Love Bytes: Swap, Snoop, Swoon

Carlise

I stepped over the threshold of the apartment block and walked over to the stairs. The elevator had been out for 2 weeks, but it felt like forever. I could not wait for the day that was fixed. I walked up the stairs until I reached floor 10. My apartment was labelled 10/C, coincidence if you ask me.

As I reached the tenth floor, I peered down the corridor to see an impatient Sarah stood outside my door. She knocked three times before she tapped her phone screen and held it to her ear. Who was she calling? A taxi? Her boyfriend? She definitely wasn't calling me; my phone was not going off. Unless it had water damage and was not working, and I had not noticed? I shouted down the corridor, "I am here! I am here! I am so sorry!"
"You startled me then, where have you been?" she jumped at hearing me shout.
"Sorry, I bumped into someone on the street and dropped my phone!"
"Is that why you haven't answered any of my calls?"
"Your calls?"
"Yes, my calls. I have called you 3 times, to no answer! I was getting worried!"
"Oh? I am sorry for worrying you. I do not have any missed-" I stopped talking before I could finish my sentence. I pressed the side button on my phone to turn the screen on. What I saw took me by surprise. It was my default Samsung home screen, yet there were no texts, nor calls. Just a lone, unread outlook email. However, I did not use outlook. All my emails were sent and received via Gmail. So, who had logged into outlook on my phone? I tap onto the email, and it is what that email said that changed my life from that moment.

From:
To:
Subject: Late enquiry

Dear Nathan,
I am unsure about the validity of this excuse or whether it does truly excuse you for being late. However, this time we will let you off unless you get here any later than 7:40.

Sincerely yours,
Sahrina Footlow
Principal of Lanely High
O4M PB6

This. Was. Not. My. Phone.
"OH, MY GOODNESS!" I exclaimed.
"What? Are you ok? What happened?" She worried, hesitantly moving around me to see my phone screen. The moment she saw it, her face dropped. "That is not your phone. Is it?"
All the blood ran from my face. "No. No it isn't"
She stood there, silent. She did not utter so much as a sound. I unlocked my apartment and stepped over the threshold; I headed straight to the sofa. I needed to sit down. I did not know what to do, there were a million thoughts going through my head-
"So, what are we going to do?" Sarah asked, as if reading my thoughts.
"I- I do not know? What if this phone has really important information on it? His darkest secrets? His work- that is where he was headed. But I cannot go there- it is a school; they will never let me in."
"Yeah- safeguarding and blah blah. We need to find him. Oooh! Wait!" She looks as if she had just figured something wonderful out and needed to share with the world.
"What are you thinking?" I look at her, trying to convince her to speak, which was not difficult. "I know that face"
"What if, this is a sign?"
"A sign?"
"Your true love! A soulmate"
"You know I do not believe in that rubbish!" I was brushing her off, but I could see that happening. He was rather handsome, and his voice was like a lullaby, it was calming, and he seemed to be sincerely sorry and being on time was clearly important to him, he seemed so stressed that he was running late.
Sarah snapped me out of my thoughts "So, what is his name? Do we know that?"
"Well, according to the email sent to him by the principal of the school he works at, his name is Nathan Cole-Montgomery."
"Well, that is a start! All we have to do now is search him up on all the socials till you recognise him- you do remember what he looked like. Right?"
"Uh- yeah? I mean, if I saw him, I could point him out" I remembered his every feature, but Sarah could not know that. And so, we were on a mission. A mission to find this man and return his phone as quick as possible.
I'm sure he would not mind if I looked at a few things first, would he?