"Hold the elevator!" Maya shouted when she saw the metal doors about to meet. She ran towards the lift, cursing herself for being so out of shape as she brushed past women in business suits and men with Bluetooths, earning glares on her way.

Beads of sweat had gathered on her forehead from sprinting across the parking garage in the smoldering heat. Glad that she’d remembered to put on deodorant, Maya muttered prayers underneath her breath as she neared the elevator, which was beginning to close.

A hand reached out between the doors, causing them to slowly part once again. Without sparing a glance at the owner of the hand, Maya stumbled into the compartment, letting out a sigh of relief. Her heart was pounding against her chest, and she frantically attempted to smooth her wild hair, which had become tangled from her run.

She glanced at her watch. 9:59 a.m.

"Curse my ancient car for choosing the biggest day of my nonexistent career to break down," Maya mumbled to herself as she repeatedly smacked the eighth floor button, even though it'd lit up the first time she’d pressed it.

She had set six alarms for the morning, woken up an hour earlier than necessary, and even left twenty minutes earlier than she had to. Still, her car decided to break down half an hour away from the firm, and right in the middle of horrendous Washington D.C. traffic.

"Um, I think it gets the point," mused a deep voice from behind her. Startled, she jumped, her heart skipping a beat even though she already knew that she wasn’t not alone in the elevator.

She tentatively turned around to see a tall man in a suit that seemed more expensive than her car and apartment combined.

His dark brown hair was gelled to the side, an amused smile gracing his lips, icy blue eyes studying her as if she was a mythical creature. His attractiveness would have flustered Maya in maybe other circumstances. But now, she was more worried about her interview than anything else.

Refraining from rolling her eyes, Maya adjusted her thick glasses so that they sat straight atop the bridge of her nose.

"I'm sorry, big interview today," she admitted, smothering the wrinkles in her skirt. "In one minute, actually."

Maya was never good in stressful situations, and today was no exception. She tried to breathe normally, but as she watched the seconds pass by on her watch, a knot tightened in her stomach.

"Intern interviews are usually on the second floor," the man pointed out, looking away from his phone screen for a mere second to meet Maya's eyes.

She scowled. "I'm actually interviewing for a lawyer position. Nice of you to assume, though."

The man, indifferent, shrugged and carried on using his phone. His dark, thick eyebrows furrowed slightly as he concentrated on whatever was so important.

Maya was thankful that she only had to be in his presence for a few seconds longer. She settled in her corner of the elevator and folded her arms across her chest as she watched the floor numbers light up.

3... 4... 5..  

Her watch read 10:02.

"Oh Dios mío. Please, God, just freeze time for me. Just for this one minute." She closed her eyes and held her intertwined hands in front of her, and continued to mutter, speaking loud enough for her companion to hear, "I'll start going back to church, and I'll donate, and—"

Her brief rant was cut off by the elevator's sudden jerk. The fluorescent lights flickered, and then they faded away completely.

"Fu-dge!" Maya shouted, closely avoiding profanity, her head snapping towards the stranger who seemed to be stifling a laugh. His hand, which was previously covering his mouth, fell to his collar as he adjusted his tie.

"Looks like your prayer had the opposite effect," the man said, setting his briefcase down and running a hand through his smooth hair. He simply leaned against the wall and tapped away at his device nonchalantly.

Maya, now on the verge of tears, pressed the emergency buttons on the panel, only to receive no response. She screamed in aggravation, growing more irritated when she realized that the man is still on his phone, the music emanating from the device making it seem like he was playing a game.

Now, Maya was completely aware that the man appeared to be someone of status within the company, but she also figured that she wouldn’t see him again, and at the moment, she couldn’t control her temper.

She trudged towards him and snatched his phone out of his hands, holding it in the air.

"Are you playing games?" she drew out her words, her tone incredulous as rage built up inside of her. She looked at the bright phone screen to see that she had been right.

He shrugged. "I need some way to pass time. You're not very fun to talk to." He reached for the phone, but Maya recoiled her hand.

"Listen," she seethed, "you seem like you don't have anywhere to be, but I happen to have a very important interview today that will either make or break my career, and if I'm late, which I definitely will be, I'm guaranteed not to get the job. So if you could stop being useless and try to help me get out of this predicament, I'd be ever so grateful."

The glint if amusement in his eyes suggested that he found her expression humorous.

Her eyebrows were scrunched, blue glasses slightly crooked, and there was hair falling out from her bun and onto her face. Her large brown eyes were narrowed into slits, and she seemed ever-so terrifying in her five-foot-two frame. And because she was angry, a Spanish accent began to peek through her voice.

"There's nothing we can do." He shrugged, slipping his jacket off of his shoulders, as the air conditioning had also stopped working. "There's no cell service, and you already pressed the emergency buttons. Just relax."

He tried to place a hand on her shaking shoulder, but she smacked it away and stepped closer to him, holding her pointer finger to his chest.

"Relax? Oh," Maya laughed mirthlessly, "you are getting me out of this elevator. I don't know how, but you will."

The man cocked his head to the side. His humored expression fell serious as he stepped closer to her so that his solid chest meets her finger. "I'm not a magician. We're both stuck, so deal with it."

His minty breath fanned across her face, and a blush arose to her cheeks when she realized how rude she'd been. She sheepishly held his phone out for him, which he snatched from her hand. But before she could speak, the elevator jerked again, and began to fall.

Terrified, Maya screamed and jumped onto the man, clinging onto his neck so that he was holding her up. Not sure of how to respond, he loosely wrapped his arms around the smaller woman as she remained latched to him.

The elevator stopped again, and the lights flickered once. Maya's face was still buried into the stranger's shoulder.

"Um," he cleared his throat,  "we're not falling anymore."

Her cheeks ablaze, Maya let go of him and retreated to the other corner of the elevator, trying to ignore the scent of expensive cologne that lingered in her nose.

"There's got to be some other way out," she thought aloud, mentally scolding herself for her actions, "like a vent or something."

She looked up, and her face lit up with an idea.

"You," she directed her words at the man, who stared at her with concern in his eyes, "hoist me up so that I can crawl through the vent."

She proceeded to take off her shiny black high heels, all rational thoughts fleeing her mind.

"That's not a good idea," the man warned, holding his hands out in front of him, concerned for the woman's sanity. "Who do you think you are, James Bond?"

Maya huffed and slowly began to put her shoes back on. The heat in the isolated box began to rise from the lack of air conditioning, and she looked down at her watch.

10:10.

"Well, I guess this job is as good as lost," she sighed, sliding down with her back against the wall until her bottom met the ground. She wrapped her hands around her knees and set her chin atop them.

After passing the Bar exam, getting a decent interview proved harder than Maya had imagined, until she somehow—by some miracle, got a phone call from the Solace Law Firm in Washington D.C., one of the most prestigious firms in the country. And now, she was about to blow her chance at achieving her dreams.

She buried her face into her knees, biting her lower lip in an effort not to cry.

The man, feeling sorry for the woman with the disheveled hair and uneven glasses, sat down beside her, but he remained silent in fear that she'd rage once again.

"You know, I don't need this job anyway. The lawyer I'd be working for, Alexander Solace, is a complete ass from what I've heard."

He arched an eyebrow, holding back a chuckle. "Really? What makes him an ass?"

Maya rolled her eyes. "He thinks he's the shit around here. All pretentious and stuff just because he went to Harvard. Who wants to work for a man like him anyway?"

At this point, she knew she was just trying to console herself, but there was some truth to her words. The new program would allow Maya to work as a paralegal assistant under Alexander's wing for a year. It was a job that many would kill for, no matter how arrogant Alexander was known to be.

The stranger nodded, pursing his lips in thought, and his light eyes met hers. "I wouldn't."

"Exactly." Maya stood up and brushed the nonexistent dirt off of her pants. She collected her composure. "I'll go back to waitressing for another year or two until I get an interview again. Almost a decade of school to become a lawyer, and I get this."

Out of frustration, Maya kicked the wall, grunting when a stinging pain shot up her leg.

"Hey!" The stranger jumped to his feet, loosening his deep blue tie. "Don't start hurting yourself. You don't know if you've actually lost this job."

Maya laughed mirthlessly. "This is a law firm. I'm fifteen minutes late. Of course I've lost the job."

"Some people are pretty understanding."

"Please." She blinked away tears. "You can stop trying to be nice to me."

The man sighed and seemed to ponder for a few seconds before he looked at her again. "You just graduated law school?"

The elevator jerked once again, but the pair was expecting it.

Maya nodded, wiping away tears that had spilled onto her cheeks, and some of her makeup went with them. So much for waterproof. "A year ago. It's been so hard to get an interview, and now..."

She pursed her lips to keep from crying, and turned away from the stranger.

"I'm a hundred thousand dollars in debt, have no family in this stupid city, and I think I might change my name and flee the country or something." She groaned and ran her hands down her face, further ruining her makeup.

The man sighed and rubbed his hands together, his expression conveying the thoughts that raced through his mind. "Let me ask you something. Why do you want to be a lawyer?"

Maya tried pressing the emergency call button again, but knew it was useless. The lights in the elevator flickered on, but only for a second.

She knew the answer to his question better than anything. But she also wondered what made his attitude go from indifferent to actually fascinated.

"Our justice system is unjust. To put it shortly, it sucks for minorities, and I plan on doing something about it."

Her voice was tired, but laced with passion. She didn’t mention her brother.

The man nodded, leaning against the wall, his right leg crossed over his left. He played with the handle of his briefcase, studying Maya closely.
The majority of her hair was no longer tied up, and she made no attempt to straighten her thick, crooked glasses.

"And you think you can make a difference?" He raised his eyebrows in anticipation.

Maya snorted, rolling her eyes. "I know I can make a difference. If someone would just give me the chance. I'd do it for free if it weren't for student debt."

"You do know that it's harder than it seems, right? It's not that easy to 'make a difference.'" His words where discouraging, almost doubtful.

Ah, the asshole makes an appearance once again.

Maya glared at him.

"Thank God I don't have your attitude. Or else I'd never be able to do it."

Before the man could respond, the elevator jerked again. Both of them leaned against the walls opposite of each other, bracing for the fall, but it never came. Instead, the lights flickered back on, permanently this time.

The doors slowly slid open, allowing voices to fill the air. More light flooded into the elevator, and in front of them stood a crew of people with concerned expressions.

Maya sighed in relief and picked up her bag, her heartbeat finally slowing down to a pace that could be considered normal. She was about to speak when the men rushed into the elevator towards her new acquaintance.

"Mr. Solace! Are you okay?" Someone asked, at the same time as a another man spoke, "Alexander. We're so sorry for the trouble."

Maya's eyes widened, and she placed her shaking hand in front of her agape mouth. She felt like she could no longer breathe, her chest closing up.

She'd been snappy and openly insulted one of the most influential lawyers on the coast.

Yup, you've definitely screwed yourself this time, Hernandez, she thought as she squeezed her eyes shut.

Alexander laughed, swiping his briefcase off of the floor. "No worries. Thank you for your help."

He shook hands with the men, his expression full of gratitude, and turned to look at Maya. "And thank you for your company..."

"Maya," she supplied, her voice a mere croak.

"Maya." Alexander hummed, nodding in what seemed to be fascination. "You start tomorrow. Be here 8 a.m. sharp."

With just those words, he sauntered out of the elevator, leaving Maya speechless.

"Oh." He glanced over his shoulder, throwing a wink her way. "Take the stairs tomorrow, Maya."

(A/N)

What a way to meet your boss! First impressions do matter.

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Alexander's?