"This can not be happening," Chinita muttered to herself. "Now what do we do?"
"Well, they put these phones here inside of these elevators for emergencies. I'm sure emergencies include it being stuck," Christel said opening the door in the operation panel that held the phone. Christel picked up the phone.
"Hello?"
"Building maintenance, how may I help you?"
"We're trapped in an elevator," Christel said.
"How many people are in there with you?" he asked.
"Well there's two of us," she replied.
"Ok look on the operation panel, that's the panel with all the buttons on it, and read the elevator number off to me please," said the maintenance worker.
"Uuhh. . . ok it's 301," Christel replied.
"And where are you stuck?" the maintenance worker asked.
"Between the lobby and the parking garage. . . I think," she said.
"Ok, give me about ten minutes to try a few things and if you're not moving by then call me back and I'll send someone down there. By the way my name's Josh," he said.
"Ok Josh I'm Christel. Is it really going to take ten minutes?" she asked.
"Yeah about ten minutes," he said.
"Ok," she muttered before hanging up. Christel turned to Chinita who was looking at her expectantly.
"We have to wait ten minutes and if we're not moving by then we have to call Josh back and he'll send someone down here to us," she told her.
"So, that means we have to sit in this thing for ten minute?" Chinita asked.
"Yeah pretty much." Christel leaned against one wall and Chinita leaned against the other facing her. Christel reached into her purse and pulled out her cell phone.
"You'll never get a signal in here," Chinita warned.
"We'll see about that," Christel replied turning her back toward her. She punched in Kevin's cell phone number and waited only a second as she heard the other line ring.
"Hello?" he said.
"Hi Kev," she replied smiling with satisfaction at Chinita who rolled her eyes.
"Hey babe, where are you? Did something happen?" he asked.
"No, I'm here. . . in the building," she replied.
"Ok where?"
"Well. . . I'm stuck in the elevator."
"Really? You can't be serious!! Are you ok?"
"Oh I'm peachy. So is my elevator mate."
"Ok I know sarcasm when I hear it. What's going on? Who is your elevator mate?"
"Guess." Kevin got silent for a moment.
"Why don't you just tell him that it's me," Chinita said snidely. Christel shot her a dirty look and waited till Kevin figured it out.
"Is it Chinita?"
"Ding ding ding!! What do we have for him Johnny?"
"And she's already put you in a nasty mood. Please don't kill each other. I would like to have someone to go to dinner with," he said.
"Oh you will. If anyone get's killed in here it won't be me," she declared. She could hear Chinita sucking her teeth behind her.
"Hey no killing in there. When will they have you outta there?" he asked.
"Well I called maintenance and he wants me to call him back in about ten minutes. He said he was going to try some things from wherever he is," she explained.
"Ok and you're sure you're ok in there?" he asked worry apparent in his voice.
"Kevin hon, stop worrying. I'm fine, I think we can be civilized for the next ten minutes. . . I mean I KNOW I can," she said. Chinita continued to glare at her back.
"Ok. . . . I'll see you when you get out, I guess," he said reluctant to hang up.
"Ok bye sweetie. And don't worry we have plenty of oxygen in here. . . I think," she retorted.
"If you're trying to make me feel better it's not working," he replied.
"I'm sorry but stop worrying yourself we're fine. . . just bored as hell and restraining ourselves from harming one another," she said.
"Alright I'll stop worrying. Bye baby and be good in there. I'll see you when you get out," he said.
"I'm not making any promises," she said as they hung up. Christel could hear Chinita making retching sounds behind her.
"Very mature. Look, if you want this to be any less painful than it is now, I suggest you cut it out," Christel warned her.
"Whatever," Chinita huffed. They stood there silently for what felt like several agonizing hours. What felt like hours to them only amounted to about seven minutes.
"Has it been ten minutes yet?" Chinita asked. Christel took a look at her watch.
"No," she replied.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah I'm sure. I know how to tell time Chinita."
"I think it's been ten minutes by now."
"Look for yourself," Christel said thrusting her wrist in Chinita's face.
"Maybe your watch is slow," she replied. Christel let out a frustrated sigh.
"Look, it's only been about seven minutes since I called maintenance and my watch isn't slow, ok," she said.
"Well seven minutes. . . ten minutes what's the difference?" she asked.
"About three minutes," she said leaning her head against the wall.
"Anyway you look at it we're not moving. Why don't you just call him now?" she said.
"Why don't you call him. You're the one that's about to jump out of your skin. I'm perfectly fine waiting another three minutes," Christel said losing some of her patience.
"Ok I will call him," she said snatching the phone out of the operation panel.
"Building maintenance," he said.
"Yeah this is one of the women trapped in the elevator and we're still trapped here," she said.
"It hasn't moved at all?" he asked.
"No, not one inch," she replied.
"Ok I'm sending someone right away," he said.
"Good thanks," she said shooting a smug glance toward Christel.
"He said he was sending someone right away," she said her voice oozing with satisfaction. Christel decided to keep further comments to herself. They stood in the elevator waiting for their rescue party to arrive when Christel asked,
"Why are you here?"
"Excuse me?" Chinita replied.
"What are you doing here? I'm meeting Kevin for dinner, if Ohniece were here I'd assume she was meeting Nick but I don't know why you're here," she explained.
"What difference does it make to you?" Chinita asked.
"Just wondering. . ."
"I'm meeting AJ and we're going to have wild passionate sex in one of the conference rooms just for the hell of it," she said dryly.
"Very funny. You don't have to get smart, I was just wondering. If you didn't want to tell me all you had to do was say so," she replied shooting daggers in Chinita's direction.
"Why are you acting like we've been on speaking terms for the last month? I don't have to tell you anything! I don't understand why you feel you need to know everything! What I do is none of your business. What AJ does is none of your business and whatever we do together is none of your business. But for some reason you have taken it upon yourself to make it your business. Why? What the hell is your problem exactly?"
"I don't have a problem. I should be asking you that."
"Me? I'm not the one that's been throwing all this animosity around. If anything I've been simply throwing it right back where it's been coming from," she said looking at Christel pointedly.
"Oh and just what is that supposed to mean?" Christel asked.
"It means. . . that you're the one that started all the arguments we've had and now suddenly you wanna play nice and be all buddy-buddy again."
"Who's playing buddy-buddy? I'm just being civilized since we're stuck in here together! I mean there are many places I would rather be than in here with you. . . namely at dinner with Kevin," she fairly yelled.
"You think I want to be stuck in here with you?? I have much more important things to do than playing silly games with you."
"Silly games? You're the one who started this whole thing!!! I was just asking you a simply freakin' question! All you had to do was either answer it or not but nnooo you had to go off on a tangent and start accusing me of having a problem when clearly you're the one with the problem!!!"
"If I'm the one with the problem. . . tell me why are you mad at me?"
"What? Now you're asking stupid questions. . . you know damn well why I'm angry with you, Chinita. Don't play stupid."
"If I honestly knew why you're angry with me you think I'd be stupid enough to come out and ask you?" Chinita asked. Christel looked at her for a moment.
"Let me get this straight. All the arguments we had, all the insults I hurled at you, and the names I called you didn't give you a clue as to why I'm angry with you? Damn Chinita, you're stupider than I thought."
"What are you talking about? How the hell am I supposed to know why you're mad at me? I don't read minds, Christel. It's not like you told me why you're mad at me. So how am I supposed to know?" she asked. Christel felt infuriated. Slowly I turn. . ., she thought.
"I thought I made it painfully obvious why I'm mad at you," Christel said.
"Well you didn't," Chinita retorted.
Just as Christel was about to enlighten her they heard someone tapping on the trapdoor at the top of the elevator.
******
Kevin began to pace the lobby. Since Christel was trapped in the elevator he was trapped in the lobby and bored out of his mind. He was sure the guys had all left, so he really had no choice but to wait for her.
He paced back toward the group of elevators to see if there was any activity. One of the elevator doors opened and he waited apprehensively to see if Christel would emerge. When Howie stepped out of the elevator Kevin retorted,
"Oh it's just you."
"It's nice to see you again too," Howie said.
"It's not like that, Howie. Christel is trapped in one of the elevators and I'm just anxious to see her," he replied.
"Is she ok?"
"Yeah she says she's fine. The elevator got stuck coming up from the parking garage. What are you doing still here?"
"Well I was supposed to meet Chinita here to talk about a possible business deal for her and her store but she hasn't shown up yet." Kevin smirked.
"You won't believe this but Chinita is trapped in the elevator with Christel."
"Oh no. They haven't harmed each other have they?"
"No. . . at least I don't think they have, yet. When I talked to Christel she said that she would be civil. . . but that was like fifteen minutes ago."
"I'll call Chinita's cell phone," Howie said. He pulled out his cell and dialed but got nothing.
"Either it's off or I can't get a signal on her phone," he said. "Why don't you call Christel and ask her to give the phone to Chinita."
"You can't be serious. Why don't you call her and ask her to give the phone to Chinita," he said.
"I doubt she would listen to me," Howie stated.
"What makes you think she would listen to me? You know as well as anyone just how Christel feels about Chinita right now. I seriously doubt she'd be willing to let Chinita use her phone," Kevin told him.
"It's worth a try. I'll ask if I have to. What's her number?" Howie declared.
******
"Hey is everyone ok in there?"
"Yeah we're fine," Christel replied.
"I'll have you out of there as soon as I can," he said.
"How long is that going to take?" Chinita asked.
"Uumm it should take maybe twenty minutes at the least," he said
"And at the most?" Christel asked.
"Uuhh I don't think you really want to know," he replied.
"Great," Christel muttered. Just then her cell phone rang. She dug through her purse to answer it.
"Hello?"
"Hey Christel, this is Howie. I'm in the lobby with Kevin and he told me that you were trapped in the elevator. . . with Chinita and I was supposed to meet her about something. I tried calling her cell phone but I couldn't get an answer. So. . . I was wondering if I could talk to her on your phone," he said in a huff.
"Howie, may I speak to Kevin please," she said in her sweetest voice.
"Uhh sure ok," he replied. Howie handed Kevin the phone.
"Hey baby is everything ok?" Kevin asked moving away from Howie. He didn't think Howie needed to witness the exchange he was about to have with her.
"No it's not. Is Howie completely brain dead? I'm not letting her use my phone. What made him think I would?"
"Christel, he said it was important and that he was supposed to meet her on business. He tried to call her cell but-" he started.
"I know the story, Kevin," she interrupted him. "I just want to know what makes him think I'm actually going to let her use my phone. What did you tell him?"
"I didn't tell him anything. In fact, I told him that you wouldn't let her use the phone. He wanted me to ask you at first until I told him that, then he decided to ask himself," he explained. Christel let out an exasperated sigh.
"Fine give him the phone back," she said.
"Ok honey, don't bite his ear off," he warned.
"I won't," she said. Kevin handed Howie his phone back.
"I understand if you won't let me speak to her. I mean I know things between you and her-" he started.
"Howie shut up and listen to me, please. I will let her use the phone but I want you to know that you owe me big time for this," she told him.
"Oh ok thank you Christel." She turned to Chinita and said,
"Look, I have Howie on the phone here and he wants to talk to you." She held out the phone to her. Just as Chinita was about to reach for it she snatched it back and warned,
"Don't stay on here too long and use up all my minutes." Chinita rolled her eyes and snatched the phone from her.
"Hello Howie, I'm sorry about our meeting but I'm sure you heard that I'm stuck in an elevator," she said turning her back on Christel.
"Yeah Kevin told me. I guess we can do it some other time. I tried to call you on your cell phone but I couldn't get a signal or anything," he said.
"Well apparently my phone doesn't work as well as Christel's does. We'll definitely have to reschedule because I don't know when I'll be getting out of here," she told him.
"Ok just tell me when and where and I'm there," he said.
"Oh I'll be sure to do that," she said. Then, "Howie I'll call you when I get out of here. We can go more into detail then. Right now I wouldn't dare. . . I don't want to use up all of Her Majesty's minutes."
"Oh ok. . . . I'll talk to you later," he said.
"Bye."
"Bye." Howie hung up and turned to Kevin with a strange gleam in his eye.
"What's with the look?" Kevin asked.
"Well if Christel wasn't thinking about killing Chinita a minute ago she may be entertaining the thought now," he replied.
"What do you mean?" Kevin asked.
"Well when we were talking she said something about using up �Her Majesty's' minutes. I think that was directed toward Christel."
"Oh. . . I see what you mean. If they do make it out in one piece I know I'm going to hear about this all throughout dinner. Thanks a lot Howie."
"Hey don't blame me."
******
"What was that supposed to mean?" Christel asked snatching her phone out of her grasp.
"What do you think? And don't snatch anything from me," she said snatching the phone back from her. Christel looked at her like she had grown two heads and sprouted horns.
"It's my phone I'll snatch it from whomever I please," she said seizing it from her again.
"Not from me you won't," Chinita said before wrenching the phone out of her grasp. Christel nabbed the phone again and shoved her away from her. Chinita stared at her for a moment before shoving her back hard enough to make her almost lose her balance. Christel placed her cell phone back in her purse and set it on the floor before shoving Chinita hard into the opposite wall. Chinita dropped her bag on the floor and shoved Christel back just as hard.
"Stop this! Look I am not going to fight with you! This is ridiculous! I'm not going to stoop to your level," Christel said picking her purse up from the floor.
"Uuummm. . . is everything alright in there?" asked the maintenance man working on the elevator.
"Oh everything is fine," Chinita said to the maintenance man. Then to Christel, "My level? You shoved me first."
"You snatched my phone from me."
"Only because you snatched it first."
"No, I didn't. You snatched it first when I told you that Howie was on the phone."
"I did not."
"You did. . . look this is sooo stupid we can be adult about this. If you want me to tell you. . . in no uncertain terms why I'm mad at you, I will," Christel said.
"That would be nice actually," Chinita stated crossing her arms over her chest. Christel let out a frustrated sigh and fixed her gaze on the operation panel.
"I am mad at you because. . . one you went off to Sweden to comfort my ex-boyfriend and didn't even tell me you were going or asked if I thought you should go or anything," Christel said.
"Since when do I have to ask for your permission to do anything? As I remember you weren't answering your phone. So how could I call you?" Chinita asked.
"Oh please that's such a poor excuse. I have e-mail, voice mail, and a cell phone. Dammit Chinita you could have written me a letter and taped it to my front door. So don't stand there and tell me that you couldn't get in touch with me," she said.
"In any case, I don't think I had to tell you that I was going to Sweden. It was none of your business," she told her.
"God you are so thickheaded! It's not that you went to Sweden it's why you went. Think about it Chinita. You're supposed to be my best friend but you were totally set against me from the moment I told you that I slept with Kevin. . . and on top of that you sided with AJ."
"You know how I felt about you and Kevin sleeping together almost immediately after you broke up with AJ. I told you that I thought that was completely wrong."
"Ok but what AJ did was any better? You know that chick I saw him in the club with wasn't the first either. AJ had cheated on me before her and I gave him a second chance then. The thing with me and Kevin was totally spontaneous, I wasn't doing it to get back at AJ. It just happened. I can't help it if it was amazing."
"Spare me the details," Chinita said.
"I noticed at my house when you told AJ to call you if he needed someone to talk to but I didn't say anything," Christel went on.
"Yeah and he did call me. Look, he's my friend too. I couldn't just desert him and my intention wasn't to take sides at all. But the way you just fell into your new position as Kevin's girlfriend made me upset. You didn't even look back at AJ. You two were together for a whole fucking year and you just moved on within the same hour that you had broke up with him," Chinita explained.
"AJ called you and you went running off to Sweden to console his poor wittle broken heart," she said.
"Well you had someone to console yours didn't you? AJ called me shortly after they got to Sweden. He was upset and needed someone to talk to. He was in an environment where his closest friends weren't even really talking to him. Kevin was definitely set against him, so was Brian, Howie and Nick were keeping out of it. So who else could he turn to? That's when he started calling me and he would tell me everything that was going on then he asked me to come out there so he wouldn't be alone," she stated.
"And I bet you couldn't go fast enough," she interjected.
"No, I didn't want to go at first. I told him that I didn't want to go but he insisted. He was miserable and I thought that maybe he could benefit from me coming out there. I was just trying to be a friend," she said. Christel didn't say anything for a minute. She needed a moment to let everything sink in.
"I could have sworn I said all this before," Chinita muttered. "Why do I have the feeling that you're not telling me everything. Why don't you just tell me exactly what this is all about."
Christel felt trapped. She couldn't tell her that she knew she was having feelings for AJ. That would just get Ohniece into more trouble than she was already where Chinita was concerned. She had to think of something and she had to think fast.
"Well?" Chinita prodded.
"Ok. . . ok I know about you and AJ," she said throwing caution to the wind.
"What are you talking about?" she asked wary.
"I know you have feelings for. . . AJ." Chinita looked stunned for a moment before she masked her expression with a look of nonchalance.
"I don't know what you're talking about. Where in the world did you get that from?"
"Oh come on, Chinita. Ohniece told me that you have feelings for AJ. I know she wasn't supposed to tell me but she did. . . only to get my attention."
"Ok so what if I did have feelings for him. I don't have them anymore."
"Why are you lying?"
"I'm not lying. What makes you think I'm lying?"
"Well I've known you for a while now and I can tell when you're lying."
"Whatever. Well this time I'm not lying."
"Yes you are. Why can't you just tell me if you do or don't."
"That's what's been bothering you all this time?" Chinita asked.
"No, not exactly. It's been bothering me since Ohniece told me right before we came back home. Before I was just upset that you went off to Sweden without breathing a word of it to me," she said.
"Is that all?" she asked looking at her pointedly.
"No. . . I felt. . . betrayed. . . that sounds so corny."
"You felt betrayed? Is that why you acted like a total bitch towards me over there?"
"Well I was angry, how did you expect me to act? I was angry and hurt." They stood silently for awhile. Neither knowing exactly what to say next.
"Well?" Christel finally said.
"Well what?" Chinita asked.
"Aren't you going to apologize?" she said. Chinita laughed out loud.
"No I hadn't planned on it. Why should I apologize? You weren't exactly an angel in all of this. What about your apology?" she declared.
"Ok can we both at least admit that we were both wrong in some way here?"
"Fine. . . I guess. . . I didn't mean to hurt you or anything."
"Me neither. Well actually I did. But I do apologize for calling you a slut. . . and a ho. . . and a promiscuous two faced hussy."
"You didn't call me a promiscuous two faced hussy," Chinita said blandly.
"Oh. Well I must have thought it," Christel said. Chinita couldn't help but smile a little which seemed like a good sign.