Chapter 15

Author: Angela Pike

 

 

Hearing Lee’s declaration, Amanda jabbed the elevator button and was
relieved it arrived so quickly. Lee being the gentleman he was
allowed her to proceed into the elevator first. They were the only
ones on the elevator and neither of them minded the privacy. He
pushed the button for the sixth floor and leaned over to kiss
Amanda. Just as his lips were about to touch hers, a voice broke the
silence and a hand prevented the elevator door from closing. "Hold
the elevator" came the familiar voice of….

 

Dotty West and Captain Kurt hand-in-hand hurried to the reach the elevator. “Oh thank goodness,” declared Dotty slightly out of breath trying to get to the elevator before the door shut.  As soon as they entered Lee and Amanda hastily separated and gave each other a look. 

 

“Why Amanda!  What on Earth are you doing in the elevator?  Are you going to the sixth floor, too?”

 

Lee and Amanda looked at each other with big eyes.  With quick thoughts Lee said, “Oh some people before us pushed the button and realized they forgot something and told us to go ahead with out them.”  Amanda smiled at her husband’s quick wits.  They were really getting good at making up stories at Dotty’s expense.  “I’m going to the seventh floor.”

 

Dotty looked puzzled at his choice.  Lee had his hands in his pocket and replied without being asked, “My uncle from out of town is staying on that floor.  I figured I’d have a night cap with him to start off the New Year.”

 

“And what about you dear?  What floor are you going to?” Dotty questioned.

 

“The eighth floor.” Amanda said without much thought.

 

Dotty squinted her eyes at her daughter.  Amanda hastily came up with an excuse, “A friend of mine from college is staying on that floor and she asked me to ring in the New Year with her and some friends.”

 

“Do I know her? What’s her name?”

 

Amanda had to think fast on her toes.  “Uh, no mother.  You don’t know her.  Her name is Leslie and we were only friends at college, not outside of school.”

 

‘Leslie?’ Lee mouthed to his wife.

 

Amanda shrugged like she that was the only name she could think of. 

 

“Oh, I see,” she said.  “Are there going to be any ‘male’ friends such as Mr. Stetson there?” she asked curiously.

 

Amanda blushed, “Perhaps, mother, perhaps.”

 

As the two women were talking, the elevator approached the sixth floor.  The doors opened.  “Well, this is our stop Dotty.  After you…” Captain Kurt said putting his hand in the small of her back and guiding her out of the elevator

 

Dotty stepped out of the elevator and turned around. “Happy New Year, Amanda!  Don’t do what I wouldn’t do!” she said with a wink as she took Captain Kurt’s arm and they headed down the hallway.  Amanda rolled her eyes at her mother’s comment not wanting to think what she and Captain Kurt would be doing soon.

 

Lee and Amanda waited until the doors completely closed before they ran into each other’s arms.  Lee was getting restless and gave his wife a passionate kiss.  Then he pulled back just a bit and held her close.  “Why do these things ALWAYS happen to us?” 

 

Amanda shook her head lying on her husband’s chest.  She looked into his smoldering eyes. “I don’t know but let’s both get off on the next floor and use the stairs.  It has to be getting awfully close to midnight now.”

 

Lee nodded as the elevator doors opened.  Hand-in-hand they stuck their heads out of the elevator to make sure the coast was clear.  They looked both ways and nodded in agreement that the coast was clear.  They rushed over to the door that said ‘stairs’.

 

As they began their decent down the stairs, Lee abruptly stopped almost causing Amanda to trip in her heels.  He turned and put a finger up to his mouth indicating that they should be quiet. A second later they fell silent and Amanda heard what Lee heard, footsteps and voices coming from the stairwell.

 

From above Amanda heard voices.

 

“Dean, why are we heading down the stairs? It was so beautiful up on the roof!” whined his girlfriend Emma.

 

“I know, honey, but I forgot something ‘very’ important in our room.”

 

“It couldn’t be ‘that’ important could it?” she asked.

 

They stopped.  Dean took Emma’s hand in his.  “Yes, it’s VERY important.  I want to do this right.  It has to be done at midnight.”

 

The sincerity and seriousness of Dean’s response softened her demeanor.  He wrapped his arms around her and looked deeply into her blue sapphire eyes.  She smiled as he leaned down and gave her a short, sweet kiss. “Okay then, let’s go,” she said grabbing his hand leading the way back down the stairs towards the sixth floor. 

 

From below Lee heard a different voices.

 

“Dwight, why did we have to go up the stairs?”

 

“Because,” spoke the man blowing out smoke from his cigarette.  “We can’t have anyone see us go up to your room, now can we?”

 

Elisa sighed.  “I guess not.  But I’m not use to climbing five flights of stairs. How do you do it?  Especially the way you smoke.”

 

He took another puff of his cigarette.  “Why my dear, my breathing has gotten ‘better’ since I started smoking?” he said with his trademark smirky smile.

 

Elisa laughed at him.  “Oh you do amuse, me Austin.  Let’s go up to my room so you can ‘entertain’ me some more,” she said with a purr to her voice. 

 

Austin lifted an eyebrow and continued puffing on his cigarette.  “After you me dear,” he said following the slow leading Elisa.

 

“Lee did you hear that?” whispered Amanda alarmed.  Lee shock his head because of what he heard and the situation they were in.  “Dean and his girlfriend are on their way to the sixth floor coming down the stairs!”

 

“Well, you’ll never ‘believe’ who is coming up the stairs with Elisa.”

 

“Who?”

 

Both sets of steps were getting louder the closer they approached.  “I’ll tell you later.  Right now we have to figure out what we are going to do.”  Amanda nodded. 

 

“Hurry, Dean it’s two minutes until midnight,” hollered Emma from above.

 

“Oh my, it’s getting close to midnight, Austin I guess we better hurry,” spoke Elisa from right below.

 

Amanda looked up while Lee looked down, pretty much stuck between a rock and hard place.

 

Next………………