The heavy storm was over, and it was just showers of rain. Adrian was in the living room alone watching television. He remembered that Hal Jacoby looked like in the supermarket, trembling in fear, "It can't be... it can't be him," he mumbled.

"Adrian!" his wife screamed at him that he jolted back to reality.

"Marie, what's wrong?" Adrian saw the distraught in Marie's face.

"The university called. Our son is inside an elevator," she cried.

"What happened?"

"There was this lightening that hit the building, and now he's trapped inside," Marie continued, Adrian's heart sank.

----

Back in CarmU. A static sound came from a small speaker by the call buttons, so the two got up and went closer to it, "Hello, hello," a person with a male voice reached out to them. "This is Officer Rods speaking. The elevator is currently defective due to the lightning struck. Is anyone inside the elevator number three? please push the emergency call for response."

Gage pressed the button, "Yes, we're here," he answered.

"Anyone injured?"

"Well, my friend here had an asthma attack earlier," Gage mentioned since it was important. 

"That doesn't sound good. How is she doing now?"

"My... breathing... is... a little... heavy," Oddey interjected, but she was still wheezing. "But... I can... manage."

"Alright, how many people are inside?"

"Just two," Gage answered.

"What are your names?"

"Gage Munro and..."

"Odette Empirio," Oddey replied.

"Okay, don't worry, you two will get out of there safely. Help is on the way," the officer informed them. "Hang in there."

"Okay, thank you," Gage said, then released his finger from the button, then dropped back down the floor. "That's reassuring."

"Yup," Oddey agreed at his disappointment since she needed help urgently. All of a sudden, she gasped for air like there was zero oxygen.

"You okay?" Gage darted over to her.

"Yeah." Oddey reached for her inhaler and used it again.

Later, the young lady looked down and saw her belongings were scattered around the floor when Gage frantically searched her inhaler, so she decided to fix her things while waiting for rescuers to arrive

Gage decided to give her a hand. He happened to pick up her sketchpad and noticed that the pages were pink. He remembered the sketch of him, and the paper was also pink, just like in that drawing book of hers.

Oddey grabbed the pad from him, "Thanks," she said.

"Sure thing." Gage looked at her suspiciously.

"So uhm... What's your favorite play?" she thought about making small talks since they were trapped in there for God-knows-how-long.

"Hm? Play? I don't have one. Why?"

"Oh... I just assume since you're in the theatre club and all. And I want to get my mind off being here by making conversation. I hope it's okay."

"Yeah, sure. But to be honest, I'm not into theatre, I mean the theatre club to be exact."

"I don't get it. Why are you there?"

"I wasn't planning on joining any club, but Courtney begged me to last year when we were a freshmen. She was nervous, so I signed up to just keep her company."

"I see."

"It's cool, I don't mind being there and helping out with props and all as long as I don't have to be in the play, but then I... did something to Courtney. Hence, the double date, by the way," Gage clarified.

"Oh yeah, Felix told me everything," Oddey remembered.

"Again, I'm sorry about that. I told him that I wasn't interested," he apologized, then he saw Oddey's face after saying that last part. "I didn't mean it that way."

"No... it's okay," she assured him. "I should know better than... to say yes to a pity date."

"Pity date?"

"Yeah, I was there when Felix asked Rita out. I knew he freaked out and somehow insisted and made up that it was a double again."

"Sorry again about the... incident."

"I'm... over it. Besides, it's just clothes," Oddey fibbed because inside, she was still pissed about it.

"In his defense, he... doesn't get out much," Gage joked, and the two ended up laughing about it together.

Eventually, Oddey got exhausted from the chaos and probably from laughing too that she was having trouble putting her head up and her eyes were closing.

Gage caught her again before her head would hit the wall, then pulled her to him. He ended up cradling her in his arms, and that was when she drifted off.

Then he cleared off some hair on her face and tucked them behind her ear As he made her lie on his lap, he gazed at her porcelain skin, how pink her cheeks were, and her lips were so red like she ate cherries. He could feel something different but did not understand it.

He shook it off and took off his jacket to place it onto her like a blanket. Eventually, Gage got tired and rested his head at a corner wall. After that, he dozed off with her.

About an hour later, the firefighters opened the elevator door using a crowbar, and it made this loud noise that woke the two kids inside. Oddey was stumped that she fell asleep on Gage's lap. "Sorry," she stammered.

"No, don't worry about it," he assured her.

Oddey sat up again, fixing herself and feeling so shy, yet at the same time, she was gloating. "How long we're... Have we been here?"

"No idea, my phone died."

"Oh, right. Mine, too."

"I hope help arrives soon."

Afterward, they both had their head down, caught glances to one another, and then looked away. Oddey subtly gazed at him again while Gage was distracted from his thoughts. She cracked her knuckles as she felt her heart beating so fast. "Ahem, hey."

"Yeah?" Gage shifted to her.

"If this is our... My last day," Oddey faced him nervously while Gage waited for her to say something next. "I want to..."

Suddenly, a loud, heavy metallic thud noise came from the elevator door because it was finally opened by the firefighter. "Finally," Gage expressed. "We're getting out of here."

"Yeah," Oddey stammered. Even though, she too was glad to finally not be trapped in there. She felt down that their moments together were over.

----

Back outside, their family and friends saw Gage and Oddey get out with the firefighters who rescued them. "Oddey!" Rita cried out to her best friend and hugged her. "I heard that you were stuck in the elevator."

"Don't worry, I'm fine," Oddey said to her.

"We still need to check you up. It's mandatory," one of the firefighters told her, then led her to the medics.

"Okay, and thank you for saving us."

"No problem, kid."

They went inside the two seperate ambulance. Gage watched her being observed by the paramedics from where he was sitting. All of a sudden His friends also rushed to him, "Gage!" Courtney called out to him then embraced him that, but Oddey saw them and felt jealous. "We got so worried."

"Yeah, is it true that you were trapped inside an elevator?" Felix asked.

"Yeah, I was," Gage confirmed.

"Shit, I can't imagine being in there alone."

"Actually, I wasn't alone."

"Who were you with?"

Gage didn't answer, but he just smiled, and his eyes pointed towards Oddey. His two friends turned their heads to where he was looking. Courtney was not happy, and smoke was coming out from her nose.

"Gage!" Marie yelled out, as she and her husband ran to him, hugged him tightly, and she was glad to see their son was safe. "Thank goodness, I was so worried."

"Mom and Dad, what are you doing here?" Gage asked.

"The school called us," Adrian answered. "And told us what happened to you."

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Marie questioned him while taking his hands and seeing if there were any wounds.

"Mom, I'm fine, really," Gage said to her.

"He's right. Vitals are good, no trauma, no concussion, he's good to go," said the emergency medic to his parents.

"That's good to hear," the mother sighed in relief.

Gage glanced over to Oddey and noticed that she was wearing an oxygen mask and breathing it, "What about her?" he asked the medic about her.

"We were told that she had an asthma attack," the medic replied.

"Will she be okay?"

"Yes, it's just a precaution."

"Oh okay,"

"Don't worry, your girlfriend is fine," the medic added.

The guy shook his head while his friends and parents' eyes widened as they turned to him with this shocked expression in their face. "No, she's not my... uhm, never mind," he choked, then put his head down from the stares he was given. 

As for Oddey, she was just finished breathing through the oxygen mask, "ODDEY!" Eva yelled out to her as she rushed to her. "Oh! God, you're okay."

"I'm alright, mom," Oddey assured her. "You don't have to worry."

"Odette," her mother scoffed, and the name caught Marie's attention. "Of course, I'm gonna be worried for them. They said that you had an asthma attack." Eva then talked to the medics, "How is she doing?"

"I heard a little wheezing noise whenever she breathed," the medic explained. "But after giving her some oxygen, she's doing well now. She's good to go."

"Thank you," Eva sighed in relief, then shifted to her daughter. "Come on, let's go home, Honey."

"Okay, mom," Oddey nodded, then turned to Rita. "Bye, I'll see you on Monday, Bestie." She was about to leave until she remembered something. "Mom, hold on."

"Okay."

The young lady went after her crush. "Gage! Wait up!"

"Yeah?" Gage turned to her.

His jacket was on her, so Oddey took it off and returned it to him, "uhm... I guess this is yours..." she stuttered.

"Oh right, thanks. I almost forgot about that." Gage took the jacket from her.

"Thank you too... again. Well, bye." Oddey went back to her mother.

"Bye."

"He's cute," Eva whispered to her.

"Mom, please," Oddey whined.

Meanwhile, Gage wore the jacket while his friends talked to him. "Wow, I guess you two are in speaking terms now," Felix voiced.

"What's he talking about?" Marie asked her son.

"Uhm... long story," Gage said to her.

"Hmm... she's cute," his father teased. "I'd assume she's your girlfriend too."

"Daaad... Don't be weird."

"I'm just saying."

Gage just laughed it off, "Nice to see you too, Dad." He hugged him.

"You too, son," Adrian said back.

----

Later, Oddey and Eva arrived home and got out of the car, but before they were about to get inside the house, a black Mercedes sped up and it made a screeching sound when it stopped right in front of them.

The young lady's eyes widened when he saw the driver came out. It was Leon with this distressed look in his face. He rushed to her to her and hugged her tight with this reprieved feeling. "Oh, thank God," he sighed in relief.

"Don't worry, she's alright now," Eva assured him.

"Yes, Dad." Oddey hugged him back. "I'm okay."