Page 86 of Drama Queen

About thirty minutes later, Lily stepped back off the elevator with two bags of food and a drink carrier full of drinks. Either she was back for good, or we were having a party I wasn’t aware of.

“Welcome back? I thought you were going home to rest?” I asked, unsure how best to approach this. She was a workaholic, like myself, and I loved that about her. Lily looked over, staring at the storm warning on TV.

“How would you feel about helping me move everything into my room?” she asked. “We could set up a movie night and work together to motivate each other. I kind of want to take a few days off next week. That’s why I’m working extra this weekend,” she explained with a smile.

“Aren’t you the queen of HR now?” I laughed—Queen of HR. I should get her a plaque with that title for her desk.

“That’s hilarious, but I’m serious. The weather looks like it’s going to get bad. We don’t want to get locked in here, do we?” She looked at me, laughing. My lips twitched with a smile.I’dlove to be locked in my bed with her.I had no idea where that thought came from, but it was true.

“I don’t think we’ll get locked in here, but if you want to take a few days off, that’s fine. We’ll need to hire you an assistant, so you don’t get too far behind,” I said, grabbing the coffee she offered.

“An assistant would be nice. Are you sure we won’t get locked in? Also, I hope I got your coffee order right; I got a few sub sandwiches and salads too. I didn’t know how long we would be here working today, but I have this pile and one other to finish, then I’ll be done.” She shot me a flirty smile, handed me a bag of heavenly smelling food, and went back to her desk to get to work.

“This smells absolutely divine! Thank you for lunch. Next time, it’s my treat,” I said, returning to my paperwork.

Three hours later, we watched as the snow outside drifted silently down, turning the city into a winter wonderland. Breaking news kept flashing on the TV, but I ignored it and kept working.

“...three massive cold fronts and snow storms moving our way are predicted to disrupt the area. We are talking about at least twenty-five feet of snow, folks. This is gearing up to be one of the most brutal winter storms we’ve ever had!” the news anchor said, sounding too excited. “The governor has declared a state of emergency and is advising everyone to head home before it gets too bad to drive. We’ve already got reports coming in that some parts of the city have lost power. This storm is quickly getting ugly...”

I ignored the lady reporting on the weather. We had a backup generator, so we were unlikely to lose power. I was confident inthe hotel’s setup. The bottom floor was set up as a shelter for those experiencing homelessness. I sent our hostess a quick text and let her know to prepare the extra rooms.

Once that was done, I peeked over to check how Lily was doing and found her intensely concentrated on inputting data.

“Hey, I think it’s time we move to the rooms. Do you want me to escort you to yours?” I offered. I wasn’t sure if this was what a boss was supposed to do.

“That would be great. I have two more files to go—” She was interrupted by the power flickering, then going out entirely.

“It’ll be okay. The generator should kick on,” I explained. “It takes a few minutes, but it’ll turn on soon.”

“Oh, okay. So, how do we get out of here?” Lily asked, looking toward the elevator and then to the fire escape.

“We are stuck until the generator kicks on,” I said as I realized it was freezing here.

“Shit. I knew we should have gone to the rooms earlier to do our work.” She laughed, pulling her jacket on.

“We’ll be okay.” Shit.Why hadn’t the generator come on?

A CEO and VP of HR get locked in the office during a snowstorm. The generator failed, and they were left to their own devices… What happened next? Keep watching to find out. It was almost like the punch line to a bad joke, except this was now my life. We waited, but the generator never came on, and it was quickly getting dark outside. It wasn’t that I was afraid of the dark, but I wasn’t sure if I had enough whiskey to get us through the night—or however long it would take for the generator to kick on, so we could get to our rooms.

“I guess you were right; we should have listened to your intuition and gone to your room to finish. I’m sorry I let my pride get in the way. Are you okay?” my boss asked.

“I think so. I guess the work part is done. But without Wi-Fi and power, we’ll be stuck in the dark, and it will get cold soon. Do we have any supplies?” she asked, looking around. Perhaps I was a bigger jerk because I honestly had no idea what emergency supplies we kept in the office or where they would be. “I know there are blankets and stuff that Helga gave me on her last day, but I don’t know what else we have. Good thing I went and got lunch before everything shut down. Otherwise, you’d be stuck here by yourself.” She winked, pulling out a blanket and a little safety kit.

“I’m not sure how this stuff will help, but I have whiskey and a few other blankets I keep in my office for when I sleep here. Plus, I have a loveseat that pulls out into a bed, if that’s okay. Does that heater warm up? Is it charged?” I rambled. I was starting to get agitated, and my nerves wouldn’t settle. Two things drove me to insanity and made my anxiety unhinged: getting trapped and being in dark places. And now I’m trapped in a dark place with my best friend’s little sister, who also happened to be vice president of my HR department. Shit could only go uphill at this point, right? Nope. It was rolling straight toward me.

“Can we add whiskey to our coffees? I’m not sure how great it will taste, but it may be a good way to take the edge off,” Lily said. She took the lid off her drink and tilted it in my direction. I topped off the coffee with a shot or two of whiskey. She stirred it around, and I did the same to mine before we clinked our cups together.

“Cheers.” We toasted our good luck, then took a drink.

After another quick sip, I cleared my throat, realizing how quickly it was getting dark.

“If I were to sleep on your loveseat, where would you sleep? Obviously, we’re stuck here for a while, but what should we do?” she asked, looking around.

“Well, we can use the little heater to warm up the room, then close the door and try to keep it as warm as possible. If we need, we can use body heat to keep us warm. I promise to behave, Lily.” I tried to reassure both her and myself that I would be on my best behavior.

“Nobody said anything about behaving. Now isn’t the time to worry about that. We should worry about staying warm, avoiding frostbite, and starving to death, so we make it out of here in one piece. The fact is, if the generator hasn’t already come on, it isn’t going to. So we have to do what we have to do. And if that’s our only option, and you’re sure it will keep us alive, then I am all for it.” She laughed, taking another sip of her spiked coffee. “Can I have a refill? More whiskey, less coffee this time, please.” She handed me her empty cup, but I didn’t have any coffee to mix with it.

A few hours later, the office was frozen. The two flashlights we used to play board games had gone out a while ago, and our battery life was diminished. Of course, with cell towers down, we couldn’t connect to the outside world.

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