Gemotions

He cleared his throat, a nervous habit he hadn't realized he had. The silence in the elevator was deafening, only broken by the occasional groan of the cables. He glanced at Emily, his coworker, her face pale in the dim light.

His fingers started tapping a frantic rhythm against his leg, a pace he couldn't control. He checked his watch for the tenth time in as many minutes. Time stretched, each second an eternity. He tried to think of something, anything, to say.

“So… how about that presentation?” he finally blurted out, the words sounding hollow even to his own ears. Emily gave him a curt nod. The smell of stale air and something metallic filled the cramped space. He found his gaze flitting to the emergency phone, then back to the closed doors, as if staring at them might somehow make them open.