January 2023

I bang on the elevator wall again.

            “It’s no good Aubrey. Just sit down. There’s no point in wasting your breath.”  I look back to Scarlett. She’s right. We’re trapped in this elevator until someone is sent to help. The voice on the intercom said about an hour. A doctor’s hour is very different to a normal person’s hour. I sit down next to her, slumping down against the wall. I draw my knees up to my chin and exhale.

            “We’ll be out soon enough.”

            “An hour is a long ass time.” Scarlett sighs and takes a packet of mints out of her bag. She starts chewing. I can smell the menthol on her breath. She extends her arm and gestures for me to take one. I take one and start chewing. I sigh. We had never met before today, before this elevator.

            “We should probably talk. It might make the time go a bit faster,” Scarlett suggests, zipping her bag back up. She’s right. I’ve been told that I could talk the back legs off a donkey and I’ve run late with many a friend. I just don’t know what to say to a total stranger. “I’ll start.” Thank God. “What do you do for a living? Start basic enough.”

            “I work as a freelance journalist, for an online magazine. Not exactly too exciting but it gets me where I need to go. You?”

            “Nice. I’m an English teacher at the local comprehensive.”

            “Isn’t that rewarding?”

            “It can be.” She exhales. “Seeing people achieve things they never thought they could. I had a student who was achieving Ds at the beginning of the year. No one believed in her, I didn’t. I did some work with her and she achieved an A* at the end of the year. I think she’s studying English at UCL now. For the most part, the majority are little shits who don’t want to know.” She pauses for a few seconds. “Your turn. Ask me anything.”

            “Umm, are you single?”

            “Woah, right in with the big guns, hey?” She laughs and puts her head back.” Nah, I’m kidding. Yes, I am. I was in a long-term relationship for 7 years. It was a messy break-up. I don’t want to go into it right here. You?”

            “No. I’ve been with my girlfriend for 2 years.”

            “Wow, so you’re..gay? I mean there’s nothing wrong with it; I have a friend who is. I just didn’t expect it.” Closeted homophobe, got it. More than a few people have attacked me for being attracted to women. I expected better from a teacher.

“What’s your favourite Netflix show?”

            “I can’t afford a Netflix subscription on my current wage. I prefer YouTube. My favourite is ‘Salad Fingers’. You?”

            “I am going to sound like a basic white bitch but ‘Stranger Things’. I love anything with 80s nostalgia. ‘Salad Fingers’ just seemed really weird to me. I couldn’t finish it.”

            “It is definitely weird. I made some of my students watch it. Gave them nightmares for days. ‘Stranger Things’ is a good choice. Loads of my students watched it. Favourite film?”

            “The Green Mile. You?”

            “Good choice. I loved the film and the book. ‘SS GB’. Alternative histories seem to be what I thrive on. ‘Man in the High Castle’ is also good but I like the setting. Set in England instead of America. So…” She pauses. “Where did you meet your girlfriend?” I extend my legs and sigh.

            “We submitted pitches at the same time. Our articles were about the terrorist attack in London on 7/7.  It was a coincidence that we got on the same train and got off at the same stop. We’ve been together ever since. How did you meet your…significant other?” I can tell she feels uncomfortable because she’s shifted her position. I’m not asking about the break-up so I’m within the right parameters. She sighs.

            “We met at school. I was the English teacher, he was the dishy PE teacher. Everyone thought we were hooking up before we actually did. Screwing in the PE closet? Come on, I have a little more class than that. We waited until there was a vacant classroom.” She laughs and keeps chewing. “I never thought he would use that trick with the new History teacher.” Instantly her expression has changed. So, infidelity, right. She broke up with him because he was a cheating scumbag. Okay, I can work with that. 

             She puts her hand on my thigh. Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit. Does she know the signals she is projecting right now?

            “Have you ever fancied another woman?”

            “Yes.” I pause. “I’ve fancied hundreds, but I’ve never acted on it.” She interrupts me by kissing me. I kiss her back, more passionately and introducing tongue. Her hands are everywhere; my face, my neck, my breasts…I don’t need to say exactly where else, but they are there. She takes my mint with her tongue and swallows it. She pushes me onto my back and unzips my jeans, kissing my mouth, neck and everywhere on the way down. She pulls my jeans and my knickers down and begins to kiss and lick my clitoris. She inserts two fingers inside me and continues pushing them in and out. I groan, pushing her head to reach the spot. Once she finds the right spot, I moan in ecstasy. She’s way better than my girlfriend. This was definitely not her first time with a woman. It only takes 5 minutes to make me cum. I push her down and return the favour.

              We both sit up, trying to adjust ourselves. The elevator starts to move, finally. Harper doesn’t need to know what happened here. It just stays between me and Scarlett. I’m sure she’d prefer that, not being outed against her will. She says she’s straight, but her tongue and abilities say different. She kissed me. She’s bi, at least.

            “That definitely wasn’t your first time.” I say as I zip up my jacket.

            “Believe me, it was. Definitely a better way to pass the time, don’t you agree?” She kisses me again. She introduces tongue and I reciprocate. The door opens. She breaks the kiss and exits the elevator. I see her lick her fingers as the elevator door closes. Dirty bitch. Yeah, she’s definitely not straight unless we go by the logic that girls are like spaghetti; straight until wet.