Hello all! I wanted to try something a little different this week so I recorded myself reading the new story aloud. Enjoy!
LOVE IN AN ELEVATOR
I really need a girl like an open book,
To read between the lines
Love in an elevator,
Livin’ it up when I’m going down
“Damn it,” Mel muttered to herself. That damn Aerosmith song was stuck in her head. She wasn’t sure why as she rarely listened to the group.
She entered the kitchen to find her daughter, Andrea, hunched over her phone. She realized the song was coming from Andrea’s phone, not from her own mind.
“Hey, Mom,” Andrea said, “Have you seen this?”
“Yes, back in the 90s when the music video was first released,” Mel said as she poured herself some coffee. “Did everyone just now figure out what Steven Tyler is singing about?”
“No,” Andrea said, holding her phone up for her mother to see the screen. “Isn’t this your friend from work?”
Mel looked at the phone and saw what looked like black and white security footage of an empty elevator. Two women drunkenly stumbled into frame as the Aerosmith song started to play. It took a second, but once they stopped moving she recognized one of the women as Darcy Collins.
The video cut to the two of them groping at each other and sucking face like teenagers under the bleachers at a school dance. It cut again to show Darcy and the other woman in the corner of the elevator, Darcy’s back to the camera as the woman pushed Darcy’s blouse off her shoulders. The footage cut one more time as the woman pushed Darcy’s head down just as the lyrics sang:
Going doooooooowwwwwwn!
“Oh my god,” Mel said.
“I know!” Andrea said, her voice full of excitement. “Think you could introduce me?”
*****
Andrea had been quick to fill her mother in on all the details of the elevator video, as everyone was calling it. Apparently it had been leaked by security for the apartment building where the woman lived. Mel knew it had to be the other woman’s apartment as Darcy had told her she lived in the Collins building and their security was airtight.
The video had gone viral, several reporters were reaching out to the other woman to get her version of events. Though most of them just wanted to know if she was Darcy’s girlfriend. Apparently, Darcy had yet to comment on the situation.
Since the werewolf was no longer the new professor on campus, she didn’t have to work night classes anymore. Her first semester had been so well received, the university had practically told Darcy to make her own schedule. Knowing full well that her friend was currently holding office hours, Melanie decided to check in with her to see how she was holding up.
She opened the office door and found the young woman sitting at her desk, she was holding her cellphone in one hand while the other was pinching the bridge of her nose.
“I don’t see what the problem is,” She practically growled into the phone. She opened her eyes and gave Mel a half-hearted wave.
“I can come back,” Mel whispered, but Darcy shook her head and waved her in.
Close the door, she mouthed before speaking back into the phone. “We were two consenting adults.”
Melanie closed the door and sat down, waiting for Darcy to finish her phone call.
“Yes, I’m aware of how it makes me look…” Darcy’s voice was growing more and more irritated with every passing minute. “You think I like it? YouTube has an unedited version and now I’ve got every Betty, Veronica, and Sally giving me googly eyes because I’ll do what their boyfriends won’t…”
Mel snorted in an effort to stifle her laughter, Darcy rolled her eyes.
“I’m not trying to be funny. Trust me, I don’t like this any more than you do… Well then, maybe you’ll think about that next time you try to set me up.” Darcy went to disconnect the call, but her thumb cracked the screen. “Damn it all. Military-grade my ass, I lose more phones like this.”
“Are you alright?” Mel asked.
Darcy simply nodded.
“Who was on the phone?”
“My father,” Darcy grunted. “Reminding me of what a disappointment I am.”
“Because you got a little frisky in an elevator?”
“Because I’m an alpha and should be making smarter choices for the good of the pack.”
“But you’re not the pack leader,” Mel said, slightly confused.
“No, but I’m expected to be,” Darcy said with a sigh.
“Surely your father has made mistakes,” Melanie suggested.
“I’m sure,” Darcy agreed, “But he never got caught drunkenly going down on a woman in an elevator.”
“Yeah, about that, I thought you said it was really hard for you to get drunk? You looked completely shit faced in the video.”
Darcy cocked an eyebrow, “Studied it frame by frame, have you?”
Mel felt her cheeks redden, “My daughter showed it to me. Then asked if I would set you two up.”
“You have no idea how many phone numbers were slipped under my door this morning,” Darcy told her. “But, to answer your question, it’s extremely hard for werewolves to get drunk off normal liquor. We just happened to come from a werewolf bar that served liquor infused with wolfsbane.”
“I thought wolfsbane was poisonous?”
“It is to humans,” Darcy explained. “To us, it’s the one thing that can make us intoxicated. I don’t really like the stuff, it makes drinks taste weird.”
“And apparently horny as all hell.”
“That was more because of the full moon.”
“The full moon isn’t for another week,” Mel said. Ever since she became friends with the young werewolf, she had been keeping tabs on the moon cycle.
“The video is from months ago,” Darcy said. “Right after I moved back here.”
“So why is it just now surfacing?”
Darcy shrugged. “She probably leaked it, looking for her 15 minutes of fame. Or someone from the security team had it and was holding out for the highest bidder.”
“So that woman in the video isn’t your girlfriend?” Mel asked.
“I’m not seeing anyone, no,” Darcy said, “She was a blind date set up by my father of all people. We went out one time, got insanely drunk on wolfsbane vodka, and made a few poor decisions.”
“What did the Dean say?”
“She asked if I’d like to extend my contract.”
“You’re kidding.”
Darcy shook her head, “Apparently this leaked footage has generated all kinds of interest from prospective students and there are many students who suddenly have a new interest in mythology.”
Melanie scoffed, “Figures. If I did something like that, they’d fire my ass. Hell, I have trouble finding people to model for my class.”
“I thought people got paid for that.”
“They do, but they still have to work up the nerve to pose naked in a room full of their peers. If I don’t get a model soon, I’m going to have to cut my semester short. I might get knocked down to teaching part-time.”
“When do you need that model?”
“Why?” Mel asked, “You have someone in mind?”
“Me.”
Mel chuckled and Darcy narrowed her eyes. “Wait, you’re serious?”
Darcy nodded, “If you’d like.”
“You’re not nervous about students seeing you naked?”
Darcy barked a laugh, “Mel, I’ve been shedding my clothes in front of a group of people since I was eight years old. Modesty has no place in the life of a werewolf.”
Mel was quiet for a moment, “Are you sure?”
“Think about it, I pose for your art class, all the students start talking about it, you’ll probably have a waiting list to take it.”
“If they want to see you naked, can’t they just watch the unedited video?”
“You only see my back,” Darcy shook her head, “Thank god I had sense enough to move us to the corner.”
“Do you think it will work?” Mel asked.
Darcy smiled, “I’ll do it every semester if it keeps your attendance up.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re my friend,” Darcy explained, “Aside from my sister, you’re the only other person that came to check on me. Everyone else is either using this to their advantage or berating me.”
“Of course I’m going to check up on you,” Mel gave Darcy a confused look, “What happened was pretty fucked up, Darcy. It’s a huge violation of your privacy.”
“Privacy,” Darcy said with a sad smile. “Never heard of it.”