Oblivious to Him - Part II

Chapter 7 - First Date, Part II

As we pulled up in front of the building, my mind was racing a thousand miles a minute trying to figure out what we were doing here. I have heard about this place from living in Colorado, but I have never been to it, especially after hours. 

"Is your plan for our first date to land us in jail?" I joked, unbuckling my seat belt as Oscar parked the car. 

"Yup! I thought it would be really romantic to get our fingerprints taken and a unique place to spend the night," he smiled. 

"Cool! But really, though, how do you have a key card to this place?" 

"Well, you know how my dad's a geologist? He spends a lot of time helping maintain and preserve some of the rock structures, and he usually lets me tag along to help. So, I got the key card from my dad and permission from the manager to come here tonight for our first date," Oscar explained. 

"So we're going caving?" I asked, excited to go inside of a mountain rather than climbing on the side of them. 

"Something like that," he smiled, kissing my hand again. 

He got out of the car and popped open the trunk, and after a second to pull myself together, I got out and joined him. 

"Here, can you carry this?" he asked, handing me a duffel bag. 

"Sure!" I grabbed it, surprised that it had some weight to it, "what's in here?" I asked, shaking it to try and guess its contents.

"Just supplies," he smiled. 

"Supplies for what?" I asked, "padding for our jail cells?"

He rolled his eyes and chuckled, shaking his head at me. "It's for this," he explained, holding up a picnic basket. 

"Oh heck yeah! We're going on a picnic, but like underground!" I exclaimed. Never in a million years would I have been able to guess that this is what he would have planned for tonight. 

Oscar leaned over and kissed my cheek again and chuckled, "I told you that you'd better be prepared for our first date. I've had like, what, 7 some years to plan this?" he smiled. He reached down and took my free hand and led me to the entrance. He only let go for the few seconds he needed to unlock and open the door. 

We walked into the empty entranceway, our footsteps echoing in the large open room. "Woah," I looked around the dark room that was only half-lit by a few emergency lights, "this would be kind of spooky if I weren't here with you," I squeezed his hand and moved a little closer to him.

"Have you ever been here before?" he asked.

I shook my head no, "I've actually never even been caving before," I admitted, "I tend to stay on the outside of a mountain if you get my drift."

"Well then, let me explain a few things before we go down into the cavern," he guided me through the gift shop and opened the door in the corner of the room. There was a string of incandescent lights illuminating the hallway made of half wood, half rock. Oscar set down the picnic basket, took the duffel bag from my hands, and placed it on the ground. 

"So," he clapped his hands together, "there are a couple of rules to us being here and help us not get in trouble with both my dad and the manager Michael," he said. "You will need to try and stay in the middle of the path as best as possible and not touch the walls. The oil on your fingers can cause damage to the cave system. Some of the formations are pretty fragile and can break off easily. They've been forming for the last several thousand years, so try your best not to break them off like some of the guests that have come through here."

"Eye-eye captain," I smiled, "why do people break them off?"

"They keep them as illegal souvenirs," Oscar grumbled.