Rrinkers

Chapter 10

There were stars in front of her eyes. Zoe was so tired, she could fall down at any moment, and the fact that she hadn't had a real meal all day did not help the situation. It was almost 11:00 pm and she was barely locking up her Coffee shop to go home. The reason why she was so tired was because she hadn't been sleeping well. Almost five days a week, Lucas would blast his music while he worked out, and it would disrupt Zoe's sleep to the point that she wouldn't be able to sleep at all after she woke up. Those nights, she barely got three hours of sleep.

She was a little nervous about walking to the hotel so late at night being so drowsy, but she sucked it up because there weren't any taxis around, and she didn't feel like getting into a creepy Uber. Off she went.

After walking down the two empty streets, she finally reached the hotel, although she wished she could walk more. She loved night walks. The stars and the moon made it breathtaking but the cold was aggravating.

On the other side of the building, Lucas made his way to his special parking spot in the hotel when he noticed a young woman walking down the street. It was too dark to see her face, but he pondered asking her if she needed a ride. That would be too creepy, he thought to himself. When he entered the parking lot and quickly got out of his car, the lady wasn't there anymore. "Where'd she go?" He didn't know why she was walking alone this late at night because it was dangerous, but he realized that she probably went into the alleyways to her house.

Lucas made his way to the hotel and walked to the elevator, making sure to say hi to Deegan and John, the security guard. He noticed the elevator was already open and was about to close so he ran a little bit and put his hand in front of it. He felt accomplished that he was able to hold it open, but his face lost all expression when he saw who the other person in there was. It was Zoe. So much for trying to keep her out of sight, out of mind. The past week, he hadn't seen her and she hadn't seen him. Although he would be lying if he said he didn't watch the outside cameras of the hotel to see her walking out some mornings. She was out of his physical sight but she wasn't out of his mind.

Suddenly, Lucas realized that Zoe was the woman he saw walking down the street based on the white coat she had on. Why is she walking alone? Doesn't she know she can get mugged or killed out here this late? He wanted to say something about it, but he just couldn't.

Zoe shifted awkwardly in the elevator as the door closed slowly. She didn't say anything. Neither did Lucas. Realizing that no one had pressed the button, Zoe raised her hand to press the same button that she has always pressed. But her finger accidentally pressed the black button.

Before she could comprehend what was going on, the elevator stopped working. "What's going on?" She asked more to herself than to Lucas. She still couldn't believe that fate brought her in the same elevator as him. She had the worst luck.

Lucas was beyond annoyed. "Why'd you press that button?" He said, angrily.

"It was an accident."

"Well, we're stopped now. You pressed the stopping button."

"Ok...can you undo it?"

"Do I look like elevator maintenance?"

"Fine!" She said with the same tone, as she pressed the red button on the elevator key. She assumed that the red button was for elevator maintenance.

"What are you doing?!" Lucas exclaimed.

"What?"

"You just pressed the fire button. Now the fire department is going to show up!"

"Well, how am I supposed to know?! I thought it was the help button." All of her tiredness went away in the heat of the moment.

"Maybe open your eyes and read what it says."