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When Sady got home that evening she talked with the security guard at the front desk. He nodded, then Sady went to Amanda's apartment. Amanda opened on the first knock.
“Is it finally here?” Sady nodded and Amanda said, “Good, I can't wait to see the look on Stubble's face. Is he home? Then what are we waiting for?” She grabbed Sady by the arm and shamed the security guard into putting their item in the elevator.
“You'll have to do the rest yourselves,” he warned them. “I can't leave the lobby area.”
“Thanks, you won't regret this,” Amanda assured him. She hit the button for the tenth floor, ignoring the doubt on his face. The elevator rose slowly, then stopped.
“No... not again,” Sady moaned.
“Another reason for living on the ground floor,” Amanda said cheerfully. She looked at Sady, “What's wrong with you?”
Sady closed her eyes and practiced breathing exercises. Amanda grabbed the phone. “We have an emergency and tell that crew they'd better be bustin' their asses. I think there's a lady having a heart attack and they need to get this thing moving yesterday. Are you deaf? Then hop to it. I don't want to be on this elevator with a dead woman.” She hung up the phone and smiled at Sady's astonished face.
“It's like going to the emergency room. When they ask what your pain is on a scale of one to ten, it's always ten. Otherwise, they leave you in the ignore chair or stick you behind mystery curtain number one while they take care of everyone else.”
Less than five minutes later the elevator moved them up to the tenth floor. “See what I mean?” Amanda asked. “Now how long do you suppose it would take them if they didn't think it was an emergency? In my book an emergency is having to pee or missing a rerun of Law and Order with Jesse L. Martin.”
Amanda helped Sady get the large item out of the elevator. They dragged it down the hall and Sady looked back, biting her lip. “Do you think those marks on the carpet are permanent?”
Amanda peered around her and flapped her hand. “Probably. But it won't be our butts on the line. The marks lead right to Stubbles.” She pounded on Matt's door and yelled, “Hey, open up.”
Matt's voice came through his closed door. “If that's you, Amanda, I want to know what you're doing here before I open this door.”
“We have a present for you, dummy. Now open the door,” she demanded.
“We?”
“Yeah, me and Sady. Now are you going to open or do we need to leave this thing riding in the elevator with a free sign on it?”
He barely unlocked when Amanda twisted the handle and shoved the door open, yelling, “We brought Mama home!” Matt looked aghast at the hospital chair Amanda and Sady shoved into his apartment.
“You shouldn't have. You really shouldn't have,” he said.
“We know. That's why we did it,” Sady told him with a snicker. “We had it cleaned just for you.”
Matt pinned her with his eyes. “It's funny Amanda mentioned signs. Did anyone tell you about the one on the back bumper of my car?”
Sady tried looking innocent and Amanda nudged her, “Nice! Hope you made it good.”
“Oh, she did.” Matt handed Amanda the sticker Sady had put on his car. It read HONK IF YOU LIKE GIRLY MEN. HONK TWICE IF YOU WANT MY NUMBER.
Amanda doubled over with laughter. “She pinned the tail on your donkey. Just for that you get to buy us a pizza. And I have to use your bathroom.” Amanda didn't ask, she headed straight to the bathroom.
Matt pulled Sady in and shut the door behind her. “So, you think I'm a girly man?” he asked in a low voice, backing her against the wall.
Sady gave him a guarded look. “It was a just a joke.”
“And that's why I'm smiling. Maybe this will help the next time you make a sign,” he said in her ear. Then he raised the room temperature to boiling when he traced his mouth along her jaw, hovering at her lips for a second before covering her mouth with his. There was nothing girly about his kiss. Sady grabbed him to keep from melting down the wall.
Amanda interrupted. With her hands rested he on her hips she yelled, “Oh, no! No dessert, you two. We haven't even had pizza yet. Get busy dialing, Stubbles. You have two hungry women on your hands.”
Matt felt Sady shaking with laughter. He reluctantly released her and ordered the pizza. Sady was while they ate, letting Amanda carry the conversation. When Amanda rose to leave Sady followed her to the door. “You’re not staying for dessert?” she asked Sady, who shook her head with a smile.
Amanda leaned back to yell, “Hey Stubbles, how do you feel about Chocolate Kisses?” Matt made a gesture and Sady shoved her out the door. Amanda said, “I was just checking. How am I gonna know unless I ask?” She continued mumbling as she walked to the elevator.
“Sady,” Matt yelled down the hall. Both women stopped and looked back.
Matt bugged his eyes at Amanda and she said, “Don’t blame the slow elevator service on me. If you think I’m taking the stairs, you’d better have 911 waiting on the next floor down. And there had better be some fine-looking paramedics to resuscitate me.”
“Never mind,” Matt said. Turning to Sady he asked, “Do you want a ride to work in the morning?”
“No thanks. I’m picking up Harry. We have an appointment in the morning.” Sady entered her apartment and shut her door while Amanda waited for the elevator.
She shook her head at Matt. “Even I saw that one rolling down the gutter for a big fat zero. You’d better pick up your game. Let me know if you need any pointers.” The elevator doors opened and Amanda disappeared. Matt’s door closed with a slam.