants and opened one of the doors with it. It was number 327.
I stepped into the hotel room and looked around. It was a big, spacey and very nicely decorated hotel room.
"Where are the others?", I asked and saw that this suite only had one king sized bed in it. "In the lounge...or in their rooms." He came to me, stretched out his hand and pulled my leather jackets from my shoulders. "Thanks", I said once again.
He walked towards his nightstand and pulled out a cable.
"Charge your phone", he demanded.
I nodded and took the cable from him. I plugged it in right next to the bed and started it. I knew I had to apologize to a lot of people who would want to know where I was and why I had not received their calls. I cursed and unlocked my phone.

After it had started I immediately saw multiple missed calls and messages on my display.
I ignored most of the the messages for now, but I immediately had to call back Hanna or Freyja.
I looked at Angelo who had kicked off his shoes and was just about to take a beer out of the mini bar.
"Can I just", I gestured with my phone, indicating a call, "for a moment?"
"Sure." He cocked his head to the side and looked curious.
"You don't understand German right?", I wanted to make sure.
"No, don't worry." He laughed.
"Alright", I mumbled and called Freyja's number.

"ARIAN ALEXANDER FÄHRMANN", Freyja's voice sounded out from my phone. I set the volume lower and sighed, leaning my head against the wall.
"Hör zu es tut mir leid, mein Handy war alle und ich war im Backstage und hatte vergessen..."
„Du warst im BACKSTAGE?"
„Hörst du jetzt mal auf rumzuschreien", I hissed and eyed Angelo who had lit up a cigarette.
"Er sitzt praktisch direkt neben mir."
„Ari wenn du nicht sofort genau sagst wo du dich befindest...", that was Hanna's voice.
"Ich bin auf seinem Hotelzimmer. Alles andere morgen. Bitte bitte bitte macht euch keine Sorgen." For a moment, there was just silence from the other side of the call.
"Scheiße, Ari...", I heard Freyja whisper.
"Du rufst uns sofort an sobald du kannst.", Hanna ordered.
"Ja, natürlich. Lieb euch. Gute Nacht."
I sent them my location via WhatsApp, then I locked my phone and got up from the floor. looked at Angelo, who sat on the bed, smoking, looking better than I had ever seen him on any pictures ever.
He stretched out his hand and smiled at me, invitingly, his eyes dark and his pupils widened. "Come here, Arian."