#gideon 03

Today had been long and tiring and Gideon was looking forward to retreat into his dark chaos of a flat and stop existing until his morning alarm called him for another day at work. His mind barely registered the ride back to the complex, didn’t acknowledge the feet-dragging trip to building A, and he barely remembered pressing the button of the lift. A slow sigh escaped his lips as the doors parted, and he stepped in, barely suppressing a yawn, refusing to look at any reflecting surface; he knew he looked a state. His white button-down was wrinkled and one side of it was half out of old, worn blue jeans that he knew had a little hole in the knee, but he didn’t have the money to buy new ones, and it had to do. Sleeves had been rolled up to his elbows at the start of the morning to try to mitigate the heat, though one of them was now just haphazardly pushed up rather than neatly rolled. He didn’t see it, but he felt it from the burning sensation the overhead light was subjecting them to; his eyes were red, undoubtedly making the green stand out more than they usually did. In other words, he looked exactly as he felt.

Gideon had been staring at the floor to avoid the light and just let them rest and unfocused when a voice rang out from outside the lift, and without even thinking, Gideon reached forward just as the doors were closing to block their attempt, and they opened again to let the other passenger in. He made the mistake of glancing sideways at the person that thanked him as they stepped inside and took in a sharp breath in recognition.

Now, he’d never really spoken to Seventh Floor Woman, the name he’d given her in the privacy of his mind, which was mostly attributed to his own loss of words at her presence. She’d always given him pretty smiles, and he always tried to pretend he wasn’t looking at her in these situations, which were about the extent of their interactions. Without a word, he pressed the button to the seventh floor for her as he usually did, stealing glances here and there as he waited for the doors to close again.

She was an angel, in his eyes. Always looked perfect, straight out of some magazine, amazing smile, beautiful blonde hair, and although he didn’t get any haughty, mean vibes from her, Gideon always felt like he was so far out of her league that even speaking in her direction would be a crime against her person. So they stood in silence again, as they usually did, with Gideon looking away every time she glanced his way. No one would ever accuse him of being smooth.