London Rains

Damn the rain.

Was the universe conspiring to ruin her interview? Noe had had a bad hair day, got her matching heels broken and got stuck in the traffic for at least quarter of an hour, all in one day. And not just any day, today-when she had her interview for her dream job.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” The man grumbled, she’d lost count of how many times he’d done that in the last two minutes. At least she wasn’t as worked up as him.

Right, so where was she? Yeah, interview for her dream job. In her dream company. In spite of all the problems that had been thrown at her, she’d made it to the venue. But only to get stuck in the elevator, because the electricity failed thanks to the heavy rains.

Yup, the universe was totally up against her. But she was stubborn. She was going to get this job. As soon as she got out of here.

“Urgh!” The man paced across the length of the elevator, even though there wasn’t even enough space for his three complete strides. He had huge strides.

This man was stuck, and that was really pissing him off. So was she, but she wasn’t loosing her temper. Maybe a little, on him.

Standing in a corner, she watched him waste his energy over something he had no control on. He was rather flamboyantly dressed, in a floral, cream coloured velvet suit with a silk shirt underneath and polished black leather shoes. He kept running his hand through his long, dark brown hair, pulling at his roots, growing annoyed by the second. He wore several rings on his long fingers, and she noticed a cross tattoo on the back of his hand.

As she looked on, he abruptly turned about and slammed his fist against the buttons. She flinched slightly, pursing her lips. He stared accusingly at the buttons before continuing his pacing.

“Not really helping, is it?” She finally spoke after a moment.

He snapped his head towards her. His green eyes were dark with anger and as he stared at her, she felt a slight blush creeping up her cheeks. He must have gotten her message, because he stopped in his place. He started glaring straight ahead, his jaw clenched tightly and his arms crossed.

“This isn’t helping either,” He grumbled out after some moments, unfolding his arms and running a hand through his hair again. He had a nice voice, deep and raspy.

“At least you aren’t wasting your precious energy now,” And not decreasing her chances of getting out by punching the buttons.

“You don’t understand how important it is for me to get out,” He shook his head. She rolled her eyes mentally. Yeah, tell me about it.

“But we aren’t exactly in a position to help ourselves,” She said with a small, almost fake smile.

He shook his head again. “There has to be something we can do.”

He pulled out his phone. After hitting the screen furiously for a moment, he groaned, “No network in here.”

Noe shrugged. She kind of knew that was coming. Her luck wasn’t that generous. He looked at her expectantly.

“Oh,” She quickly fetched her phone from her purse and checked it. “No. Nothing.”

“This is just fucking great,” He pocketed his phone and began pacing again.

She sighed and let her head fall back against the wall. When she closed her eyes, her resume danced in her mind. Wow, was she nervous. She bit back a smile.

It wasn’t her first interview. She probably had more experience of interviews than any other applicant here. And she was also as prepared as one could be. But she was stuck here, and she was worried that she would miss her chance. Her nerves tortured her, making her fidget with her fingers and her palms sweaty. She wanted so bad to get out and be done with the interview already.

“They have bloody cameras installed,” The man’s grumbling voice made her open her eyes.

He was standing near the buttons, and for a second she was afraid he was gonna punch again. But he just stood there, with a hand on his waist, frowning at the top corner.

“You think they have some sort of emergency alarm we could set off?” He asked, inspecting the buttons closely.

“I can only hope so,” She mumbled, looking around the confined space. It was pretty blank, just three metallic walls and closed doors. “Find something there?”

“Unfortunately, no,” His hand balled into fist again where it was pressed near the buttons. Her eyes widened.

“That’s alright. No need to punch it again,” She told him quickly.

He chuckled, a bit unexpectedly for her. She noticed the dimples that appeared on his cheeks and how handsome he actually looked. He turned his gaze to her, his eyes lighter than before. “I wasn’t planning that.”

She blushed. “Oh. Yeah, uh, lets hope that there’s an automatic alarm that’s already off. That someone’s coming to help us.”

Well, someone must be coming to help them, right? They ought to know people are stuck in the lift.

His smile dropped and he glared at the doors. “It’s been long enough, hasn’t it?”

“It’s been, uh,” She checked her watch. “Seven minutes.”

He turned back towards her dramatically, his mouth in a small O, his expression disbelieving. She shrugged.

He shook his head and scanned the ceiling, then the walls. “I do feel like punching something now, really hard.”

A part of her agreed. They were the longest seven minutes of her life. She didn’t know how long they were gonna be stuck here. Her outer calm-and-collected shell was going to break soon. Anxiousness was killing her inside. So was the heat. She wished she’d opted for the white dress instead of this blouse, skirt and blazer.

The man checked his phone again and cursed it under his breath. He spun around in a slow circle, checking his surrounding again. She almost pitied him, his efforts were vain. Shaking his head, he walked to the corner next to hers and leaned against it like her.

“So we’re just gonna wait here? Until they find us? Or till we die?” His tone told her he was trying to hold back a lot of anger. His face was set hard and his eyes shot daggers at the doors. She was glad he was trying, because she didn’t want to see this man take out his wrath from up this close.

“We can’t contact them, we can’t get the lift to move from the inside. We’ll have to wait for them to do it. And I don’t think we’ll die,” She explained the situation to him like he didn’t know that already.

“Once I get out, they’re gonna regret calling me in the first place,” He mumbled, clutching his phone tightly. Someone out there was in huge trouble.

They stood there silently for some moments. Then suddenly, he threw his phone at the doors, making her gasp. The phone fell to the floor in two pieces. At least $5000 down the drain.

“Bloody fucking hell!” He started angry pacing again, she could almost see the veins on his temple. “I need to get the hell out of here!”

“So do I, mister! But don’t you see we can’t?” She snapped at him, surprising them both.

He stared at her for a moment, she thought he was gonna strangle her right then and there. But guess what? She wasn’t intimidated. She stared back stubbornly.

Taking in a deep breath, he shut his eyes tightly and shook his head. He turned his back to her and removed his jacket. He walked backwards, his back hit the wall and he tilted his head to rest it on the wall.

She tried to ignore the heat, but gave up within a minute. She tied up her hair in a loose bun, took off her jacket and sat down. Yeah, she didn’t give a damn about her skirt because her legs were aching in the pencil heels.

“Never thought I’d have to do it,” The man grumbled as he slid down against the wall to a sitting position. She wondered who he was, but didn’t care enough to ask him. They went eerily quiet for some time.

Noe was loosing it now. Maybe that’s why she asked him, “Do you have another phone that I could throw?”

He looked at her, his expression unreadable. Then a sly smile tugged up his lips. She could not understand his mood. “No. And I immensely regret breaking the only one I had.”

“I can’t take it anymore,” She groaned, her head falling backwards. He chuckled and she looked over at him. “Why are you laughing?”

“Why? Can’t I laugh?” He retorted, still smiling. She thought it looked nice on him, and something told her it wasn’t a common sight.

“No, I mean, you were seething with anger moments ago,” She told him, blushing a little under his gaze.

“Let’s say I found a pretty distraction,” He muttered, his look pointed. Holy heavens, what did he mean?

“That’s a g-good thing, I g-guess,” She stammered and looked away.

“Yeah, maybe,” His voice was not more than a whisper.

She could feel his eyes on her for a never-ending moment. She dared not turn and meet his gaze. She didn’t speak or move for the next few minutes, that is, until she felt a subtle weightlessness in her stomach.

She frowned at ceiling. Did the elevator just move? She felt it again. Yes, it was definitely moving. Downwards. She looked over at her companion, he was looking around too, his brow furrowed. Well, she needed to go up, not down, but maybe they could get out soon. She stood up and he followed suit.

Then, the lift jerked downwards. She gasped and planted one of her hands on the wall beside her and the other one wrapped around a wrist-his wrist. Their eyes met; hers held terror, his held audacity.

They waited for further movements of their cage, but it was still like before. He took her hand, freeing his wrist from her steel grip, and pulled her to the corner.

They stood side by side, listening to their ragged breaths. Her heart was beating wildly against her rib cage, her knees felt wobbly; she was a nervous scared wreck. She clutched his hand, not hesitating in all in grabbing his forearm as well.

“Relax, love,” He glanced at her. Had she not been in mortal danger, she would’ve gotten a mini heart attack at him calling her ‘love’. “I think it’s-”

There was a loud noise, like metal scrapping against metal and suddenly, they were free falling. Everything happened in a blink of an eye.

Noe yelped, almost loosing her balance. He moved unsteadily and stood close to her, as if shielding her with his body. Before she could think about it, she had her arms wrapped around his waist and her face pressed against his chest. He held her with one arm while placing the other hand on the wall to balance them.

For some horrible seconds, she was sure they were falling to their deaths. Had she lied when she told him they weren’t going to die? She was anticipating the massive bang the elevator was going to make when it crashed to the ground.

Even then, a part of her was thinking about how good his cologne smelled.

But, just as suddenly as it had started falling, the elevator stopped. Due to the sudden jolt, the top of her head hit his chin. The elevator wobbled up and down, as if it wanted to keep falling but something wasn’t letting it. With a great creaking noise, it stilled once again.

Noe felt his heavy breathing on her neck and realised she had been holding her own breath. She gingerly lifted her head to look around, though nothing had changed inside the lift.

A sudden heaviness filled her, like she was rising upwards. She locked eyes with him, she knew he felt that too. They were rising, slowly but steadily. Her lips tugged upwards, though she was still a bit uncertain. They were going up; it couldn’t be bad, right?

She could see the relief in his eyes as he smiled at her. A small laugh escaped her, and he followed with a deep chuckle. They looked at each other and laughed a bit louder. They weren’t going to die!

He wrapped his other arm around her too, picked her up and spun them around. She held onto him tightly and laughed harder. In a flash, he put her down, leaned in and pressed his mouth to hers.

She didn’t think about it, she just kissed him back. He wasn’t hurrying with the kiss, just moving his lips with hers in sync. For a few seconds, it felt only right. Then she remembered she didn’t even know the man’s name.

She pulled away, breathing heavily. She didn’t even try to move away from him, somehow knowing that his arms around her wouldn’t let her. She tentatively lifted her gaze to stare up at him. His green eyes were wide, his cheeks flushed, and his expression one of worry.

He started rambling, “Love, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry! I was just so happy and I wasn’t thinking! I don’t know why but I wanted to do that, though I know I shouldn’t have-”

“It’s okay,” She whispered, smiling at him. She hadn’t thought this man could be cute, but he was. Very much so.

“It’s...okay?” He asked, his worry fading away slightly.

“Yeah, uh, I liked it,” She mumbled, looking down to hide her blush. “I did, um, kiss you back.”

“Wow,” He breathed out, she wasn’t sure he had meant to say that aloud. She could feel his gaze on her face.

Their ascend slowed, indicating that they were going to stop. The doors were finally going to open.

She let go of his waist, he removed his arms from around her. She glanced at him once before stepping back and away from him.

She turned and quickly gathered her things from the floor. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him run a hand through his hair and pick his jacket up. As she straightened, she heard the doors slide open and people talking loudly. She wheeled around, grateful for the cool air that greeted her.

The man stepped out, and she noticed how some official-looking people immediately gathered around him. In the noise, she couldn’t make out anything anyone was saying. As she followed him out, she also saw a few security guards and managers. Who the hell did she just kiss?

She didn’t wait to say goodbye to him because 1, ‘Thanks for keeping me company in there, never see you again’ didn’t feel appropriate, 2, he seemed pretty busy and 3, she had to be somewhere. She pushed his thoughts to the back of her mind, the interview was far more important. Since she was beyond late, she took off at once.

The rest of her journey to the interview hall was pretty uneventful. No more deadly adventures came her way, and her almost getting wet near the balcony due to the rain didn’t really count.

When she finally reached, she was surprised to see so many people there. They were merely sitting around, chatting away among themselves. It didn’t look like they were here for a serious interview. She patted down her hair and straightened her skirt before entering.

She took a seat beside two girls who smiled at her as she sat down.

“Hey. Am too late?” She asked.

“You’re not late at all. The interviews haven’t even started,” One of the girls chuckled.

Noe was taken aback. “Really? Why?”

“They say the interviewer hasn’t arrived yet,” She informed.

“Here you go, miss,” A sugary sweet voice spoke from her other side.

A smart woman, probably in her forties, handed her a pad and a pen. She pointed out a space beside Noe’s name, asking her to sign the paper. Noe was given a little paper slip with her registration number and another number typed on it. Then the woman made to leave.

“Excuse me, ma’am,” Noe stopped her and when she had her attention, continued, “Could I know how many people go before me?”

The woman looked at her for a second, then flipped through the pages on her pad. “Fourteen.”

“Oh. Thank you,” Noe nodded, and the woman trotted off.

She turned back to the girls. “They’re not here yet? But that’s so irresponsible!”

“Exactly! We’ve been sitting here, complaining, for more than half an hour now,” The other girl piped in.

Noe smiled at her sympathetically before sitting back in her chair and sighing. She wasn’t late. She had fourteen people going before her, buying her time. She informed the girls she was going to the washrooms before heading off. She had been drenched in sweat, freshening up would really be great.

“The interviewer’s here. And they’ve come up with a lame excuse for making us wait,” The girls told her once she returned.

“Yeah? What’s that?” Noe asked.

“They say he was stuck in the elevator. Can you believe it?” One of them said while the other snickered. They continued talking, but Noe had zoned out.

Stuck in the elevator? She suddenly remembered the man, who was in the elevator with her, saying it was important for him to get out. She put two and two together, but couldn’t quite believe it. Not until a door to an adjacent room opened to let someone in and she caught a glance of a familiar cream suit. She tried hard not to grin but a smile made its way to her lips nonetheless.

The next half hour passed rather quickly. She was busy behaving herself in front of everyone, while she was freaking out on the inside. The rain pattered hard against the window behind her, as if demanding credit for making her day. The prospect of seeing him again made her giddy. Their kiss was on replay in her mind, she could still feel the ghost of his lips on hers if she allowed herself.

The girl next to her was called in. Noe decided she had fantasised enough about her interviewer and it was time she focused on the interview. She stared at her documents, pursing her lips. She told herself that she was prepared and there was no need to be nervous.

Her chance came sooner than she expected. She stood up, gulping, and straightened her skirt. She was aware of her every step as she walked towards the door. Her heart skipped a beat as the sweet woman from before opened the door.

With her first step in the room, her eyes shot towards the high chair. It was turned though, so all she could see was a mop of dark brown hair. The door clicked into place behind her and she reminded herself that she had to go and sit down on one of the chairs.

Noe counted her steps till she reached her destination; her wild thoughts would have killed her had she not distracted herself. She sat down, trying to be as graceful as she could. The high chair didn’t turn.

He knew she was here, right? He had to, her heels had clicked loudly enough when she had walked in.

After a moment, the chair turned in slow motion. His perfect features came into view. As a bonus, he was smiling-though at the papers in his hand-his dimples on show.

“Noe Aubry,” He slowly looked up at her, his smile growing slightly. “Nice name, I must say.”

“Thank you, sir,” She couldn’t help smiling back at him when he was staring into her eyes that way, like they shared a secret, which they did.

“It’s confidential, but my name’s Harry Styles,” He said in a low voice, even though there was no one else in the room except them.

She nodded, not really sure how to respond to that. His voice held something that made her cheeks burn. She understood she had to pretend she wasn’t given this piece of information.

“Well, Miss Aubrey,” Harry sat forward, placing the papers on the table in front of him. She glanced down quickly to find they were copies of her documents, a picture of her clearly visible on the top right corner. “Let’s begin, shall we?”

Notes

What do you think? Did she get the job? Did they keep in touch? Comment and rate!