Dumb Luck

3

✧𝙼𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚘𝚛𝚢✧

No. There's no fucking way. People are more responsible than that.

"We're locked in."

I ignore the stupid shit he's saying and I keep pressing against the door like it'll just pop right open. I only keep going for so long before I stop and huff sharply. I look up at him. "Do you have your phone on you?" I ask expectantly.

"Yeah."

I stare. He stares back.

I scoff. "Well?" I coax, gesturing at him to grab his phone then.

"It's dead." He laughs with a shrug. "I used it all day, and I don't have a charger. If you want to call someone, use your own phone."

I stare at him as my shoulders slowly begin to deflate.

He tilts his head. "You do have a phone, don't you?" He coaxes. When I don't answer, he laughs. "Seriously? How old are you? How do you not have a phone?"

"There's no need for me to bring it to school." I reason quickly.

"All right, all right," Ethan dismisses as he steps away from the door. "There's a phone here, right?" He reasons with a shrug. He pauses to drop both his backpack and his skateboard on the floor carelessly before he continues to the front desk. I sort of just follow him, guessing he's right with this idea.

Ethan pauses when he picks the phone up. "What?" I coax, looming over his shoulder to look down at the office phone.

He smiles. "Any idea what the number for the front office is?"

I shake my head simply.

"Uh," He looks down at the receiver. "Why isn't it on speed dial?" He asks. Probably because they have it memorized. Or maybe it really is on speed dial and he's just missing it. But I don't really see it myself. "Okay, fine. What's your parents' number?" He questions, looking over at me.

I scrunch my nose. "Why don't you put yours in?"

"You know how they always told us to memorize our parents numbers for safety when we were kids?"

I nod. "Yeah."

"Well, I never did that."

I stare. "You don't know your parents numbers?" I slowly ask, wondering how the hell he's gone how many years without memorizing their numbers. Every adult I've ever talked to has at least told me once.

"I mean, I know the area code." Ethan offers with a smile and a shrug as if that's helpful. "What about yours?" He urges, holding the phone out to me.

I sigh as I reach for the phone and shoo him away. He laughs to himself as he takes a step back to let me lean over the marble desk. I reach for the receiver and drag it a little closer before I start to type my mom's number in. Ethan sighs as he leans an arm on the desk and looks around the library in the meantime.

I stare down at the receiver just because it's something to look at while I listen to it ring. And ring...and ring...

I frown. I don't even get her voicemail.

Ethan glances at me when I reach to press the button that would be pressed by phone if I set it back in its place. I feel him watching me as I start to type in my dad's number. I hesitate before calling it, but ultimately call it and lift the phone back to my ear. Ethan shifts on his feet while he watches me.

It rings. And ri—

I frown and stare at the table while I listen to the drawn out beep of a cut off call.

Ethan hums as he pushes off the desk. "Okay," He accepts, probably hearing the beep. I stupidly keep the phone to my ear while he wanders away to think. He's thinking out loud, but I'm not really listening.

I think I knew they wouldn't answer. They don't often answer to unknown numbers, so it was a given. I still just wish one of them would've taken a chance on this new one. Maybe just because they noticed I haven't been home yet and are worried about me. Or just because for once, they decided to see what this stranger wanted.

"Hey." Ethan's calling for me as he steps back over to the opposite side from where he'd been standing. He's frowning a little as he reaches for the phone that I still hold to my ear. "They didn't answer. It's fine." He decides as he drops the phone back onto the receiver. "We'll figure something else out." He pushes off the desk to continue wandering.

I take a deep breath before I turn around to press my back against the desk. I watch him begin to wander back and forth in front of me in the empty space between the front desk and the rest of the shelves.

"All right. It's, like, five. Teachers are heading home by now. Even if they're not, they're probably not going to stop at the library before they go. Practice ended already, so kids and their parents probably aren't cycling through either. Nine-one-one feels like a last resort thing, but that might be where we are now. We could..."

"I need to pee."

Ethan freezes for a few seconds before he looks at me. "Uh..." Is all he can offer. I interrupted his thinking that he seems to need to do out loud. Maybe go make sense of his own ideas. If they're any good anyway.

I swallow, silently wondering why I just announced that. I stare back at him for a few seconds before I turn and just walk towards the back where Miss Hartwell sometimes disappears to. Sure enough, there's a bathroom there. Surprising given there aren't any other bathrooms inside other than in the nurses office. But whatever. Librarians need their bathrooms too. Cool.

Unsurprisingly, her bathroom is a lot cleaner than the normal ones outside. I don't mind that though—I'm more happy that it's unlocked in the first place. The door towards the end of the hall is locked too—probably is always locked. It looks like it'd lead to the parking lot, but Miss Hartwell likes getting her steps in. She probably never uses this door.

By the time I come back, Ethan has taken a seat up on top of Miss Hartwell's desk. He looks over at me when he notices me and smiles. "There's a bathroom back there?" He asks.

I nod simply, awkwardly fiddling with the hair tie on my wrist. "Yeah."

"Cool." He smiles as if we're not trapped in the library in a fucking Friday. "So, I was thinking we could try to find, like, another unlocked door. Maybe a window or something." He offers with a shrug.

Not a bad idea.

I slowly nod. He smiles and jumps off the desk. "I'll take this side, you take that one." He points to the left side then the right side of the library. I nod again. And with that, we go our separate ways to search the library for what I think we both know won't be there.

While I search, I end up right back at my table I'd set up at. By then, it's towards the end of my search anyway. It's not like the library is huge and there is a lot to search. It's really not—especially since there aren't a lot of windows. Since my search is pretty much over, I start packing up my things. I won't be leaving any time soon, but I also probably won't be going back to studying either.

So, this is the break Claire was talking about. Not as great as she let on.