𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟

𝐍𝐄𝐔𝐅

"hey...hey, wakey wakey," was the first thing i heard when i woke up.

"mmm, what?" i mumbled into daniel's chest.

"the elevator is going down, they fixed it," he said.

i rubbed my eyes and took a sip of water to wake up. i quickly threw all the food and water and trash in my bag and grabbed my phone.

"so, this is it? our elevator journey is over?" i asked.

"the elevator journey is over, but our journey isn't over. don't forget what i said about that kiss," he reminded.

our fingers laced together as we watched the number on the screen descend.

the number hit zero and i placed a quick kiss on his cheek before dropping his hand and taking a deep breath as the elevator doors parted, revealing the hotel maintenance, a few bystanders, jade, and hudson.

daniel and i shared a quick glance, him nodding to reassure me and then we walked out.

"there you are! it's about time they got you the fuck out of there!" hudson said, going in for a kiss which i blatantly dodged.

"huds, we need to talk," i said.

his eyebrows furrowed and i grabbed his hand, pulling him outside the hotel. i didn't want to do this in front of a bunch of people.

"who was the dude in the elevator with you? he looks like some snobby rich kid," he commented, causing me to go full on beast mode.

"no, hudson! he's not a snobby rich kid! he's a very nice boy who treated me with more kindness in five and half hours than you have the entire year and a half we've been dating! i was gonna do this at the end of the summer anyways, so don't you dare blame any of this on him!" i yelled, standing far away from hudson.

"what the fuck is wrong with you? what were you gonna do at the end of the summer?" hudson asked, his eyes filled with rage.

"i'm breaking up with you. don't try and sweet talk me or change it, it's final. you treat me like shit! you boss me around, you control me, you use me! you love showing me off to your friends, but you don't actually love me! you're so fucking controlling and your rude and ignorant and i wish i never even dated you sometimes! i've gotta go, but congratulations on winning the baseball thing. have a nice life, hudson," i rampaged, then started to walk off.

"fuck no, you're not just gonna walk away like that! you're hoeing around with that dude, huh? i knew it, you fucking slut! you do realize that your throwing away your whole reputation, right? people like you because of me! so good luck on your own, aria, because you won't last long!" he screamed.

i cowered away, blinking back my tears. male confrontation has always scared me, i never liked being yelled at by men.

"fuck you, hudson," i growled, then ran back inside the building.

daniel was standing against the wall, his girlfriend pacing around the lobby, screaming random insults at him.

i stopped and stared at him, his eyes searching mine.

i gave him one simple nod and that was enough for him to abandon his now ex girlfriend and run to me.

i jumped into his arms as he held me up, our lips colliding in our first kiss. his lips tasted like spearmint gum and they were soft. our lips fit together perfectly like puzzle pieces and i never wanted to stop kissing him.

i felt myself running out of air, so i broke for only a second to take a deep breath, then smash my lips onto his again.

his arms stayed under my legs, holding me up as one of mine was around his neck, the other playing with his soft hair.

he broke this time, both of our breathing very heavy.

"i'm gonna say something totally bizarre, but i can't not say it," he said.

"say it, seavey."

"i love you."

"oh, i love you too."

he set me down and we hugged, just tying to get as close as possible.

all of a sudden, we heard someone talking at the front desk.

we turned to see one of the front desk worker holding her hand out to the other front desk worker.

"i told you those two would end up falling in love. they were in there for almost six hours, what did you expect? now give me my money, you lost the bet," she said.

"y'know something seavey?"

"hm?"

"if i had to be stuck in there for six hours again with you, i wouldn't complain once," i said.

"soulmates?" he asked, sticking his pinkie out.

"soulmates," i agreed, wrapping my pinkie around his.

our lips joined again and i silently thanked god that i had gotten stuck.

i met the love of my life, just from being stuck.

stuck in an elevator.