Page 64 of Third Time Lucky

Maybe it came out right after all.

“Su-sure. We can play.”

He’s been drinking. We both have. But my sister is watching Rue, everyone’s asleep and this might be the only time we have to work this thing out.

You want to kiss him again.

We say goodnight to Derek and I follow the slightly more alert Joey into our building. A young woman with a cute pixie cut barely looks up from her laptop, pushing her lime green frames up her nose before waggling her fingers. “Hey there, Handsome Ransom. Yo, new guy.”

“I haven’t met her. Have I met her?” Joey thinks he’s whispering. It’s kind of cute.

“She’s Mr. G’s niece. Can’t you see the resemblance? And I hear she has a black belt,” I fake-whisper back. “In case you come in with another date who gets too handsy.”

“How is it that you know everyone? And who says handsy? If you didn’t have so many nicknames, Handsome, I’d start calling you Gramps.”

“Think that through. Imagine telling someone you think Gramps is hot and has a nice ass,” I joke as the lift doors close. “And I know her because the first few weeks we were here I couldn’t sleep. New-dad thing, I guess.”

We both stumble when the elevator starts to rise and smile at each other, remembering that we’re still not entirely sober.

The second, unexpected lurch of the elevator has Joey moving closer to me. “Did you feel that?”

I snag a handful of his shirt in my fist so he doesn’t fall. “It’s probably Fourth working on her wormhole again.”

“Fourth? Have you seen her? Did she open up a wormhole in our building?”

“Yes. No, and I have no idea.” I reach up to touch his hair again. “Did I know you were this curly?”

“I try to keep it under control.” He tries to cover his head with his hands and I whack them gently away.

“I like it like this. It’s so soft.” I bite my lip, tugging gently on one ringlet before letting it bounce back into place. “Fun.”

“Ha ha. Cut it out.”

But he leans into my touch instead of pulling away. I love the way he does that. It makes me want to touch him more.

“Elliot?”

“Hmm?”

“We’re not moving.”

I drop my hand and look up at the numbers above the door. They’re stuck between four and five, and the lights on the ceiling are flickering. “I was kidding about the wormhole.”

Joey is staring at the ceiling. “Holy shit. Martha?”

“Who?”

He pats my chest soothingly. “My old elevator might be haunting me. I’m sure it’s nothing.”

“How drunk are you?”

“I’m fine. But we need to call for—”

“You guys still alive in there?”

“Shit.” Joey jumps in surprise, making me snicker.

It’s Ms. Gordon. “Still alive. But we’re stuck.”

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