Doors of Love

By DesDownUnder

Copyright © 2008 By DesDownUnder. All Rights Reserved.

Chapter 6: Behind the Elevator Doors

I leant against the tiled wall, almost enjoying the water hitting me in the face. My knee was leaning on the stool Bryce had put in the shower with me, so I did not put pressure on my sore foot. I could see him through the shower curtain, sitting on the closed toilet seat. He was waiting in case I fell over again. He had offered to shower with me so that I would not fall, but I had declined. It was enough that he and his boyfriend had slept with me to keep me warm. I really did not want to place him or me in an awkward position.

Not that I think he could be tempted to betray his love for Eran, but it was best not to take any chances; best for me not to be tempted, that is. Besides, I was wondering just how long it would take to wash the blushes off my face from all the ignominies of the morning.

As the shower water sprayed over me, I couldn’t stop myself from thinking about them, especially when I had attempted to get out of bed. No sooner had I fallen on my bad foot as I got out of bed, than Lucy once again was charging into the sanctum of my bedroom, completely oblivious to my, or the boys’, nakedness.

“Here, kitty, kitty,” she had cajoled in a much higher pitched voice than her normal one. No wonder animals look at us with sad eyes.

Lucy bent down on her knees and lifted the comforter to look under the bed.

“Here, kitty, kitteee…that ain’t no pussy cat,” she said as she looked under the bed at exactly where I was laying on the floor on the other side of the bed, fully exposed to her view.

“You have a cat?” I asked, deciding to explore this new information to diminish my being exposed to her further glances, as I looked for something to cover myself with. “We aren’t allowed pets in this building; it’s against the rules.”

“Well, I did have a cat,” said Lucy as she stood up, ignoring my mention of the rules, “but she seems to have got lost in the commotion from last night.”

I pulled the corner of the comforter off the bed to wrap around my now public areas.

Lucy watched as I groaned in pain when my foot twitched.

“Eran, go get some towels,” ordered Lucy.

Eran and Bryce disappeared into the bathroom and quickly returned with towels wrapped around themselves.

“No,” snapped Lucy, “I meant I wanted some towels to cushion Jase’s foot. I think he has hurt it again. Do you have any ice?”

“In the fridge,” I said. Bryce went to the kitchen to get the ice.

I watched as Eran handed his towel to Lucy. Naked once more, he leaned down in front of me to inspect my now aching foot. I didn’t know whether to go “Oooh,” or “Aaah!”

Eran rubbed his hands over my foot.

“Ouch!” I screamed as he turned it over.

“It is swelling,” he said. My foot, he was talking about my foot, he has to be talking about my foot.

Bryce gave the ice to Lucy and then stood by, wringing his hands like an expectant father. His gaze however, eventually fell lasciviously onto his boyfriend’s naked back.

Lucy rolled up the ice in the towel and put it around my foot.

“The ice will help keep the swelling down. I think he should go to the doctor,” said Lucy as she tended to my foot.

“I need a shower,” I said.

“Later,” they all agreed, as they picked me up and put me back into the bed.

Then, without uttering another word, they all left me.

Eran and Bryce headed into the bathroom, presumably to shower.

I stared at the ceiling. My foot began to freeze from the ice. I shut my eyes, trying to block out the pain in my foot. The ice was helping.

Lucy came back into the bedroom just as the lads came out of the shower. For a lesbian, she sure had a knack for knowing when to walk in on naked men.

“Did you boys have a nice shower?” she asked.

“It wasn’t long enough for that,” said Eran. Bryce giggled. Lucy ignored the remark.

“All right, boys. This is what we will do.”

Don’t you just hate bossy lesbians? There I was, lying naked in my own bed, having my day mapped out for me without being consulted at all.

“I’ve made an appointment with the doctor for Jase at four o’clock. Bryce, you stay here with Jase and help him shower. Eran, you return the U-Haul moving van from last night.”

“But Aunty,” stammered Eran, “Bryce is supposed to follow me in our car to pick me up and drive back here after we drop off the van.”

“It’s best if he stays here and helps Jase shower. I will follow you and give you a lift back on my motorbike. That way we will be ready for when the building owner arrives. We had better have the meeting up here. I don’t want to risk them seeing my cat. Is that okay with you, Jase?

Me? Did someone ask my opinion on something? “Yes,” I said, “it’s fine with me.” What else could I say?

“Good,” replied Lucy, “now get to it. It’s after ten; we have less than two hours.”

Eran quickly dressed and followed his aunt, calling out for her to let him drive the bike.

Bryce looked at me, “I hope she doesn’t.”

Truth be told, I had been as concerned as he was about their safety.

Bryce was obviously still worrying about it while I showered.

“Do you think they will get back okay on that bike?” he asked me while I was trying to wash myself.

“Well, I have seen her ride it down the street. She seems careful enough for a 65 year old.”

“I just hope she doesn’t let Eran drive it. He is not as good a driver as he thinks he is.”

I don’t know why, but I almost uttered a small prayer.

Bryce stood up and walked nearer the shower. “You mustn’t tell him I said that,” he said to me.

“I won’t,” I replied.

“I hope they get back quickly,” he said as he walked back to the toilet seat. “The building owner will be here soon, and he will probably make Eran and me pay for all the damages to the lift and everything.”

“Bryce, if you don’t say anything about overloading the elevator, he won’t know what happened. I already told the paramedic that the pot plant fell on me in the dark.”

“Oh thanks, Jase,” he said, “but we have always told the truth. Besides it is all our fault, it always is. The fireman fell on our dumbbells. He could have been seriously hurt, and we ruined the garden when Eran drove all over it in the van.

He was right, of course, the garden was a mess. The fireman probably would report how he fell, but on the other hand…I was somehow hopeful.

I didn’t understand why, but I wanted the boys to be my neighbours. I would just have to be careful how I went about it; see how it panned out, so to speak.

“Can you pass me that towel on the wall rail, please, Bryce?”

“Sure,” he said as he jumped up. I turned off the water as he handed me the towel through the shower curtain. It was all very cute, how he looked the other way so he wouldn’t embarrass me, or was it so he wouldn’t be embarrassed?

I pulled back the shower curtain, hobbling out of the shower. Quickly, Bryce steadied me as I tottered on my one good foot.

“Is it still sore?’ he asked.

“It’s better,” I said as we hobbled back into the bedroom.

I got Bryce to hand me track suit pants and t-shirt from the dressing table drawers.

“Why don’t you have a look around for Lucy’s cat?” I suggested. “It must be around somewhere.”

“Okay,” he said and left me to dress. It was really impossible not to like him; he was such an agreeable young man.

I fell back on to the bed and just rested from the effort of showering and dressing.

It wasn’t long before he returned.

“Here, I have brought these down for you.”

He handed me a pair of crutches.

“Eran got them for me when I hurt my foot.”

“You hurt your foot? When?”

“Yes. When I was trying to straighten a dent in the garage door at our last house and I twisted my foot. It is okay now. Eran massaged my foot for me. He is really good at it. He wants to be a chiropractor. We should get him to massage your foot for you.”

‘Well, let’s see what the doctor says later today,” I said. “Any sign of Lucy’s cat?”

“That was partly why I got you the crutches. Do you think you could make it out into the hallway landing?”

“Yes, I think so. Can you help me with the crutches?”

Bryce helped me adjust the crutches, and a few moments later we were standing outside the elevator doors by my apartment.

“Quiet, listen,” he said.

“Do you hear that?”

Sure enough, we could hear a muted “mew,” but where was it coming from?

We looked around.

“I think it is coming from behind the elevator doors,” I said. “Is the elevator still on your floor?”

“I don’t know,” he told me, “all the doors are shut since the electrician left. Do you think the cat is in the elevator shaft?”

“Sounds like it could be,” I said. “Can you pry the doors open? We might be able to hear it better with the doors open, if it is in there.”

“Hang on. I’ll see if I can open them.”

Bryce used his strong, sinewy hands and managed to pry the door open an inch, but before he could good gain a better hold, they slid shut again.

“It’s no use. I can’t get a good enough hold,” he said.

I had an idea. “Do it again Bryce, and this time I will poke this crutch in the opening and then you will be able to get a better grasp, and perhaps open the door further.”

“Gee, you’re smart,” he said.

“Has to be some advantage to getting older,” I smiled at him, even though I didn’t believe it myself.

He smiled back, baring his perfect white teeth as he managed to pull the doors slightly open. Quickly, I positioned the crutch as high as I could between the two sliding doors, waiting for Bryce to change his hold so he could hopefully pull them further apart.

Bryce had what he thought was a better idea.

As he grabbed the door through the opening the crutch provided, he leapt into the air, lifting his legs with bent knees towards his chest. He is so good at that position. He held onto the left side door as he jumped up, twisting his body in midair, while uncurling his legs under the power of his mighty thighs, aiming his feet at where the crutch was inserted between the doors. Like a giant living lever, his action forced the doors apart. Unfortunately, I was not prepared. I lost my balance and the crutch I was holding disappeared through the now open doors…with me following it into the abyss.

I realise now that I should have let go of the crutch, but I held onto the thing, falling into the lift well. Was this my end? I could see all the flaws of my life flash by me as I fell. There was no light at the end of the tunnel. Then I stopped. I had fallen only a few feet.

“Are you okay, Jase?” came a desperate inquiry from Bryce, his head looking down at me from the now open doors.

“I think so. What is the elevator doing here? Not that I am complaining.”

“It’s on the ground floor; you landed on the top of it. It broke your fall.”

I looked up and saw Bryce looking through the half-lit doorway. I was on top of the elevator cabin. I would need Bryce to help lift me out

I looked around in the gloomy light of my would-be doom, only to see the glowing eyes of some devilish apparition, come to take me to some eternal hell. I suddenly realised it was Lucy’s cat. As my eyes adjusted to the dark, I saw it looking at me, its head to one side, as if to question my sanity. This cat looked like it understood English.

“Is Lucy’s cat down there anywhere?” called Bryce.

“Yes, it’s down here,” I yelled up to Bryce.

“Meow!” it said with a croaky voice, “did you bring food…water?”

She considered I was being of no help whatsoever, and turned tail on me to look at the open doors above. “Meow?” she inquired with all of her natural curiosity. She raised her paw and wiggled her tail as if she was wishing me luck as she waved me goodbye. As far as she was concerned, the day shift had arrived and she was now off duty.

“Bryce?” I said as quietly as I could.

She tensed her body and sprang towards the doors.

“I got it,” he said as he scooped the jumping cat up into his arms. He has such good reflexes.

“Good,” I said, “take her to your rooms upstairs, she will be out of the way up there till Lucy gets back. Lock her in and then come back to get me out of here.”

“Okay.”

“And Bryce? Give her a bowl of water,” I called after him.

Bryce rushed away. It was while I was waiting for him to come back that I heard voices coming from below. Damn, the owner had arrived, or was it the lift inspectors? I didn’t know which. Their voices were travelling from the ground floor into the elevator shaft. It wasn’t all that difficult to work out what they were saying.

“Do you know what happened?” asked a voice.

“Somehow the main fuses blew, and according to the electrician’s report, one of the cables was not up to specification and overheated,” said a twangy private school voice with a sappy Aussie accent that made me think he was from South Australia.

“This foyer is in a frightful state and the front garden is even worse; looks like it's been harvested by a plough.”

“I noticed that. Looks awful, but this foyer needs cleaning up too. Who did all this?”

“The building owner will be here shortly,” said the accent, “and he will sort out the pansies.”

“Pansies?” I muttered to myself. Oh great, just what we need, a homophobe.

Bryce suddenly reappeared at the elevator doors. I held my finger up to my lips, then to my ears, then pointed downwards to the floor. Remarkably, he nodded an understanding.

“Help me out quickly,” I whispered.

A voice from below uttered a warning, “Well, I am going to test the elevator,”

“Quick!” I said to Bryce. I hurled the crutch through the opening as the doors began to wobble.

Bryce leaned in and grabbed me under the armpits. He is so strong. He hauled me out just as the elevator doors closed.

“Shit!” I said as we scurried back into my apartment, half dragging and half using the crutches.

“I’m making some coffee,” I said to Bryce, once were we had closed the door.

“I think I could use one too,” he said as he helped me into to my kitchen.

“We have a problem,” I said to Bryce as I prepared the coffee machine.

“What’s up?” he asked.

So I told him about the conversation I had heard in the lift well.

“Pansies?” said Bryce, “He called us pansies?”

He staggered to a chair and sat down, resting his elbows on the table, his head in his hands.

I knew just how he felt.