BLACKOUT [jason todd] REWRITE!

ONE

CHAPTER ONE.
is this the beginning to a porno?

When he steps into the elevator, Sadie really regrets the decision to not wear a bra.

Here's the thing, Sadie never wears a bra in her apartment complex. Ever. It's her home. It might be dingy, rat-infested, and it might smell weird, but it's her home. And Sadie will be damned if she has to wear one of those contraptions in her own house. She doesn't care if all she has on is a thin t-shirt and people can definitely see her nipples. She doesn't care if she stares in the lobby while she picks up her amazon package. However, she might care, just a little bit, when her new neighbor steps on the elevator with her.

The new neighbor is hot. Stupid hot, to be exact. He's tall, handsome, and fucking jacked. The dude is practically the size of a tank. Also, just maybe a tad bit intimidating. He always had this look on his face like someone spit in his coffee.

The expression is still on his face when he stops the elevator doors from sliding close, it doesn't falter in the slightest as he steps on, and it still doesn't change when they meet eyes.
Sadie quickly moves the package to cover her breasts and flashes him a tense smile.
He does not smile back. He jerks his up in nod of acknowledgment and then precedes to push himself into the corner of the elevator. The one farthest away from her.

Nice.

Sadie watches as he goes to press his floor number before realizing that it's already been pushed, the number four. Sadie already pressed it when she first walked on.
The neighborhood lets his arm fall awkwardly and looks anywhere that is not in her general direction.

Great.

The cardboard box is uncomfortably pressed against her chest, but Sadie would rather die than let this man see her nipples. She's not sure why. Plenty of men have seen them, clothed and nude, but none have them have looked at Sadie like she was the gum stuck on the heel of their shoe. To be fair, the guy looked at everyone like that. Yet it still made Sadie feel weird. Like she had done some to offend him.

The elevator ride continued in silence, except for the elevator music. Sadie was grateful for it. Without it, she could not imagine how awkward the silence would be.
Then, suddenly, it stopped. Which is weird.
The lights start to flicker, which is even weirder. Sadies's super hot neighbor must think so too because his scowl deepens as he glances up at the ceiling.

After a moment, things return to normalcy. The light stopped flickering, the music returns, and the elevator continues to floor four.

SCREECH!

The elevator halts with a jerk, sending Sadie tumbling. Thankfully, she regains her balance quickly, although, her pride is definitely bruised when she realizes the hottie is hardly affected by it. Maybe if she wasn't holding this big ass box, she would not look like such a dumbass. Sadie then acts more like a dumbass, as the lights and the music completely cut out.

"Oh, shit!" Sadie borderline yells.

Her neighbor turns to look at her. He's only visible because of the red safety lights, which slowly fade on and off. It makes him look sort of sexy. Which makes Sadie feel sort of flustered.
"The power must have gone out," he says quietly. For such a big guy, Sadie did not expect him to so soft-spoken. Maybe he wasn't an asshole, after all.

"Like a blackout?" She shifts the box in her arms. It was beginning to grow heavy.

He frowns at her, "How am I supposed to know?"
Never mind, he's an asshole.
Sadie shrugs helplessly in response, feeling only a little dejected. The neighbor sighs, as if she has tired him, then begins to feverishly press the emergency buttons. They get no response.

"I don't think it's working," Sadie pipes up meekly.

"Well, do you have a better idea?"

"Do you have your phone on you? We could the fire department."

"No," he mutters, "I broke it a couple days ago. Do you?"

"No, I don't," she admits, "I left in my apartment. How'd you break your phone?"

"It... fell."

"Wow, that's super vague."

He turns away from the panel of buttons and practically glares at her. Sadie presses herself closer to the wall and grits her teeth.
Dickhead.

"Back to Plan A," he says and cracks his knuckles. He begins to press the buttons with more power and speed than before.
Silence ensues, which is just fan-fucking-tastic. In some type of tacky romantic comedy, this would be with the meet-cute. The hot guy would smile at her, with perfect teeth and everything. He'd probably be wearing a suit, not jeans and worn out t-shirt. He probably wouldn't act like Sadie smelt like shit or something.
In the movie version, Sadie would be gorgeous. In a red sundress, without a hair in place, and flawless makeup. She'd probably have bigger boobs. And would be wearing a bra.
The movie neighbor would offer to carry her box, Sadie would accept, and by the power of movie magic, they would fall in love.

This was nothing close to a movie. It was a shitshow. If anything it was the beginning to a...

"You know, this is kinda seems like the beginning to a porno."
As soon as the words leave her mouth, Sadie dies a little bit inside.

Slowly, he turns to look at her. The blank expression on his face scares her a little bit. It looks like he might spit on her, or something. Then, the corner of his mouth quirks up. A smile. Sorta.
"I don't think you've ever seen porn."

She smiles at him, a little shyly, "It's not bad idea for one, right? I should be, like, a porno writer. Those exist, right?"

He smiles back at her, "I mean, I guess they have too."
Then, something amazing happens; he laughs. Genuinely laughs. It's a nice laugh.

Well. Maybe this isn't as much of a shitshow as Sadie thought.

Maybe.

[a/n]
thank you all again for reading. it feels so good to be back :-)