"How much longer do you think we'll be in here?" Dakota practically whines from his spot across the elevator.

I sigh, feeling hot, sweaty, and aggravated. Whatever happened may have been some sort of power outage because the longer we're in here, the hotter it gets which leads me to believe that the air conditioning has shut off.

"Don't we have a backup generator or something?" I mumble to myself, wracking my brain for any reason why we're still in here.

"What?" He asks. "Did you say something?"

"Not to you." I mumble again, rolling my eyes.

"Stop mumbling I can't hear you. Enunciate your words. " Dakota enunciates his own words dramatically while I stand up, his eyes following me. I feel his gaze on me while I adjust my shorts.

"I'm not talking to you, Dakota." I say in an overly sweet voice, giving him a large smile.

He gives me a flat look, looking up at me through his lashes and thick brows. "Do you often talk to yourself?"

"Yes." I snap sassily, looking up and around the small confounded space with determination.

After a few moments, he speaks again, "What are you looking for?"

I sigh, running my hand through my hair and pushing the strands away from my face. "I'm trying to think of some sort of solution to our predicament." My tone is sharp and I don't even attempt to hide my frustration.

I look at him in surprise when he begins to chuckle. "What's so funny?" I ask him as he shakes his head in amusement, his fingers playing absentmindedly with the end of his light pink t shirt.

"Nothing." He smirks, chuckling again.

I frown, placing my hands on my hips, feeling oddly uncomfortable with his eyes on me especially when I know nothing about what he finds so amusing. "No seriously. Why are you laughing?"

"It's nothing. Really." He waves it off and gives me an innocent look but I glare at him, shaking my head before deciding to let it go.

I continue my search for some sort of escape and that's when my eyes lock on the emergency vent in the ceiling. "Aha." I smirk, standing in the middle of the elevator with my head hung back as I inspect it.

"Made a discovery have we?" Dakota asks in an accent mixture of Indian and British. This pulls a large laugh from me, my shoulders shaking as I appraise him with a what the heck expression.

"Uh...yeah I think so." I laugh, shaking my head at him. "The vent up there. Do you think you could boost me up to it?" My eyes meet his questioningly.

His lips purse to the side as he considers this. "Sure, why not?" As soon as he's on his feet, he rubs his hands together. "So what's the plan, Stan?"

"Well..." I sigh, squinting up at the ceiling. "It looks like the vent would pop right off if I push hard enough but I need to get a better look to see if it's bolted on." I explain.

I watch his eyes narrow as he nods. "Hm. Okay sounds good, let's do it. How do you want to do this?" He holds his arms out as if to embrace me and I step back, my hand up.

"Woah woah woah." I give him a pointed look. "Just link your hands together and give me a boost."

"At least hold onto my shoulder so you don't fall." He rolls his eyes with a disappointed sigh and I fight a small smile.

Forcing a frown onto my face, I gesture him over to me. "Are you just going to push me away again?" He asks me with a cheeky crooked grin, stepping forward.

I laugh, rolling my eyes. "If you try to kiss or hug me again, yes."

"Got it." He snaps his fingers and shoots me a cheesy wink before bending his knees slightly and weaving his fingers together to create a foothold for me. "Ready when you are, m'lady."

"You're so weird." I sigh, warily stepping forward before awkwardly placing my hand on his shoulder, doing my best to not mentally recognize the surprising muscle beneath my fingers. "Just stand as still as possible so I don't fall." My eyes give him a serious message. Don't you dare drop me or I will kill you.

"You got it, gorgeous." A click comes from the side of his mouth, earning a dead stare from me.

"And watch your hands." I demand.

Dakota laughs, cocking his head to the side. "How will I be touching anything if you're standing on them?" He looks down at his entangled hands.

"Oh." My cheeks redden as I clear my throat. "Right." I bring my right foot up and gently place it in his large hands, testing the stability by stepping up slightly and stepping back down.

"Just do it, Lillian." He laughs, "I'm not going to drop you, okay?" Dakota gives me a reassuring smile and sigh, nodding.

"Okay okay." I reply, "Hold still."

"You already said that. Just do it." He says again. "Before I start laughing at you and my muscles become useless." His teasing grin pulls a resisted smile out of me but I quickly pull my lips into a frown and step up onto his hands, pushing myself all the way up by using his shoulders.

He steps back slightly and I immediately stiffen in fear of falling, squeezing his shoulders, my stomach pressed against his face. I feel his breath through the fabric of my shirt as he mumbles, "Just kidding." And releases a chuckle.

I smack his head, earning an ow from him, before rolling my eyes and straightening my leg, my arms easily reaching the vent with the extra height I've gained. My fingers touch each corner of the vent, confirming my hopes of no bolts holding it there.

"Yes." I hiss, pushing up on it as hard as I can with a grunt and releasing a laugh of triumph when it gives way with a loud bang and I'm able to push it aside.

"Got it?" Dakota grunts as he holds my weight steadily.

"Yeah I'm just going to see if I can fit through here." I look down at him. "Could you boost me up a bit more?" I ask him hopefully with a smile.

"Sure. No problem." He sighs, bracing himself with his legs before I'm boosted straight up and through the small opening. I release a small unexpected yelp before using my arms to make it the rest of the way.

As soon as I'm seated atop the outside of the elevator shaft, I'm met with heat and a muggy dusty scent. I look around, seeing metal walls around me, stretching upwards.

Breathing deeply, I mentally remind myself to remember to start working out. Pulling myself up with my arms has suddenly made me feel like I've run up seven flights of stairs. Speaking of stairs, I will be taking those from now on for the rest of my working days here at Books and Bagels.

"Lillian?" Dakota taps my ankle, my legs still dangling down into the elevator as I take in my surroundings.

"I'm fine." I tell him, carefully looking up, my eyes locking in a pair of metal doors, a big three beside them on the right. Warily, I stand and use the cables to steady myself as I inspect the height stretching from me to the doors.

I release a loud groan, tugging at the roots my hair with my fingers in sheer aggravation. By the looks of it even with me on Dakota's shoulders, and that's assuming we could even get to both of us up here, there's no way we could reach the opening or even get the doors open.

There's also no possible way for us to even attempt to try getting through the doors of the first floor because there's no way for us to do that unless we bust a hole in the floor. Then again, if I get desperate enough, I might just try it.

"Lillian." Dakota hollers again, clearly concerned. "What's going on up there?"

I sigh, rubbing my forehead as I take a seat and dangle my legs back through the opening of the ceiling and leaning over carefully to get a view of the top of Dakota's blonde head.

"No luck." I explain, reaching in his brushing the top of his messy hair with my Vans. "Help me down."

"You're bossy." He states, raising his hands and gesturing for me to jump.

"I'm not jumping." I snort, crossing my arms.

His head hangs back as he raises a brow at me. "Well that's the only way you're going to get down, Lillian. Just trust me."

"How do I know I can trust you? I just met you." I ask smartly, leaning back on my hands while I kick my feet back and forth, watching him dodge them with each movement, a large sigh emitting from him.

"I'm catching you like eleven feet in the air, not asking for your social security number." Dakota gives me a flat look and, without thinking about it, I stick my tongue out obnoxiously. He laughs, "Just jump already or else I might decide not to help you and you can sit up there in a creepy elevator shaft until someone comes to rescue us."

At his words, I look around the musty shaft and goosebumps raids on my arms. "Okay fine. I'm coming down so get ready."

"I'm ready. Geez just jump." He rolls his eyes as he holds out his arms, bracing himself with bent legs.

I hesitate for a moment before forcing myself to close my eyes and push my body through the small opening. I hear myself land against him before I feel it. Mostly because of the loud grunt that comes from Dakota as I collide with his body. To my surprise, he manages to catch me. But not exactly as agile as I would have wished.

My hands cling around his neck awkwardly while he holds one of my legs and the other dangles down, my foot touching the floor.

I release a long breath of relief. "Okay you can put me down now." My voice comes out almost strained from the scare of throwing myself through a hole in the ceiling.

Dakota wordlessly releases me and steps back, chuckling slightly. "See? I told you you could trust me."

"There's no way to get out." I change the subject, walking over to my previous sitting spot and taking a seat, burying my head in my hands as I try to think of another way to fix this.

"What do you mean? What did you find?" He asks me. I hear his footsteps and soon I feel him sit next to me and my head turns slightly, seeing him seated about two feet away with a concerned expression.

I sigh, rubbing at my eyes underneath my square frames. "I was hoping that we could somehow climb to one of the floor openings but there's no way. The third floor is too high. We're stuck about a third of the way there." My explanation seems to only furrow his brows even further.

"What if I put you on my shoulders and you go get help?" He asks, scratching at his brow home.

"I already thought of that." I say, my voice sounding strained from the stress I'm feeling. "Even then I wouldn't be able to reach." I finish, hanging my head back against the wall.

Dakota and I remain silent for a few moments. The gears in my head keep turning to try and come up with something - anything that could help us.

"Let's just keep trying to call nine one one or...I don't know, someone to help?" He offers a suggestion with a questioning smile. I look into his green eyes and can't help but smile at his attempt to make me feel better.

"Okay." I agree, picking up my phone and ignoring the ten percent battery warning. This is the only time I've hated myself for keeping my iPhone 6s Plus and refusing to upgrade to a device with better battery life.

"Here goes nothing." Dakota stands, walking back and forth and around the elevator, holding his phone high, low, and waving it around as he attempts to find signal.

I follow his lead, feeling like doing this is better than sitting around and hoping for a miracle (though I do believe in miracles and could very much use one right now).

"This isn't working." I whine, squinting at my dark screen and willing for even a single bar to appear.

Dakota lowers his arm, ceasing movement as he gives me a sideways look. "Yeah we're doomed."

"Well that's just awesome."