Serial Flaker

Pictures or It Didn't Happen

"Hold the elevator!"

Mia tries her best to run, phone in hand, handbag on one shoulder, laptop bag in the other, and the urgent click-clack of her heels against the marble floor ringing through the otherwise quiet lobby of her apartment building. Despite her haste she doesn't forget to smile and do a quick bow to greet the doorman. She's always like this - perpetually frazzled, endlessly busy, but cheerful and polite amidst the frenzy.

She's thankful to whoever's in the elevator for waiting for her, so she has a bright smile on her face as soon as she steps through the doors. She's greeted by wide, surprised eyes and a blank stare. Mia has never seen him before, this guy who looks to be about her age but with his fluffy, unstyled hair, faded sweatshirt, ripped jeans and worn out Chucks, could probably still pass for a college boy. Cute, Mia thinks for all of two seconds as the elevator finally takes it ascent, until she's distracted by her phone buzzing.

Soojung: Girls, see you in 30 minutes for dinner, then drinks?

Mijin: I say we jump right into it - dinner AND drinks in half an hour. Heading out now!

Charlie: I'll be coming straight from work. Be there in a few!

Mijin: Mia?

The messages spur on a rather unladylike grumble. Mia loves her friends more than anything in the world, but it's been a long week at work, and all she wants to do on this Friday night is to take off her sky-high heels, change into her pajamas, and laze around on the couch bingeing on chicken and beer while binge watching dramas.

She runs her thumb across her phone screen, already trying to come up with an excuse, but not without a tinge of guilt. Sure, she got really excited earlier that day while she and the girls made plans to go out because they haven't in a really long time, and it's still true - the thought of a girls' night out does excite her, but actually doing it, after the exhausting day she's had? Maybe not so much.

This isn't the first time it's happened - her getting really enthusiastic while making plans, only to end up bailing. In fact, it happens so often that her friends have already given her a title for it.

Soojung: Hey Serial Flaker, are you there?

Mijin: Mia, you are so not bailing on us today.

Soojung: Mia!!!

Another grumble, then a sigh of defeat. Looks like her couch will have to wait. It's not like she could've given a believable reason to bail anyway - she already did the "I got held up at work" and "I feel a fever coming on" excuses the last two times she was supposed to meet with them.

Mia: I'm here! See you guys soon - just dropping off my work stuff at home, then I'll head out.

Just as she hits the "send" button, she hears a loud noise from above as the elevator shakes and screeches to a halt. It happens so fast that she's unable to keep her balance, heels tipping backwards. She lets out a squeak before she feels hands on her waist, helping keep her steady.

"Are you okay, Miss?" the guy behind her asks in a deep voice, a complete mismatch to his boyish looks. He quickly removes his hands from her waist as soon as she's able to regain her balance. Mia turns around to find him looking at her with concern.

"I'm okay. Thank you," she tells him with a curt nod. "But..." she swallows the panic that's attempting to bubble out of her "...did we just get stuck in this elevator?"

The boy is already fumbling with the emergency call button as Mia frantically looks from side to side. She's not claustrophobic or anything, but she quickly realizes that it does not feel good to be trapped in a tin box suspended above ground.

The voice of their doorman comes through the speaker, telling them they're stuck between the 11th and 12th floors, but that he's already called maintenance to get them out. The boy thanks him calmly before turning around to find Mia in a state of silent panic.

"Hey, it's okay...we'll only be here a while. Here, let me help you with those." He takes her bags off her shoulders and places them on the floor as he also finds a spot to sit. He looks up at her and smiles for the first time, urging her to sit beside him. Mia nods and tries to smile back, grateful she's at least not stuck in the elevator alone.

"I'm Josh, 23F," he says as he extends his hand to her once she's settled down beside him.

"Mia, 25D," she tells him, shaking his hand. "Thank you, by the way. For holding the elevator. And for helping me not fall on my butt. And...for being so calm."

Josh laughs and mumbles something along of the lines of how he's happy to help. They sit in silence after that, until Mia's phone starts to ring. Who knew you could get service on a stuck elevator?

As soon as she picks up, her friend's shrill voice fills the elevator. "Mia! You better be making your way out here right now! Don't you dare flake on us!"

"Soojung, oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! I don't think I can make it - I'm stuck in the elevator and I don't know when we'll be able to get out!"

She can hear her friends collectively scoffing, and the phone being passed around. "You're kidding, right?" Charlie tells her in part amusement, part annoyance. "I gotta give it to you - that's the most creative excuse you've given us yet. Fine, we get it - you won't make it. You're bailing as usual. Your loss - more drinks for us!"

"Wait, no! I'm not flaking! I really am stuck in an elevator, you guys! Seriously!" Mia whines. "It's stuck between the 11th and 12th floors and I'm in here with this guy, Josh, who lives in 23F. Tell them, Josh, my friends won't believe me!"

She practically forces the phone on a shocked Josh, who can do nothing but hold the phone up to his ear.

"Umm, hi...friends of Mia," he says tentatively. "She's telling the truth, we are stuck in an elevator, and it might take a while before we get out."

There's silence at the other end of the line, and he can hear Mia's friends deliberating. She leans in beside him to listen. There's more shuffling, until Mia and Josh hear another voice come on.

"We only have one thing to say to Mia, Josh - pictures or it didn't happen," Mijin says matter-of-factly. "We need receipts. Please tell her we'll be waiting. Bye!"

Josh slowly hands her the phone back. Mia is biting her lower lip, looking at him, eyes pleading.

"Listen, Josh, we've only just met but you've already helped me out so much, and I've been a terrible inconvenience to you in the last 30 minutes, and who knows, maybe if you didn't hold the elevator for me it wouldn't have gotten stuck and you and I wouldn't be here right now, and after all of that, while I know it's incredibly selfish of me to ask for one more favor...can I?"

She's met with silence, and Josh is back to having those wide eyes looking at her with a blank expression. At least he doesn't seem annoyed yet, she thinks, and decides to push her luck.

"It's just one picture, one selfie, so that I can send it to my friends so they'll believe I'm not flaking on them this time. Because I do flake on them often, it's just a thing I do, I mean I'm not proud of it, but it's like a sickness, sometimes I just don't want to go out and I'd rather stay home and be lazy and bail, I mean, don't you ever feel that way? I don't know, maybe I'm a horrible friend, but just - "

"I'll do it," Josh finally says, and Mia has a distinct feeling he's just agreeing to keep her from bombarding him with more verbal diarrhea.

"Oh my gosh, thank you so much! Really, I owe you one. And I really am sorry about this.

And umm, since you're taller, can you be the one to take the picture?"