Elevator Games

"Let's play a game." I said to my best friend, Jake. He cocked his head to the side and looked at me in puzzlement like a lost puppy.

"What kind of a game, Delaney? I don't think we have many options considering the fact that we're stuck in an elevator." Jake replied. I guess I should explain our stuck-in-elevator situation.

Jake and I had stayed late at school for tennis practice. He was on the guys' team, first singles, and I was the team manager. We wound up wandering around the school aimlessly after practice since neither of us was all too anxious to return home to piles of homework.

We hopped in the faculty-only elevator. After our three years at Bayland High, we'd still never seen the inside of it. Looking back, maybe it would've been better to finish out our senior year without going for a forbidden elevator ride.

Its interior was an ugly shade of weathered beige and the buttons, formerly white, were yellowed with age. Nonetheless, we got in and Jake pressed the R button to take us to the roof.

"The roof?" I had asked.

"Yes, Laney Doll, the roof. We've never been there before. First time for everything, Lane." He explained, shortening my name into a plethora of different nicknames as usual. His favorite was Laney Doll – my full name was Delaney Dahl and on the first day in 7th grade when Jake discovered this, he realized how nicely it shortened to Laney Dahl, or Laney Doll. I loved this nickname. It was quite close to being a term of endearment and I love knowing how dear I am to Jake. I don't think he, however realizes how dear he is to me.

So the elevator creaked up to the roof. Unfortunately, it didn't quite make it all the way there before it stopped with a jolt.

"Fuck." Jake muttered with a groan.

"What? What's fuck? No fuck, no fuck….it's fine….you can fix it. Can't you!?" I panicked. Jake rushed over to the panel of buttons, shocked to find the red emergency button stuck.

"Jake?"

"Yeah, Del?"

"Check this out." I said, handing over a piece of printer paper that was ripped where remnants of scotch tape were left.

"OUT OF ORDER!? Out of fucking order!? And not even a sign on the door!!!??? Laney, where'd you find this?" Jake exclaimed, sounding frustrated to say the least.

"Floor. It must've fallen down. I imagine it was supposed to be covering the button panel." I shrugged as I watched Jake slump to the ground with his elbows on his knees.

"My cell is dead." He moaned dejectedly.

"Mine's not, silly." I smiled, pulling out my Treo. I called my mom, filled her in, and she promised help was on the way. For now, all we could do was wait.

This led to my suggestion that we play a game. I was growing tired and needed some amusement to keep me awake. The firefighters who, we'd been informed, had arrived on scene were having a great deal of trouble getting us out, so we'd decided to get comfortable.

Jake had balled up his team hoodie to use as a pillow. Mine, a nice shade of maroon with "MANAGER" emblazoned across the back, was serving as a sort of tablecloth with bottles of water, Orbit Bubblemint chewing gum, and a half eaten bag of Chex Mix on display. Jake was sprawled across the elevator floor as comfortably as possible with him being a six foot tall guy in a pretty small elevator. My head was in his lap and my body lay perpendicular to his. His hands were combing back and forth through my chin-length chocolate caramel hair for lack of anything better to do.

"Hmm….what kind of game…what kind of game?" I thought aloud. "How about Date, Fuck, or Marry?" I suggested. The game required no skill, no materials, and was still fairly entertaining. It seemed like a good enough choice to me considering the situation at hand.

"Sure, whatever." Jake mumbled groggily. I could tell he too was getting tired. His short dark hair was falling into his face (he hadn't bothered to un-muss it after practice) looking rumpled and messy. His warm coffee brown eyes looked lazy, barely staying open under his heavy lids. We both needed this game to reenergize.

"Alright. We'll start easy. Celebrities. Okay, how about Carmen Electra, Eva Longoria, and Gisele Bundchen." I said. Jake's right hand left my hair and he draped his arm across my waist. He tapped his beautiful fingers against my side causing tiny shivers to course through my body as he pondered his DFM options.

"I thought we were starting out easy." He complained, torn between three of America's hottest celebrity females. "I guess I'd marry Gisele, fuck Carmen, and date Eva." He decided after a moment's thought.

"Really? That's odd. You're such a Carmen fanatic I figured you'd marry her – no questions asked." I said.

"Gisele seems nicer. Anyway, for you….let's go with John Cena, Jesse Metcalfe, and Penn Badgley." Jake countered with the game's second DFM situation.

"Date Cena, fuck Jesse, marry Penn." I said without missing a beat.

"Marry Penn…hmph…he doesn't deserve you." Jake's fingers were tickling my side as he suggested we start using kids at school as DFM options.

"Okay, then." I assented. "Let's do Jenna Mehan (school slut), Catie Woodard (my best female friend), and Lucie Adams (school's popular, preppy, cheerleading bitch)."

"You won't say anything to Catie about how I answer, right?" Jake asked.

"Of course not. You're my best-best friend. My trust and allegiance always lies with you. I'm surprised you even asked." I reassured him with a smile. His idle finger-tapping was really starting to get to me…my heart was thumping wildly; hopefully, Jake couldn't tell.

"Fuck Jenna, marry Catie, date Lucie." He said hesitantly.

"You like Catie?" I asked.

"What? No. She's just a friend. But, she's the most marriable out of those options." At my simple question, Jake had sprung into a sitting position with an astonished look on his face. Strangely enough, he had sort of dragged me with him and I was now in his lap with his arms snuggling around me quite nicely.

"Jake?"

"Yes?"

"You're squishing me a little." I said shyly. He loosened his grip and I reluctantly slid off his lap onto the floor next to him.

"Sorry, Laney." Jake mumbled; his freckled cheeks turning a shade of crimson.

"No problem. Give me some options." I said, leaning my tired head on Jake's strong shoulder.

"Kevin Steele (Bayland's sexy loner), Liam Pearson (a close friend of mine and Jake's), and Mack Rodgers (captain of the football team)." Jake offered.

"Marry Kev, fuck Liam, and date Mack." I decided. "Now, truly high stakes here, Catie, me, and Lauren Calabrese (a total hottie Jake had always lusted after)." Jake shifted beside me, shoving his hands in his pockets uncomfortably. "And don't worry, be honest, I won't be offended."

"Er. Brghsfgamlscmwepsit." Jake quickly muttered an unintelligible response under his breath, his face flushing.

"What?"

"Sorry…um…date Catie, fuck Lauren, marry you." He'd marry me!

"Marry me? Are you serious? Why would you wanna marry me, Jake?"

"I love you too much to want to just date you. You're too special to me to fuck casually like a one time thing. I'd wanna make love to a girl like you, Laney Doll. All the time. So, marriage is the only option that'd work." Jake replied, seemingly shocked at what he'd just let slip. He twiddled his thumbs and looked away; one rebellious lock of dark chocolate hair falling into his eyes.

"Look at me, Jake." I instructed.

"I, I'm sorry, Lane, I didn't mean to say that, I just….It's just a game…I…." His words trailed off as I stared into his captivatingly warm eyes. "What, Lane? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"I was just thinking that it's such a shame you didn't mean what you said." I explained.

"What? Why?"

"Because that was the sweetest thing anyone's ever said to me." I said, looking down at the floor. "I don't think you realize that I'd pick you to marry over anybody any day." Jake looked at me with an adorable mixture of surprise, confusion, skepticism, and utter glee.

"Why?" He asked, trying to mask the huskiness in his voice as he grabbed my arms urgently and tugged me into his lap. I saw it to be a sign that I fit perfectly in the nook where his chest and shoulder met.

"Why do you think, Jake? Isn't it obvious? I'm in love with you." I admitted.

"Me?" Jake breathed as he stirred beneath me.

"Yes, you. Do you see anyone else in this stupid elevator!? I mean you, Jake Shepard, my very best friend." I whispered in his ear.

"Oh, Laney, Laney, Laney, my doll. Thank God. I….I love you, too. I…oh…" He quieted as his lips found mine and captured them in the sweetest of kisses. My hands wound their way around his neck; his lost themselves in my hair.

We kissed for what seemed like our own personal eternity. His tongue and my own intertwined, his hands cupped my breasts, and mine roamed his tightly muscled back. I felt something hard beneath me and hesitated. I was pretty sure what that hard something was. Jake confirmed this for me.

"I'm sorry, Lane, I'm sorry. It's just…I can't help it. I…I don't mean to be moving so fast." He stammered and chewed his lip, his soft, just-been-kissed-red lip.

"It's okay, Jake, it's fine. You're fine. We're fine." I kissed him softly and just as the kiss escalated into a soulfully passionate merging of mouths, the elevator lurched, the doors snapped open, and a firefighter stuck his head in to catch us in a lip-lock.

"Oh…I'm sorry! Guess you two had to find something to keep you busy in this thing." The fireman said blushing, trying to suppress a laugh.

"Oh yes." Jake agreed. "We found something to keep us busy, alright…It'll be keeping my Delaney and I bust for the rest of our lives."

10 YEARS LATER

BAYLAND HIGH SCHOOL CLASS REUNION

"Laney Doll, look, it's still there." My husband smiled as we stepped into the elevator. He took my hand in his and we moved forward for a closer look. Oh yes, there it was, written in permanent black ink:

JAKE SHEPARD & DELANEY DAHL

MAY 19, 2007

Jake pulled a red Sharpie out of his coat pocket. He drew a big heart around our names, slashed out "Dahl" and replaced it with "Shepard." In his tiny scrawl, he penned "till forever" next to the date.

He pressed R and we kissed as we rode up to the roof in the elevator that had, one day in May, ten years ago, become ours.