A Love of Steel

The Escape Room

Neha has butterflies in her stomach as she gets ready to go to the escape room with her cousin Laila. The nervousness wasn't coming from her cousin, but her mentor who she had been crushing on for almost a year now. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't stop thinking about him and she knew he wouldn't feel the same. She had texted him asking if he could join and bring a few people along that snowy December evening.

While driving, Neha tells Laila how badly she's crushing on Adrian. She formally called him Mr. Grayson but since her internship was formally over, she figured she should start saying his first name now. "Dude make sure you don't make anything obvious, he probably doesn't feel the same about me," Neha whispers as if he could hear her from 8 miles away. "Don't worry! I'm not stupid. I'm not gonna do anything to mess it up," Laila replies.

When they finally arrive to the escape room, Neha spots Adrian sitting with his twin brother and cousin. There's a few minutes we have to wait before going in but that gives Neha time to bring up the conversation she was having with Adrian over text last night. "Hey, nothing," she jokes as she comes in to see him. He had told her that until she's comfortable with calling him Adrian, she can just stick to nothing for a while. Since then, she'd called him literally "nothing." Last night, she was bold enough to tell him "I'm joking, you're definitely not nothing." She waves to his brother and cousin and turns back to Adrian. "My grandma and aunt kept talking about getting me married off AGAIN! So annoying, I'm not down for that arranged marriage stuff," Neha told Adrian as if they were just continuing on from last night. "Ridiculous," replied Adrian. He doesn't talk a lot.

A girl arrives comes to the group "I'll be your game master today, my name is Julia. I'll be helping you escape your room. You'll have unlimited hints and for this room, you'll be blindfolded and handcuffed. You'll have to find a way to escape the room by finding the code to the door. If you need a hint at any time just shout 'hey Julia.' The video in the room will explain your mission. You may begin after you hear the two beeps. Are there any questions for me?" The group shakes their head.

As their group tries to solve the mystery, Neha notices several instances of eye contact between her and Adrian. She also feels that she has impressed him with the ability to figure out some clues and make sense of some puzzles. Eventually, their hour is up and sadly the mystery was left unsolved.

The group is released from the room and given a board that says "so close!" Julia asks if we would like to take a picture. We all stand in a row. "Neha move over!" Laila exclaims. Neha knows Laila only said that so she could get Neha closer to Adrian. Neha moves and they smile for the picture.