Say You'll Remember Me(16)

We beamed at each other while “Come On Eileen” went into the chorus.

This was the best date I’d ever been on. Period. I didn’t even care that my friends had crashed it. I was glad they’d met her because now I had someone to talk to about her.

I wanted to see her again. Tomorrow. Breakfast maybe before her flight. I didn’t even want to take her home. I was already planning the next date when she got back. I had free clinics all weekend, but I could make it work after that, anything and any time she wanted.

My hands were around her waist and she was pressed into me, disco lights flashing across her face.

I gazed at her lips. “Did you have a good time?” I asked, my voice low.

“I really did,” she said, looking at my lips too. Then she drew her brows down and peered around. “Shouldn’t the door have opened?”

“I don’t know. Maybe when you’re done you just leave?”

“It’s locked, though. I tried it when the kid left.”

My eyes came up to hers. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, look.” She leaned over and jiggled the handle. “Locked.”

“Huh. Maybe it opens at the one-hour mark?”

She scrunched up her face. “Maybe. So what do we do for four more minutes?” She bit her lip.

My heart rate picked up.

“Aren’t there cameras in here?” I asked.

We both looked up. There were.

“Damn,” she whispered. “But if anyone’s actually watching they’d know we were done and they’d let us out, right?”

“You really want me to kiss you in a spaceship, don’t you,” I said.

“I kind of do…”

I grinned and pulled her against my hips.

“I don’t want to kiss you on camera,” I said, slipping a hand over her cheek. “I like the way you smell…” I whispered.

“I like the way you smell,” she said in an out-of-breath way that made me reconsider not kissing her.

Her hands wrapped around my waist and she pulled me closer.

“Do you want to come over after this—” she breathed, rubbing her nose against mine.

“Yes,” I said.

“Immediately yes?”

“Immediately yes.”

“Come On Eileen” came to a close. Then it started again. It was playing on a loop.

“What time does your flight leave tomorrow?” I asked. I wanted to know how long I had her.

“Seven thirty a.m. Will you drive me to the airport?”

“Ahh, is that why you want me to come over?” I said, my lips a fraction of an inch from hers.

“That and I want you to give Pooter her sedative. She’s wiggly.”

I chuckled.

“How long is this song?” she asked.

“I don’t know. Three, four minutes maybe,” I said distractedly.

Then I felt her body change. She paused and made space between us and turned to the digital clock. “I feel like it’s been more than four minutes.” She looked back at me. “Why would they let the song repeat?”

I snapped out of the daze I’d been in. I let go of her and went to the door and knocked on it. “Hello?”

Nothing.

I knocked louder. Still no answer. I got a sinking feeling in my stomach.

“Did they forget us?” she asked.

“They probably do a check of the building before they close,” I said. “And there’s a camera in here. There has to be a surveillance screen where they’ll see people are still inside.”

She went to the camera mounted in the corner of the room and waved her arms. “Hello? We’re still in here!”

I pounded on the door while she paced behind me, chewing on her thumb. After ten minutes of this we gave up.

“They close at one, right?” she asked, looking worried.

“Yeah.” I dragged a hand down my mouth.

“They’ll see your SUV outside,” she said. “They’ll know we didn’t leave.”

“There’s a bar. People probably leave their cars in the parking lot all the time and take Ubers home.”

“Crap.”

When “Come On Eileen” ended for the fourth time, she put her ear to the door. “I can’t hear anyone out there.”

She listened for the five seconds of silence before the song started again, then she looked at me, the reality of this situation setting in. “We’re stuck here. I have a flight to catch in six hours. Our phones are in the locker, my sister’s gonna think you murdered me!”

I laughed dryly at this even though it wasn’t funny.

“I’ll try kicking it in,” I said.

It was useless.

The door was like a bank vault. Maybe it was a bank vault. The building was old, it was definitely possible this place used to be something else.

Two hours later we were still trapped.

We’d moved to sitting on the floor about an hour and a half ago. I had my back against the wall and she was curled up against me, tucked under my arm. We both had Ring Pops.

“Come On Eileen” was still playing.

“I can’t tell if this is the best story ever, or if we’re being tortured,” she said.