and pulled away from him. Thank goodness it was dark. The air seemed to pulsate in my ears. ‘What’s that meant to mean?’
‘You fancied me, didn’t you?’
‘What? No!’ I laughed, incredulous.
‘Really? I fancied you.’
‘You did not!’
‘I kissed you, didn’t I?’
‘Did you? I don’t remember,’ I said, lightly.
‘You wound me,’ he said, his voice dryly amused. The packet rustled as he took another biscuit. ‘You’re a liar, Elena Green.’
The noises outside got louder. It sounded like more people had arrived. There were voices and clanks and bangs. Someone knocked on the roof and a gruff voice shouted: ‘You all right in there?’
‘Yes,’ Daniel called up. He took my hand again and squeezed it.
‘Soon have you out.’
‘Oh, thank God!’ I breathed.
The roar of cutting equipment ripped through the air and the lift shook. The sound was so deafening I covered my ears with my hands and cowered into Daniel’s chest. His arms came around me, holding me tight, and I focused on the soft wool of his jumper against my cheek and the warm safety of his arms.
‘It’s all right,’ he said, against my ear. ‘We’ll soon be out.’
I wasn’t sure what happened after that. My eyes were shut but suddenly I became aware of light and loud voices close by. Daniel got to his feet, pulling me with him. They’d managed to prise the doors open enough for us to climb through, but the lift was still stuck between floors, so the gap we had to squeeze through was at head height. A fireman was peering through the gap, shining a torch at us. I shielded my eyes from the bright light.
‘Do you think you’ll be able to climb up?’ he asked.
‘I think so,’ Daniel said, sounding more confident than I felt. There was no way I was going to be able to climb up there. Especially wearing high heels and a skirt. I opened my mouth to protest, but Daniel was already saying, ‘I’ll lift Elena and you can pull her through.’
‘Right you are.’
Daniel bent and gripped the top of my legs, his shoulder beneath my backside, and hoisted me into the air as though we were doing some kind of dance lift. Before I knew it, the fireman had hold of my arms and was heaving me through the gap and into the outside world.
‘Thanks,’ I said, stumbling awkwardly as the fireman released me. ‘Thank you.’
A small crowd of onlookers had gathered and they clapped and cheered. I didn’t know what to do with the unwanted attention. My cheeks flamed red and I gave a small, embarrassed wave before bending to retrieve my bags, which had just appeared through the gap. Daniel’s hands appeared next, his knuckles white with strain as he pulled himself up enough for the firefighters to haul him up.
‘Thanks, lads.’ He laughed good-naturedly and shook the firemen’s hands, then he looked around for me. ‘Are you okay?’ he asked, coming towards me.
‘Fine.’
‘You’ve ripped your tights,’ he said, looking down at my shaking legs. ‘And you’re bleeding.’
‘Oh, it’s nothing. Just a graze.’ I couldn’t feel any pain. My legs were rubbery and I felt strangely detached, as though I didn’t belong in this bright world full of noise and people. Each time I blinked, it was like a flashbulb going off in my head and the image stilled. Disconnected. Disjointed. What did I do now? Just go home?
‘Sir, madam, I’m terribly sorry about your ordeal.’ A man in a suit stepped forward, wearing a name badge that said he was Alan Jones, Customer Service Manager. ‘Would you mind if I took a statement from you both?’
‘Okay. Elena, do you want to sit down somewhere? You look a bit pale.’ Daniel put his hand on my arm.
‘No, I’m okay, I just want to go home.’
‘This won’t take long. I just need your names and addresses and a brief description of what happened.’
Daniel laughed. ‘The lift stopped, that’s what happened.’
The man blinked at Daniel through his spectacles. He looked tense and anxious. ‘You weren’t messing around or anything?’
Daniel looked confused. ‘What do you mean?’
‘You didn’t press anything you shouldn’t? Open any panels?’
Daniel’s expression changed from one of good-natured acceptance of the situation to shocked disbelief. He spoke carefully. ‘We got into the lift and pressed the button for the floor we wanted to go to. We didn’t vandalise it. We just wanted to get to our cars and go home.’
‘I understand, sir. It must have been very distressing for you and your girlfriend.’
Daniel’s jaw clenched and he spoke through gritted teeth. ‘She’s not my girlfriend. We just happened to be in the same lift at the same time.’
The manager took a step back at Daniel’s tone of voice. His glasses had misted up slightly and he blinked nervously. ‘I see. I’m so sorry.’
‘We rang the bell for ages before anyone answered. We kicked the doors and made loads of noise. Nobody came. How long have we been in there for? More than an hour? Didn’t anyone think, “Oh, lift number two isn’t working”?’
‘I’m very sorry, sir. Rest assured there will be a full investigation.’
‘I should think so too.’
‘If I could just take your names and addresses, I’d be most grateful.’
Daniel snatched the clipboard off him and scribbled down his details, and then passed it to me. My hand was shaking as I wrote down my name and address, together with a brief description of what had happened.
‘Thank you so much. I can only say how sorry I am.’ Mr Jones did a little bow before scurrying away towards the firemen. Daniel took hold of my arm. ‘I think you might be in shock,’ he said, quietly. ‘Can I take you home?’
‘No, I’m fine, honestly.’
‘Are you sure?’ He frowned down at me. ‘I don’t like the look of you; you’re shaking like a leaf.’ He looked around and raised his voice. ‘Can someone get us a hot sweet drink from somewhere, please?’ Steering me towards a low wall, he made me sit down.
‘I’m fine,’ I protested. ‘It’s not like you didn’t go through the same thing I did, is it?’
‘Yeah, but I didn’t almost knock myself out by throwing myself bodily at the doors.’ He smiled at me and I felt my cheeks flush with mortification. A staff member brought us two takeaway cups of tea.
‘Thank you.’ Daniel took them and passed one to me.
I took a sip of the hot liquid and winced. There were probably about three sugars in it. ‘It’s too sweet.’
‘Good for shock though.’
We sat in silence, sipping our drinks, looking around the car park. The onlookers had dispersed and the fire crew were packing up to leave. They’d cordoned off the elevator with bright yellow tape. Daniel sat close, his body turned slightly towards mine, his knee touching my thigh. I kept wanting to lean against him and rest my head on his chest.
‘What a nightmare,’ I said.
‘I know. Are you feeling any better?’
‘Yes, I am actually.’ I was pleased that my voice sounded stronger than I physically felt.
‘Good.’
I looked across at him and smiled. ‘Thank