admin

Janie leaned back in her office chair and stretched, groaning as the knots of tension that had formed between her shoulder blades began to release. She dropped the last expense report in the open file folder on her desk and sighed, relieved to be done with the hours of extra work.

She checked the clock; nearly 7pm. Everyone else in the office would be long gone, considering not only did most people finish their day at five, but it was also Valentine's Day. All the people who were in couples were rushing off to their dinners and dates, and all the people who were singles were either rushing off to their 'singles parties' or their tubs of ice cream and bottles of booze at home. She herself was single, and while she hadn't planned on anything exciting tonight (she had never really cared for Valentine's Day, even when she had been with someone), she certainly hadn't planned on staying at work for an extra couple of hours of overtime. Once 4:30 hit though, she found the pile of expense reports was dwindling at a much slower rate than she had expected, and figured she might as well stay and finish them if she had no plans for the night anyway.

She reached over to her radio and switched off the classical music that had been playing. It helped her focus as well as relax, and she always enjoyed listening to it. She thought about maybe practising her Cello when she got home that night...it had been awhile, and she could stand to lose herself in the music. It had been a stressful week.

She locked up her office and left, her heels clicking loudly on the tiled floor, echoing off the walls, amplifying the fact that she was the only one left in the building. She reached the elevator and hit the button, humming to herself a part of the last Concerto that had played on the radio. The elevator stopped and the door opened, revealing an attractive man standing inside and holding a briefcase. He politely smiled at her and she stepped in, and she registered with surprise that she wasn't the only one left in the building, as she had originally thought. As they descended the 11 floors to get to the parking lot, she stood awkwardly, cursing herself for not entering the elevator slightly later or slightly earlier. She would have to enter the elevator at the exact moment the only other person in the building was on it. She fiddled with her briefcase as she stood. She was never one for small talk, and being in an elevator with a stranger (especially an attractive man in a suit), she always felt the need to make conversation.

"Long day?" the stranger asked. She cursed herself again. He beat her to it, and now she felt rude for not speaking first.

"Yes," she replied. "I thought I was the only one left in the building, actually. Yourself?"

"Yeah. Had to finish up a big pile of paperwork. Gotta love it!" He joked. She smiled and politely laughed, then turned back to watch the numbered lights above the elevator door fade as they descended. She groaned inwardly as she realized they still had 5 floors to go.

Suddenly, the elevator shuddered and she lost her balance, and she fell into the elevator wall, her arm hitting it roughly. She heard a loud bang, followed by a screeching sound, and another bang, as the elevator jerked to a halt.

"Oh, shit." said the man next to her. "That's never good. Are you alright?" he turned to her, noticing that she was rubbing her elbow where it hit the wall.

"I'm fine, thank you" she replied. "And you?" he looked fine, and he certainly hadn't fallen into the wall like an idiot, she thought to herself.

"Yes, I'm alright." He moved to the number panel and lifted the elevator phone receiver, holding it to his ear. As he waited, Janie took the opportunity to look him over. He really was quite attractive, she thought. Taller than her by a few inches, he had dark brown hair that was longer than most men, but combed and styled nicely, with a small curl hanging in front of his forehead. She loved his eyes, a gorgeous blue with smile lines all around them. She also noticed how good his rear end looked in his pants, and figured he must work out regularly to look that good in a suit. She remembered how long it had been since she worked out, and sucked her stomach in, smoothing her blouse down. She watched him wait for a few moments, then he hung up. "No answer from building maintenance." He said.

"They're probably out doing the rounds in the building. This is when they do the general cleaning and fix-ups that they can't do during the day. We'll just have to wait and try again in a little while." She said. Despite the fact that she was stuck in an elevator with an attractive man, Janie's disappointment at missing her quiet evening alone must have shown on her face, for he asked, "Big Valentine's date tonight? That's too bad. Hopefully they can get us out of here soon."

"Oh!" Escort Çankaya Janie giggled and blushed (which she promptly cursed herself for) then responded "No, no date. Unless you count an hour with my Cello and a glass of Pinot as a date."

"I do," he smiled, "Provided you count an hour in front of the hockey game with a beer also a date. Those were my big plans tonight. I'm Thomas by the way. Tom." He stretched out his hand, and Janie took it, noticing how big and strong his hand looked when her own dainty hand clasped his. "Janie," she said. "I work in Accounting. Yourself?"

"Sales." Tom replied. "14th floor."

"Well, Tom from sales. It's nice to meet you. Looks like we've got a bit of time to get to know each other while we wait for our rescue," she smiled.

****

"Good answer!" Tom said as he laughed and popped another M