Wednesdale

I could sense Dale groan as the latest passenger selected the eighth floor. The lift would now be bussing its way up every floor of the building. I didn't empathise.
'Jackpot!' I enthused to Ben, who was top floor management and both wearing a tie despite his responsibility for the business casual policy as well as being squished next to me at the back.
'Jackpot!' he replied, 'God, it's been a while since I've seen one of those!'
'Going on three weeks!' I recalled over the sound of the ninth ding in the past few minutes.
'Well Ben, this is my stop' I said to his imminent chuckle.
'Ah, well good to see you' he replied. We should catch up again soon, let me know next time you go downstairs for coffee.'
'Definitely' I winked as the doors slid shut and I stepped out. Dale peeled himself from my back.
'Ben signs our payslips' I answered his unasked question. 'That's why we lie.'
'About the jackpot...'
'Right. Yeah, we stopped at every floor yesterday. And on Monday. But lying is better than awkward silences.'
Dale just rolled his eyes. I'd noticed a change in him since last Tuesday, I was yet to identify why. I figured he needed more coaching.
'It's good to have a back up conversations related to office topics. Just pleasantries. Stereotypical jokes that everyone chuckles at despite hearing them all the time.'
'So,' probed Dale, 'that's why we say "Jackpot" when every floor gets picked?'
'Right,' I confirmed. 'And we say "I need a coffee" whenever we get given work in the morning.'
'I guess' Dale replied non-committal.
'I know why you're grumpy!' I guessed. 'Hump Day!'
'Hump Day?'
'The middle of the week, the most isolated day of the work day. Last weekend is forgotten, next weekend is still to far away...'
'And that's supposed to cheer me up?' Dale asked as we arrived back at our desks.
'Well, we are going to the bar tonight. You coming?'
'I thought we go to the bar after work on Fridays?' he countered.
'No we go to the bar during work on Fridays.'
'Oh.' Dale processed. 'I'll pass.'
'Awww,' I patronised. 'Sounds like someone hasn't got over their case of The Mondays.'
Like a starters gun, Dale counted five minutes of desk appearance from that office pleasantry, then walked away. It may be hump day but what Dale needed more was a Smoothycino.

In his left hand Dale carried his Smoothycino. With the right he wiped the rain from his face. He stood in the lobby, momentarily, before the lift dinged and a crowd filed in. Dale selected the ninth floor then retired to the back of the lift. From there he saw a slender, manicured finger select the tenth. Dale's mind raced of tales about eyes meeting across crowded rooms. But this time it wasn't a room, it was an elevator, not an eye but a finger. The Smoothycino he held melted faster than it should as he watched her brown eyes stare vacantly at the doors in front of her while all those between them departed onto the lower floors.

Finally it was just the two of them in the elevator now as Dale's second to top stop arrived. It was a regular scenario borne from a multitude of delays. However this time Dale sensed an opportunity, a chance to grow. Time stood still, as if it was waiting for him to grow the balls.

'You must get sick of being on the top floor sometimes' he offered.
She looked at him. She was pretty.
'Yeah...' she smiled, melting Dale's heart, 'but... the view's good from up there too!'
Two shots of finely ground coffee were already flowing through Dale's veins. The caffeine's diuretic effect spilled into his orbital frontal cortex.
'The view's not so bad in here either...'

She frowned at him! Dale froze, staring back. Hope, awkwardness and shame were written up on his face.
'I think you may have gone beyond office pleasantries' she chillingly read between the lines.
'Oh...' muttered Dale. Inside his head the reaction was a lot more vulgar. For what seemed like minutes Dale just stood staring stupidly.
'Are you getting off now, or just going to keep standing there?' she asked him.
Dale looked around stupidly.
'The doors won't close; you've been standing across the sensor for at least five minutes.'
'Smart and good looking!' was, for some reason, Dale's response. The mood lightened. She laughed.
'Listen, I'm Bry' she said. 'and if you'll agree to get off now I won't ignore you in the lift in the days following all this gaucheness.'
This seemed like a good deal. She offered her hand. Dale took it and shook. He assumed slamming the emergency stop, pushing her against the wall and madly making out with her would also be beyond office pleasantries.
'It's a pleasure to meet you' he said.