Page 6 of The Escape Room
I moved the candles too, and they formed a little island of light around us in the gathering darkness. Then I took a seat beside him and glanced at Ryan, who was nibbling on one of the strawberries. There was something about the way he savored it that made me ask, “Is that all you’ve had to eat today?” He nodded. “What about yesterday?”
“Yesterday was awesome. They were going to throw out a bunch of day-old muffins at work, but the manager said I could take them home. My roommates and I had a feast.”
“Do you have a family?”
“Not since I was sixteen,” he said. “That’s when my parents and I had a difference of opinion.”
“About what?”
“About me being gay, and them still wanting me to be their son.”
“Shit, I’m sorry.”
He glanced at my profile and asked, “Do your parents know you’re gay?”
“Yeah, they do. I came out to my dad when I was twelve, and my mom about a year later. He totally took it in stride, which I always knew he would. She ended up being fine with it too, but it took her a little while to come to terms with it.”
“How did you manage to go an extra year without telling your mom?”
“They were divorced by that point,” I explained, “and she’d moved back to Busan. It’s—”
“A port city at the southern end of the Korean peninsula.”
“Right. A lot of people don’t know that.”
“I love playing trivia, so I study different subjects, including geography. There’s a local pub that hosts trivia night every Wednesday, and I try not to miss it. First prize is a twenty-five-dollar in-house gift certificate, and they have the best bar menu. Whenever I win, it feels like Christmas.” It was good to see him smile. Worry had acted like a dimmer switch on his radiant personality, and I’d actually missed his enthusiasm.
“No wonder you chose the escape room raffle prize. I bet you would have been great at it.”
“I’d always wanted to do one of these, but they’re expensive.” He turned to me with a hopeful expression. “Do you think Benji will let us come back and try it again sometime?”
“I’m sure he will, but for now, we can still play. The first clue is right across the room. We won’t be working against the clock, but I think it could be fun.”
His face lit up as he exclaimed, “Let’s do it! I’d been looking forward to this all week.”
As he wiped his hands on a napkin, I said, “I’m surprised you decided to attend that event last weekend, since the tickets weren’t cheap, and it sounds like money’s pretty tight. Not that your finances are any of my business.”
That wasn’t what I’d meant to say. I’d been thinking someone as attractive as Ryan really wouldn’t need to spend money on a singles event to meet guys, but it came out wrong.
He broke eye contact and mumbled, “A friend had an extra ticket, so he gave it to me.” I was pretty sure he was lying, but I didn’t call him on it.
Instead, I said, “Some friends of mine bought my ticket for me, too.”
“I was pretty drunk that night, so I’m sorry if I was obnoxious. I lost count of how many of those free ‘heartinis’ I had, and guys kept buying me drinks, too. At one point, did I barge in on you in the restroom? I have a hazy memory of something like that.”
“Yup. You were making out with some big dude. The two of you pushed your way into my stall and knocked my phone into the toilet.”
He looked mortified. “I’m so sorry! I’ll buy you a new phone. It’ll take me a while, but—”
“It’s okay. I stuck it in rice when I got home, and it dried out and started working again.”
Ryan slumped against the back of the couch and muttered, “What a relief. It would have taken me forever to pay that off.” After a moment, he glanced at me and said, “You must have been so disappointed when you discovered I was your blind date.”
“No, not at all.”
“You’re a terrible liar.”
“I really wasn’t disappointed, and I didn’t go into this with any expectations,” I told him. “All I was hoping for was a fun evening out, nothing more. I’m not looking for a relationship, or anything else.”