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Jake rolls his eyes. “Oh, come on. You bumped into my elbow. Don’t be such a baby.”
“Oh my God, you’re bleeding!” Lauren shrieks when she gets her first look at me, almost as if she’s not a doctor at all.
The silver lining is that seeing her so distressed over me makes me feel a little better. Like maybe this date isn’t a total disaster.
“I’m fine.” I hold up my free hand. “I don’t think it’s broken.”
“It might be broken,” Lauren refutes. “Okay, that’s it. I quit. We quit,” she says toward the ceiling, trying to talk to whoever controls our room. “We want out of here.”
“Lauren, it’s fine,” I try to assure her, but it’s no use.
“It’s not,” she says. “I’m so sorry.”
“Why are you sorry? Jake’s the asshole who hit me.”
Jake laughs, and Holley sucks her lips inside her mouth, way too amused by the rest of us apparently.
“Please,” Lauren begs the room at large again. “Let us out. We quit.”
When the doors don’t open automatically, she growls, a little, tiny, dainty lady growl, and stomps one foot to the floor before letting out a heavy sigh.
But before any of us can interject, she’s on the move, strutting across the room.
And in a matter of thirty seconds, Jake, Holley, and I watch on as Lauren grabs a piece of the toy box, unlocks the chest, turns a handle inside, and then bam! The main door to the room pops open, and the little girl’s voice saying, “Thank you for helping me,” fills the room.
Escape room mission complete.
Holley, Jake, and I look back and forth between one another, wondering what in the actual fuck just happened.
“Did she…” Jake starts, only for Holley to finish.
“She just finished the whole goddamn thing.”
Lauren leads the way out of the room and runs down the hallway to the front desk. The rest of us follow, but by the time we catch up, the receptionist is handing a first aid kit across the counter.
She takes it thankfully and then turns back in our direction, meeting us halfway.
I’m shaking my head as she approaches, but all she can see is the half-fucked smeller in the center of my face.
“Sit down, please,” she orders, leading me to a bench in the hallway and pushing me down.
“Lauren, I’m okay.”
“Just sit down,” she replies. “Let me see it.”
I sigh heavily but comply. Jake and Holley smile from the other side of the hall, and then Jake clears his throat.
“We’re both going to run to the restroom. We’ll be back.”
I nod while Lauren gently prods at the bones in my face and then looks at my nose from every angle before wiping up the blood with an alcohol square.
Truth be told, I’ve been prone to nosebleeds since I was a kid. It’s been years since I’ve had to deal with it, but I’m certain it’s why one accidental elbow to the face ended like this. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if the fucker doesn’t even bruise tomorrow.
“Okay, good news. I don’t think it’s broken.”
I chuckle. “I’m pretty sure I said that already.”
“Yeah, but I’m a doctor. What I say has more weight.”
“You know, normally, I’d agree with you. But tonight? I’m not so sure.”
“Are you trying to figure out a way to call me an idiot without calling me an idiot?” Lauren asks, her voice rising slightly with adorable outrage.
I tell myself I shouldn’t laugh—that it won’t help me stay out of the hole I’ve been digging—but I can’t help myself.
“It’s just…baby, you were so bad at that escape room, but then, all of a sudden, you just figured it out. It doesn’t add up.”
She shrugs one petite shoulder. “I’m just…not usually good at those kinds of mind games, but every once in a while, it clicks, I guess.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“So what. I don’t need you to believe me.”
“Lauren.”
“Fine. I’ve done the room before, okay?”
“You’ve done an escape room before?”
She nods.
“This specific one?” I ask to confirm.
She puts her hand on her hip and nods again. “With my sisters. When I first got back. You know, when they actually made a little bit of time to see me.”
I quirk a knowing brow. “And you were still this bad at it?”
“I wasn’t bad at it! I just didn’t want to spoil it for you guys, so I took myself out of the mix.”
“No, baby.” I laugh softly. “You didn’t take yourself out of the mix. You put yourself on the opposite side of the mix. Lauren, you gave us fake leads the whole time!”
“Well…you still escaped! So, I guess you’re all just really smart.”
“No, baby, you escaped, when you were worried we weren’t going to get out of the room quick enough to tend to my bloody fucking nose.”
“Whatever.” She shrugs. “We got out, didn’t we?”
I shake my head as she narrows her eyes and pretends not to see me, even though my face is in her hands, so there’s no way she can’t feel the motion.
