Green Light ✓ || Ashton X Reader

Chapter 9

After all this time, after many days working in the Magnificat, now is the time to get stuck in an elevator?

You push more of the buttons, all of the floors, but nothing still happens. You slam your fist against the elevator wall, then push the emergency button. It takes about five seconds, but someone's voice comes over the intercom. "Magnificat Operations, this is Ben. Can I have your elevator number, please?"

You look up where the certificate is displayed. "103-B."

"Thank you. Can I have your problem, please?"

"Uh, yeah, I was just going from the eighth to the seventh floor and it just stopped. It hasn't moved for like five minutes? I don't know how long, I don't have my phone on me. I'm sorry."

"Okay. Are you doing okay?"

"No! I'm not doing okay!" Your voice comes out, hurried and loud. If this elevator doesn't get moving now, then you won't ever get to your phone. He could be on his way to dying now. He could already be dead! But you restrain yourself the best you can. "Do you know when the elevator will be fixed and moving again?"

"I don't know yet, I just got the call. We'll have to send a technician down. They are not on site, so it could be a little while. That's why I asked if you were okay. Do you need anything to drink? Do you need to use the bathroom? Are you mentally stable?"

You bite your lip. You want to scream, no, of course I'm not mentally stable! My ex could very well be dying right now, and I can't save him if I'm stuck in this elevator! Your blood boils, and you feel the urge, just a teeny bit, to do something stupid. You wish you could. Every time you did before, it was the only thing that would make him stop, even just for a second. But even if you hurt yourself here, he can't see you. It won't do any good, other than maybe make you feel better for 2.5 seconds.

For a moment, Ashton's worried face flashes through your mind. And then you shove it out. You already pushed him away. You've already hurt him. Nothing else good will come of that.

"I'm going to contact the head office, and then we will have somebody down there as soon as possible," the voice on the intercom states. "If it's an emergency, they can be here in a half an hour or so."

You nod and start crying. You wonder if he can still hear you, somewhere, the disembodied voice of Ben the maintenance guy. And then you hear a completely different voice. "Love? Is that you? Are you okay?"

"Ashton?" You look around, but he's obviously not there with you. "Where are you?"

"We hacked into the elevator." That is Luke. "We kind of know the ins and outs of the Magnificat's internet system. Please don't ask why."

"Yes, Emmaline knows," Calum's voice chimes in. Apparently somehow all of 5SOS has hacked into the elevator's intercom system so they can talk to you instead of Ben the maintenance guy.

"Yeah, but guys, at some point they're gonna need to get me out of here, so don't talk too long, maybe. Wait. How did you find out I was stuck in the elevator?"

"I ran down," Ashton says, "to the seventh floor because I knew you were headed there. And I waited and I waited for you, but it never opened up. And then I could hear you screaming, all the way through the doors. You're stuck between floors seven and eight, aren't you?"

And you start bawling. You start crying and you can't stop crying because you can't fix anything, but here you are, stuck, helpless, and 5SOS has somehow once again found their way to you and they're not yelling at you. In fact, they even found a way to contact you when there should have been none!

"Are you sure you're all right?" Luke asks.

You shake your head, and then you remember they can't see you. And you explain as much as you can. "I just -- I need for someone to get my phone, so I can message him and see if he's all right."

"Love," Ashton takes over. "If he dies, it's not your fault. You left him for your own mental health. You even drove all the way across the country to do it! That's mad as a cut snake if you ask me! You should never take back something you did for your own mental health to make someone else happy, or even to keep them alive. We are all in charge of keeping ourselves alive, and then those we have been put in charge of, like children and pets. Even if you were married to me, I wouldn't expect you to sacrifice yourself to keep me alive like that."

"Oh, so Ashton is insinuating something," Michael says over the intercom.

"That is not what I was saying!"

"Ashton's got cheese," Calum says, and you can't help but start laughing. It's funny to hear them talk about -- wait. Are they joking that Ashton has a crush on you? Because you kind of realize that's what you've been feeling these past couple of weeks as well. It's been tenuous, what with leaving your old place and your ex behind. But not only is Ashton incredibly good looking, he's the exact opposite of your ex.

He would never let you down.

Too bad, you know, he's in a band that's debuting on a major record label in like another two weeks. That would be slightly problematic. But even to know that he might feel the same way? It makes you feel a little better. Like there's actually hope for something.

"Guys. My phone."

"You are not messaging him," Ashton answers.

"But what if he -- what if he hurts himself?"

"Then his mother should be helping him, love. Are you his mother?"

"...no."

"It's one thing if someone asks you for help, and you're able to help them. It's another if they say they're going to kill themselves just to get you to live with them again. He might be straight up abusing you again. For all you know, he's sitting on his couch in your old apartment, drinking a coldie and watching some dumb TV program about penguins or race cars or the bush. People have to want to be helped, love. This man doesn't sound like he wants help at all. He just wants you to be his playtoy again."

You choke back a sob again. "Ashton, I wish you were here."

There's a pause, and then, "I know, love. I wish I was, too. When you get off that elevator, I'm gonna give you the biggest hug ever, okay?"

"Okay."

And it's then that the intercom blinks, twice. "Guys, shut down your connection, I think they're trying to call again."

"Okay. We'll see you on the other side, love." Then, the voice changes back over to the maintenance department again. The emergency elevator tech has arrived, as well as the fire department. They have to completely cut power to the building so the failsafes activate. Then, the fire department unlocks the seventh floor doors. There's a gap between the doors and the elevator, but you're able to fit through.

One of the firefighters reaches for you and pulls you out of the elevator, depositing you on the seventh floor, finally safe and sound. And, as he said he would be, Ashton is waiting for you, and you run into his arms.