I shuffle awkwardly on the spot. My wet, smelly clothes are really starting to make me feel uncomfortable, and every second I stand here increases the urge to retreat.
There’s no answer, so I knock again. I give it another thirty seconds, but there’s still no sign of life.
Well, that’s that then. So much for my big gesture. I guess Pete is still at the party, so I’ll have to go back downstairs. This absolutely isn’t me retreating, it’s just a short detour.
When I reach the stairwell doorway, I notice Tom through the window, almost at the top of the stairs. I don’t want to speak to him anyway, but after my big speech about coming up here to see Pete, I definitely don’t want him to see me skulking around without him.
I hurry back towards the lift. I think I’ll take my chances in that death trap, rather than face Tom right now.
I step inside the lift but, just as I’m pulling the door closed, Kat’s mum emerges from her room and gives me a wave, signalling for me to hold the lift for her. I can’t exactly ignore her, can I? We’re looking right at each other.
‘Thank you,’ she says as I hold the door for her. ‘Oh, hello Tom.’
‘Hello Susanna,’ he replies. As he turns to face her, he clocks me.
‘There you are,’ he says.
‘Here I am,’ I reply.
The three of us squash into the lift. With the room service cart that’s in here already, it’s a tight squeeze. Much to Kat’s mum’s credit, she doesn’t mention the fact that I’m soaking wet or kind of smelly.
‘I’m only going down two floors,’ she says. ‘I’m taking my mum her medication, she’s calling it a night. Are you two …?’
‘I was just looking for Luca,’ Tom says.
‘And I was just looking for Pete,’ I reply.
‘Oh, Pete,’ she says, her smile beaming. ‘Such a lovely boy.’
‘He is, isn’t he?’ I reply.
‘Well, I suppose I shouldn’t call him a boy, even though I’ve known him since he was one,’ she muses. ‘He’s a man now – a lovely man. It’s a shame his wife and kids couldn’t make it.’
‘It is,’ I reply politely. Then her words sink in. ‘What?’
‘They couldn’t make it,’ she says. ‘I don’t think it has anything to do with Lucy being pregnant, it was her stepdad’s 60th birthday, I believe.’
The lift grinds to a halt on the second floor.
‘See you both back down at the party,’ she says as she steps out.
Without a single word or a shred of emotion, I pull the door closed and press the button for the ground floor.
‘Luca,’ Tom starts softly.
‘Don’t,’ I reply. ‘Please don’t.’
‘Luca, listen.’
‘I said don’t,’ I snap angrily, right as the lift slams to a halt.
The lights flicker for a few seconds. I wait for the lift to move again, but it doesn’t, and I can tell that we’re trapped between floors because there is mostly wall in front of us, with a little bit of door at the top.
‘Oh, wonderful, brilliant, amazing,’ I rant. ‘Of course the lift gets stuck, and of course I’m stuck in here with you.’
‘Listen, don’t panic,’ Tom says soothingly. ‘It said this sort of thing happens all the time. It’s nothing to worry about.’
‘So, what do we do?’ I ask. ‘You said you saw a thing in reception saying what to do if the lift stopped.’
‘Oh,’ he says. ‘I did see that … I didn’t read it though.’
‘Wonderful, brilliant, amazing.’
I scan the buttons on the wall. ‘There’s no alarm.’
‘There’s no signal either,’ he replies, putting his phone back in his pocket.
‘Why didn’t I get changed?’ I say to myself.
‘Well, there are towels in here,’ he says as he roots through the room service cart.
‘I’ll be fine,’ I tell him. ‘Someone has to come soon.’
Ten minutes later, I glance at my watch, but it’s still frozen. It doesn’t seem like anyone is coming to our rescue.
‘We really need to get you out of those clothes,’ he says.
I shoot him a look.
‘No joking or flirting,’ he says. ‘That water can’t have been very clean.’
Tom takes two towels from the cart. He also takes a bottle of water and soaks one of the towels.
‘Use this one to clean the sludge off you, and this one to dry yourself,’ he says.
‘Is there a change of clothes in there too?’ I ask sarcastically.
Tom slips off his jacket and unbuttons his shirt.
‘Wha … what are you doing?’ I ask.
I force myself to maintain eye contact with Tom, but there’s a voice in my head telling me to look down.
‘Wear this as a dress,’ he says.
‘Thanks,’ I reply weakly.
I hover for a second, with the towels in my hands.
‘Oh, I’ll turn around,’ he says.
Not only does Tom turn around, but he makes an effort to cover his eyes with his hands too.
‘Thank God there are no mirrors in here,’ he says with an awkward laugh. ‘Let me know when you’re done.’
I clean and dry myself as best I can with the tools I’ve been given. I immediately feel better for taking my dress off, and even better for wiping my skin clean.
‘Is there any moisturiser in there?’ I ask.
‘Yeah,’ Tom says.
As he goes to grab me some he opens his eyes and inadvertently glances over at me. My modestly is just about protected with the towel I’m holding up in front of me, but I wrap it round me tighter while I wait for the moisturiser. Tom passes me it and covers his eyes again. I slather myself is as much as possible, not because the pond has made my skin dry, but because I can smell it on my skin still.
When I’m done, I put on Tom’s shirt. Buttoned up, it’s not unlike a shirt dress I already own, except mine doesn’t smell this good. This one smells amazing, like Tom’s aftershave. I take a big whiff of the collar before telling Tom it’s safe to turn around.
‘So, do you want to talk about it?’ he asks me.
‘About what?’
‘Luca, come on,’ he starts. ‘We both heard what Susanna said.’
‘Tom, I appreciate the towels and I appreciate the shirt, but I don’t want to talk to you, OK?’
‘So we’re going to just wait in silence for the lift to be fixed then?’
‘Yep,’ I reply.
Tom laughs at me like I’m ridiculous.
‘OK, fine,’ he says. ‘If that’s the way you want it to be.’
‘It is,’ I reply.
I just hope someone comes to help us soon, because I’m not sure how long I can hack it in here.