He turns around and heads back to the counter. I watch him over my shoulder, my heart beating fast. Anne clears her throat, but I avoid looking at her. I can tell by the way my whole body has heated that my face is probably as red as my hair. When I finally look at her, she has a big smile on her face.
“That was both the most awkward, and the most exciting thing I’ve ever witnessed,” she says.
“Then you need to raise your standards for both awkward and exciting things.” I wipe my hair away from my face, trying to cool myself down. “What’s the big deal?”
“Naomi Light has a hot date this weekend,” she says in a sing-song voice, dancing in her seat. “And you didn’t even need a dating app to meet him. What are you going to wear?”
I roll my eyes, fighting a smile. “I literally haven’t had time to think about it yet.”
“You never told me you had such a hot neighbor. You’ve only ever talked about the really loud one.”
I shush her, then look over my shoulder again to make sure he can’t hear us. He’s swiping his card at the register. I turn back to Anne. “Why would I describe all of my neighbors to you?”
“You don’t need to describe all of them, but…” She pauses, her eyes wandering back to Jake. “This one is certainly worth describing.”
Jake is heading back to our table with a new cup of coffee for me. Anne and I stand up. She leans closer to me and whispers, “You have to tell me if you find Luca Pichler’s address. I want to know what happens next.”
“You’ll be the first person I tell.”
Anne leaves just as he’s getting back to the table. I thank him, and then we head outside.
“I’ll walk you home,” he offers.
I laugh, glancing up at our apartment building, which is right across the street. “What would you do if I said no?”
He thinks about it. “Probably wait ten seconds and then follow you awkwardly.”
“Fine. You can walk me home.”
The way he smiles does something to me. I’ve seen him smile before, but when it’s directed at me, my heart rate picks up and I think I might need to be carried across the street. I force myself to look away from his face, because it’s the only way I can survive this walk home. My eyes land on his arm, and I imagine him carrying me, my head against that muscular chest… Okay, maybe I shouldn’t look at him at all. I face the street, hoping that the effect he has on me isn’t too obvious.
We wait for traffic to clear up, and then we head across the street. Without even looking at him, I’m acutely aware of every step he takes, how far away from me he is at any given moment, and every time he glances in my direction. I manage to make it to the other side without stumbling over my own feet. He holds the door open for me. As I step past him, I can smell his cologne, or maybe it’s his body wash, mixed with the aroma of the coffee he’s holding. I breathe him in for the fleeting moment that I spend walking past him through the doorway. I’m about to head for the stairs when I notice that he’s stepping up to the elevator. I hesitate. The last time I took this, it broke down and I was trapped for thirty minutes before the fire department came and rescued me. According to other residents, it has been fixed since then, and most people in my building still use it, but I haven’t taken my chances.
He watches me, eyebrow raised, as I turn from the stairwell back to the elevator. I’m not about to tell him that I’m afraid to take the elevator, so I try to play it cool. He hits the button, and the doors open. I take a deep breath before following him in.
“What’s wrong?” he asks as he pushes the button for his floor.
“Nothing.” I hit the button for the third floor, ignoring the fact that I can hear my own heartbeat drumming in my ears.
“Are you sure? Because you seem like you’re afraid of the elevator.”
“Nope. Not at all.”
His brow wrinkles. “You’re white as a ghost. Are you claustrophobic?”
“That’s just my skin tone,” I say, forcing a laugh. “Thanks a lot.”
“Come on. We can take the stairs if you need to.” He reaches for the button, but by the time he hits it, the elevator is already starting to move up. It shakes, and then stops moving halfway between the lobby and the second floor.
I let out an involuntary sound that’s a mixture between a gasp and a shriek. I clasp my free hand over my mouth.
“Oops.” He hits the button again, but it doesn’t seem to help.
“This is exactly why I didn’t want to take the elevator,” I groan. “This always happens to me.”
“This has happened to you before?” His eyes go wide. “Oh. That’s why you were afraid.” He looks back at the control panel. “And I just made things worse, didn’t I?”
I back up against the wall and take a deep breath. I let it out slowly, calming myself. I pull my phone out of my pocket to check for a signal, but I know there won’t be any. I was without a signal the entire thirty minutes I was trapped in here last time.
