Elevators

"I know," I replied. "I'm about to enter the lift. I'll talk to you later. Bye."

I hung up the phone and fumbled for my keys. It was 2014. I was twenty-two years old, standing in the lobby of my New York apartment block.

The elevator opened its doors. I stepped inside the large, empty space.

"Hey," Jesse whispered to me.

I blinked and noticed that we were in a smaller elevator now — the elevator in his Sydney apartment block.

"Hey," he whispered again, this time in the other ear. I turned to face him. He gave me a cheeky grin, and then he kissed me. He always kissed me in empty elevators when no one was looking.

I heard the elevator ding as we approached a new floor. He pulled away, making sure that no one knew. That was the fun of it. It was our little secret.

A blonde man with pale skin entered the elevator from the Colombian gym where I trained every day.

The doors shut. It was just the two of us.

"I haven't seen you around," I said. The community of foreigners living in that Medellin neighborhood was pretty tight-knit. "What's your name?"

"I'm Tyler." I noticed his American accent. "I just spent a few months hanging in Colorado with the fam. I only got back yesterday. What's your name?"

"I'm Nikki," I smiled. "Are you traveling here, or you live here...?"

"I live here," he said. "Just up the road, actually. With two dogs, so I'm a proper expat. Locked in."

"Oh, no way! I'm up that way too. I probably walk by your place every day."

He laughed. "Well, maybe we'll end up running into each other some more. So, what brings you here?"

"It's funny, actually. One of my best friends, Zac, landed here a few years ago. Within a week, he'd walked past a 'for sale' sign on a penthouse up the hill. So he waltzed inside, had a look, made an offer, and now he lives here. He's been wanting me to visit, and I needed to be in the US timezone for work, so-"

"What's your work? It's online, I assume."

"Yeah. I just have an online coding school for children. You?"

"An online writing agency. We have a few hundred writers who make content for our clients."

The elevator dinged, and the doors opened. We both stepped into the hallway.

"I guess I'll see you around," I said as I waved goodbye.