Once outside, she scrambled in her bag for her phone. Now that she had a cell signal, she expected to find a few missed notifications from Mark. He had wished her luck beforehand, but he knew it wasn't going to be a three-hour interview, so he was probably expecting to have heard from her by now. She hoped he wasn't too worried. She didn't want to increase his stress too much; his work was bad enough.
She had three messages. Two from her Mom, and one from her best friend, Denise. All inquiring about the interview. She decided to call Mark first; he didn't like to be surprised with plans after work, but maybe he'd make an exception when he heard the story.
The phone rang five times before his voicemail clicked in. Stephanie hung up, no need for a message, she could just text him asking to call her back when he had a second. She got a message back fairly quickly.
Mark: Is it important? We are in crisis mode here. Will be really late tonight.
Mark: Sorry.
Pushing down her disappointment, she quickly replied.
Stephanie: No, not important. Go save the world! See you later xx
She texted Denise, usually open to last minute plans, and hoped for a better response.
Stephanie: The craziest thing happened today. SOOO much to tell you. Dinner? Mark's working late.
As usual, Denise was there for her immediately.
Denise: Um, YES! Restaurant or take out? I have wine by the box if that sways your choice ð Can be home by 6.
Stephanie: Box wine kind of day. I'll bring the food.
She had a bit if time to kill before getting to Denise's. She climbed into her car and called her Mom.
"Hi Sweetie, how did the interview go?"
"The interview was really good, seems like a good job. The events are so much more impressive than anything my old company would ever do. Pay is better too."
"Good, good! I'm sure they loved you. When will you find out?"
"Early next week. Not a huge fan of the office location though."
"Why not, I thought it was in the nice part of downtown?"
"Oh, it is, but I don't trust the elevators."
"What? Why?"
Stephanie told her the whole story. By the time she finished, her Mom was a complete wreck, and barely accepting Stephanie's assurances that everything was fine. She understood her Mom's worries. Since leaving their small town to go to college, her Mom was left all alone. Other than her work and her book club, her Mom didn't have many distractions from her worries about Stephanie's life in the big bad city, not that she'd ever say that directly to Stephanie.
Stephanie finally put a stop to it when she said "Mom, don't you think if I wasn't fine, or if there was anything seriously wrong, this phone call would have been made by police, or doctors, or maybe even Mark?" That seemed to stump her and she calmed a bit, and then she demanded to speak with Mark.
"No, Mom, he's not here. He's at work."
"You've been trapped in an elevator for hours and he didn't even leave work to make sure you're okay! I'm going to have to speak to him about that!"
"No Mom, really I'm fine, he had a crisis at work he couldn't leave, and I'm going to Denise's for dinner now. I've gotta go, or I'll be late."
"Hmm. Okay. Have fun. And for God's sake be safe!"
"Always, Mom. Love you."
Hanging up the phone, she shook her head and turned on the car. It was an old car, but reliable. She loved every bit of it. Mark wanted her to get a new one, and kept saying this one didn't suit them very well, but she thought it suited her just fine. They could always take his car when they went out together. He had a flashy new Mercedes that he was extremely proud of, but she loved her Honda. It had been through a lot with her, and there was no good reason to get rid of a perfectly good car.
She stopped to pick up Chinese food and arrived on Denise's doorstep at 6:05pm. As usual, Denise was already pulling a hoodie over her head getting into her comfy clothes. Stephanie wished for a second that she had gone home first to change. She thought she smelled like the elevator.
Denise grabbed the food and headed to the kitchen, calling back over her shoulder "Go find something comfier. Those are not wine and story clothes."
Stephanie quite agreed and loved her friend even more in that moment. Good thing they were nearly the same size. Not that it really mattered with sweats, but they always felt better when they were a size too big rather than a size too small.
They had become best friends in elementary school when they played all their sports together. Now, Denise was the only person Stephanie was still close with from that time of her life.
They hadn't gone to college together though. Denise had decided she was done with sports, but Stephanie wasn't, so Stephanie played on the varsity volleyball team, but it had never been as much fun as when Denise was on the court with her. They just always knew what the other was going to do.
Remembering the good old days, she grabbed an old basketball hoodie and put it on, laughing as she did so when she realized it was actually her own hoodie. She carefully laid her interview clothes on the bed behind her and headed back out to join Denise, who put a full glass of wine into her hand and pointed her to the couch, where the food was already open on the coffee table.
They tucked in to the food and wine with a vengeance, and once their appetites were sated, Stephanie launched into the story, wondering in the back of her mind if she would ever see that guy again. Whatever his name was. She guessed she could always just refer to him as Elevator Guy.