Good News And Bad News

Should Cherry give her number to Scott or not? If she was being smart, she would immediately say no or at the very least give him a fake number.

She had really, really enjoyed kissing him though. She would love to do that again outside of this ridiculous, mood-inducing elevator to be sure it wasn't only because this place momentarily robbed her of her sanity.

All this time, she had vowed to be smarter than her dad. Trusting the wrong person was what landed him in a prison cell on a permanent basis. She didn't want to end up like him.

"Yes!" Cherry blurted, letting the insanity win despite her rationality trying its best. "My number is 212-439-0084."

"Hang on, let me get my phone out then repeat that," Scott requested.

She did before she could talk herself out of it. She actually gave him the correct phone number. She was completely out of her mind! Why had she done that?!

He smiled warmly at her. "Awesome. I would text you now to make sure you got my number but it's dead so that won't exactly work."

"Once again, why I should never leave the house without at least 80% battery," Cherry joked, trying to stay calm while she was screaming on the inside about how monumentally stupid she was being.

Smart Cherry wouldn't listen to Lovestruck Cherry. She was totally screwed.

Her heart was still threatening to beat out of her chest. She needed to change the subject. Talk about something. Anything!

She was drawing a blank. Everything she had ever thought about or talked about had vanished from her head. Why did her brain have to fail her at such a crucial juncture?!

"Maybe you should start bringing one of those portable power banks with you," Scott suggested.

What? Oh. He was responding to her dumb repeated joke.

"Good idea. The problem with those is that they also need to be charged. Isn't it ridiculous that you have to charge a charger? That just doesn't make sense to me. There has to be a better system for that," Cherry rambled.

Thankfully, Scott didn't seem to care that she sounded like an idiot because he smiled at her. "Yeah, it is kind of redundant."

She sighed and leaned back against the elevator wall, looking up at the top of it. "How long do you think we've been in here?"

"According to my phone's clock, it's been about four hours."

Four hours? Time flies when you're stuck in an elevator. She would have thought it was more like two. Perhaps that was because they had spent a good chunk of that time making out. That could certainly make things go by faster.

Cherry shouldn't do that again though. Not while they were still stuck in here and she might blow the whole thing. She couldn't act on her ridiculous feelings until she had time to get her head screwed on better. She needed to be able to take a step back and come up with a plan if she was going to make this work even on a short-term basis.

She couldn't do that in here while this elevator was messing with her head. Things would end up being more of a disaster than they already were.

"So, it's about 2 AM then?"

"Closer to 2:30 but yeah. Are you getting tired?" Scott asked.

Cherry normally went to bed before now but she was way too wired to sleep. She was going to have to sleep this one off once they were free. In the meantime, she needed to talk about something that didn't make her look like she was insane.

"I don't think I could sleep in here if I tried," she confessed.

Scott let out a slight laugh. "Fair enough. So, what should we do to keep from going insane with boredom?"

"Absolutely no idea."

"Why don't you tell me the plots of your top ten favorite musicals? That ought to keep us occupied for a while. Unless you don't want to because that's totally fine too."

Cherry was relieved he suggested something she could actually do. She loved talking about musicals. That would be a great distraction. The hard part would be narrowing down the top ten.

She ended up telling him but had to get up and walk around while doing the first three because she couldn't bear to sit anymore. Then she sat back down for four and five before lying down with her head in his lap for six through ten.

She talked herself hoarse and suddenly felt rather sleepy. Scott made things worse by gently rubbing her arm in a repetitive motion the way her granny used to when she was sick and couldn't sleep.

Cherry didn't wake up until she heard something banging and jolted upright in a panic. "What's going on?!"

Scott smiled at her as he stood up and stretched. "Good news and bad news. They finally realized the elevator is broken and are doing something to fix it."

"And the bad news?"

"It's nearly 8 AM."

They had been in the elevator for that long?! He must be incredibly stiff because she was asleep on him for so long. And bored. She had no idea how long ago she fell asleep and she felt terrible on top of all the other reasons she should feel terrible about this.

"I am so, so sorry. You should have woken me up sooner. I'll make it up to you!" Cherry said, already knowing that was an empty promise.

Scott raised an eyebrow as he smiled at her. "Oh yeah? How?"

"I'll make you the best chocolate chip cookies you've ever tasted. A whole three dozen so they'll last you a while."

Her granny had a foolproof recipe she had made dozens of times. It was always a showstopper at potlucks or school events. She was sure he would like them. It was the least she could do after leaving him alone going crazy for hours and making his legs go numb. That was discounting all of the other stuff she owed him for.

Scott blinked at her. "No one has ever made me homemade cookies before."

For real? His parents must not have been bakers.

"Then you're in for a treat," Cherry assured him right as the elevator started moving. She hurried to put her shoes back on and try to fix her wig so she looked somewhat presentable to whatever poor sap was there when the elevator opened.

They clearly hadn't expected anyone to be inside since they just about jumped out of their skin at the sight of two disheveled people coming out. "How long have you been in there?!"

"Too long."

"Almost ten hours."

"I am so sorry," the worker said in horror. "Let me go get my boss."