23. Chapter 23
Chapter twenty-three
Adrian
Sam holds her wristband up to the scanner posted outside the door, and we rush inside to scan the room for instructions or clues.
It looks like we’re standing inside a prison cell.
Names are written on the walls with tick marks below each one, but there are no clear directions as to what we’re supposed to do.
“What the . . . ?” I question aloud, spinning in a circle to check for something we’ve missed. “That’s it. Let’s give up and try a different one.”
Sam laughs and grabs my arm as I try to exit. “No! You can’t quit. We have three minutes in here. We can at least attempt to figure it out.” She moves around the small space while I try to make sense of the names and hash marks.
“Got it!” she exclaims as she pulls the fake sink away from the wall, revealing a hidden door.
We duck inside and wind through a maze to a second room.
There’s a computer screen that Sam reads aloud.
“Select which statement is false. James stayed in jail longer than Nancy. James and Arnold stayed the same length of time. Nancy—”
She cuts off with a groan. “We have to go back over there and count all the hash marks! And do math! I’m out.”
Now I’m determined not to let her quit. “No way. I’m gonna run back over there, and you yell back which names I need to count.”
I take off before she can protest, but by the time we’ve figured out a system, the whole room turns red, indicating we ran out of time. When we exit, I march us right back to the same entrance door. “We’re conquering this room even if it takes us the full hour we have left.”
While it doesn’t take an hour, it does take us two more tries before we finally count the right hash marks and do the right math to determine the false statement.
When we exit in victory, I suggest, “Let’s find one of the rooms marked as a physical challenge.
Forget these mental puzzles. I need an ego boost.”
Sam laughs and takes my hand as we walk through the maze of doorways, searching for the telltale physical challenge symbol.
I arranged for an escape room in Overland Park to open privately so we could have a date without prying eyes.
The owner of the business let us in, set us up with wristbands, then left us completely alone to enjoy exploring the forty different challenge rooms for two hours.
We’ve failed more rooms than we’ve defeated. Probably due to the fact that I’m primarily focused on flirting with Sam and not necessarily remembering the details of a fake crime scene to answer what color the lamp was.
When we enter the next room, the challenge requires a combination of physical reflexes and color pattern recognition—a perfect marriage of Sam’s and my skills. When we beat the room with time to spare, Sam’s eyes sparkle as she asks, “Is your head sufficiently reinflated now?”
“You know, you never should have agreed to date me if you were worried about my ego,” I say, draping an arm around her shoulders. “Now that I landed you as my girlfriend, I’m gonna be puffed up with pride forever.”
She scoffs but smiles, squeezing her arm around my waist a little tighter.
The final hour of time passes in a heartbeat, we’re having so much fun together.
I’ve always had fun with Sam over the years—everything from movie nights at Griffin’s to her celebrating out with the team to goofing off together at Griffin’s baseball camps when we were supposed to be supervising children.
But I didn’t even realize how much the fun times would be amplified when there’s a deeper emotional connection behind them.
When we share pieces of our lives and stories in between the laughs.
Like Sam explaining that she chose cosmetology not only because she was interested in styling hair, but also because she likes talking with people.
After years of working with her therapist, she realized she enjoys listening to people’s stories and giving advice or encouragement, but she didn’t think she could handle working as a therapist or counselor herself.
Or like me telling Sam more about my early years in the US, what it was like being here alone as a teenager.
The Crowns provided housing for all of the Minor League international players, and I had a blast getting to know the guys I lived with while also improving my baseball and English skills.
Still, it was lonely to be so far away from home with no family around for the first year—an emotion I shared with her, even if I skimmed over it.
I’ve had a year of growing attraction to Sam, of my senses being tuned to her any time we were in the same place.
I was already down bad before I ever openly professed my feelings.
But between last week’s dinner date at the Silo place she likes, countless texts and video calls when I was out of town, and today’s escape room date, I’m more convinced than ever that she’s it for me.
The more I intentionally get to know Sam on that deeper level, the more I’m certain I could never go back to life without her.
I’ll do everything I can to make sure our world never splits apart again.