Switched at the Mafia Auction

"What time do you even plan on getting here? Are you sure you're still coming?" Daisy listened to Ugo whine over the phone.

"I'm all dressed up already. You'll see me soon, I promise. I just had a really stressful day at work and I had to make a quick stop at home to get into more comfortable footwear." she tried explaining. Pushing the door of her walk-in closet close, she pulled a black leather jacket across her black singlet, sat on the bed and bent low to buckle her sandals when she heard Ugo's next words.

"You're changing footwear? Don't tell me you plan on wearing any of those boring flat sandals of yours."

"Something wrong with my flats?"

"Really, you're going to ask me that." Ugo boiled.

"We're going out to celebrate for crying out loud. You have to look the part. Put on a pair of those gorgeous Louboutins you got there. Why do you splash so much money on exotic footwear when you don't wear them."

"Hello, are you forgetting something? You're forgetting that you made me buy these footwear, against my wish." Daisy complained.

"Yeah right. I steal your credit card from your purse and purchase them. Lie on me Ma'am, keep it up. It looks good on you." Ugo said sarcastically.

Letting out a soft laughter. Daisy stood up from the bed. She picked up the flats and headed back to her walk-in closet to swap it for a Louboutin pump.

"Going to swap the flats for a good pair of pumps right now. Let me know how much you like the sound of that."

"Well I like the sound of that, very much. Change those hideous clothes you have on, too." Ugo added to Daisy's surprise.

"How do you know what I'm wearing?"

"I don't. Just made a wild guess. Anyway, wear some hot shit babygirl. We're partying all night long and I'm not listening to your lame excuses. Tomorrow is a public holiday, you've got nothing planned."

Daisy heaved a sigh. She stared at her wardrobe, clueless as to what to wear. Indeed, she had lots of clothes hanging inside there, but they were mostly work outfits and just a few pieces of party dresses that she had no idea which part of the wardrobe she was going to look at, to find them.

"Ugo, this is tough, I don't know what to wear. I'm just..... Ahaa! there you are!" She exclaimed, picking up a black spaghetti strap gown with a slit that went up the thigh. "Finally a dress that can serve the purpose."

"Thank Goodness. Let me know when you arrive at the hotel. I'll be waiting." Ugo said.

"I'll be leaving the house in minutes." She paused at the sound of murmurs from the other end of the line. "Ugo, you're with someone, who's with you?"

"No one you know." She chuckled. "You'll tell me when you get to the hotel, won't you?"

She cleared her throat. "Now that I know why you need that piece of information, you'll see me in front of your hotel room. I'm not giving you any prior notice."

"Daisy, come on......." Pause "Okay, it's just some guy I met at the bar yesterday. Remember I went out with a few colleagues. The guy just happened to be there. So, you know.... one thing led to the other and......"

"And you hit it?"

"I believe you have an image of the rest playing out in your mind already." Ugo replied, giggling like a teenager.

"Damn girl! You need a permanent heartbreak cure. This ain't the Ugo I know."

Ugo shrugged. "This has always been me. Just cooled off a bit for that Jack ass and he took it for granted." She said, "Now enough of me. Get your ass down here and give me some celebratory hug, I just made partner, girlllll." She reminded Daisy.

"You bet! I'll be there in twenty."

Daisy Ledwig walked into the Royal Crest hotel in Fairview that Thursday night wearing a black Louboutin heels, feeling jittery from coffee, and carrying a bottle of champagne in a nice looking paper bag from the wine store across the street. She took out her phone to text Ugo of her presence. Getting on the elevator, she tapped on the send icon.

"Oh no, I was just about to get in the shower."

Daisy got Ugo's reply just as she was about to step into the elevator. She laughed out loud as she punched the number of the floor she was getting out of. "You can't be serious." She murmured amid laughter.

She couldn’t wait to celebrate with her friend's success as Ugo had just made partner at her law firm. A dream she's been pursuing for the longest time.

The elevator glided in the air, in that smooth, noiseless way elevators do at expensive hotels, reminding Daisy that her friend was splashing a huge sum lodging in a hotel as big as this. She checked the paper bag she was carrying for the third time to make sure she’d tossed the fancy chocolates and crackers she got from her new friend at the office. They would need a pre-dinner snack to soak up all of that champagne, after all. She wished she’d found the time to make cupcakes the night before. Ugo loved her cakes. She spied the Chocolates and Crackers in the paper bag, tucked at the corner while the champagne bottle took most of the space.

Just then, the elevator stopped with a jerk. A second later, the lights went out. "What’s going on?" She said to herself, aloud. A dim light came on almost immediately, but the elevator stayed motionless.

She looked up and around, and jumped when she caught sight of a man with a suitcase in the opposite corner of the elevator.

"Jesus! Who are you?" She asked, trying to make out the figure in the dim light. "Were you here this whole time?" She asked.

"Yes, I'm not some magician. I actually walked in before you." He replied.

Daisy stilled immediately. The voice..... It sounded too familiar. Like the voice of someone she used to know. Someone she struggled so hard to walk away from.....Brett fucking Lexington. She shook her head, pushing the possibility of such occurrence away from her mind.

"I guess you don’t really like magicians." He said turning on his phone torchlight.

He was tall, tanned skin, good body, pretty great and expensive looking custom-made suit, he smelt nice and he was exactly the person Daisy was terrified to see, Brett Lexington.

How exactly had she missed seeing this man in the elevator with her all this while.

"Hello Daiz." He called, a knowing smile plastered across his face.

"Bre.. What do you think you're doing?"

"Taking an elevator to my hotel room." He replied. "What are you doing here?"

"Hmmm." She hummed, taking him in. He was acting all so innocent, like there was no beef between them. Like they were buddies or colleagues of some sort. Deciding against being on the defensive, she decided to play along. Hopefully, she'll have him on the edge pretty soon.

"I came to see a friend." She replied curtly, not giving him room to probe some more.

"Great." He moved to the front of the elevator and picked up the emergency phone. "Let’s see if they can give us an update on when we can possibly get out of here."

Daisy tried not to stare at him in the dim lighting, but she couldn’t miss the opportunity to check out his butt in his perfectly fitted trouser. It was as good as the rest of him. She tried to wipe the grin off her face in case he turned around. Stuff like this never happens to her.

Not the stuck-in-the-elevator thing, her life was full of minor crises like that. No, it was being stuck in an elevator with a hot guy who happens to be her ex! That was the unusual part. She had always been the one sitting on an airplane next to a messy toddler, or a knitting grandma, or a bored college student, never with a very hot and sexually appealing guy. The last time such luck shined on her was five years ago, when she met him. Ever since then, it's been from one jackass to another.

After about a minute of him saying, Okay . . . okay, in progressively tenser tones, he hung up the phone.

"Well....." He paused and smiled at her. "Dear Elevator buddy, These circumstances are not ideal and I know how uncomfortable this place might be making you feel." He said, like he knew her so well. "So, according to them, there is a power outage in the whole hotel.”