Elevator Talks

Chapter 1

"Here we go again." I thought to myself as I pushed the warm, germ infested button to the elevator. I wait for what seemed to be forever and finally the doors dung open.
As soon as I got inside, I noticed this man. He seemed young, maybe 20. He seemed extremely exhausted, and the bags under his eyes were so dark it appeared as though he hadn't slept in several days. He sat in the corner holding himself as though in pain.
"Hey" I looked at him and said. He didn't move a muscle, but shifted his eyes so he briefly met mine. He examined my eyes and body while I stood for a few seconds with a smile on my face.
"Oh, hi." He answered quietly but abruptly, barely loud enough to be classified as a whisper.
"How are you?" I asked quietly so as not to intimidate him.
"Okay, and you?" He asked in return, this time turning his head to look at me and his voice matching the volume of mine.
"I'm decent, thanks. You look exhausted, are you sure you're okay?" I asked, concerned.
He paused for a minute before responding, his eyes staying locked on mine. I never really noticed, but his face was almost angelic. Light blonde hair that swept gently over his forehead, light green eyes that could light up a dark room in the middle of winter and his lips were full and perfectly proportioned. His skin had been kissed by the sun. Muscular build, but not the 'fake' looking muscular build you would see on a body builder. Everything was perfectly proportioned, and not just his face.
"Yeah, just got kicked out of my house so I've been sleeping on here." He answered, looking around the elevator with small tears seeping from his eyes. He covered his eyes and I heard nothing but the dinging of the elevator next to this one and the sobs of this helpless man.
I got down on the floor with him and he laid his head against my shoulder.
"You can come with me?" I suggested hopefully. I normally wouldn't offer such a strong thing to a person I had just met but, he needed help and to be shown that everything will be okay in the end and if things aren't okay, it's not the end yet.
"Really?" He lit up from excitement. He wiped the tears from his face and I stood up. He stood up with me. I hadn't realized just how tall he was. He must have stood about six and a half feet tall. He bent down to give me a hug and I welcomed this embrace with open arms.
Just then, the elevator slid open and we stepped out. He took a breath of relief. But, I hadn't even known his name yet. This strange man that I welcomed into my house, gave my shoulder to cry on, and gave him the warmest embrace I ever had since my brother left for the army three years ago, was just a face without a name.
We begin the never ending walk to my car, parked on the seventh floor of the parking garage just below the top floor.
"So, what is your name?" I asked him curiously. His straight expression turned to a smile.
"Matthew," He answered quickly, "What is your name?"
"Olivia. It's been my pleasure meeting you." I responded.
"Oh, thank you. It's been my pleasure meeting you as well. Thank you for giving me a place to crash until I can find a place to actually live." He exclaimed, shooting me his sparkling smile that I could see from the corner of my eye.
"Not a problem. Anything to help." I replied, trying not to make it obvious that I admired his looks as well as his personality.
We continued walking. They used to have an elevator that went up to the top of the garage and back down to the bottom until something happened and the elevator had to be shut down. It appeared as though nobody had the time, money, or willingness to fix it since it had been broken for just under five years now.
There is a ringing loud enough to deafen the toughest man alive. That would be my phone.
"CRAP!" I exclaimed out loud, stopping in my tracks which made Mathew stop and turn to look at me.
"What? What's going on? Are you okay?" He asked worriedly.
"I was supposed to go to work!" I shouted, fumbling with my phone to get it open so I can call back my work.
"Well why didn't you?"
"Because I got distracted helping you. It's okay, I'll just let him know I had a family emergency come up and I didn't call in because I had no signal." I answered, trying my hardest to calm myself down.
A look of sadness shot across Matthew's face. "If you need you can go in and I will just wait for you to get out."
"For eight hours? I don't think so. I'm not going to make you wait that long. Besides, I'm already a half an hour late, so there's no sense in me going in now." I frustratedly responded.
I flip open my phone finally after having struggled with it for quite a while. I open to my contacts and dial my work. As the phone rings, I can feel my heart picking up pace. This is the first time I have ever not shown up to work.
"Hello?" A deep voice asked over the phone.
"Um hi, yes. This is Olivia. I'm so sorry about not coming in today. I had a fa-"
"Look, relax. It's you're first time, it's fine. Just don't do it again and have a good day." The deep voice cut me off and then proceeded to hang up.
"Well that went better than I thought." I said to Matthew. He let out another sigh of relief as we slowly continued to the car.