Always Been You

Just My Luck

It's currently 8:20 pm on a Wednesday, and I'm at the library finishing up some outlines I made for my writing class. There's a couple of assignments that are worth a large percentage of the final grade. I had free time on my hands during my shift, so I thought I could get my work done. Today I was sitting at the counter on the main floor, so the only responsibility I had was to answer general questions and help students rent out study rooms. Lucky me, I was going to get out in 10 minutes. To make sure I was really productive during my last few minutes, I rearranged the paper clips and staples on the counter. 

"Donna, I'm gonna head out," I tell the librarian in charge as soon as the clock hits 8:30."Thanks, sweetie," she replies with a wide smile. As I picked up my bag and made my way to the door, I realized I had forgotten to pick up the flyers for Jacob. I walk over to the printer in the back, to find the cabinet underneath empty. "Hey Donna, I had a print job sent to this printer when I started my shift. Did you pick up anything?" I ask her.

She looks around her desk. "Nope, I only have some paperwork for the renovations," she responds. I frown and continue to search the premises. "Maybe you sent it to the wrong printer? The one on the 7th floor," she suggests. I sigh really loud. "Omg, you might be right."

I really just wanted to leave as soon as I was done, but I guess I'll have to hang in a few more minutes. I walk into the elevator and aggressively hit the 7th-floor button five times. Once the door opens after what felt like an hour elevator ride, I head over to the office area in the back. This floor primarily consists of computers and a couple of study rooms. Soon I am relieved to find a stack of papers next to the printer. I pick up an empty yellow envelope from one of the cabinets and neatly shove the flyers into it. Then I put the envelope in my bag and also pulled out my tangled headphones. As I wait for the elevator to come up to this floor, I scroll through my Spotify playlists. I select my daily mix and put it on shuffle. "There's No Way," by Lauv and Julia Michales plays in my ears. 

I step into the elevator and watch the doors shut as I press the "M" button. I reply to some messages as I wait alone. After a couple of seconds, the elevator stops. I look up and let out a groan when I realize I was only at level 5. The doors are open for a few seconds and I felt someone walk in as I was typing a text. I hate elevator rides with strangers, I feel so uncomfortable just standing there. I always automatically look down at my phone so I don't have to make awkward eye contact. I glanced over to the screen to find that I had just passed level 3. This could not get any slower! I just want to get into my bed.

Before I could get any further into my thoughts, my body felt a strong jolt. I take out my left earbud and stare at the doors. It says we're on the ground floor, but the doors were not opening. After trying to be patient for a few seconds, I press the open button a couple of times. Nothing happens. "Shit," I say in shock. I look to my left at the other person in the elevator. It was a guy with headphones on, looking pretty unaffected by the situation while still looking ahead. I tried to get his attention, but I could not meet his eye level since he seemed to be almost a foot taller than me. 

"I think the elevator broke down on us," I say. There's no response. I roll my eyes. "Oh great, now I'm alone in this situation," I say to myself. "Sorry, did you say something?" the guy's deep voice meets my ears. He looked at me in confusion. Then his eyes look over at the screen. "Oh." "Yeah. It's been a minute, and the doors are still shut," I inform him. He reaches over me and tries to press a few buttons. Nothing happens. He lowers his headphones and examines the door. In a sticky situation like this, the one thought running through my mind was that he was kind of cute. He redirects back to me, and his eyes meet mine. I quickly panic and look away, and then slowly look back at him and awkwardly smile. 

"Uh, I really don't know what we can do. Do you happen to know anyone that could help us?" He asks. I take a moment to respond. "Yeah. I know someone that works here." I go through my contacts and call Donna. I inform her about the situation, and she assures me she's going to get help as quickly as possible. I take a deep breath and take a step back. For a few minutes, we don't say anything to each other. It seemed like both of us wanted to let everyone on our contact list know that we got stuck in a damn elevator on the GROUND floor.

He finally breaks the silence by asking me, "So, does this happen a lot here?" I let out a small laugh. "Surprisingly, no. But it's probably my bad luck that got us stuck here," I say as I shrug. He cracks a small smile. "I'm really not the luckiest person either, so it's probably a joint effort," he jokes back. I let out a chuckle. "I'm assuming you're new to the library?"He nods his head. "New to this whole campus. I just transferred."

I tell him a little bit about the college and the campus. "I like it here. But it's just a little overwhelming. New atmosphere, new people, a very sudden change," he tells me. "I'll let you in on a little secret. On the 10th floor of this library, there's a little spot behind all of the old bookshelves. You get a nice view of everything beneath and outwards. It's a nice place to clear your head and just take a second to recharge. Plus, sunset pictures. But it's very lowkey, so don't spread the word around," I say. "My lips are sealed," he pretends to lock his lips. 

Within a couple of seconds, the doors open wide. We both look at each other, laugh, and rush out. "That was something else," he comments. "Yeah, I'm just glad we made it out of there. And apparently without any help," I say looking around the empty area. I look up at him and smile. And as he's about to say something, Donna yells my name from behind. She comes running towards me. "Oh thank the lord you are okay!!!" She exclaims and pats my back. And as she explains to me why maintenance is late, I look back to find that he had left. I didn't even get his name. Probably will never see him again.

The next day, on the way to class, I give my friends more details on what happened because my texts were all over the place. "You're making this guy up," Nicole says after hearing my story."Why would I make him up? It would be so random. I don't think we thought of formally introducing ourselves as we were left there to DIE," I respond."Well, you made it out alive. What did he even look like?" she asks curiously. "For starters, really tall. Normal brown hair. And I don't know how else to describe him. Oh actually, he had nice light grey eyes," I describe him to her. "What were you doing looking into his eyes?" she teases me."Not like he was looking at me while we were talking," I shut her up. 

"You forgot about Kyle so soon?" She jokes. Kyle is this guy I've had classes with since freshman year. We've probably only talked a maximum of five times. He's just a really good looking guy that we all enjoy looking at. "Guys are just a waste of time!" Nicole looks at me and sighs. "When you and Kyle fall in love, you'll change your mind," she winks walking off to class. "I don't like him," I shout. 

I feel like I've always chased the feeling of wanting to be in a relationship, and played out ideal situations in my head, but I just need to let life do its thing. Right now, I think all I need to do is focus on graduating and just enjoy my early twenties with my friends.