The skyline was shadowed as the night sky fell, clouds swirling in the distance as a late summer storm rolled in. Weather reports said this could be catastrophic, as Tampa Bay was still recovering from Hurricane Milton. I hurried home from work, hoping to be safe and sound in my bed by the time it hit.
The elevator dinged as it reached the first floor of my building, and I stepped inside. The doors almost closed as a man in a form-fitting suit ran in, dripping wet. He yelled for me to hold the door, and without thinking I stuck my arm out, trying to stop it from closing on him.
The door swung back open, and he stepped in, nodding at me before hitting the button for the floor just below mine. Without saying anything, leaned against the railing and slid his phone out of his pocket, mumbling about how pissed he was that his suit was ruined.
I rolled my eyes and focused on my phone as the elevator began to move. The building was 70 floors tall, and the elevator moved extremely slowly, especially after the hurricane. The floors slowly went up as I got a notification on my phone: "Severe Storm Warning is in effect for Tampa Bay, so take shelter immediately."
Just as the notification came in, the elevator came to a screeching halt, sending my phone to the floor as I tried to hold myself upright. Next to me, the man in the suit was not as prepared and shouted as his knees gave out, falling to the floor.
Once the elevator was steady, I reached my hand out to him. "What the fuck just happened."
He took my hand, standing slowly as the power flickered off, leaving us in darkness for a split second before the emergency lights flickered off.
"I have no fucking idea," he muttered, running a hand through his head. "I will say though, I need to get out of this fucking elevator ASAP. This is an absolute nightmare."
I nodded in agreement, looking back down at my phone. "Power has to come back on soon, it has too. I mean it lasted so long during the hurricane, it should be able to handle a little storm, right?"
He shook his head. "We could be stuck here for literal hours."
I closed my eyes, letting my back slide down the wall as I sat on the floor, my dress riding up my thighs as I did so, leaving little to the imagination.
The man across from me cleared his throat slightly, as he sat down next to me. "Well, since we may be here for a while, my name is Greysons, you?"
I opened my eyes, looking at him. "Alexis, but everyone calls me Lexi."
"Well then Lexi," he began. "Where do you work?"
I thought about the question for a moment, debating whether or not I should tell him the real answer. Who knew if we would come out of this night alive, or if we would ever see each after this?
"I manage a few of the strip clubs around the state."
He chuckled a moment before his face fell. "Oh you're serious aren't you?"
I smiled lightly, nodding my head. "Yeah, most people don't typically hear strip club manager and think woman. What do you do?"
"I am currently out of a job in all honesty. I was a pilot, but with all the hurricane damage, the airport had to lay off some employees to make budget cuts. And I was one of the lucky few."
"Very different career paths," I whispered, as I adjusted myself, my knee brushing against his.
We sat in silence for a few minutes, listening as the wind whistled outside. The elevator suddenly jolted down a bit, sending my body against Greyson's. He snaked his right arm around my body, pulling me to him as the elevator came to a stop, using his other arm to grip the handrail, steadying us.
I breathed heavily, leaning against him unconsciously. "Holy shit. Holy fucking shit," I whispered. "We are so going to die in here."
Keeping his arm around me, he shook his head. "Weren't you just the optimistic one? And we are not going to die, the elevator would have already hit rock bottom if that was going to happen, the emergency brakes are working perfectly fine."
I closed my eyes, my back pressing further into his chest despite being strangers. The position gave him a perfect angle into the top of my dress, showing the lacy white bra I had on. He stilled behind me, before moving his hand onto my thigh, stroking it softly.
"You know, if we are going to be stuck in here for a bit, we should probably do something to pass the time."
