CHAPTER ONE
Raelynn
MY MOM AND dad are currently downstairs.
I don't know what to do, I wish I hadn't told them my address, I wish they didn't hound me every single day about the lies I've told them.
The lies they don't know are lies, that is.
I grip my phone as I struggle I slip my sock on.
"Oh honey, I can't wait to meet you and that boyfriend. I can't believe it! Ugh," she laughs, "You're so grown up and finally settling down after all the stuff I had to go through with you in high school. Do you remember the boys and the argumen--"
"Mom," I say, cutting her off before she began strolling down memory lane.
My non-existent boyfriend, I made him up around a year ago. If someone asked me how I got so far buried under my own lie, I wouldn't be able to answer them. Nope.
"Haven't we taught you that it's rude to interrupt people, Raelynn? Have manners, you haven't seen me in a year and you're already disrespectful."
I grind my teeth, closing my eyes as I shuffle on my shoes. "Sorry, mom. I just have to tell you something when I get down there."
She sighs sadly and speaks to my father, though I can still hear her through the phone. "I knew this was coming, they broke up, I bet you." It's barely auditable but I still hear it and it makes my skin burn with anxiety.
I always let them down. Her more than dad. This, me getting a new apartment and moving in with my new "boyfriend" was something they were finally praising me about.
Sometimes I just wish I had it as easy as Gia, my older sister. She's getting married and it's all everyone in this family ever talks about. Especially my mom. Gia this, and Gia that. 'Raelynn, when are you going to settle and get married like Gia?' And, 'Raelynn don't get pregnant with some dead-beat again, abortions aren't free y'know, we never had this problem with Gia'.
"I'll see you downstairs mom, bye." I hang up before she can get another word of disappointment out.
I grab my keys from the bowl that sits beside the door and look in the mirror hanging on the wall beside me. It's curly, wild, and a God damn mess. I pull the purple scrunchie from my wrist and collect the ringlets that end at my boobs into a high ponytail.
That'll have to do, I'm bound to get at least one comment from mom about how my hair is a mess, but I couldn't care less at the moment.
I open my front door and slide my phone in my overalls. One of the straps stays unbuttoned, showing the white shirt under. The print on it states fuck off.
Hopefully, my mom gets the hint.
Walking towards the elevator, I click the button, calling it down. My hand fiddles with the rings on my hands. I always hate meeting with my parents. It makes me so nervous and itchy and anxious.
The ding of the elevator arrival yanks me from my thoughts and the doors open, allowing me to walk in. I press the L, for the lobby, and the doors close.
23 floors and around a minute till I have to face them. I can do this, I can tell mom I'm boyfriendless and the past year I didn't actually do all the romantic things I told her I did.
The elevator stops at floor 22, the one right below mine. The steel doors open but I'm too busy looking at the ground and stressing over the exact words I'm going to say to mom to care about the person that entered. My head hurts from the stress, I need a fucking icebath after this visit.
My attention returns when the man beside, he sighs as if he's stressed as well. I'm glad I'm not the only one.
We both stand facing the elevator doors as they close shut. I look at him with my best-undetected side-eye.
He wears a really nice icy white ribbed sweatshirt, creamy sweatpants that match with it, his hands buried in its pockets. I can only make out his side profile, but from the looks of it, this guy is from the fucking deepest parts of Heaven. I take in his sharp jawline and force my own to not drop open at the sight of it. Geez-Louise. The temptation to go back up and grab a knife just to compare it to his jaw itches at the back of my head. But I don't. The elevator starts moving down again.
He shuffles his feet a little and leans his shoulder against the wall. He's pretty tall, considering his chin could probably touch the top of my head with ease. And I'm 5'8''.
As if my eyes controlled themselves, they lower towards his groin, noticing the print in his sweatpants between his legs.
My eyes widen. Jesus... is that him on soft?
"Are you checking me out?" He says cockily.
My cheeks immediately burst into flames as I dart my eyes up for a moment to look at his face and then away at the elevator door.
"What? No?" I say quickly with a laugh.
I fiddle with my rings again, clearing my throat. Maybe meeting my parents isn't the worst thing at the moment.
"Hm," He hums. "Really? Because it looked like you were staring at my dick to me."
My heart stops, I snap my eyes towards him, widened and shocked by his words. "No, no I was n—I was looking at—"
Cutting me off, the elevator floor between our feet shakes and I stifle, losing my balance. I yelp. My heart races more than it was seconds ago, a screech goes through the air and I nearly fall to the floor, but am humiliatingly caught by the man beside me.
A whimper of fear leaves me.
He grips my arm tightly as I breathe like an Olympic runner. What the hell's going on? If this guy wasn't here I'd for sure be screaming my ass off.
"You're okay. It happens," he says loudly, just as the elevator comes to a stop.
I gasp in a sharp breath, gripping my shirt over my heart, and find the will to breathe again.
Is there even oxygen in here? Why haven't the doors opened? Oh God, nononono don't tell me we're fucking— we can't be—
"It's stuck," The guy says, I turn to him as he lets go. "I say give it about 15 minutes before whoever the hell fixes it, fixes it." He presses the emergency help button and it glows red.
My brows point up as I feel myself begin to cry. I shake my head, swallowing. "No, I can't."
He shoots me a face full of confusion, but I can't find the energy to explain this to him. I'm already starting to feel it, the small space I'm stuck in, the four walls that surround me. Everything getting smaller, I'm getting bigger—too big for this room. I shut my eyes and find the wall behind me, sliding down it. My legs are going to collapse from under me if I don't sit.
I was okay with the two minutes in an elevator, but getting stuck in them is an entirely different scenario.
"Hey, hey?" The man says. I don't open my eyes. "What's wrong with you? I said it won't last long you don't have to go all crying mode on me, I get enough of that on a daily."
I feel his voice get closer as if he's just crouched beside me.
"Talk to me," I blurt out, panicking.
"Are you flirti—"
"Please, just... Talk!"
"Okay! Fuck, I'll talk." He laughs once. I feel him sit beside me as I dig my forehead into my knees. From the side, I see his feet plant down and his arm brushes mine as he rests his arms on his knees. I sniffle my running nose.
"Well," he starts. "I just got a message from one of my student's parents telling me that their kid is sick and can't come to school this week." He laughs and I'm left utterly confused. "It's a normal thing, of course, and probably just a cold, or something, but I just really hate when my students are ill." The British accent dripping from his words massages my ears. It's now that I bring my undivided attention to it.
I don't speak for a moment, then turn my head so one eye is peeking at him. I see him blurry through my tears and I attempt to blink a few times so his image clears up. An extremely light stubble dresses his chin and top lip as if he just shaved a day or two ago. He looks young, nothing like what my teachers back in college or high school looked like. They were all old and wrinkly. He, however, looks like a man that could still be in college.
"You're a teacher?" I question.
He nods, a strand of his dark brown hair falling over his forehead. He lets it sit there and it makes my eyes wander to his gray ones. Oh, wow.
"Yeah, a first-grade teacher. Kids make me go fucking insane." His voice goes raspy as he laughs and it vibrates a little something in me.
"How old are you?"
"25," He answers. "You?"
"21."
"Hm, so old, yet still scared of... elevators. Interesting."
I squint at him, "I'm claustrophobic, not that I need to explain anything to you. If I weren't I'd be perfectly fine waiting here."
"If you weren't, you'd also still be staring at my dick. Not complaining, though."
My body stiffens again, the heat coming back to my face. For fucks sake, can he just drop that already?
"I wasn't staring at your dick."
"No, definitely not, you were just observing it."
I press my lips together, "That's the same thing."
He nods, and smiles. "My point exactly."
He's actually ridiculous. I shake my head, closing my eyes. "Don't talk anymore, I change my mind."
But I don't truly want him to stop talking, whatever it is that his voice is laced with is getting me high, distracting me from the situation we're in. I don't know how long it's been, but he's good at this talking thing. I wonder if it has anything to do with his job with little kids. Most likely.
Maybe I should ask him to do ASMR videos with his voic— definitely not, Raelynn.
"Fine, go." He turns a little towards me and crosses his legs, for some season I'm worried about the filthy elevator floor dirtying his expensive looking clothing.
My eyes dart to his. "Go?"
"Talk."
"Okay..." I say slowly, leaning my head against the elevator. "I have an imaginary boyfriend."
He snorts, looking at me through his lashes. "Imaginary? Like from your head kind of imaginary?"
"Well, are there any other types of imaginary boyfriends that aren't in heads? If so, please tell me. I'd love to know."
He shakes his head. "Nope. Maybe a therapist can help you with that one."
I squint as he grins. My gaze shifts to his mouth, inspecting his pearly whites. They're surrounded by lips, obviously. Definitely just lips. Not pink and plumb or shaped really nic—
I shake the thoughts out of my head. "I don't make him imaginary for my own enjoyment, I'm not insane. He's a lie."
"A lie," he repeats, as if struggling to follow along, yet he doesn't even know a quarter to the story.
I nod glancing at the floor for a few moments, playing with the lose strap on my overalls. "Yeah, a lie, to my family."
One eyebrow is raised when I look back at him. "I don't... Why would you have to—"
"Lie?" I finish his question. "Because I'm 21 and I'm single with no boyfriend and have a... history that through my family. I wanted to show them I can keep a relationship, when in reality I can't keep a relationship for shit. They only ever leave me heartbroken, or breaking hearts," I laugh bitterly. "So, I made up this lie and said I had one. And guess what?"
"You don't," he answers correctly. He's following along after all it seems.
I raise my eyebrows, sadly. "Bingo," I whisper. "The funny thing is, my mom and dad are going to be waiting just outside the elevator door when it goes down and they're expecting this imaginary amazing boyfriend that I don't have."
I turn to him and he's staring at me intently, listening as if he's genuinely fascinated. Another teacher perk, I guess. A great listener.
"What does this imaginary boyfriend look like to them?"
I shrug. "Never described him, obviously didn't show any pictures over the past year—"
"Year? Damn, love, you're a pathological liar. Kind of hot." He smiles and leans back on the wall like me, our shoulders touch and I roll my eyes, feeling goosebumps rise from his complement... if that even was one?
"Stop with the flirting, you've met me minutes ago."
"Yeah, and you knew me for zero minutes when you stared at my—"
I shuffle to sit up, angry now, and point a finger at his chest. "Say it again, I swear I'll... I'll..." My words get lost in translation as I follow his rain-cloud-like eyes to my finger pressing against his chest. He looks at it for a long time, then looks up at my chest and it's visible cleavage, then eventually to my face with that stupid smirk on his.
"Sorry, I got distracted. What were you saying, love?"
*****
[A/N]
WC: 2451
Lordy Lordy I'm going to love writing them. Welcome to Love, Milo.
I'm in uni, I write on my free time, so when ever I get the chance I'll always try to update.
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-Kayla R