Let’s Be Alone Together, by Maricela Huerta

I sighed as I finally reached the elevator, sagging against the cool metal wall in relief. My eyes closed as the quiet tones of cheesy elevator music rang in my ears, along with the quiet dinging of elevator doors waiting to shut.

“Floor?”

I felt a surge of curiosity as my eyes opened and I looked at the man in front of me. “Sorry, what?”

He smiled. “What floor would you like to go to?”

“Oh. Sorry.” My voice was breathy, a combination of the chance to finally relax after a stressful day and a small sense of being flustered by being in the presence of such a good-looking man. I licked my lips and straightened up. “Um, tenth floor, please.”

“Wonderful. Same as me.” He smiled and I melted a bit as the elevator began to move.

I started when he spoke again. “What brings you here?”

My heart warmed and I shrugged. “A friend of mine from high school is getting married.”

His eyes lit up. “No way! You know May?”

“Yeah.” I laughed. “She almost made me a bridesmaid, but me in a dress would shock a lot of people.” I sighed happily. “We were pretty close.” I looked at him. “How do you know her?”

I couldn’t figure out why his head was tilted and his eyes were narrowed as he stared at me. Suddenly his face cleared and he had a look as if he had just realized something. “Oh my God, you look so different. It’s only been a few years, but…” He trailed off, looking me up and down. My face filled with blood so quickly, I thought I’d pass out. “You look good.” He sounded awed.

Now I knew why I had been teased relentlessly by a niggling recognition. I’d tried so hard to forget his face and voice and body and everything. I thought I had a horrible job, but I must have done better than I believed.

“Hi. It’s been a really long time.” My knees felt weak and I leaned back so I wouldn’t fall and make a fool of myself.

“Yeah,” he breathed, and my heart went wild. How long had I been so smitten with this lovely, sweet man? How many times had I dreamed of getting up the courage to ask him out? God, I was still gone on this guy, and we’d never even talked that much in the first place.

I didn’t have all that much time to freak out about that because, moments before the light would have lit the “10,” the lights flickered and the elevator stopped.

“What?”

He looked around, eyebrows furrowed in confusion, and despite the scariness of the situation, I had the urge to kiss that away. Finally, his eyes landed on the emergency call button and he pressed it.

“Hello, sirs. I am sorry for the inconvenience. We are having our maintenance workers head over to fix the problem right as we speak.” The static-y voice crackled over the speaker and I jumped.

“Thank you,” he said into the speaker, pressing the button again. “Have a nice day.”

“What now?” I asked, biting my lip in nervousness.

He shrugged. “We wait.” He sat down, patting the floor next to him. “Join me. Tell me how you’ve been. It’s been a while.”

I smiled and couldn’t help but smile.

---

We laughed heartily, falling into one another.

“Wow, you’ve had an amazing life since high school!”

“I guess,” I replied, face flushing as I looked at the ground and rubbing the back of my neck.

He put his fingers under my chin to make my eyes meet his, and the look in his eyes stole my breath away. “Never doubt how amazing you are,” he said with conviction.

---

He winked at me after his comment and I giggled involuntarily before covering my face, mortified that I had giggled. That had never happened to me before.

“God, that was cute.”

I turned even redder. “Why are you such a flirt? Oh my goodness, I’m gonna die.”

“Well,” he purred,” I’ve always had this hopeless crush on you. I just never had the confidence to act on it ‘til now.”

I laughed nervously. “This kind of feels like a fantasy,” I confessed.

“Oh, it’s real,” he reassured me. “But let it sink in first. Now, you were telling me about that time you…”

---

“Thank you for your patience, sirs. The problem has been fixed.”

As the crackly voice filled the elevator again, the elevator moved and the number “10” lit up. The doors opened with a cheerful ding.

He got up and held out a hand to help me up. I took it and smiled, and didn’t pull away when he refused to let go. We walked down the hallway, stopping at one of the rooms. “Well, this is where I’m staying.”

“I’m staying a few doors down.” I jerked my head in the general direction of my room and smiled.

“Are you busy today?”

“Not in the least,” I murmured.

“Good.” He pulled my arm until I was flush against him before leaning down those couple inches and kissing me. I whimpered, my heart going into overtime, my mouth savoring the taste of his lips.

“Would you like to spend more time together?” he whispered, mouth never truly pulling away from mine.
 

Happiness bubbled inside me and I felt like I might explode. “I’d love that.”