Your reviews make me smile, and I love reading them. Thank you everyone. It's Steph's turn for a bit of a downer...

Chapter 11

I wonder what Carlos is thinking about. After our banter and our second kiss, it seemed like we were floating on cloud nine. At least it seemed like that for me. For a minute or two. We joked about my eating habits and then he told me he liked me. I like him too. I thought about telling him, but before I could, his mood seemed to shift. Darken. And it worried me.

I am not the world's most secure person. I have had precisely three sexual partners, and two of them were pretty lacking. Morelli just wanted a quick fuck on the floor. My pleasure was an afterthought if any thought at all. I don't remember too much pleasure; there was only a little pain but it was over pretty quickly. And Dickie, my ex-husband, was not a talented lover. His performance was always lackluster. In hindsight, I would say he was not really that into me. Only God alone knows why he really married me. It certainly wasn't intense sexual attraction. Maybe he thought I would give him respectability or boost his career. But, he was so busy sleeping around that any performance with me was perfunctory.

My boyfriend in college, Tobias, was good to me. But we were both inexperienced and our attempts at sex were tame and a bit fumbling. He rarely gave me any intense pleasure and, worse, he didn't really seem to notice. I don't really blame him; everyone needs to learn, and I did not tell him what I wanted or how to please me. I did not have enough confidence to broach that topic! Apart from the humiliation to me, I think it would have devastated Toby. I could not have raised the issue with any of them, really.

So, Carlos' sudden mood shift hit me in some insecure places. I kissed him, teased him and now he is sitting there, morose and withdrawn. Was it me? Was my kiss no good? After he kissed me, he said he wanted to do it again, but maybe he wanted me to wait until he was ready?

I know I am five pounds overweight and it pretty much all sits on my ass. I know my curly hair can be hard to control and looks wild most of the time, particularly when it's hot and humid. I probably wear too much makeup; it's in my Jersey genes. I can't imagine I am looking my best right now, regardless of any makeup or hairstyling. We have been stuck in this hot, confined box for nearly three hours, sitting on the floor, and pounding on the walls and doors. I probably look like a wreck.

He, on the other hand, just looks like he's taken off his jacket after a long workday. His straight, silky hair is still held back in the leather tie, and his grey shirt is only slightly wrinkled. He still looks gorgeous, put-together, and sexy as hell. He is way out of my league, even when I am looking my best.

I could feel my mood starting to spiral deeper into self-condemnation and self-consciousness. I shouldn't have kissed him! Maybe he didn't mean it when he said he wanted to kiss me again. Maybe he was just being nice. Maybe when he hugged me and told me that he likes me, he just means as a random person he chatted with for a couple of hours, nothing more. He probably looked at my face and thought I was getting too attracted to him, so he pulled back and shut himself down, trying to give me a hint.

I can take a hint. From now on, I'll just be friendly until we can be rescued. Then he never has to see me again, and I never have to see him again. I haven't completely humiliated myself yet. I haven't jumped him, or begged him to kiss me. We have flirted a little, but nothing beyond a couple of kisses. I can bear being with him until this is over, and then I can go home and collapse in private. Cry in private.

I take a deep breath, and then I am surprised when I feel him reach over and take my hand. "Babe," he says hesitantly, "I…"

Oh God, is he going to try to tell me to back off? That he's not interested? That he's sorry he gave the wrong impression? Oh, please God, no! That would be humiliating. I don't know if I can bear that.

"I… I am a bit gun-shy of relationships." Ok... I wasn't expecting him to say that, and I find myself looking up into his face involuntarily. "I was married briefly when I was younger. We only married because she got pregnant, a failed condom. We weren't in love, and I was overseas most of the time anyway. So, we divorced when she met someone else. He became my daughter's dad. I know it was always the best thing for her, for all of us, but it kind of made me hesitant to go through anything like that again. I've felt like my lifestyle doesn't lend itself to relationships, and I should just accept that, embrace it. And I have."

I felt light-headed and realised I was holding my breath. I let it out in a small huff and tried to breathe normally. He continued, "So yeah, I haven't looked for any kind of relationship. But... I know we just met, and this has been an intense situation, but… I meant it. I like you. I'd like to get to know you better if you want to. I guess… I'm asking you for a date?"

My mouth dropped open. A date? A real date? I hadn't been on anything like that since I first met the Dick. I am staring openmouthed at Carlos, and I see his eyes flatten, his face goes expressionless. I realise I have not spoken, not replied to him. Answer him Stephanie! I rush to choke out, "Y…Yes. Yes, please. I'd love to go on a date with you."

He continues to look at me for a moment, assessing, before his face relaxes and his lips-tipped smile re-emerges. I huff again in relief and try to calm my pounding heart. Stephanie, Stephanie, Stephanie! Get it together, girl! If you don't, he's going to start thinking you're an idiot, and you don't want to blow this! So, I try to breathe deeply and relax my face into an answering smile, while I tighten my hand around his. A date. With Carlos. Oh yeah, that I do want to do. We are still looking at each other with our smiles when we are startled by a noise.

It's a faint noise but we both still and press our ears to the door. I think I hear someone say, "Sir? Miss? Can you hear me? Are you in there?"

Carlos shouts, "We're in here! Help us, please! Call 911!" Carlos's voice booms loudly around the elevator car, but I can only hope they heard him outside.

Faintly, we hear a reply, "Can you open the doors? I can barely hear you?" Carlos and I exchange looks. He must be tired in his arms and shoulders from the previous two attempts, but it might be the only way to get help quickly. We stand, and Carlos moves back to the doors, bracing himself for the effort of opening them a third time. I move up beside him, ready to shout at whoever is out there.

Carlos looks at me and says quietly, "1, 2, 3…" On three, he pulls the doors apart again, just a couple of inches.

Immediately, I yell, "Help! We can't keep the doors open long, they're very heavy. Please get help! Please call 911!"

"This is building maintenance," I hear louder now, again coming from above us. "I can try and open these doors. Can you climb out?"

"No!" I shout. "We have nothing to wedge the doors open, and we can only see a couple of inches of the outer doors. We're trapped between floors"

Suddenly Carlos yells beside me, "Can you open the outer doors, and pass us something to wedge the doors open? An axe or crowbar or something?" He doesn't answer. Maybe he is looking around for something.

I add, "If we wedge both sets of doors open, we can talk easier!" Still nothing. Another minute ticks by.

I can see Carlos has reached his limit. His arm beside me is trembling with the effort of holding the door. I bellow, "Carlos can't hold the door any longer! Please call 911 and get us help! We've been trapped here for hours!" Carlos suddenly let go of the doors with a grunt of pain and stumbles backward, catching hold of me, and taking me with him. We collapse against the wall, and I can feel Carlos' breathing in short pants of effort and strain. I turn around and wrap my arms around him in a hug.

"You're amazing," I tell him. "You held those doors for a long time. The maintenance guy will get us help and we'll get out of here."

I can feel him nod against the top of my head, still catching his breath. Eventually, his breathing steadies and we move back to sit where we were against the doors. I can see the tiredness and stiffness in Carlos' movements, and I know he can't do that again unless we have something to hold the doors open. I just hope Fire Rescue can bring something to do it.

We sit and wait. I am sitting close beside Carlos now, and he reaches out an arm again around my shoulders. I relax against him, feeling secure and somehow content.

"Thank you." I say suddenly. I glance up at him and see him quirk an eyebrow, "For what you said, talking about your ex and your daughter. For opening up to me like that. Thank you."

"Babe." He replies. Is that an answer? But I realise his willingness to tell me what he was thinking and feeling deserves equal openness and courage from me.

"I'm glad you told me. I… I'm a bit insecure, myself. I don't have a lot of experience with men, and… well… I don't always know what they want from me. So, I was wondering what you were thinking and if I…" I trailed off. "Well, anyway, it was reassuring to hear you explain."

His arm tightened briefly in reassurance. I change the subject, "I hope he calls Fire Rescue. They should have equipment to open the doors and something to hold them open, right?"

He nods slightly, "Yeah, they should have equipment. I think he'll have to call them. I don't think he's going to be able to get us out any other way."

I nod. With the lack of access from the external doors, there was no way we could get out unless they can open the roof or move the elevator. I feel a brief flash of concern about them getting the elevator to move. If it goes into another free-fall, I don't know if the brakes would stop us again. But maybe, if that's the ground floor below us, we wouldn't have far to fall? Unless there's a basement…

I tell myself that this type of speculation is just going to make me stressed and anxious, and I try to focus on something else.

"Where are you going to take me on our date?" I blurt. He bursts out laughing. I am such a doofus!

See? I told you they'd get past it pretty quickly. Both of them have baggage, but don't we all?