2:43 PM

Hurt flashed through Jordan's eyes the moment I pulled away from his grip. The pain in them immediately made me feel guilty and I suddenly found myself very interested in my sneakers. I shifted from foot to foot silently for a good minute, trying to calm my racing heartbeat. Even though I had already pulled from his grasp, even though we were no longer mere inches apart, my heart still raced a mile per minute, and my cheeks were totally aflame. I looked up at Jordan hesitantly, who was looking anywhere at the elevator except my face, blush evident on his cheeks despite the red light which could only guise it so much.

"I'm sorry!" I blurt out, desperate to explain myself. I didn't mean for how I reacted to hurt him. He shakes his head, pushing his glasses up to his face.

"No, you don't have to explain yourself." he says, voice devoid of the emotion that had been there only minutes before, and I felt he walls I had put up begin to crack.

"Jordan, I-"

"Clearly it was a mistake, we were just still emotional." I shook my head. Crack.

"No, I-l"

"-And we were just thinking about our exes." Crack.

"Jordan-"the words died in my throat as soon as what he said registered.

Did he...had he really thought of it like that? Because I know I hadn't, in that moment, my senses had been filled with him and only him, thoughts of only Jordan when I stood in his arms...and what he was saying...had he been thinking of Lizzy when he had looked at me like that? Of Lizzy, when he held me close to him? Of Lizzy, when he looked at my lips? Crack upon crack upon crack, until-a sudden pause. Then shatter. My heart is effectively in pieces.

"Oh..." I mumble, fighting the strange feeling in my chest. "Y-yeah, yeah of course." I agree, trying to act as casual as he clearly was. Jordan looks at me carefully, quirking his head to the side. I shy away from his gaze, instead shifting it to his olive green bomber jacket. I gulp, trying to contain the emotions that were all bottled up inside of me.

      As if on cue, there was a shudder in the elevator, and the lights switched back to the bright fluorescent LED lights that had been on for the first hour of our containment. We both look up at the lights, surprised by the sudden switch from the dull light to sudden brightness. Then, the little phone in the compartment begins to ring. I stare at it for a moment, confused. It hadn't been working earlier, and yet now it was ringing. Jordan moves towards the elevator panel, opening the compartment and picking up the phone.

"Hello?" he asks. At the other end of the line, I could hear a pause before someone on the other end responded. What exactly, I couldn't quite make out. I fiddle with my sweater in silence as Jordan nods his head, sometimes saying something in response. After about two minutes, he gives a final response. "Ok thank you, bye," before he put the phone back in the compartment.

      "Well?" I ask expectantly.

"There was a problem when they were trying to fix the elevator. One of the lines snapped, but the safety was able to hold it, and they've been trying to fix it for the last couple hours. We'll be out soon apparently."

I breathe a sigh of relief. We were finally going to get out of here. And that also meant I would no longer be stuck with Jordan. And I don't know why but my stomach churned at the thought, a mixture of relief and disappointment. Even though we may have bonded in the elevator, when I pulled away from him, that effectively ruined any possible friendship between us.

"I guess we only have a few minutes left then..." I say, and Jordan nods slowly.

"Then we could all forget this ever happened." I swallowed, feeling a lump in my throat. I knew he was right. I knew that I would probably just go back to my friends, and he'd go back to his, and we would only ever have the briefest of interactions. But I didn't want that. Behind the idiotic, immature facade Jordan put up, there was something real and genuine. And I liked that side of him. I could see myself being friends with that side of him. It was this side that made me understand what Lizzy had seen in him in the first place.

"Look, Jordan-"

"We don't need to talk about it."

"Well I think we do," I reason.

"We already agreed right? We were just caught up in the moment!"

"That-that doesn't mean we shouldn't talk about it." I stutter. He sighs.

"What is there to talk about? It was just a mistake. We were remembering. And we were stressed." he explains, and I shake my head.

"Maybe, but we...we almost..." I hesitate, flustered as Jordan looks at with a raised eyebrow.

"We almost what Angelica?" I glare at him.

"You know what!"

"No, I don't," I groan, turning away from him as I place my hands in front of my face. My cheeks burn and I groan once more, before I whirl around to face him again.

"We almost kissed!" I yelled, Jordan looking triumphant. He smirked.

"So you did think about kissing me." I swore under my breath.

"You're an immature, arrogant, jerk," I mumble, and he raises an eyebrow.

"A jerk you thought about kissing," he points out, and I snapped, absolutely tired of everything. Tired of the elevator, tired of Jordan, tired of my stupid fluttering butterflies, and most of all tired of his bullshit. I reel my arm back and punch him straight in the stomach as hard as I can. I hear Jordan let out a little "Oomph," and he stumbles backwards. The look on his face as he stares at me in shock while holding his stomach is hilarious and I feel myself begin to smile. I try covering it with my hands but pretty soon I start giggling before I full on start to laugh uncontollably. He looks at me incredulously. "First you slap me, then you punch me, what the hell Angelica?"

Slowly I collect myself once more, and I let out a breath, trying to calm myself down. But me puching him had been incredibly satisfying. Jordan acted like an ass sometimes, and he got what he deserved.

"You deserved it." He rolled his eyes.

"I don't think you needed to punch me...and what's the big deal about a kiss anyways? You're going to have hundreds of kisses in your lives, what's the big deal about one more right now?" he asks. I flush and bow my head down.

"Can we not talk about kissing?" I mumble, keeping my head downwards. Jordan is silent, probably studying me for a second. I can practically hear the gears turning in his head.

 "Wait-"

"Don't!" I warned, raising my hand at him. His eyes gleamed.

"You haven't-"

"Jordan!" I yelled, glaring at him, and he smiles.

"You haven't had your first kiss yet!" I groan, my face totally aflame as I hide it behind my sweater paws.

"Aww, Angelica! But how! You literally dated Ajax for the longest time!" I shake my head lifting it slightly only to see Jordan giving me a teasing smile.

"Shut up Jordan, I don't wanna talk about it!" He laughs for a few moments before suddenly he becomes quiet.

"So if we had..." I let out a little sqeak, burying my face into my hands once more. "Oh." Gods, I was so embarrassed. I didn't exactly like anyone knowing that little tidbit about me. I felt I was way too old for me to not have had my first kiss yet at fourteen, going on fifteen. I just about got the courage to raise my head when the elevator shuddered, and suddenly it was moving downwards smoothly. And with a ding, the doors which had trapped Jordan and I in the elevator for nearly four hours slid open, where the principal of Trinity High, Ms. Anderson stood, along what appeared to be some police officers.

"Oh thank goodness you two are safe," Ms. Anderson said, motioning to the two of us.

Jordan and I glanced at each other quickly before we turned away from each other and gathered our things which lay on the floor. And together we stepped out of the elevator which had been the catalyst to a series of events which felt absolutely irreversible. A series of events, some of which we had yet to experience, but I could feel it in the way we interacted with each other.

The officers and Ms. Anderson converged upon the two of us, asking us question after question. Instead I turned around to look at the elevator. And I watched as the doors quietly slid shut. Their voices then started to actually reach me.

"Are you two ok? Are you hungry? We are so sorry it took so long." And they droned on and on.

"We're ok." Jordan says, answering for the both of us after he glances at me. One of the officers, the woman, turns towards me.

"How about you, honey, are you ok?" I blink.

"Y-yeah I'm fine..."I say, and I glance at my watch. It was already 3:00 PM. "Can I go home?" Ms. Anderson's expression changes.

"Of course. We'll just have a meeting with your parents concerning what happened tomorrow ok?" I nod my head and she motions us away.

Jordan and I start walking down the halls, which are still relatively empty since the bell hasn't rung yet. We walk in silence for a while, going up the stairs together when the bell rings. When we do make our way out of the stairwell, kids are already filling the halls, and I see a group of Jordan's friends making their way in our direction.

"Jordan!" they yell, and his head snaps in their direction and a grin fills up his space.

"Heard you got stuck in the elevator with some other chick and missed half the day!" one of them says, and they walk around me, crowding around Jordan. The one who was talking to Jordan, I think his name was Reed, slings his arm around him and starts walking towards the opposite end of the hall where half of the lockers were.

"Yeah,I-" Jordan cranes his neck around to turn and look back at me as the distance between him and me grow wider, the halls totally filled with students. We lock eyes as he is dragged towards the other side of the hallway, and I give him a small smile. We both knew this was going to happen. So I gave him a tiny wave. And I turned away from him and headed the opposite way towards my locker.

As I turned the corner towards my own locker, I see a certain best friend of mine. A best friend I had a couple questions for.

Lizzy.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

That took me a forever to write. I had a couple plot problems, but I was able to write this chapter after much struggle.

Anyways. Jordan Balthazar is really annoying, and he totally deserved that punch in the gut, didn't he? And Jordan, I would appreciate if you wouldn't tell other people about the story in school and the descriptions in school, ok?

Dedicated to ifw91002 , BishForLife , Paradox4234 , and denden-san.

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-winter millennium💙