Justin's Perspective
"Well, shit."
The door didn't listen.
I tried the knob again, the sweat from my hand slippery against the metal. Still nothing.
"SHIT." I said, louder. Maybe the door hadn't heard me before.
I tried a third time, before accepting the truth: I was locked out. The air was stale and thick and hot in this hallway, the AC was on in my apartment, I was a sweaty mess after an ill-advised late afternoon run, and I was locked out.
My key had been in my pocket when I left, but it wasn't there anymore; it was probably lying in the dirt of a path in the park somewhere, to be discovered someday by an archaeologist or a crazed apartment hunter. Whether that happened next Tuesday or a thousand years from now, it did me the same amount of good. And what made things worse was that my roommate Paul was away for the weekend, at a cousin's wedding. Dmitry, the super, was never around the building on weekends, let alone holiday weekends like this one; he'd only be available by phone or text. And of course, my phone was inside. No one had a spare key to our place, either.
I considered my options for a while, and came up with a working list:
1) see if any of the neighbours were home to call the super, or
2) die of heat exhaustion.
I went with option 1, starting with Mr. Menendez across the hall, but there was no answer there. Same at Ms. Jackson's door. That brought me to 313.
I couldn't remember either of their names; they'd moved in just a couple weeks earlier and we'd seen each other only in passing. They were our age, mid-20s. One was a teacher, this I knew. The shorter one. The taller one worked in tech? Maybe? Good looking, both of them, at least as far as I'd gathered from quick, non-put-together hellos in the hallway or on the way down to the laundromat on the corner.
I considered myself, before I knocked. I was drenched, my thin grey t-shirt clinging to my chest and stomach. My shorts and underwear were pretty soaked with sweat too; I'd been challenging myself lately, even in the heat of July. I was probably in better shape than I'd ever been, though, combining runs with two or three nights a week at the gym, and I was feeling pretty good about myself. Not that I'd turn many heads looking like this, of course. I shrugged and knocked anyway.
This door opened - it must not have gotten the memo. It was the teacher who answered.
Hannah's Perspective
The warm air of the hall hit me as I opened the door.
"Oh, hi." I said, taking in a lot: it was the guy down the hall - Justin? - and he was a mess. Sweaty as hell, his shirt soaked and clinging to... well, to a damn nice torso. Shorts looked soaked too, and he was flushed, his blonde hair matted against his head. He looked miserable and hot - in both senses of the word, if I was being honest.
"Hey, I'm... I'm Justin, down the hall?" I nodded, for lack of a better response. "I'm locked out. Any chance you could text the super for me?"
"Oh no! Sure - do you want to come in? It's brutal out there."
"You sure? I'm going to drip all over the floor."
"It's fine, come on in. Hey Lisa?" I called to my roommate. Lisa was wearing around-the-house wear - yoga pants, no bra, which meant those gravity-defying boobs I secretly envied were on display, nipples poking through her thin spaghetti-strap top. I was continually envious of her striking looks: her sharp features, big wide eyes, jet black hair, a tight but curvy body, like an anime girl come to life. She turned heads.
"Justin from down the hall is locked out," I started, "and needs us to text the super. Is your phone handy?" Lisa said yes and went back to grab her phone while I motioned for Justin to step inside. "Do you want a drink or something?" He looked at the water bottle in his hand, but said yes - I assume it was empty.
"Water would be great, thanks." He replied. I went to the cupboard to grab a glass. I was short, about 5'2", and the glasses were on the second shelf so I always had to strain a bit. I was very conscious of my shirt riding up, and my gym shorts - could he see my panties? I idly panicked - as I stretched up to grab a glass. I turned with one in my hand, my ponytail whipping around, and maybe saw his head turn toward the wall. Had he been checking me out? Nah. I filled the glass from the filter in the fridge and handed it to him. He drained it.
As he drank, I gave myself a moment to look him over. He was tall - 6'2", maybe. I liked tall. His shirt was plastered to him, and I could make out a broad, muscular chest and maybe even a six pack. He wasn't bulky, exactly, but powerful, and his arms were big enough to get me thinking about them around me. Strong legs, and though he was facing me I could tell he had an ass I could appreciate.
I realized he was finished with the glass, and was looking at me as I stared. It had
really
been too long, if I was dreaming on a guy who was about to pass out from heatstroke.
"Thanks, that was really necessary." If he noticed me staring, it didn't show. I took the glass back to set it down and felt the sweat on his hand as I did. He really was a mess. Had he been jogging? It was 35 degrees out there, as Toronto was three days into a July heat wave.
"Did you really go for a run in this weather?" I asked incredulously.
"Yeah, in retrospect not a great move. But it had been a while, and I'm trying to train up, so... here's what five km in a heat wave will do to you." H peeled the hem of his sweaty shirt back from the skin of his stomach for a moment, and looked down, the released it.
Lisa came back in with a report. "Dmitry says he's out of town for the night, but he's calling the locksmith - not sure he'll be able to get him out past 5 on a holiday, though."
"Great. Either of you know how to pick a lock?" Justin joked. Lisa and I looked at each other, and sort of silently agreed: we couldn't send him back out there. "Thanks for the water," he said. "I'm going to... dunno. Go somewhere? I've made your place enough of a mess already though." He started toward the door.