The Ice Queen

Kylie rushed to the elevator. She had spent the last ten hours slaving in her cubicle finishing up work on the project and her only desire was to get home, slip into a sensuous bubble bath with a glass of wine and her latest fantasy romance. 

First she needed to get down the twenty-three floors and into the parking garage, and off her aching feet. The shoes she wore to work today looked amazing but standing on them for three hours while giving a presentation to the corporate snobs was absolute torture. 

It didn’t help that the Ice Queen was there asking her detailed questions. Questions, if she was honest with herself, she was only sure of half the answers she gave. She was a marketing guru, not an engineer. She only had to come up with ideas, not implement them. But the Ice Queen wanted practical answers. Kylie had to admit to herself that the woman did know her stuff. She was the head of the engineering department and kept all the geeks in line. She didn’t know how the Ice Queen managed it. Kylie thought the guys in marketing were bad. The worse she got from them were subtle innuendo. The engineers just stared, usually at her breasts. It was downright creepy.

“Thirty more minutes,” she muttered to herself. Thirty minutes and she’d be home. She reached the bank of elevators and pressed the down button. “Come on, come on,” she said rocking her ankles in attempt to relieve some of the strain.

Bing, the elevator chimed. The doors to her left slid open on its metal rollers. Kylie stepped in. Noticing there was someone else in there already she looked up prepared to offer a greeting or perhaps some words of commiseration on the end of a long day. Instead of words, what came out was a surprised squeak. Standing in the corner dressed in a blood red power suit, was the Ice Queen. She was even more intimidating when she was standing. She was nearly half a foot taller than Kylie. With strong nordic features that had a perpetual scowl, she looked like a valkyrie ready to reap the souls of the fallen. 

Kylie bowed her head in deference. Like a mouse trying to sneak past a feline predator, hoping that it wouldn’t be noticed. She steeled herself to move to the panel of buttons, all the while suppressing the stress induced shake of her bones. Her extended hand quivered ever so slightly as she reached for the button that would take her to the bottom level which contained the parking garage. She snatched her hand back as if receiving an electric shock when she noticed that it was already illuminated. Still not looking at the amazon beauty that towered over her, she shuffled her way to the opposite corner, not saying a word. The doors closed locking the rabbit in the small cell with the hovering hawk. Kylie felt the floor shift. That slight bit of nausea that told her the box she had chosen to step into had begun its descent. 

Twenty-five minutes, she told herself.

Then it happened. The elevator jolted to a stop. Kylie let out another squeak just as the lights went out. The rabbit shivered in the corner. There was a thunk, then the emergency light sparked to life casting an eerie glow in the vertical carriage. 

The Ice Queen let out a heavy sigh then muttered, “Just great.”

As terrified as she was of the woman Kylie still managed to ask, “What…what’s going on?”

“Powers out,” the Ice Queen said as she reached for the emergency phone. She pulled it from the cradle and shook away her perfectly coifed hair as she placed it to her ear. Her hair was just another thing Kylie envied about the woman. 

“So…we’re…stuck?” Kylie asked. She hated how her voice quavered. She inwardly chastised herself for her timidity. 

“For the time being,” the Ice Queen grumbled. After a pause she added, “Unless you happen to be carrying a crowbar in that bag of yours.”

Kylie looked down to the tote bag she carried to and from work. It contained her purse and the plastic container which she had brought her lunch. Usually she would have some work she would do at home but it was Friday and all the big projects were done.

“Um…n-n-no,” she admitted voice still trembling.

The Ice Queen cocked an eyebrow at her but said nothing. Instead she glanced behind her, then gracefully lowered herself to the floor. After a moment Kylie followed suit, though she tucked her legs to the side since she was wearing a skirt. Her feet throbbed and she pulled off her beautiful, yet painful shoes and her feet sang with relief. They sat in silence for several minutes.

“You’re…Kylie, right?” the Ice Queen asked her.

“Y-yes, ma’am,” Kylie managed. 

The Ice Queen smirked. “Relax, I’m not really a cylon.”

“Sorry?”

The Ice Queen waved away the question thinking it wasn’t important.

“What are you talking about?” Kylie had heard the term before. Her father had raved about a science fiction series where cylons were the bad guys but didn’t pay much attention to it. She was what seven or eight at the time? She resented it because it took away from her daddy time.

“The guys in the office think I look like the actress Tricia Helfer and geek boys being who they are refer to me as Number Six, behind my back. They think they don’t know, but I let them believe what they want to believe. If they want to think of me as a killer robot who would seduce them, just as well as kill them…I’m not going to complain.” She shrugged. “Whatever gets the job done, right?”

“The guys in marketing refer to you as the Ice Queen,” Kylie blurted and then suddenly regretted it.

The Ice Queen cocked her head. “Not very imaginative are they?”

“Well you do project an air of cold indifference,” Kylie ventured.

Her right eyebrow quirked. “Do I?” She looked up a the ceiling thinking. Then slowly nodded. “Yeah, I suppose people would get that impression.” 

Feeling suddenly bold Kylie asked, “What do I call you?”

The Ice Queen was stirred from her inner musings and turned her head to look at Kylie. Kylie winced, suddenly feeling like a rabbit again. “What?” The her thoughts caught up with the question. “Oh…I’m Karin. Karin Lundqvist. Daughter of the great Henrik Lundqvist.”

Kylie just looked at her blankly for a moment not recognizing the name. Then remembering her manners said. “Kylie Jensen.”

“Good, strong, Scandinavian name,” Karin said in a deep voice. She smirked. “At least that’s what my father would say.” She chuckled amused at some inner joke.

“How do you do it?” 

Karin looked back to her again still with her amused look. “Do what?”

“Put up with all those lecherous stares. I mean, you’re the only woman in the engineering department. Every time I go up there I feel like a prime rib waved before a pack of wolves.”

Karin chuckled.

“It’s not funny,” Kylie protested.

Karin covered her mouth with one hand and held up the other defensively while she got a hold of her self. 

“What?” Kylie demanded.

“I’m sorry,” Karin said calming down. “I’m not laughing at you.” She paused. “Well, maybe I am.”

Kylie rolled her eyes. “What are you talking about?” she asked with a bit of heat this time.

Karin cleared her throat. “They all look at you like that because they think you’re gorgeous. The problem is none of them have the guts to say anything to your face.”

“What are you talking about?” Kylie was confused now. Her gorgeous? Preposterous.

“Have you looked in a mirror recently?” At Kylie’s annoyed reaction she continued. “Petite, elfin features. Hell I’m jealous of how cute you are.”

That set Kylie back. Karin was jealous of…her?

“I know for a fact that at least half of the guys up there would worship the ground you walk on if you said so much as ‘hi’ to them.”

That thought intrigued Kylie. She hadn’t been on a date for…three months? Had it really been that long? The last one had been a disaster. The guy had thought that one fancy dinner earned him a romp in the sack. She had politely declined and then cut off all contact with the man when he tried calling her the next day asking if he could come over to her place to ‘hang out’. Some would call her a prude but Kylie didn’t care. She felt that sex should be done with someone you had an emotional connection with. Brad, Chad, or whatever his name was had been a one and done guy. Expecting her to be just another notch on his bedpost. She had more respect for herself than that. 

Unaware of Kylie’s inner thoughts Karin continued. “I could hook you up with one of them. I know they’d treat you right.”

“Huh? What?” Kylie was broken from her train of thought as the comment was processed by her brain. “Are you sure that would be okay?”

Karin shrugged. “Why not? You’re in different departments so there wouldn’t be a problem. Besides it’ll give them something else to talk about,” she mused. “Other than me.”

“You’d do that?”

Another shrug. “Sure what are friends for?”

“Is that what we are now? Friends?”

Just then the elevator came to life around them and resumed their descent. The two of them got to their feet. Kylie stuffed her shoes into her bag, deciding to go barefoot.

Answering her question Karin said, “Sure, if you want.”

The chime sounded and the doors opened. The two of them stepped out into the cavernous garage. Karin came to a stop and turned to Kylie.

“Hey, you busy tonight?”

“Not really,” Kylie admitted.

“My husband is gone for the weekend for work. How ‘bout you come over to my place. We’ll make a girls night of it. Break open a bottle of wine, put on a rom-com and talk about boys,” Karin suggested waggling her eyebrows.

“Sounds…” Kylie began but hesitated. Was she really going to go to the lair of the Ice Queen? She mentally shook it off. She wasn’t the Ice Queen anymore. This was Karin. The statuesque blond that was jealous of her elfin features. “Sounds great.”