a fate meeting : in the elevator

1

TABITHA:

I know it's weird but I just can't get rid of this nagging feeling that something was not right. I was feeling like that up until I was making my way to the building. I mean, what can be wrong? I'm just going to visit my bestfriend on her newly purchased condo-apartment (well, technically her very rich Australian Boyfriend bought it for her).

I don't hate Christy. I guess the more appropriate feeling is I envy her. Can you blame me? I dated so many guys that I lost count. All of them ended up breaking my heart and leaving me. You name it, I dated it! Mr Asshole/Jerk; Mr Insensitive; Mr I-Can't-be-in-a-relationship-right-now; and even Mr Married!

Whilst Christy? She had to go on an out-of-town trip with her parents and she gets to snag a rich Australian entrepreneur who looks like he can pass as Robert Patterson's older brother (regardless that Robert is British).

Shit! It's official. I am nervous, based on my internal babble, nonetheless.

This is the thoughts I have while I was boarding the elevator.

There was no one else aside from me and the tall guy who was wearing sunglasses while inside the building.

Tsk! It's not even sunny outside. Why does he have to wear those glasses inside the building elevator? Is he some sort of a celebrity trying to hide his face to avoid being seen or noticed? Doesn't he realize he'll catch more attention being weird like that? Maybe his from some secret government service like the Homeland Security from the US? Men-in-Black? He is wearing a nice black suit anyway. Or maybe he simply has some contagious eye disease of sorts. So I better stop stealing a look at him.

Regardless, I wish the elevator would just go up fast enough so I can jump out and get all this over with.

And then I felt the tremor. The nagging feeling that had bothered me since I left home increased. The sway of the elevator increased too and I can hear someone screaming.

The tall guy grabbed me and hold on to me "It's okay Miss, it will be fine," he said in a very husky (and sexy, if the situation wasn't so scary) voice.

I felt myself trembling in his arms as he embraced me tighter and held on to the bar on the elevator's side, trying his best to keep both of us steady despite the swaying of the enclosed space where we are trapped in.

I realized then, it was me who's screaming. If the situation wasn't worse enough already, the lights went dead and the red emergency lights went up. The swaying stopped. I guess the earthquake ended.

"Are you okay Ms?" the man asked. His husky voice was full of concern.

"Yes... I think," I answered while I felt my wobbly legs gave-in.

The guy held me again and helped me to sit down the floor.

"Try to breathe and relax. You may not be claustrophobic but the shock might trigger it as well," he continued.

"Thank you," I said and tried to give a weak smile to this strange man beside me.

I saw his smile by the glow of the red emergency light. He removed his glasses. Then he seems to evaluate the situation.

A few seconds of silence passed. The guy stood up and tried the intercom. He was checking if someone can help us out. Unfortunately, it seems like the power outage had also affected the communication system. We're trapped.

As horrible as that may sound though, I think I'm cool with it.

"Are you sure you're okay?" I heard him say again and I looked up to gaze at his worried face. I did not realize I was shivering. The guy must think I'm stupid.

Great! I'm trapped in an elevator after a hardcore earthquake shook the bejesus out of me. And the gorgeous looking guy I'm trap with thinks I'm a helpless stupid looking loser of sorts. Talk about timing, huh?

Gorgeous? Do I really think this guy looks gorgeous? Well I can't really say because the light is dim and I still feel hazy about everything around me. But there was something in his reassuring smile, his firm grip and his masculine scent.

Yes! The scent! If it wasn't for the fact that I have only been with this guy for the last 10 minutes and I maybe in peril being trapped in an elevator forever, while the electricity and communications from the outside world is out, right after a very strong earthquake, I could say, I'm totally aroused to the smell of this unknown man beside me.

Geez! What am I babbling about? I don't even know the guy's name.

"Are you cold? You're trembling," the guy said. And as if to accentuate his remark, my body shivered.

He took off his coat and wrapped it around me.

"Thank you," I mumbled.

And the arousing scent was even stronger on this coat. Gosh!

I can't help but inhale more of his tasty scent from the coat he lent me.

"We should be okay. The building has a back-up generator. The power should be up any minute now. Then someone can rescue us and help us get out of here," he continued.

It was like I bit my tongue. I can't utter a single word. This was kind of crazy because there's a lot of mental babble going on inside my head. I feel foolish.

He smiled at me and held out his hand. "How rude of me," he said. "My name is Troy," he seems amused with my lack of words.

"Tabitha," was all I could utter.

"Pretty," he said with a smile.

"Yeah, I know. My name's pretty unusual really," I answered with apathy.

"No," he said smiling. "I mean, you're pretty," I think I can see a hint of blushing in spite of the dim light.

I felt myself blush too. But I tried my best to look indifferent and gave my best 'are-you-fucking-kidding-me-look'.

He hid his blush with a laugh. "Sorry," he continued still giggling. "I know it's a lame pick-up line. And worse, you need to hear it while you're trap with me in an elevator."

"Yeah, it is kind of lame," I agreed but smiled at him.

It was hard to proceed with that, so there was plenty amount of silence after it.

"What can be taking the generators long?" I can't help asking out loud.

"I'm not sure. The automatic switches might be jammed too," he said.

I searched my bag and found my phone.

"Dang! There's no signal in here," now I really feel helpless.

"Yeah, all elevators in this whole building are dead-spots for mobile phones," he answered matter-of-factly.

"So you live here, in these building?" I was not able to stop myself from asking.

"Yeah, I do," he answered with a smile.

"You don't happen to know any bio-chemical lab in this building, experimenting on viruses that can cause zombie-apocalypse, do you? No A.I. security system to automatically shut-close the whole building or something?" I tried to ask nonchalantly.

"Watching too much zombie movies lately, are we?" he answered with humour.

All we could do was stare and smile at each other.

I was suddenly placed into a tight spot. Desperately wishing Troy and I can get out of here. But somehow, I was hoping we can both get cosy first with each other before we get rescued.

Oh dear! It is such a twisted fate.

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