Fancy meeting you here [Clementine]

Uh-oh, late, late, late!

He was so late! Alfred threw his door open and slammed it into the wall with such force that the whole frame and even the wall rattled. He cursed silently and slammed it shut, once again rattling everything nearby. He couldn't find it in himself to care.

Forgetting to lock his door, he raced towards the elevator, pushing the button insistently. Come on, come on, hurry up you stupid piece of...

He gave the stairs a glance, wondering f he should just simply run down and stop wasting time waiting for the elevator. But his run-in with that flaming guy a few days ago was enough to change his mind. He was so not stepping on jizz covered stairs.

Tapping his foot impatiently, Alfred glanced at his phone and swore. At this rate he wasn't going to make it. And he had English first with that scary old lady who seemed to hate him just because he was American (and maybe because he liked to sleep in her class or throw paper planes out of boredom). She would surely punish him somehow if he was late.

Giving a sigh of relief when the elevator's doors opened, Alfred stood inside and pushed the lobby button. Okay, no need to panic, he would be there on time if he ran really fast...

And then the elevator stopped on the fourth floor. Damn it. He was tempted to hit his head against the wall or something, but he didn't want to seem crazy to the person standing on the other side when the doors opened.

Clementine hated being late, it drew unneeded attention and often resulted in even more work to catch up on. Which was why she was glad to be running right on schedule. Re-adjusting her bag and checking her watch once again, just to make sure she was indeed running on time, tapping her foot in slight impatience while waiting for the elevator to arrive.

While being on time was certainly acceptable, Clementine always preferred to leave a little time for the little time-consuming things that always seemed to happen on the way. Foot tapping even faster now, she pressed the elevator button again, glancing anxiously at her watch. She was a minute behind schedule. She supposed she could run down the stairs but the elevator was, if the sign above the elevator was to be trusted, only a few floors above her's and running down the stairs wasn't exactly very appealing to her and she could always walk at a little faster pace than usual to make up for the time.

Thankfully the doors to the elevator opened right then, sparing her from the compulsive urge to start pacing up and down the hallway. Stepping inside and noticing the lobby button was already illuminated, she placed herself in the opposite corner of the lift to the young man who was standing in the lift. She noticed he looked rather agitated, he was probably as impatient as she was to get going, Clementine thought as she she checked her watch for the hundredth time that day. Thankfully there was still enough time to make it to class on time if she took a shortcut through the park instead of her usual route through the town, and if she increased her walking speed from 3.5 mph to 4mph...

Suddenly, the lights of the elevator started to flicker and the entire metal capsule shuddered greatly like some ferocious animal and stopped completely. Clementine's blood ran cold Please please please let it just be a hitch in the mechanics. Watching the lights above anxiously for any sign of movement, wishing she had taken the stairs instead, she couldn't afford to be late, not today nor any other day.

The lights of the elevator were very swift in their reply, flickering once, twice, three times and them going out completely.
Please don't tell me the power was just cut off

Alfred almost dropped his bag out of surprise when the elevator started shuddering. What the...? Did one of the cables holding it up snap? They were only 3 stories up, so the air resistance would be minimal if they started falling. The elevator itself probably weighed roughly 500 kg with their weight added to it about 600. The force of the impact would be 600kgx9.81 m/s2...

He was snapped out of his mental calculations with the fluttering and the eventual dying of the lamps. Oh. So it was just a power shortage. No worries.

...Wait. Without electricity, the elevator couldn't move! Still elevator equals an American stuck in said elevator which equals a very late American which surely equals detention. "Oh fuck." The elevator falling would have been better.

Leaning back against the elevator's wall, he let his head fall back with a loud 'clunk' against it. "Aaand we're stuck. Might as well introduce ourselves." He stood up properly and stuck his right hand out. "I'm Alfred F. Jones!"

This really wasn't her day, even if the power returned in another minute or two, she would still end up being late to her lecture. She would be lucky if they even managed to get assistance within 10 minutes, seeing as the technician didn't live on-site and they'd have to call him out. Clementine knew she should have trusted her instincts and taken the stairs, running down four flights of stairs was always more preferable to being stuck in an elevator with a complete stranger in the dark.

Right, there was another person in here, she had completely forgotten about the blonde male standing on the opposite wall. Well he wouldn't be of much consequence, or at least she hoped he wouldn't. Then again there wasn't much either of them could do to repair the power supply to the elevator while trapped in the said metal box. An exasperated voice exuded from the opposite wall, which seemed much further away without light.

"Oh fuck."

"I couldn't agree more" Clementine sighed, chewing the inside of her cheek, even if she didn't agree with swearing now was as good a time as any to start.Hearing a sudden clunk, she pulled out her mobile phone from her bag, setting it to flashlight and pointing it in the sound's general direction, not quite sure if she was relieved or disdained when she realised it was simply the other's head making contact with the paneled wall. Keeping her phone on, she tried to smile as politely as she could. "It certainly seems that way. She took his hand and shook it cordially " Clementine Bonnefoy, such a shame we had to meet in such unfavourable conditions"

Looking around her side of the elevator, she tried in vain to find the emergency call box that would enable them to call the technician. "I think the emergency call box is on your side, Mr Jones" She held out her phone so that he would be able to look for it. The sooner they got out of here, the better

Alfred chuckled sheepishly. Oops, it seemed the lady stuck with him heard him cursing. Now, he wasn't exactly a gentleman, nor did he plan to be one, but loudly cursing in front of a woman was still rude. Some cheerleaders back home didn't usually mind when a cute guy cursed around them, au contraire, they found it hilarious or hot for some reason. But that was America and cheerleaders lacking shame or a high IQ and this was England. Good ol' England with ridiculously prim and proper people.

She didn't seem all that scandalized though, so he guessed it was okay. "True. Still, nice to meet you." He smiled at her.

"Right, it really is." Emergency call box. Why didn't he think of that one before contemplating climbing out at the top of the elevator and climbing up the wires holding it up? N-not that he was seriously thinking of that. Not completely seriously at least. He turned and pressed the button labeled 'Press to call'. Then he waited for the call to connect. Or wasn't he supposed to wait? He had no idea; Alfred had never been stuck in an elevator before.

He blinked when all he heard was a weird Ssssshhhssss sound; kinda like the sea, he supposed. "Is this supposed to sound like this?" He had a vague guess that the answer was no.

Pressing her lips into a thin smile, she nodded curtly in acknowledgment to the American's pleasantries. He didn't seem to be a troublesome character, at least from what she had observed. He at least had manners, she noted, dismissing his previous slip of the tounge.

Seeing that Alfred had found the call box, Clementine's heart immediately lightened, with any luck they'd be out of this mess in no time and she would be able to make her lecture on time. Crossing her fingers behind her back, she hoped with all her might that it would work.

Luck was not on her side today. Hearing the unmistakable sound of static being emitted from the speaker built into the elevator wall, her heart sank quickly. " Today of all days. It has to be the day that I'm running late that the emergency phone line decides it's not going to connect" Clementine muttered to herself. Gripping her phone harder, she tried to calm the wailing thoughts of despair in her mind so she could think clearly. She could always try calling someone of her phone but she didn't know the number of apartment's technician nor anyone else that would be likely to know it. Looking through the contacts listed on the phone, she noted with dismay that most of these numbers were those of friends and relatives overseas. Overseas she crinkled her nose in irritation, why did she have to move to such an unknown area where she had no contacts.

Emergency services, Clementine realised suddenly. While being stuck with in an elevator from a power shortage surely wasn't urgent, she was sure it qualified as an emergency. Dialling the number into the phone, she held the device to her ear, feeling more hopeful about exiting the steel box in the very near future. That was the case until the same jarring static sounded from her phone as it did a few moments ago from the call box.

Clementine bit the inside of her cheek, reminding that she was not alone and outbursts of emotion in small confined spaces with strangers were not socially acceptable. Pulling her lips into a polite smile, she addressed the male standing opposite "It seems the elevator is blocking the signal from my phone. Perhaps you will have better luck on your's." She really hoped he would, otherwise they were in for a very long wait.

He let go of the butting with a sigh, resigning himself to the wrath of his English teacher. How many detentions would he get for this? She did tell him the last time he was late that she would give him an hour of punishment for every minute he was late. If he missed the whole lesson...He shuddered. 60 hours of cleaning, writing, or whatever the old bat could think of. Torture, pure torture.

Alfred tilted his head at her mutterings. "Do you have something important to do?" Maybe she had a bloodthirsty teacher hell bent on making her miserable too?

Taking his phone out to check how late he actually was, he was suddenly tempted to slap his forehead. Why didn't he think of this before? He could just call someone on his cell! Maybe his brother or the landlord! Or, err, not his brother, since Mattie was probably already in class and wouldn't answer his call.

Glancing up from the slim device, Alfred could see Clementine taking out her phone too. The static sound coming out of it was enough to kill, maim, and eliminate his hope of his phone working. He tried anyway, but with no more success. At her urging he tried again, only to be disappointed. "None, nothing, nada." He smiled at her. "We're stuck here until someone else decides to use the elevator. Will you get in trouble if you're late?"