I'd expected our drive to be short, figuring Chad would just take me to our local diner or pizza shop, but as we passed the stretch of restaurants on the main road of town I looked over at him quizzically.
"Where are we going?" I asked him, examining the way an easy smile spread across his face.
"Must you know everything?" he teased, taking his eyes off the road for a moment and smirking at me.
I narrowed my eyes, "No," I told him defensively. "I don't have to know everything, I'm just curious."
Chad laughed. A real laugh ringing out, "Yeah. Curious."
"What's that supposed to mean?" I squeaked, my voice raising an octave.
"Nothing!" he defended, then clarified, "I just know you, that's all. You play it off like you're just a little curious, but I know it drives you crazy not to know everything going on."
I was taken slightly aback. Sure, I like to know things. I'm curious and observant. But I hardly thought I was as nosy and uptight as he made it seem. I let it go, still slightly stung even though I knew he wasn't trying to be mean about it.
As we drove out of town my curiosity grew, as did my imagination- I decided to focus on that, rather than answering questions and dreamed up places he could be taking me.
We merged onto the expressway and an excited smile found its way to my lips. I wondered if he was taking me to the city. Dinner and a show in the city? An art gallery? A museum? None of those ideas seemed like his style. A ferris wheel ride over the lake? Closer, probably. A haunted house? It was early October, so that was likely. Maybe he was taking me to a soccer game or a concert.
I decided the concert idea was the most likely, and stared out the window. There wasn't much scenery on the journey from suburbia to the city: grass, streetlamps, more suburbs.
The lack of visuals allowed my mind to wander. I remembered the time when I was twelve and Zac's mom took us to the city. It was our first time there together, and we walked slightly in front of her, wanting to look grown-up. We pretended we lived there, in a high rise with a view, just the two of us. I smiled, thinking back on it. We still talked about doing that, moving to a city, any big city, and being roommates. Living in a cheap but cutely decorated apartment and living like we were on Sex and the City.
"What are you thinking about?" Chad asked, knocking me out of my reverie.
"Mind's just wandering," I told him. I didn't want to imply that I thought we were going to the city. For all I knew, we could just going to a more northern suburb than the one where we lived.
He looked like he wanted to ask me a million questions, but he didn't. His eyes focused back on the road and I felt a little disappointed. Maybe I am too obsessed with questions, asking them, being asked. Maybe it only mattered to me.
It was quiet for the rest of the drive. I continued to stare out the window, until the motion of the car, and the 90's grunge playing from the stereo lulled me to sleep.
"Hey, wake up!" I heard Chad say, as he jerked my body with both hands.
"Seriously?" I said, opening my eyes and adjusting to the light from the overhead bulb. "Is that how you wake up Sleeping Beauty?" I teased, still a bit groggy.
"Well it is now, I guess." Chad shrugged.
"Lovely."
"We're here, by the way." He said, unbuckling his seat belt.
I looked out of the windshield. We were just in a parking lot. But I recognized it as a city parking lot, and smiled at my intuition.
I unbuckled myself too and followed Chad who was getting out of the car. He grabbed my hand and led me out of the lot.
We walked a few blocks, the cold wind whipping at my ears and causing me to pull the hood of my jacket up. "Sorry," Chad said, motioning to my eskimo-like state. "We're only going a little further."
He was right, only a few minutes later we stopped at a crosswalk waiting for the white pixilated man to give us the signal to cross the intersection. "I'm impressed," Chad said, looking down at the portion of my face visible under my hood. "You haven't asked where we're going once."
"Yeah, well. I'm just as stubborn as you."
This caused Chad to laugh again, a head tipping, body shaking laugh. "Isn't that the truth," he finally said when he'd calmed.
The little man finally appeared and we crossed with a large group of people. It was date night in the city, which made me even more surprised Chad had taken the trip up here, just to take me out. Chad didn't seem to like crowds, grabbing my hand and protectively pulling me to his side.
I didn't know how far we'd be going but I didn't have long to ponder the thought, because halfway down the block Chad abruptly stopped, tugging my arm a bit when he did. We were outside of a building that looked somewhat grimy compared to the other buildings in this strip of the city.
The sign on the outside, written in a font you might find at the beginning of a horror movie, read "No Escape."
I looked over to Chad, with readable confusion on my face, "What is this place?"
"It's an escape room," he explained, looking more excited than I'd seen him before.
I'd heard about these places. You're locked in this room with frightening props and things and you have to search for the key that leads to escape- and I did not like the idea.
