The alarm's sharp tone rang throughout the elevator abruptly. It made his breath hitch and his muscles tense. It made her heart shatter like broken glass.
"12 midnight. 12 midnight. 12 midnight." The robotic voice in the boy's pocket repeated mechanically, oblivious to the pain it caused. He pulled his lips away from hers, eliciting an uncharacteristic whimper from the usually fierce blonde. Her striking blue eyes searched for his dark chocolate orbs but failed. His eyes were downcast as he removed his hands from her waist to silence his phone. Her own hands, tangled in his brunette hair, slowly freed themselves and settled on his shoulders.
She contemplated standing up but she saw no scenario where getting up would be more appealing than the present. How could she? She was sitting on her nub's lap and it was just them and nobody else to ruin it for them. Tearing herself from the boy beneath her was going to break her and she knew it; her walls collapsing around her was the last thing she needed. She had to keep it together long enough to get home.
Let's break up at three AM. She almost said it. She wanted to. But at the same time, she knew she couldn't. It was for the better. It would never work out anyway. The past few weeks were testimony to that and she knew it; she hated that she knew it.
The brunette was equally torn as he finally shut the alarm off, causing a heavy silence to befall the duo. He leaned his head back against the elevator's wall, releasing a deep sigh. He was dreading the moments to come. He wanted nothing more than to seize the ferocious beauty on his lap and crash his lips onto hers like they had been doing all night. He knew it was out of the question.
They didn't know how to start. When they agreed to end it at midnight, they never really thought that midnight would actually come. There was that tiny part in both of them that just hoped time would freeze in that elevator.
His eyes found hers, and he observed his sadness reflected in her own. She knew her eyes' glassy coating was giving her emotions away the thicker it got with each second that ticked by; she didn't care and neither did he as his own eyes grew shiny.
"Sam..." Was all he managed to say, what with the lump forming in his throat. Sam gulped visibly, her hands sliding down his shoulders to rub his arms supportively.
"Yeah, Freddie?" She didn't want to hear what he had to say next. Sam wanted nothing more than to be selfish and enjoy his lips and every single thing about him for as long as she could, despite the consequences.
"It's midnight." He felt stupid saying it but was glad that he did. Sam's sad laughter at the obvious statement made it worth it. The sound of her mirth, despite the pain and the sadness mixed with it, was still the most beautiful thing to ever grace Freddie's ears.
Silence rested between them for a moment, before Freddie broke it once again.
"I meant it, you know."
His words had as much impact on Sam as when he actually said the three little words. He could see it in the way her fingers started to fidget with his sleeves, and her body tensed against his. She gulped yet again as she struggled to reply.
"I know."
Freddie's waiting face initially went unnoticed, until Sam realized her error.
"Of course I meant it too." The response had Freddie break into a grin, which she couldn't help but return.
There was the tiniest feeling of closure in the exchange. They both figured it was better than nothing.
"I'll get the thing." Sam averted her watery eyes from his and slowly got off of him and onto her feet. Wordlessly, she lowered her hand for him to take.
Once Freddie was on his feet, Sam made her way to the elevator's control panel and rested her hand above the emergency stop switch which kept them locked in. She wanted to smash it into a million pieces if it meant not leaving him.
With a flick, the elevator buzzed and the door raised. This was her stop. But Sam didn't move. Her fingers drummed the cold metal control panel, her eyes glued to the wall, thoughts racing. Walking out of that elevator was going to close a chapter in her life, and she was dying inside, knowing that she felt it was one of the best chapters to ever be opened, and it was all thanks to the dork standing behind her. All because of the cute dork that made her heart beat like crazy and made her act so irrational. The dork that made her feel things she thought she never would. Her dork that she loved.
She swallowed several times, trying to hold back the sob that threatened to escape. When Freddie's arms wrapped around her, embracing her from behind, she knew she couldn't hold the waterfalls back any longer. She knew she had to get out.
Freddie had so many things to say but found himself unable. He didn't know how to voice everything on his mind. It was all too much. He wanted to tell her he loved her one last time before she walked out, but he feared his voice would give way.
Sam removed his hands as gently as she could. She wanted to just get away from it all now that the first drop escaped. She didn't want to look at his sullen face because she knew it was her fault. It would just make her feel even weaker.
Taking a few long strides outside of the elevator, she stopped for a moment to look at the defeated Freddie, who stared at her helplessly. Sam wordlessly made her exit, rubbing her eyes vigorously and ignoring the obnoxious doorman's screams, leaving Freddie to collapse against the elevator wall, his head in his hands. He didn't feel like getting up any time soon.