Chapter 34 - Niall - Bumping into You
Chapter 34
Niall
We fill out our waivers as Melvin, the escape room instructor, starts his pre-game spiel: “You’ve got a great game ahead of you. You have to escape from the designated room in sixty minutes or less to successfully escape. While in the room, you’ll be looking for clues and solving puzzles. Anything with the ‘do not touch’ sign is not part of the game, and we ask that you don’t try to use it. Alright, any questions?” Melvin looks around at our group as we shake our heads.
“This is going to be so much fun,” says Holly, bouncing up and down on her feet.
“Definitely,” exclaims Margot. “It was a great idea to start off our bachelor and bachelorette parties this way.”
Melvin leads us into what looks like a mission control room at NASA. After we watch a brief intro video, Melvin releases us and the countdown to escape is on.
“Look, here’s a lock with a four-digit number code. Does anyone see anything that could give a number?” Margot asks.
“I don’t see any numbers,” I say, “but the writing on this whiteboard looks like we’re supposed to figure out a word from it.”
“Gwen,” says Greg, “why don’t you go over and see if you can help Niall with that, and Holly and I’ll look for the number with Margot.” Greg gives me a wink as he not so subtly pushes Gwen in my direction.
“On it,” Gwen says. Bradley looks in our direction, and Gwen quickly takes my hand in hers. I’m surprised she’s feeling open enough about our relationship to hold my hand in front of all her friends, but then I remember that Bradley and Tammy think we’re together.
Right, the boyfriend thing, not that it’s fake anymore, but still, have to hold up pretenses. Oh man, what did you get yourself into, Niall?
Greg is trying to push Gwen to spend time with me, not knowing that I have spent a lot more time with her than he would probably like. I’m not sure how he’s going to handle me being with his sister. Sure, we’d made a pact that I would spend time with her, but Greg made it pretty clear that he didn’t want me crossing any lines. Too late for that. . . .
“You two figure anything out yet?” asks Trent, moving over next to us. Gwen quickly lets go of my hand, and I notice Bradley furrowing his brow. I hope he didn’t catch that. How are we going to get through this game with so many different people knowing, or at least thinking they know, what is going on between Gwen and me? This is going to be a long sixty minutes. . . .
“The word is Galaxy!” says Gwen excitedly, punching the letters into the keyboard. A buzzing sounds, and a hidden wall opens up to a small space.
“Great job,” says Vivian.
“Gwen,” says Greg, “you, Niall, Gillian, and Miles crawl through and tell us what you find. I think we’ve almost got this code.”
“Yeah,” agrees Holly, “we’re just missing this one number here.”
I get down on all fours and crawl through a secret passage, Gwen, Miles, and Gillian following behind me. Once on the other side, I reach out my hand to help Gwen up. She takes it, lingering a bit longer than she needs to until Miles pops his head out. Noticing our intertwined fingers, Miles looks at us quizzically. I quickly drop Gwen’s hand and reach for a lever. When I pull it, a part of the wall the size of a door opens up, and the others walk through with ease.
Bradley and Tammy are the first through. I put my hand on Gwen’s waist, guiding her out of the way of the door.
“Looks like there’s a formula over here,” says Trent, who followed Bradley and Tammy through. Gwen steps to the side before Trent notices my hand on her and makes her way over with Bradley to try to work out the formula.
“Four, the number is four,” says Bradley. Gillian runs back over to Holly and Greg through the open part of the wall and tells them the number.
“Great job,” Gwen tells Bradley. He nods before looking for the next puzzle to solve.
We finish after fifty-nine minutes and twenty-three seconds and have one clue left to spare. When the door unlocks and the television announces that we’ve escaped, I wrap Gwen’s hand in mine. I’m so ecstatic at winning and wrecked from all the secretiveness that I’m not thinking straight. I twirl her around to face me and pick her up. She reaches her arms around my neck and gives me a not-so-friends-only kiss. My heart races as I kiss her back.
“Gwen?” Greg says, his voice stern, sharp. “Niall? What is going on?”
We both freeze then break apart as we remember the rest of the group standing all around us. I close my eyes and squeeze her hand in mine, not able to let go of her.
“I guess it’s no longer our secret,” I say.
“I think you’re right,” she says softly.
“I knew there was something going on with you two,” says Miles.
I take in the rest of the group. Margot is giving me a huge grin, while Holly wears a soft smile. Trent seems happily surprised, and Bradley and Tammy’s faces are etched with confusion. Everyone else seems not too phased, but my heart drops to the floor when I see the look on Greg’s face. It’s the one I had been dreading seeing. And on the bachelor party day of all days. Feck, Niall, way to pick the most inopportune time to forget yourself and blow your secret.
Gwen, silent, glances up at me, and I turn and give her a lopsided grin.
“Well, this should make for an interesting day,” I say.