Start With the Title

Round One

The Phone Booth

The air was cool and dry as it wafted in light bursts over Eleanor's face, and she found herself snuggling deeper and deeper into the thick maroon scarf wrapped neatly around her stout neck.

With her hands fisted and stuffed into the silky pockets of her petticoat, she found herself admiring the dim overcast clouding the wide British sky, and fell into a rhythmical pace as the soles of her winter boots thud, thud, and thudded beneath her with each and every passing step.

Her almond-shaped eyes flitted to the cracked pathway beneath her feet, and she found herself carefully following the weathered cracks with her curious eyes as they zig-zagged in uneven waves across the pavement.

Eleanor let out a huff of air, watching as the heat from her exhale mixed with the frigid air surrounding her, quickly mingling into a cloud of transparent smoke, causing the corners of her lips to quirk upwards in a childish manner. She found herself taking longer strides, passing by the quiet town in a brisk walk as she neared what looked like a fairly run-down phone booth.

Eleanor's bare and nimble fingers pushed open the red door of the phone booth and she stepped inside the frozen atmosphere of the box with a slight intake of breath, drawing her shoulders up and underneath her frozen ears as shivers racketed uncomfortably against her spine.

As her fingers punched in the numbers that would reach her best friend, Eleanor chanted a jumble of incoherent hopes and pleas under her breath while the monotonous ringing of the phone echoed through the phone booth. Her best friend, Clara had insisted that she roam the flourishing city of London to get to know the place better, "Perhaps it could be your lucky day and you could find love in a coffee shop!" Clara had excitedly said.

But Eleanor never had the best of luck, and within the first hour of her British adventures, Eleanor had gotten lost.

Eleanor was fairly new to the city of London; she had transferred to the flourishing city from a gaudish town in Ireland as part of her university studies, and resided with her Clara as she ventured onwards with her studies. Little did Clara know that Eleanor was pathetically hopeless when it came to finding her way around new places and had a rather shameful sense in direction.

The ringing of the phone continued for another five consecutive seconds before Eleanor hung up, sliding the phone back into its receiver with a light slap and huffing to herself. She glanced outside, catching sight of a tall and lanky figure leaning against the very phone booth she stood in, causing her to quickly scramble around and nearly trip over her own feet as she unlatched the door and bumbled outside.

The stranger's head whipped towards Eleanor's direction, and she had to prevent herself from letting her jaw fall slack at the impeccable sight of his charming features. She cleared her throat out of embarassment as the stranger locked his twinkling and mischevious eyes with her shy ones.

"Sorry," Eleanor mumbled after a moment, wanting to slap herself in the face as she stood there, frozen in place.

The stranger's lips quirked upwards handsomely, "No worries,"

She nearly melted at the sound of his voice, "Uh," she stuttered, realizing that she was stood in the center of the doorway. "You could use it now, if you'd like."

"I'm alright," he said, shaking his head of tousled blond hair. "I, uh, I noticed you walking around and you looked a bit lost. So, um, I wandered over here in case you needed help."

Eleanor felt a blush nip at her cheeks; she hoped that he would think of the pink stains gracing her cheeks were from the cold, "Oh," she intelligently responded, causing the stranger to smile. "That'd be lovely, actually. I was trying to call up my friend, but she isn't answering."

The stranger instantly brightened as he pushed himself off of the phone booth, standing before her. "Great!" he enthused before faltering slightly, "I mean, not great that you're lost, but uh,"

Eleanor let out a soft laugh, "It's alright, I appreciate your help."

"I'm glad to be of service," he grinned. "Any place in particular you were looking for?"

Eleanor pursed her lips in thought before shaking her head of dark hair sheepishly, "Not really, I'm a bit new to this area and I was just roaming about."

"Well," he drawled, teetering on his sneaker-cladded toes. "What would you say to some hot chocolate? You look like you might morph into a snowman any moment now."

Eleanor bit back a smile as she rubbed her frigid hands together in hopes of obtaining some warmth, "I would like that,"

"Really?" he spluttered, not seeming to believe her response. Eleanor nodded, holding back a laugh at his expression. He cleared his throat, a sheepish look crossing over his features, "That's great. C'mon, our source of warmth isn't too far, just down the road."

They fell into step beside each other and Eleanor could feel the intoxicating heat radiate off of his body as they brushed shoulders. Eleanor peeked over her shoulder, looking back at the old phone booth with a small smile before turning around, only to find him peering back at the phone booth with a similar expression.

And as if by an unknown force, Eleanor drew closer to his side, giddy to tell Clara that while she may not have found love in a coffee shop, she certainly had found something special through an old phone booth.

- - -

wow, so for some reason, my one shots/short stories never end up being a page; it's impossible for me to write everything in just one page, skdjsdjk.

anyways, this is round one of the contest, and i need you, my lovely readers, to vote for me in the external link to the side if you liked this! i /think/ my name in the poll is under my main account, @/afterthoughts; i'm working with jules on getting that fixed, though!

this is dedicated to eleanor aka AnchoredBoats for being absolutely lovely.

thank you for reading!

much love; f