Vlad was fully prepared to press every button on the elevator panel until the damn thing moved, but he'd assumed that it stopped at random rather than for another passenger. He really wasn't in the socializing mood, but a quick glance at the girl who stepped inside didn't provoke any spark of recognition. She was probably a new tenant or simply someone he'd never spoken to. It could have been worse, and at least he wasn't obligated to talk to her; he did offer a smile, but it was nothing more than a polite smile between two people who happened to live in the same building.
He pressed the Lobby button again, waiting as the elevator doors closed and it reluctantly groaned into motion. It moved slowly, but at least it was moving. His sigh was barely audible, and he looked upwards in impatience before letting his gaze flicker back towards the girl. Upon first glance she hadn't seemed familiar, but the more he looked at her the more he felt as though he knew her from somewhere. It was a distant kind of familiarity, like a long-ago acquaintance or even someone he'd seen in a picture once or twice. Vlad told himself that he was being foolish, that there was no possible way he could know her, but the feeling just wouldn't go away.
A name might be more helpful, and he'd just opened his mouth to offer something along the lines of 'Are you new in the building?' when the elevator gave a sudden lurch and ground to a halt after a series of metallic grinding sounds. Dismay washed over him as he tried - and failed - to get it moving again. "Really?" he groaned. "This is unbelievable."