Falling Up

33. Trapped

Riley walked forward as multiple books weighed down in her arms and she strained her neck to the side, struggling to see over the top of them. She moved forward, step by step, in a small motion, trying to make sure they didn't topple as she walked over to the elevator. The thought of taking that many books up three flights of stairs was a definite no go.

The exhaustion of the day was finally weighing on her and all she had to do was to get these books upstairs, scramble off to the coffee shop to pick up her phone and then hope to god that Jason didn't grill her out for being late. The day was nearly over.

She juggled the books in her arms and nudged the up button with her elbow on the elevator. As she hopped into the elevator and the door was about to close, she heard a voice calling out in front of her and from the corner of her eye, saw a hand reach out to stop the doors from closing.

"You dropped this," said a deep familiar voice, as he entered the elevator, the door closing behind him.

"Oh, thank you. I didn't even realise. Just put it on top," said Riley, unable to see the man who had joined her in the elevator over the books that were stacked higher than her head. His voice was familiar, but she couldn't quite pinpoint it.

"Here, let me help," he said kindly, reaching forward and grabbing most of the books from her arms, leaving only three left in her pile. The relief from the weight being lifted off her arms was heavenly, but that bliss only lasted for a mere second before she finally caught sight of the man in front of her.

It was Kain, and he looked just as shocked to see her standing there as she did.

"Umm, thanks," said Riley, now caught in the awkwardness of being in a confined space with the one guy who she was trying to get out of her head. "You don't have to carry them, though. I can take them."

Kain sighed, but didn't put the books back on the stack as she had expected him to. Instead, he remained still, facing the elevator doors, and merely waited. "Where are you heading with these?" he motioned by lifting the heavy stack of books up and down slightly as though they weighed nothing more than a mere feather. Riley couldn't help but lick her bottom lip as she glanced over to his arms, now flexed with the extra weight in his hands.

"Third floor. Mr Turners' classroom." Riley gripped her fingers harder around the books in her hand as the tension in the air grew thicker. Her eyes were glued to the numbers above the elevator door as she watched the slow countdown take her from the ground floor to the third floor. The excruciatingly slow-moving elevator seemed like pure torture.

It was one of the most rundown elevators she had seen in a while. The space was cramped and noisy as it chugged on upward and normally she would have taken the flight of stairs but could barely navigate anywhere with the large stack of books in her arms.

To be honest, she had never even seen anyone enter the elevator before, probably because of its dilapidated state, and she was regretting her decision to even use it. To top it off, the proximity to Kain added to the heat in the small confined space. She could feel the warmth radiating from Kain's body as they stood closely side by side in an elevator that had a maximum capacity of six, but realistically, it was fit for no more than three people.

And as if fate was out to get her, not a moment later, the elevator grounded to a halt between the second and third floor. The lights overhead turned to a dull red as the sudden stop of the elevator caused her to lurch forward, grabbing Kain's arm by accident to steady herself.

"Sorry," she mumbled, quickly removing her hand from his, which tensed under her grip.

"You have got to be kidding," Kain grumbled under his breath, leaning forward to press the button for level three a few times for good measure, however nothing happened.