“What, you’re not even going to give me your name?”
“It’s not like we’ll be seeing each other again,” I answered, knowing I sounded like a total bitch. I didn’t see any point in encouraging something that was never going to happen.
“You never know. Maybe next time.”
“That all depends on how many girls are in your entourage. If there is a next time, which I highly doubt,” I pointed out, tugging at my hand, which was still clasped in his.
“Well, until then,” he said, giving my hand one last squeeze before releasing it. He strolled away from the table, not bothering to look back.
I could hear Barbie One and Two pouting about his absence as they headed in the opposite direction from where I was sitting. I didn’t turn around, even though for some insane reason I wanted to. I knew I’d never see him again, and most likely he’d forget about me before he even got to the next block. I might have come off as a total hag, but it was smart not to give in to the charms of some playboy. No matter how handsome he was. Yep, I’d definitely dodged a bullet.
3.
Present Day
11:18 AM
The air whistled from my lungs rapidly as I struggled to come to terms with seeing Justin. I knew I would be running into him eventually, but I was still unprepared for this sudden appearance. Yeah, we shared the same best friends. I just thought I would have more time to prepare myself. If Satan himself had popped up and said, “Welcome to hell,” I don’t think I would have been more shocked. It was bad enough I was riding in a steel death trap held up by tiny cables that supposedly could handle a certain weight, but I felt like a mouse dropped into a box with a snake. There was no escape from the one person I could honestly say hated me. I focused on keeping my breathing slow and steady to try to ease the sudden feeling that I would pass out.
I could feel Justin’s stare burning a hole in me as I worked to keep my eyes averted from his. I concentrated instead on finding the button for Rob’s floor, but they all seemed to blur together in a haze. Then I realized Justin had already pushed the button for the fifty-second floor. Of course he was going to see Rob. Why else would he be in this elevator at the same time as me? That asshole Rob. This was a setup. I was going to kill him. He knew how Justin felt about me, about our history. Did Rob think we would all show up to his office and make up and then head to lunch like nothing had ever happened? Justin had made his feelings quite clear two years ago. Even the passing of time and having lunch together wasn’t going to erase the past hurt or the words we had shared.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” he bit out as I clutched the rail inside the elevator.
Bristling at his tone, I lashed out even though I knew I shouldn’t rise to the bait. “Why, do you own this building now? Did you suddenly become a self-made millionaire while I’ve been gone? Perhaps you finally grew some balls concerning your art,” I sniped out pointedly, looking at the newest tattoo on his neck. I knew it was a low blow, but I couldn’t have stopped the words if I tried.
“Huh, look who’s talking, sweetheart,” he drawled condescendingly.
I fought the urge to punch him and wipe the sarcastic look off his face. The injustice of the whole situation was total bullshit. He’d refused to ever own up to his part and instead let it tear us apart. I know what I did was awful, but he had set the wheels in motion. Not that I even needed to justify my actions. My decisions were mine to live with, but that didn’t mean the burden was mine to carry alone.
“It’s nice to see you’re still an asshole,” I said, watching the numbers above the door light up with each floor we passed. Only twenty floors left and I could get back on an elevator going down. I’d take a cab to Melissa’s and let her know what I thought of her fiancé’s interference.
“And I’m not surprised you’re still a selfish bitch.”
I tore my eyes away from the numbers to glare at him.
“Some things never change,” he snarled just as the elevator came to a halt.
Relieved that I could finally escape the oppressiveness of the enclosed box, I waited for the doors to slide open. When they didn’t open after a moment, I looked up at the numbers, confused that they were all lit up.
“You have got to be kidding me,” Justin said, reaching for the telephone in the elevator’s call box.
Dread filled me. “We’re stuck?” I asked as panic quickly made its appearance. “We’re stuck?” I repeated, since he had ignored me the first time.
“Can I help you?” I heard through the receiver in Justin’s hand.
“We stopped moving here. Is something wrong with the elevator?” Justin answered, holding the phone closer to his ear so I could no longer hear her response. Not that anything the mysterious person had to say would have mattered at the moment. I was freaking out, making it hard to hear anything but my own shallow breaths.
I frantically jabbed at the OPEN DOOR button over and over again to no avail. My breaths became short quick pants as I struggled to bring air into my lungs, which were refusing to cooperate. The elevator walls felt like they were closing in on me. I instinctively held out my arms to push them away. Black spots popped up in front of my eyes and I felt myself swaying slightly. I could hear Justin’s voice from far off as he hung up with the operator.
“What’s the matter with you?” he asked, still sounding like he was talking from the other side of a tunnel.
“I hate closed-in spaces,” I mumbled, realizing just as blackness pulled me under that this was another thing he didn’t know about me.
Maybe we really never had known each other at all.
4.
November 2010