It’s release day!!! We’re celebrating Talk in an Elevator Day today, but please don’t talk to me in the elevator š Love in an Elevator is a contemporary story about Corey and Hayden who keep running into each other in the elevator.
Since we’re celebrating a day when you should be talking in an elevator, I amused myself by making one of the characters, Corey, communicate through ASL instead of spoken language. It takes some time before Hayden realises Corey never replies verbally or tells him anything during the short rides to the third floor.
There is past bullying and a heap of prejudice in this one, but overall, I’d say it’s pretty light-hearted. If you read on, you’ll find the first chapter below š
Chapter 1
Corey Hope stiffened when he heard the laugh cut through the air of the restaurant. Kevin Sullivan had been the meanest kid in school, and there hadnāt been a day when Corey hadnāt hoped heād be run over in the school parking lotāit never happened. Heād never seen a car close to running him over despite suspecting some of the teachers had the same wish he had.
As an adult, he did his best to avoid Kevin, but they had both stayed in Landown, which was a small city, and while they didnāt hang out in the same places or with the same people, Corey spotted him from time to time. Most often he managed to hide.
Turning a fraction, he searched for Kevin on the opposite side of the restaurant. Yup, there he was, sitting at one of the tables closest to the bathrooms. Coreyās heartrate went into overdrive. He had to get out of here before Kevin spotted him.
Looking at Brielle, who sat across the table, he waited until she looked at him before signing that he needed to leave. She frowned and looked around. Brielle was deaf and hadnāt heard Kevinās laughter, but she knew Corey well and was now searching the crowd.
This Friday night, most tables were filled. Madame Toussaint was the fanciest restaurant in town, and Corey wouldnāt have frequented it as often as he did if he hadnāt gotten the food for free. That wasnāt true. He would still have come, but heād have coffee instead.
Brielleās family owned the restaurant, and they were all happy to bury him in food every time he crossed the threshold. He loved them, and not only because they fed him every chance they got.
Before heād met Brielle, heād walked around with a pen and notepad, trying to get people to read his notes when there was something he wanted to say. After heād gotten to know her, heād started taking classes in sign language. It had changed his life. His hearing worked fine, but his stutter was crippling, and sign language gave him an out.
Heād suffered through school, had avoided all kinds of interaction because of the anxiety they caused. Heād been sent to a speech therapist, and she had been convinced sheād be able to teach him not to stutter, and in the beginning, heād believed her. Heād hoped with every fiber of his being, but it hadnāt worked. He believed she believed he could learn to talk like normal people, and heād tried. Then heād stopped.
He hadnāt wanted anyone to hear him talkāor try toāand learning ASL was the best thing heād ever done. Not only could he talk to Brielle without problem, but people assumed he was deaf and didnāt expect him to answer. Surprisingly many spoke to him despite believing he was deaf. He didnāt understand it. Why talk to him if they didnāt think he could hear them? And then there were the screamers. Those who believed he was deaf and yet raised their voices when speaking to him, as if shouting would make a deaf person hear them. People were strange.
Brielleās hands moved through the air.Ā Heās gotten fat.
Corey grinned. Sheād found Kevin in the crowd. He hadnāt gotten fat, he looked like he always hadāa little older, as they all were. Getting ready to leave, Corey gave Brielle a nervous look. If he kept close to the wall, he had a chance of sneaking out before Kevin spotted him.
When he stood, she gathered their plates and glared in Kevinās direction. More people had joined his gathering, and Corey sighed. A work thing perhaps. He didnāt know what Kevin did, but heād started a company after heād finished school, and word around town was it was going well. He believed it had something to do with events, concerts, and stuff, but he wasnāt sure.
He thanked Brielle for the food, promised to call her the next day, and moved stealthily toward the exit. Tiptoeing was stupid. The hum of voices was loud enough to cover the sounds of his steps had he stomped his way out of there.
Kevin wouldnāt say anything if he noticed him, would he? They were adults now. It hadnāt stopped him a couple of years ago when theyād run into each other on the beach, but heād been drunk then. This was in a civilized setting.
The knot in his gut wound itself tighter. The Kevin he remembered from school wouldnāt have cared, but they were adults now. Kevin too must have grown some sense.
He was too occupied looking over his shoulder at Kevinās table to look for the door handle. He hurried forward, too fast to react to the door not being there and the tepid air of the July evening wrapping around him instead of the scents of the restaurant.
His hand hit something warm and solid, but he was too startled to halt his motions before he slammed into the person heād fondled. Shit.
Staring into a pair of sparkling dark eyes had his heart racing.
āSorry.ā The manās tone was husky and low as if they knew each other and were in a different situation than they were. Corey raised his hand to sign an apology, but it didnāt obey him, so he smiled instead.
āAre you okay?ā
Corey nodded and stepped away from the man. He smelled of shampoo and naughty dreams, and Corey wouldāve loved to linger.
āAre you sure?ā
He nodded again.
A smile tugged at the corner of the manās mouth. āWell, then, it was nice meeting you.ā He didnāt move, his dark eyes swept over Coreyās face as if he was searching for something.
Corey smiled and hurried off. He might have come across as a klutz, but heād escaped Kevin.
* * * *
Hayden Perry drummed the kitchen counter as he waited for the last drops of coffee to drip down. Heād lived in the apartment for two and a half weeks and had unpacked most of his boxes. Heād been at his new job for two weeks, and while he was happy to have his apartment mostly organized, he wished he could throw everything he had in the office into boxes and never come back.
Heād been excited when heād landed the job as an event planner, but his boss was a dick, and the eventsāit was more amateur theater than Broadway.
His first assignment was to plan a spoken word poetry night. He didnāt dislike spoken word, not at all, those who did it well impressed the hell out of him, but it wasnāt the rock concerts the job ad had promised. Though Haydenās dream wasnāt to arrange rock concerts, and no sane rock star would waste their time visiting a town the size of Landown. He sighed, grabbed the coffee pot, and filled his newest porcelain travel mug. It was a to-go cup with a silicon lid, but Tara insisted on calling them travel mugs. Hayden wasnāt sure if there was a difference between to-go cups and travel mugs, so he didnāt argue.
The good thing about moving to Landown was being close to Tara again. Theyād grown up on the same street. Him being queer and she being a black girl in a white neighborhood had made them instant friendsāoutcasts united. Theyād gone to the same school, but as soon as sheād finished college, sheād moved. Heād missed her when sheād gone and had believed their friendship would fizzle out and dieāhe sucked at keeping in contactābut it hadnāt. Tara hadnāt allowed him to slip away, and he was forever grateful for it.
Fitting the lid on the to-go cup, he grabbed it and headed for the door. He was meeting Tara and her boyfriend, Jeremy, in the park. He kicked the front door shut behind him and reached into his pocket for his key.
Once heād locked, he went toward the elevator. It was ancient, and part of him was afraid a wire would snap and heād fall to his death.
It didnāt snap, not this time, and he reached the ground floor in no time.
Stepping out, he almost crashed into a man.
āFuck, sorry.ā He sidestepped, careful not to spill any coffee, and headed for the door. He got three steps before he stopped and turned around. āHi.ā He grinned at the man whoād walked into him at the restaurant the night before.
He was already inside the elevator. His light-brown hair was tousled, his jeans threadbare, and his build slim. Hazel eyes widened in recognition and when the doors began to slide shut, Hayden rushed back into the elevator. He once again held the cup away from his body to avoid spilling coffee on himself, but the lid kept everything inside.
āIām Hayden.ā He focused on the man. When he didnāt reply, some of Haydenās joy died. Pestering strangers in elevators wouldnāt earn him any favors. āDo you live here?ā
The man nodded.
āOh, cool, me too. I moved in two weeks ago. Iām on the fourth floor.ā
The man was watching him intently, a smile playing on his lips.
āWhat floor are you on?ā
For several seconds, the man stood motionless, then he gestured at the large lit-up three on the elevator control panel.
āThird?ā
The man nodded. Not very chatty.
āDid you enjoy your visit to the restaurant yesterday?ā
Smiling, the man nodded, and Hayden waited for him to ask him something in returnāhe didnāt. They were nearing the third floor, and panic built in Haydenās chest. He wanted to hear the manās voice.
āI enjoyed the food. I had the beef bourguignon or whatever itās called. There are too many vowels in the French language, impossible to pronounce.ā
A chuckle filled the elevator, and Hayden blew out a breath and glanced at the man. Gorgeous.
The elevator came to a stop and the doors opened. Hayden almost reached for the man when he walked past him, but right as he was about to halt his escape, the man raised his hand and waved. Hayden stupidly waved back. Fuck.
Ā
Love in an Elevator
Hayden Perry moved to Landown two and a half weeks ago. He was excited to get the event planning job heād applied for, but apart from bumping into a cute guy in the elevator, things donāt pan out the way heād hoped. His boss is an ass and his co-workers are idiots, but as much as he dislikes them, he canāt afford to quit until he has another job lined up.
Corey Hopeās school years sucked. With a crippling stutter, he was easy prey, and despite being grown up, his bullies still haunt his nightmares. After he left school, he gave up on trying to talk, and communicates solely through sign language and written text. It works great even though he wished he could say something when Hayden flirts with him in the elevator.
Hayden does his best to catch Corey in the elevator as often as he can, and he thinks they might have something, but it all comes crashing down when Corey sees him having lunch with his colleagues. Corey might be drawn to Hayden, but seeing him with his school bullies has old memories washing over him. He wonāt let them hurt him ever again, and heād rather forget about Hayden than risk Hayden hurting him.
How will Hayden convince Corey heās nothing like his colleagues when Corey refuses to see him?
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Contemporary Gay Romance: 17,560 words
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