"Mom, I promise I will be just fine. I'm already 22 years old. You can't keep treating me like I'm a baby," Yasmine said with a heavy sigh.

Her mother loved to coddle her. Anytime Yasmine wanted to go out and do something on her own, the woman was always there to tell her just what could go wrong. She was busy trying to pack up the last of her things from the apartment she had shared with a friend for the last year. It hadn't been the best experience as her friend was a bit of a slob and Yasmine was the type to insist everything needed to have a place. As much as she loved her friend, living together just never worked out. Since her grandfather passed a few months ago, away leaving his home to her in his will, she had been making preparations to move since she got the news.

"Yeah, I had the mechanic look at my car last week. Now will you stop freaking out? It's only three hours away. It's not like I'm moving across the country. Look, I still need to pack some things up. I will call you when I get there. I gotta... mom.... Mom, I gotta go! I love you bye!" she said, yelling over her mother's continued rant and hanging up the phone. She let out a long groan before letting herself flop down on her bed for a moment, the conversation leaving her drained. With a deep breath, she let herself dream for just a moment, trying to remember just what her grandfather's home looked like. Fuzzy memories came back in waves; the image of seeing the house for the first time when her parents left her there for the summer. She’d been eight.

Yasmine had been incredibly shy when she was a kid, and staying at a new place for the first time had been so scary. She barely left her father's side at first. The strange old man with a bright smile under his bushy beard patiently waited for her to come to him. Eventually, she managed to introduce herself, and once they started talking, things became much easier. As friendly as her grandfather was, it didn't help her nerves when she had to sleep in a strange room by herself without a nightlight. She remembered getting up and turning on her light to play with her toys on the floor, trying to calm herself down. That was when she met him for the first time.

Yasmine couldn't quite remember what he looked like, but she did remember being scared and then excited as he started to ask about the toys and if she had a favorite. His voice was so soft and gentle that it put her at ease, as if he knew how shy she was and needed to be patient. They played together late into the night. She remembered waking up the next morning in her bed, though she was almost positive she passed out on the floor. Everything past this memory was far too fuzzy to remember properly, but she could recall that as long as she asked, her Imaginary friend Monty would always play with her.

"Yaz!" A voice yelled suddenly, waking her up from her impromptu nap.

"Huh wha!" Yasmine's head shot up, looking around. Turning onto her back, she spotted her friend, Valerie, standing in the doorway to her room.

"Hahaha, did you pass out while packing?" Her friend said with a cackle. Yasmine's face flushed slightly as she pushed up her large framed glasses and swiped a few strands of her dark brunette hair from her face.

"S-shut up, I was just taking a break."

Quickly getting out of bed, she huffed slightly as she continued to pack up all of her personal belongings. There really wasn't much left to get into boxes. She was a minimalist by nature and tried to keep everything as neat and tidy as possible. A little bit of clutter she could stand, but Valerie's levels of clutter gave her anxiety. She would not miss living in this small apartment in this cramped city. Even though she had lived in this city for almost a decade now, first with her parents and then after college in the apartment, the desire to get out never faded for a second.

Yasmine had insanely bad claustrophobia, and the streets lined with large skyscrapers where she could barely see the sky used to send her into a panic. Thankfully, over time, it lessened, but never even came close to going away. The spread out town of Tannehill was perfect for her. There was even an opening at their city hall where she could put her skills to use doing bookkeeping and accounting. All she had to do was get there and life would start anew for her. After packing up everything, she started to haul everything down to the street level. They lived on the sixth floor of an apartment complex, so it was a lot of taking the elevator up and down. Which, of course, was the thing she hated the absolute most about living in this apartment. She had to close her eyes and imagine wide open spaces each time she rode the devil's contraption, and that barely got her through it. By the time she was down to her final box, her nerves were completely fried, and she was ready to find a field to lay down naked in.

She saved the biggest box for last, dreading the final trip. With a heave, her small frame lifted the box that weighed about thirty pounds thanks to her mineral collection, but it also held most of the bulky stuff that wasn't fragile. The height of the box made it so she had to look around it instead of over it. It was precarious at best, and of course, Valerie couldn't be bothered to lend a hand. Some friend she was.

She barely managed to push the button to call the elevator, and she continued to hold the box for some reason. As the elevator dinged and the doors opened, she quickly made her way inside.

"Whoa!" a deep voice said as Yasmine ran right into a stranger, smacking into him. The box rebounded and smacked against her face and painfully compressed her breasts against her."Ah!" Yasmine let out a wail of surprise and pain as she dropped the box and stumbled back, falling onto her butt. She closed her eyes and winced as she expected the sound of her box to come crashing down with all the rocks and items in it, but it never came.

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"Crap, are you alright?" the same deep voice said as the box was gently set down on the elevator floor. In front of her was a dark haired man dressed like he was just getting off work from a security job. His blue button up was open to reveal a white tank top underneath, and his black slacks were pleated, held up by a dark black belt.

"Y-yeah, I'm okay."

She had yet to open her eyes as she reached up and rubbed her chest, which stung from getting squished so hard, not even realizing what she was doing till she heard the sound of the man clearing his throat. Her eyes shot open, and she saw the man towering above her, looking away but stealing glances at her. Yasmine had a rather impressive bust for her small stature, each one was much bigger than her tiny hand as it gingerly rubbed the injured boob.

It took several moments before she finally came to her senses and removed her hand, her face becoming a mess of crimson and shame. She quickly stood up and pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose.

"I-I-I am so s-s-sorry,” she stuttered, refusing to make eye contact with the strange man.

"Please, it's my fault as well. I just got off a grave shift and I'm not all here."

Even though the man was trying to make small talk in a way, the only thing Yasmine could hear were the heavy thuds of her pulse in her ear. She had to get out of there, but before she could even think of grabbing her stuff, the elevator dinged and the doors closed behind her. Her stomach suddenly twisted in a million knots, and her face went from beet red to pale as a ghost.

"Are... you alright? " the man next to her said, seeing her expression shift into one of complete horror. The only thing worse than riding the elevator was riding the elevator with other people, much less a stranger. Her first instinct was to smash the door open button, but it seemed someone on the ground floor had already called the car to come down.

"N-No!" she wailed, pushing the door open button rapidly. Her breathing picked up, and panic set in. This couldn't be happening. "Let me out!" she cried out again, now banging on the door in desperation.

"Hey, hey! It'll be alright, just calm down, miss. You'll be alright." His kind words did little to ease her panicked state. Looking up at the numbers descending, they seemed to go slower than ever before. Each floor felt like it took an eternity, tears started to well up in her eyes as she watched in horror, feeling the walls closing in around her.

"Look, just breathe, take long, deep breaths. Everything is going to be perfectly fine. Close your eyes. Imagine you are in a wide open space or something."

The man once again attempted to calm Yasmine down. When she looked over at him, she saw that he had pressed himself up against the back wall, trying to give her as much space as possible. His kindness did not go unnoticed as she finally closed her eyes and tried to slow her breathing. She was still trembling and looking like she was about to burst into tears, but before that could happen the ding of the elevator reaching its destination went off. As the doors slid open, Yasmine rushed out, dodging the lady waiting there, and into the entryway of the apartments, free at last.

As she placed her hands on her knees, gasping for breath, she heard the sound of the elevator leaving once more. Remembering her box she quickly spun around, only to find the same man standing there holding the box for her.

"Man, this thing is heavy. What's in here? Rocks? Haha,” he said jokingly, but the look on Yasmine's face was one of mild shame and embarrassment.

"Umm, yeah, there kind of is..." Her eyes darted from him, then away. He just stared at her, slightly dumbfounded.

"O-oh, haha!" Clearing his throat, he set the box on the ground and walked up to her. "Are you alright? You kinda freaked out in there. Are you claustrophobic?" he asked, looking genuinely concerned for her. She wrapped her arms around herself, holding them tight.

"Y-yeah, sorry for all that,” she said, unable to make eye contact with the man. Though he had been quite nice, she still felt quite humiliated for freaking out on him.

"Please, it's no problem. My sister has it pretty bad, too, so I am kind of used to it. My name is Bryant, by the way. Do you live in this building?" he asked, giving her a slightly crooked smile that was actually kind of charming.

"Yes... I mean, no, I mean, I used to, but I am actually in the middle of moving out."

Bryant's smile quickly faded at this.

"Oh... well," he paused to rub the back of his neck. He wasn't the first guy to show interest in her and she knew some of the signs. His dark brown eyes looked tired and slightly bloodshot. His hair was such a deep brown It almost looked black. He had a semi square jaw and dimples that only grew when he smiled. Certainly not unattractive by any means.

"I guess that serves me right for dragging my feet. I have seen you in passing from time to time but never had the guts to stop and say anything. Haha," Bryant laughed at his own self depreciation, looking a bit annoyed with himself. Yasmine blushed a little more, not really sure what to say back to him.

"Well, I won't keep you. Maybe I will see you again if you come back to visit, haha!" His laughter was obviously meant to try and hide his pain as he picked up the box and handed it off to her. She took it with a light groan and turned to look at him again.

"I'm sorry, Bryant, but thank you again for helping me. It was very sweet of you."

With that, she turned and started walking away.

"Wait!" he called out. She stopped and looked back, a little concerned.

"Could I at least know your name?" he asked sheepishly. A surprising smile came to her face. She owed him at least that much.

"Yasmine."

With that, she walked out of the apartment complex and headed a short distance to where she parked her car close by. After loading up the last box, she called Valerie to say goodbye, since there was no way she was getting back on that elevator ever again. So she started her car and headed for her new, small town life. There would be no elevators where she was going... she hoped.