SINcere.

tempers rising.

                                              -2-

''Nick are you listening to me?'' 

I look down at Eve's narrowed eyes; she was trying to asses if I have been listening to her rants the whole way home. She loved to talk a lot, especially about work related issues. 

I smile, ''After you and Mandy went for those drinks, you go to a meeting the next day with your marketing boss and to your amazement Mandy is taking credit for the idea that you discretely shared with her.'' 

''Exactly, I trusted her to keep it to herself, but no! She makes it seem as if it's her own little brain that came up with a solution!'' she huffs and crosses her arms over her torso. She was always so sensitive. 

We stand by the elevator doors, waiting for them to open. 

''See, I've been listening,'' I say and I flash her a wide smile when she glares at me. We wait silently and from the corner of my eye, I observe her. She was still sulking, probably thinking about what Mandy, her work colleague, had done to her. 

The elevator doors finally open after we wait for a minute and we proceed to enter. It's empty and some relaxing jazz music enters my ears. Eve stands opposite me with her arms folded and her back leaning against the wall. Thankfully she doesn't continue her raving. Don't get me wrong, I love to listen to her, but sometimes, it can be too much. I leisurely close my eyes as I feel the elevator floor groan slightly and we move upwards. 

It's a long way up to our apartment and so, we have to stop at a couple of floors, in order to accommodate more people into the elevator. The machine comes to a halt at Floor 3 and the doors open to allow a preppy looking guy my age or younger, join us into the silence. 

I close my eyes again not acknowledging him much, until he opens he mouth. 

''Hi, lovely day.''  

I open one eye and see him addressing Eve. She briefly glances over at me and just smiles at the preppy dude. I think that's all he is going to say but nope, he seems to be a persistent one. 

''You going up?" he asks. 

Duh, what does it look like? 

Eve turns to him and nods.  

''What floor?'' 

She looks at me again and I hold her gaze for a moment, she replies, ''eighth.'' 

''Nice, I am going down.'' 

I want to roll my eyes. Nobody cares. 

Eve just nods again. Unfortunately he doesn't take a hint that she doesn't want to talk to him. 

''What's your name? Am Andy.'' 

''Eve.'' 

''Eve? Wow, nice name.'' 

I stand straighter. I know what he is trying to do. Trying to pick up my girl always leads to trouble, but I let her reply anyways. 

''Uh, thanks.'' 

We were approaching the seventh floor now and the preppy guy dared to move closer to my girlfriend. He was entering dangerous waters. 

'' You know, I think I may just join you to your loft.'' He whispers in her ear and Eve nervously gazes at me. I raise my eyebrows at his words. I wouldn't have thought that he had the guts to say that, guess I was wrong about him. 

''No.'' 

Confusion crosses his face; obviously he thought he actually had a chance to get laid. At that moment I hear a bing and the doors slide open, signaling that we have arrived on our floor.