It was Friday evening, and Jenny was just about to leave her office and join her boyfriend Peter for dinner at a restaurant. Jenny had to stay in the office a little late this day to send a couple of emails she had forgotten about.
Peter had texted her that he also had to work a little late, so she wasn't in a hurry; he wouldn't arrive at the restaurant for maybe another ninety minutes, and the restaurant was twenty minutes from her office. Nevertheless, she wanted to make sure the reservation didn't expire. It was already dark outside; winter was coming, and days were getting shorter and colder. There were some workers digging on the street, and she wondered if they were cold.
As she was walking toward the elevator, she looked around and realized she was the only one left on the entire eighth floor. She entered the empty elevator, and, surprising enough, the elevator stopped on the floor just below, and a man entered. Jenny recognized his face even though she had never spoken to him; she must have seen him in the building before. He was around thirty-five, tall, with long blond hair and big blue eyes. His floor looked empty as well.
Jenny and the man said hi to each other as the elevator was starting to go down again. Suddenly, all the lights in the elevator went out, and the elevator stopped.
"What happened?" said Jenny.
"I think there is no electricity," said the man.
The man took his phone out to illuminate the buttons of the elevator and see if there was something to be done. Jenny got closer and looked as well. She said
"I hope this won't be long."
"One of my colleagues said that the building across the street has some electrical issues. It's probably related," said the man.
"There were some workers on the street just now. Maybe they are trying to fix that and have had to stop our electricity too. By the way, I'm Jenny."
"Adam, nice to meet you."
The two talked for a while, expecting to not wait for long. When they realized this could take longer, Jenny tried to call Peter on her phone, but her phone had no network in the elevator. Adam's phone didn't work either. They tried pressing some buttons, knocking on the door, and shouting, but without success. There was no noise; for all they knew, the only person left in the building was the security guard, and he probably didn't think anybody else was inside. They were stuck somewhere around the fifth floor - probably too far for the security guard to hear. The heating was also off, and this was starting to show. Jenny realized she forgot her jacket at her desk. There was nothing to do except wait.
Jenny and Adam sat on the floor and talked about their jobs, their bosses, their hobbies. Adam shared some photos from his recent business trip to New York City. Jenny found Adam quite funny and almost forgot about the entire situation. As Adam was sharing that he'll go skiing this winter, Jenny said:
"It's getting cold in here, don't you think?"
"It is. Did you come to work like that?" said Adam.
"I forgot my jacket at my desk," said Jenny.
"I can give you mine," said Adam.
"Oh, I cannot make you do that," said Jenny.
"Okay, then come closer, and we can share the jacket," said Adam.
Jenny hesitated but decided there was nothing wrong with that, so she moved right next to Adam. It had been almost an hour since she got into that elevator, and she had to be pragmatic. Adam unzipped his jacket and put his arm around Jenny so that the jacket covered her back. He squeezed her a little closer, and she moved to sit even closer to him. She put her uncovered arm behind Adam's back, under his jacket. She was now feeling the warmth of his body, and she was somehow more relaxed.
Adam started making jokes about how they're going to live in that elevator until Monday morning. Jenny was laughing at his jokes and felt a light tingling sensation from the air coming out of his mouth right next to her ear. She turned on the light on her phone to see his face and then turned her head toward him. He looked her in the eyes, and she realized what a handsome man he was. They continued looking at each other for several seconds. Finally, Jenny tilted her head, moved it toward his, and their lips touched.