Jake Undone (8 page)

Vinny stuck out his hand. “Nina, it’s a pleasure.”

“Same here,” I said.

Jake turned to Vinny. “We still good to go?”

“Yeah, man. No problem at all. Take as long as you need.”

“Thanks, Vin. I’ll owe you one.” Jake turned to me. “Come on.”

“Who is he?”

“An old friend. He manages the building.”

Jake led me through the foyer and down a hallway. I knew where this was heading, and it was not

good. We stopped in front of an elevator, and he pushed the up button.

This was my absolute worst nightmare. I pleaded with him. “Jake, listen, I don’t know if Ryan ever said

anything, but this whole thing…all of my problems…they started in an elevator. It was where my first panic

attack happened. I was in high school and got stuck in one and—”

“All the more reason to get past that. If you get in one right now, you can help undo the damage created

by your own mind.”

I grabbed his arm and begged. “Please…I’ll do anything else but this.” My eyes were beginning to well

up.

When the door opened, he stuck his hand inside to keep it from closing. When he looked back at me,

he noticed I was starting to cry.

“Fuck. Nina, don’t cry. Come on, I promise you that nothing will happen to you in there.”

I shook my head and covered my face to mask my tears. I was disappointed in myself for reacting this

way, but this was too big of a leap to take so soon. Just the sight of that death box made me want to run far

away. I couldn’t imagine having to set foot in it.

He threw his backpack into the elevator and continued to stand in the opening, holding the door open

one with of his hands and reaching the other out for me to take.

I considered running. I considered pretending to pass out. I considered screaming for help. In the end

though, I looked into Jake’s eyes, deciding to trust him and took his hand, letting him pull me into the

elevator. He tried to release me, but I grabbed onto his hand tighter.

“Leave the door open,” I demanded.

“Okay. We can take this slow.”

Jake kept his hand on the open door button. “You tell me when you are ready to take a ride.”

“I won’t ever be ready. Don’t you understand? I won’t ever be ready for that door to close.”

“Then you need to let me decide when, okay? You trust me, Nina?”

I looked at his pleading eyes and squeezed his hand tighter.

Why did he care? Why did he want to do this for me?

“I probably shouldn’t trust you, Jake, but the truth is, I do. I am just scared.”

I knew I had to do this. If I couldn’t do this today, with this crazy guy who was willing to help me

through it, I would never be able to do it myself. It was only getting worse over time. Even if it killed me, I

knew I had to let him close that door.

“Nina, I’m going to let the doors close now, okay?”

I nodded silently and watched as he took his finger off of the button. When the doors closed

completely, I began to shake uncontrollably. Memories of the last time I was in an elevator flashed through

my mind.

He pushed a button, and as the elevator began to rise up, I instinctively leaned into him, holding on for

dear life. I could feel his chest tighten as my nails dug into him, and I closed my eyes, breathing in his scent to calm my nerves. I was terrified and didn’t care how foolish I looked. I needed him to hold onto me,

because it felt like I was going pass out.

“You’re doing good,” he whispered into my ear, which was right under his mouth. “Look. We’re on

fifty now.”

I shook my head, which was buried in his armpit. “Don’t tell me! I don’t want to know how high we

are.”

My heart was pounding against him for at least a minute.

Jake tapped me. “Nina, you did it. We reached the eightieth floor.” He released me from his grip, and I

was still breathing heavily as the doors opened. “You want to walk around up here for a bit or do you

wanna go right back down?”

“Go back down. Please,” I urged. I just wanted to get this over with.

“You got it,” he said as he pressed the down button, and the doors closed.

I started to calm down a bit. I just had to keep myself from hyperventilating or fainting on the way

down, and I could make it out of this box alive. I clutched his shirt again, using him for support. I could

feel his breath and smell the mint gum he was chewing.

I peeked at the numbers and saw sixty-five, sixty-four, sixty-three, sixty-two, and then it happened: a

massive jolt as the elevator came to an abrupt halt.

The rush of panic that swept through me in that second was the most overpowering I had ever

experienced, and my body burned up like a fire had started inside.

I screamed.

“Jake! Jake? We’re stuck! What’s happening? What’s happening?”

“Shh.” He was hushing me to calm me down, and it took me a few seconds to notice his relaxed

expression…and that his hand was on the stop button.

“Please tell me…
you
…did not just stop this elevator?”

“Calm down, Nina. Calm dow—”

I smacked him in the chest with all of my might.

“The fuck, Nina. Stop!” he yelled as he grabbed my hands and locked them together in his palms. He

was strong, and I stood no chance of freeing them. He blocked access to the buttons as he held my hands

together.

I was panting. “You told me you wouldn’t force me to do anything I wasn’t comfortable with. I am

begging you…to move this elevator…
now
!”

He squeezed my hands, securing them even more firmly in his grasp. “Nina, calm down. It’s okay. Don’t

you see you have to stick this out? You have to pass through the moment of panic. If you can get past that

and see that nothing happens, you can do anything.”

“I don’t want to. It’s not worth it!”

“What’s not worth it?”

“Experiencing this…these horrible feelings!” I felt like I was starting to hyperventilate as my breath

became impossible to catch.

“Nothing is actually happening to you right now. It’s you and me standing here. That’s it. It’s all in your

mind.” He let go of my hands and cupped my face. “Look at me.” He looked into my eyes and I could only

imagine the freak he saw looking back at him. He inched closer and despite my nerves, my legs tingled

when I felt his breath on my mouth as he said, “If you make me push that button, the deal’s off.”

“Fine…deal’s off…do it. Now!”

He released his hands from my face then stood in front of the buttons, crossing his arms. He shook his

head vehemently. “No.”

“Jake…push the button.”

“No. You’d be back at square one. You have to get over this, and the only way is to experience it. I’m

not letting you give up that easily.”

I began screaming for help and tried to nudge him away from the panel, but he was too strong, so I

punched the back wall in frustration.

I was shaking, felt defeated and said under my breath, “Fuck me! I can’t believe this.”

“Well, that’s one way we could pass the time, but I don’t make a habit of doing that with women in the

midst of a hyperventilation episode. It’s too confusing…hard to tell what’s actually causing the heavy

breathing.”

I stifled a laugh but tried not to let him see it. “Very funny,” I said.

“I was kidding, of course. Just trying to make you laugh, but apparently it’s not working,” he said as he

continued to stand against the panel, his criss-crossed, tattooed arms not budging.

I walked over to the other side of the elevator and slid down to the floor. I hugged myself, rocking back

and forth in an effort to calm my panic. With my eyes closed, I could hear the sound of Jake opening the

zipper of his backpack and tried to imagine I was somewhere else, anywhere but stuck in this death trap.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Several minutes passed in silence, as I kept my head down in a fetal position. I was beginning to calm

down a tiny bit when it happened: what sounded like an explosion.

Sheer terror ensued as I jumped and screamed simultaneously. When I looked over at Jake, he was on

the ground laughing hysterically, covered in foam, holding…a bottle of champagne.

Son of a bitch
.

“Jake! What the hell? What THE hell?”

Champagne dripped down the bottle that he held above our heads. “We’re celebrating!”

“You are sick!”

“We are celebrating your survival, Nina! It’s been twelve minutes and thirty-three seconds since this

elevator stopped, and you are still alive.”

His antics only got worse when he produced two champagne flutes from the backpack, followed by a

small blanket, which he fluffed dramatically before placing it down onto the middle of the floor.

“What are you doing?”

“What does it look like we’re doing? We’re having a picnic.”

He then took out an iPod, speaker and a bunch of food from Trader Joe’s: crackers, hummus and

chocolate covered cherries.

“You are not serious!”

“Dead serious. We need to change your negative connotation of elevators. The last time you were in this

situation, you associated it with darkness and misery. Now, the next time you get stuck in one, you’ll think

of the amazeballs picnic we’re gonna have.”

Jake poured the champagne into the two glasses and handed me one. I didn’t extend my hand. “You’re

being a jackass.”

He glared at me. “You can take it, or I can drink it all. Then, you’ll just be stuck in this elevator with a

drunk
jackass.”

I let out a sigh and reluctantly took the glass. He began opening the packages of food he brought and

popped a chocolate covered cherry into his mouth. “These are awesome. Try one,” he said as he handed me

the container. I had no appetite but took one and ate it. He was right. It was delicious.

I shook my head as I realized that, for a few seconds, he had really distracted me, and I had stopped

focusing on the potential for disaster. I had been living in the moment without even realizing it. While not

gone entirely, the fear had somewhat subsided in the midst of this absurd setup.

I stayed quiet in my corner of the elevator and rolled my eyes as Jake spread some hummus onto a

cracker and ate it. Just when I thought things couldn’t get any more bizarre, he started fiddling with his

iPod, connecting it to a speaker. It took me a few seconds to realize what song he had played:
Free Fallin’

by Tom Petty.

That jerk!
I started to laugh and covered my mouth.

Jake, who had been serious for the most part, aside from the champagne popping, also started to crack

up when he saw he had broken through my bitterness.

“Nina Kennedy. Is that a laugh I hear? Are you seriously making light of this dangerous and life

threatening situation we are in? Shame on you!”

I began to laugh even harder, and he threw a cherry at me as he flashed a wicked grin.

“Jake, you are nuts, you know that?”

“Oh! Speaking of nuts…” He lifted his finger and reached into his backpack. “You need to sample
my

nuts, Nina. Try these.” He snickered knowing he had succeeded in embarrassing me. “Why are you

blushing?”

Laughing, I said, “I don’t want to taste your nuts, thanks.” When he handed me the container anyway, I

looked at it and said, “Chocolate covered brazil nuts? I have never had these.” I took one and ate it. “Mmm.

They are good.”

His smile shone through the glass as he sipped more champagne. “See?”

Several minutes passed as we joked around while listening to the music, picking at the food and

finishing off the champagne. My fear level had gone down even more significantly.

I shook my head again as I realized that the next song on Jake’s “terrorize Nina” playlist was
Stuck in

the Middle with You
by Stealer’s Wheel.

“You like that, huh?” he laughed.

I shook my head, just staring at him in awe. “You’re crazy…but you know what? I am not panicking

anymore, so there is something to this.”

He winked. “Good girl.”

Something about the way he said that made me shiver. I knew I must be calming down because my

body suddenly became hyperaware of him.

Lust was winning again
.

More carefully selected songs played one after the other as we continued to eat, and since my nerves

were desensitizing, I had begun taking notice of all the other things I had been missing, like, how incredible

he smelled. This time, it was just the cologne without the cigarettes. His hair was perfectly styled and gelled.

The fitted tee he wore under the plaid shirt hugged his chest. The sleeves were rolled up, showing off his

strong forearms. I looked closely at the colored tats on his right arm, unable to decipher what they all

meant. He was wearing black jeans and black Converse sneakers. His feet were laid out next to me, and they

were large, maybe size eleven. That reminded me of his hand and how big and warm it felt when he held

my hand on the subway trip.

He smelled good enough to eat.

Jake interrupted my thoughts. “Earth to Nina!”

I blinked. “Hi.”

“Have you had your fill?

I shook my head. “Excuse me?”

“Should I put this stuff away?”

“Oh…yeah…um…yes.”

I laid my head back on the elevator wall, exhausted from my earlier self-induced panic episode. I was

not completely calm by any means but was surprised to know that sticking it out actually did work. I had

been sure that if I couldn’t escape a terrifying situation, I would faint or even die from the panic. The