3. Chapter 3
Chapter 3
Aiden
‘ A iden,’ Charlotte stammered, her smile faltering as she turned to face me. ‘Hi.’
I nodded in greeting and turned my gaze back to the silver chrome elevator doors, noting how her shoulders sagged in relief when I broke our gaze—I guess I deserved that.
It had been nearly two years since I’d first met Charlotte Hall. Two years since I was an absolute dick to a stranger, convinced that it didn’t matter because I wouldn’t be stuck here for very long. Two years of averted eyes and strained politeness later, I guess the joke was on me.
Charlotte shifted, turning in place so that she too faced the now closed elevator doors. She reached across the small compartment, fingers outstretched as she pushed the button for her floor, leaving the subtle notes of her perfume in its wake… Jasmine and something citrusy.
I took a measured step away from that outstretched hand, further into the depths of the elevator before I had a chance to embarrass myself by sniffing the air around us in an attempt to breathe her in. Her fingers halted in their movement, frozen for barely even a second before she let out a small sigh and let her hand drop to her side.
I suppose the one benefit to this whole situation was that Charlotte never looked at me. At one point, I’d even considered that she was afraid of me, but from the way she held herself… I didn’t think Charlotte Hall was afraid of anything. Not afraid, maybe just not interested?
I cocked my head to the side, watching her. Even under the crappy overhead light, I could see the faintest pink stain across her cheekbones. Was that because of me? Or was it because of the cold? I wracked my brain, trying to remember what she’d looked like when she’d come barrelling in here.
The compartment bobbed as it reached the first floor, doors sliding open to reveal the empty corridor. I rolled my eyes, leaning back against the compartment wall. That was the problem with these old buildings. Nothing was ever replaced or updated—not unless it was broken beyond repair. I suppose it’s less the problem with old buildings and more the problem with building managers. It was their fault that we were stuck with a ‘quirky’ elevator that opened on every floor, regardless of the buttons pressed. I wonder why Charlotte even bothered.
No. No wondering about Charlotte.
The doors slid closed, the metal doors scraping against their frames in a way that set my teeth on edge. I really should’ve just taken the stairs. The thought had only just formed in my mind when the compartment came to a juddering halt somewhere between first and second floors.
You’ve got to be kidding me.
‘No.’ The soft plea drew my gaze from the ceiling. ‘No, no, no.’
I watched as Charlotte ran her hands across the control panel, skirting over the various buttons, careful not to press any. I’d been about to say something, offer some kind of reassurance, when she turned to look at me. Her mossy-green eyes flitted across my face before turning back to the panel; her fleeting gaze so intense that my tongue seemed to shrivel up somewhere at the back of my throat.
‘Maybe it’ll start up again in a sec,’ Charlotte said, the optimism ringing false in the silence of the compartment. With a sigh, she turned back to the control panel, her next words floating through the air on her exhalation, ‘It’s a been a long week, maybe it needed a break.’ I raised an eyebrow at that—and if it hadn’t been for my dry mouth and stupefied tongue, I might even have queried just how many ‘breaks’ elevators were granted per day. Were the elevators of Notting Hill unionised? If so, who were their representatives?
‘We’ll need to call someone,’ she said after a minute of stillness, fumbling in the pockets of her navy-blue trench coat. I couldn’t tell if she was talking to me or just talking through whatever she was thinking. Before I could ask, she whirled around, her curls splaying in all directions as she came to face me. Glaring up at me, cheeks flushed with frustration, she waited for me to say something.
Unsure of what to say, I ran my tongue along the inside of my mouth. I could agree? I swallowed, wincing slightly at the tightness in my throat. What if my voice came out all squeaky? I was long past puberty, but I wouldn’t put it past the universe to fuck me over and have my voice crack in front of Charlotte. I cringed, nose scrunching with distaste at the thought. Charlotte’s fiery gaze narrowed, and with a huff of frustration, she turned away.
It was for the best; I supposed. We couldn’t be friends, Charlotte and I. And while I did regret how rude I’d been to her when we’d first met, an apology wouldn’t change anything. It couldn’t. Folding my arms across my chest, I attempted to read the notices pinned to the board beside her head, but my gaze kept drifting away from the recycling bulletins and back towards the woman in front of me.
I watched as she read the emergency number at the bottom of the elevator’s control panel, punching the numbers into her phone with more force than required on a touchscreen. Safe from the scrutiny of her gaze, I allowed myself a small smile as she raised the phone to her ear. The dial tone broke through the quiet of the compartment, and I watched as she opened her mouth to speak, only to be cut off by the pre-recorded message.
Pulling out my phone, I pulled open my notes app and began typing in an effort to look busy. Attempting to ignore the way that the sight of her sagging shoulders tugged at something beneath my solar plexus. She was put on hold and muffled elevator music played down the line. Ha.
It was a Friday evening, and I doubted anyone would be around to pick up. I’d just worked up the nerve to say as much when she got through to someone. They told her to sit tight—I scoffed, not even bothering to conceal it. Where could we possibly go? Charlotte shot me an irritated look over her shoulder, but only turned to face me after thanking the operator and slipping her phone back into her pocket.
‘They’re on their way,’ she grumbled, staring at a spot on the wall behind my shoulder, ‘but have provided some pre-emptive excuses to cover themselves, should they fail to arrive in the next hour.’
I nodded. Her eyes flicked to my face, but when she caught me watching her, they jumped back to that spot on the wall. I ducked my chin to hide my smile. Not afraid, but not unaffected either. Interesting.
‘Right,’ I said, drawing her gaze away from the wall and back to my face. I straightened, pushing myself away from the wall and coming to stand at my full height. I didn’t fail to notice the way her eyes travelled down my body. With a start, she shook her head once before she raised her gaze back to mine. I quirked my head, raising an eyebrow in question. And that delicious pink flush spread across the bridge of her nose. ‘From the sounds of it,’ I continued, deciding not to embarrass her further, ‘we could be here for a while so we may as well get comfortable.’
I shrugged off the charcoal-coloured coat I’d worn into the office today. Hybrid working meant that I’d barely worn it since I bought it last year, but the floor in here was disgusting. My eyes travelled from the stained carpeted floor of the elevator to an immaculately dressed Charlotte. I could dry-clean the coat. Taking a step into the centre of the elevator, I laid the coat on the floor only a few inches away from where Charlotte was standing. I heard a sharp intake of breath from behind me and my fingers froze in their attempts at smoothing out the edges of the coat.
What the fuck was I doing?
In one swift movement, I turned and sat myself down in the centre of the coat. In an attempt to avoid risking any eye contact with Charlotte, I bent my knee and brushed an imagined piece of lint off my black trousers. She muttered something beneath her breath and when I raised my head to look at her, I found she had her own tipped back, shaking it slightly as she smiled at the ceiling.
‘What?’ I asked, transfixed by the smooth column of her throat.
‘Nothing,’ she replied, her gaze—and her smile—dropping as she turned her attention to me.
I shifted, suddenly uncomfortable, and turned away from her. There was probably around four-squared feet of floor space in this compartment and at around six-four, I hadn’t left all that much room for her. I grimaced at my thoughtlessness and was about to move when Charlotte’s hands reached for the belt of her coat.
My cheeks burned, and I dropped my gaze, staring determinedly at my black Chelsea boots. Idiot. It wasn’t like she was undressing. I didn’t know much about Charlotte, but I think it was safe to assume that she wasn’t naked under that coat. But something about the intimate nature of the gesture must have made her uncomfortable too, because she turned her back on me before she unfastened and slipped off her coat.
Holding the coat in her hands, she frowned, smoothing a hand over the fabric. Her eyes scanned the walls, doors, and floor of the elevator and, barely managing to suppress a small shudder, Charlotte flicked her wrists and laid the coat down beside mine. Given the way she eyed my legs, I imagined that she’d probably wanted to leave more room between us, but given the confines of the compartment, that wasn’t really an option.
Charlotte smoothed her hands over the backs of her thighs and, bending at the knee, she began to lower herself to the floor. She was wearing a pretty little pencil skirt that hugged her hips and ended just below the knee. But one look at that skirt stretching across her ass as she bent over had me jerking my gaze away from her and back to my boots. She was only a few inches away from the ground when her foot slipped and she lost her balance. She flung out a hand to catch herself, and my eyes widened as her palm smacked across my chest and her fingers buried themselves in my jumper.
I watched, heart hammering in my chest, as she steadied herself in a squat above the floor. Her face was only inches from my own, but her eyes were squeezed shut. I held my breath, neither of us moving as her palm flattened against my chest. Her fingers roamed over my jumper, and when they shifted across my chest and came to a stop above my heart, her eyes flew open. Up close, I could see the flecks of amber that danced around her panicked pupils and the way her long lashes fanned across her cheeks. Beautiful.
With a startled yelp, Charlotte wrenched her hand away and landed on the ground with a soft ‘thud.’
‘I’m so sorry,’ she rushed out, wringing her hands in her lap.
‘It’s fine, Charlotte,’ I assured her, ignoring the sensation of her fingers on my chest like some sort of sense memory. I allowed myself a single, cursory glance of her body—just to make sure she was uninjured.
‘Oh!’ she exclaimed, looking adorably flustered. ‘You remember my name.’
‘Yes.’ I frowned. Did she really think so little of me that she believed that I wouldn’t remember her name? Or was it that she thought that I thought so little of her that I wouldn’t remember it? Given the fact that in the few verbal exchanges we’d had in the past, I’d always limited my responses to single worded, monosyllabic answers either option was possible. ‘I do.’
Our gazes locked and when her mouth popped open in surprise, my gaze dropped to her mouth and back again. The air in the compartment shifted and her mouth snapped shut and her embarrassed flush spread across her cheeks and down her neck under the intensity of my gaze, but I couldn’t bring myself to break our gaze and look away. I lost myself in the green pools of her eyes, my heart beating erratically as the fluorescent light crackled above us.
Eventually she turned away, chewing thoughtfully on her plump lower lip as she shifted beside me to rest more comfortably against the compartment wall.
‘Sorry,’ she repeated, eyes on her lap as she busied herself by smoothing out the fictional creases of her skirt.
In an effort to curtail any gawking on my part, I shut my eyes and tipped my head back, resting it against the wall of the elevator. Silence blanketed the compartment, and it was a welcomed relief after the buzz of the day. On principle, I tried to minimise my days spent in the office, but as the team lead, I did have to make an appearance a couple of times a week. It’s not something I’d been particularly pleased about when I’d first been given the position, but I supposed that it did have some small, microscopic value when it came to team bonding and camaraderie.
Inhaling a deep breath, I allowed my mind to empty of all of the tasks on my to-do list, of all of the tickets I’d been unable to complete—They’d still be there tomorrow. I could feel Charlotte beside me, her body close enough to feel its warmth and it felt… nice. I was comfortable here on the floor with my non-friend and neighbour.
The same could not be said of Charlotte. She’d barely lasted a minute in the silence before she’d started fidgeting. I bit down on a smile as her elbow nudged my forearm as she crossed and uncrossed her arms. Sneaking a peek out of the corner of my eye, I watched as she flexed her fingers, stretching them out to their full extent before placing them firmly in her lap where she began to toy with the thin gold ring she wore on her index finger.
I shut my eyes once more, distantly wondering whether or not we’d be visited by any repairmen any time soon, when I heard the brush of her curls against her blouse. Charlotte shifted and turned her upper body to face me. Her knee pressed against my thigh and I felt a shock of awareness shoot up my thigh. I felt like a specimen beneath a microscope and I clenched my jaw to stay still.
I sensed her lean forward, the gap between us growing close. I inhaled, willing myself to stay still, but this close, I could smell something other than her perfume. There was a subtle vanilla scent that clung to her curls, and that paired with the intoxicating scent of her perfume proved too much.
‘Can I help you?’ My voice broke through the quiet of the compartment, coming out in a low and husky tone. Her eyes snapped from the veins on my hands and up to meet my eyes.
‘I—’ Charlotte began, her expression guilty.
I smiled, unable to hide my amusement as she squirmed in her seat, eyes darting around the compartment as she searched for a way out of this moment. I know I could have brushed past the moment and saved her the embarrassment of being caught in the act, but it had been a long time since I’d caught someone looking at me like that—even longer since I’d enjoyed it.
A shrill ring cut through the air and Charlotte all but dived for her bag, pulling out her phone and clutching at it like a lifeline. She held the screen up in front of her, and the smile that spread across her face sent something twisting through my veins. But before I had a chance to examine the feeling too closely, she breathed out a name:
‘Becky!’