Emily pulled her black suede jacket around her tightly and pushed the elevator button. "Damn air conditioning... it's freezing in here!" she moaned, shivering as a small chill went up her back. A few seconds later the elevator bell dinged and Emily stepped inside. The button next to "Lobby" lit up as her finger touched it, and she leaned back against the soft cream velvet that lined the walls. 26, 25, 24, 23... the floors went by slowly, and then stopped at 20. The doors opened, and when the new passenger stepped in, a small sound of surprise echoed through the elevator. "Emily, where are you from?" "Atlanta. I know, I sound like a hick compared to all these other people." "You do not!" "I do too! Oh no, you wanna here genteel southern accents, I have an aunt you'd die over if you heard her." "Ok, ok, now you ask me one." "AJ, tell me truthfully how many women you've hooked up with, and..." "No! You only get one question!" "Fine, fine! Answer it, por favor." "Ok. Let's see... um, twenty in the US, and... a whole lot over in Europe equals... about sixty, I guess?" "Oh my God. Sixty? Sixty! Jesus, man, and this was all before your girlfriend?" "Yeah... a few after, too." "Oooh, you bad, bad man. Whatever, it's your turn... go."
����� Emily's heart thumped as the man stepped up next to her. "You goin' out tonight?" he asked her, trying to be friendly. Emily swallowed and shakily replied,"Yeah. Me and my friends heard the Keys had a lot of clubs, so we're just checkin' to see if it's the truth or not." The man smiled. "Well, in five minutes you'll know, huh?" And just as this was said, the lights in the elevator went out, and the lift came to a sudden, jerking halt.
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"This is my luck," sighed Emily. "I was going to have fun tonight, and instead I get stuck in an elevator... with a Backstreet Boy. No offence or anything, AJ." The man sat down against the wall and lit a lighter. "You say that like it's a bad thing. And if you know my name you gotta tell me yours." The dim light from the small flame bounced all around the elevator, and AJ saw Emily slide onto the floor also. "Ok," she breathed, settling down and digging into her purse, "Lemme get this..." she said, and pulled out a handful of tiny mouth glo-sticks. "I was saving all of these for the clubs, but we might as well use 'em now, since you can't keep that lighter on forever." She cracked a blue one and popped it into her mouth. "There!" she said, blue light blinking on and off as she spoke. "You want one?" she said, and tossed a red one into AJ's lap. He followed suit and cracked it in his mouth, Emily laughing as he smiled with the red light glowing through his teeth. "Better than nothing," she grinned. AJ 'yep'-ed his reply, then asked her her name again. "Emily," she said, and smiled.
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"How long has it been now?" Emily asked and took off her jacket. "15 minutes," came the reply. She sighed and put her legs Indian style. "Ok, I'm so bored I'm about to cry," she said. AJ lifted his head from his knees and looked at her. "You know what, we should play the 'get-to-know-your-neighbor' game, like they play in kindergarten and stuff to get the kids talking," he said. The blue light on the other side winked on as Emily smiled in agreement. "Sounds like fun... you start," she said, and leaned her head against the wall.