Five Wishes

Chapter 6

"Hello! Can you hear us? Don't worry! We're going to get you out!"

I hear the shouts as if I'm in a dream. "No, don't go out. Stay right where you are," I mutter against Mack's mouth.

He stops kissing me, and his hand stops moving, and he pulls back to listen.

"No. No. No. No," I moan. "I was so close."

"It'll just be a second! Hang in there!" The shouts are saying.

"Okay!" Mack shouts back. In a second, his hand is gone, he's extricated himself from my embrace, and he's hopped up and helping me up, as well. He pulls at my dress, which is up around my waist.

I'm disoriented. I'm not entirely sure what's going on. I'm still highly aroused, but I feel abandoned, rejected. I have a strong desire to suck my thumb.

"You okay?" Mack asks. "You look sort of used."

"I wish."

"Your hair," he says, pointing.

My hands fly to my head. It's a rat's nest on one side, and flat on the other. "Oh."

There's squealing and clunking and knocking. Men's voices discussing elevator mechanics reach us. Then, the lights flicker, and the elevator creaks back to life. We descend for a few seconds, and then we stop. I'm just about to bemoan getting stuck again, when the doors open, pulled apart by two hunky Esperanza firefighters.

They're not alone. The whole fire department is there, along with two police officers, the mayor, and Raine. They look at us and the inside of the elevator, and they don't say a word.

All except Raine. She talks.

"What did you two do in there? It looks like World War Three. Broken everything, and... Oh."

It's written all over their faces that what we've just done and almost done is written all over our faces. And my hair. Probably my hair is a dead giveaway.

"Thank you so much," I say, acting cool as a cucumber. "That was... and we were... the thing just... and anyway..."

Raine takes a step forward and grabs my arm. "Come on, Shakespeare. Let's clean you up."

She yanks at my arm, and I stumble out of the elevator, stubbing my toe.

"My shoes-" I begin to say.

"Keep walking," Raine whispers.

All heads turn as we pass. I look down at the ground to avoid eye contact. Raine digs a large key ring out of her jeans pocket and searches through the keys. Finding the right one, she unlocks the back door of Mack's diner.

"I can't believe he gave you a key," I say. Mack is highly territorial, and the diner is his prized possession.

"Sometimes I need to fetch some of our guests diner food at odd hours. Mack lets me use his kitchen in case of emergency."

Raine's job is a lot of work. She's at the beck and call of a whole slew of tourists and long-term renters. It's a family business, but she takes a lot of responsibility for the nuts and bolts of its day-to-day running. It gets me thinking.

"Here we are," she says, opening the diner's bathroom door.

"None too soon." I go right to a stall and sit down on the toilet. "I didn't think I was going to make it. I thought I was going to leave a big puddle on the elevator floor. Although that might have cleaned the elevator a bit."

"Speaking of dirty," Raine begins. "You guys finally decided to get down and dirty while you were trapped?"

I flush and leave the stall. I turn on the water to wash my hands but am stopped by my reflection in the mirror. "Oh God."

It's not just my hair. My lipstick has vanished, and it's been replaced with a passion rash. Mack has kissed the skin off me. I look like I took a ride on the freeway, face first. My dress is one big wrinkle, too.

"And it's ripped up the back," Raine tells me.

I turn around. My dress is ripped up to the top of my thong, revealing all kinds of cheek. No wonder they watched me walk away.

"I have sweats, a t-shirt, and flip flops in the car. I'll go get them for you. In the meantime, here's my brush," Raine says.

While she's gone, I wet the brush and run it through my hair. Then, I wash the rest of the makeup off my face. After I put on her sweats and t-shirt, I look human, again.

"They say the elevator is almost safe. They've got a whole team on it," Raine tells me, after I'm dressed. "Mack is serving pie and coffee to the firemen, the cops, and the mayor. So, before we go out there, tell me what happened. I figure you must be pregnant, now."

"I'm not pregnant."

"Maybe a little pregnant? Like half pregnant?"

"I'm not half pregnant. Not anywhere close to pregnant. Mack and I are just friends, and probably not even that."

Raine studies my face, as if my nose has slipped off-center or something. "Is that what the kids are calling it these days? 'Friends'?"

I try to decide how much lying I should do. Raine is a good friend. I've known her since kindergarten, and she was there for me when my mom died three years ago. She's extremely hard working and sensible. Who better to tell my problems to? Who better to work my life out for me?

"I might have a little crush."

"I knew that already, Marion."

"Okay. Okay. We might have kissed."

Raine points at my lips. "You think? They're swollen to twice their normal size."

"Fine. We almost did it. We were close. Oh wow, was I almost close."

"Oh my God!" Raine yells, skipping around in a circle in the bathroom. "I knew it. I knew it. You guys are perfect for each other. I think you should name your first son Mark and your first daughter Mavis. Then, it would be Mack, Marion, Mark, and Mavis. How cute is that?"

I flinch. "I don't think it's that cute, Raine. Besides, we didn't discuss life after the elevator, you know? It'll probably just go back to normal. He'll give me coffee in the morning, and I'll avoid him when rent is due."

"You could get married by the lake. I'll cater."

"And we fight all the time."

"That's called s****l tension. That's good. I would cut off my left arm to have some s****l tension with Wade."

Wade is where Raine goes off the sensible rails. She's been gaga for him for so long that she doesn't see what a grade-A jerk he is. And I can't tell her. She's not ready for that information.

"I know you would," I say, putting my arm around her shoulders.

It's time to leave the bathroom-past time-but I'm too chicken to go out into the diner and face Mack, post almost-coitus. Maybe he'll look different outside of the elevator. Maybe our little interlude was just a moment of insanity, brought on by our imprisonment.

"Raine, I missed my audition," I say, staring down at my broken fingernails. I'm embarrassed to ask her for a favor, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. Right? "And I sort of need a job."

"Audition for what?"

"I was going to be an actress."

"Was?"

"I'm back to not knowing what I want and aimlessly wasting my youth."

"Well, that's good for me," Raine says, smiling. "I'm short of staff and could use your help. I wouldn't even have to train you because you know how our business works. Do you remember how to make apple crumble and hospital corners?"

I've worked for Raine's family on and off my whole life. I've been a maid, a cook, and a bottle washer. I even did the books for a week, before I screwed them up so bad they had to bring in a forensic accountant to fix the mess I made.

"I do," I say.

"Perfect."

Raine invites me to start right away, to get updated on this season's crop of guests and the schedule. I'm thrilled to go with her and to get away from Mack for the rest of the day. Mack confuses me. But Raine and her family make me feel secure, like everything is supposed to be just as it is.

So, that's how I have enough courage to finally leave the bathroom. Raine holds my hand as I open the bathroom door.

The diner is crowded, but the town's first responders and the mayor are filing out, probably going back to work. They're careful not to say anything about seeing my butt through my ripped dress or my almost-had-an-orgasm hair. But they wave to me as they leave, and I can read their minds. And it's not pretty.

Mack is clearing the tables but stops when he sees me. We lock eyes, sending shockwaves to my lady parts. Wow. I mean, wow.

Maybe Raine is right. Maybe I am a little pregnant. Just his look could probably do the trick.

"I'm taking your girlfriend to work with me," Raine announces, as we walk through the diner.

"Not girlfriend," I say. My face is hot, most likely bright red. "She didn't mean girlfriend, Mack. I don't know why she said that. No idea at all."

I push on Raine's back to make her walk quicker. We're close to the front door. I'm so anxious to be away from Mack's s*x stare that I'm tempted to take a running leap at the exit.

Just as we get to the door, he steps in front of us, blocking our path. "No," he says.

"No?" Raine and I repeat in unison.

"We have unfinished business, Marion. I'm not letting you run away."