Unguarded Love

29-Escape Room

"You want to explain that?" she asks and I shake my head, "I don't even know myself, to be honest with you."

Of course there was the absence of Brendan today. Thank God for small miracles. 

Phoenix puts her down and the rest of the group hugs her and gives her their birthday wishes. 

"Oh, is this the boyfriend?" Baylor asks as Asa puts his arm around me. 

"I am, and you must be Peyton's sister." He says and she nods. "in the flesh."

I watch as her expression turns from friendly to predatory. 

"Oh, who is that?" She asks pointing to none other than K.J.

I called it. 

Asa laughs, "Oh that's K.J., don't get any ideas though he has a girlfriend."

Oh Asa, if only you knew what I do. 

Baylor just shrugs, "Never stopped me before."

And here we go. 

Luckily Phoenix's arrival deters that meeting for a moment. 

"What did your mom feed you?" Baylor asks as she cranes her neck to look at Phoenix's face. 

She's shorter than both Peyton and I, standing at five foot one. 

He snorts, "My mom made me eat a whole carrot a day. She told me it was for my eyes. but I still ended up needing glasses."

"You wear glasses?" I ask and Peyton nods beside him, "You should see when he wears them his eyes-" He slams a palm over her mouth and she laughs behind it. 

You're telling me they aren't doing the dirty tango?

Kylie comes over, "I think we should head inside."

All of us go in and are put into our escape room. The girl goes over all the rules and instructions which I know these guys will end up disregarding. 

And they do because once the countdown is finished Phoenix is already trying to be five steps ahead and believes the wall is a fake door. 

None of us believe it but he's so adamant about it that he spends most of the time trying to open his trap door as the rest of us find actual clues. 

Baylor ends up insisting on partnering with K.J. and she's been flirting with him ever since. Asa and I can't work together because we keep butting heads on every clue and I am sure the only people who have any sense of figuring this out are Tanner and Kylie. 

Peyton and Miles sort of have a partnership working but since they're not that close they start to struggle communicating things. 

By the end I think we've almost cracked it but we did not solve it. The girl informed us that there was no secret door much to Phoenix's disappointment. 

We get a picture with the sign that says we almost got out, yeah a bunch of losers who couldn't figure out how to escape an escape room labeled easy. 

A group of eighth graders beat us in the room beside ours and they had an extreme room. When they got to pick what to write on their sign to show they won they picked, 'We beat a bunch of old people'

Then one of the boys stuck his tongue out at us and Phoenix stuck his tongue out at them right back earning a smack to the shoulder by Peyton. 

She told him to be nice and he told those kids were little shits. 

We end up splitting off again so everyone can get ready. 

Tanner, Kylie, and K.J. can't make it to the dinner but they promise to hang out again tomorrow at some point before Baylor leaves. 

It seemed that Baylor and Kylie got along really well but it made sense given they fact that they had the same major. 

We all take our time getting ready since there isn't much of a rush and then we head to the restaurant which is still a secret from Peyton. 

When she sees the restaurant, where we are meeting the guys, comes into view I see her tense beside me. 

"What is it?" I ask but Peyton just keep staring at the restaurant, "This was Phoenix's idea wasn't it?"

I don't know how she knows that but I nod, "Yeah, I wasn't quite sure his infatuation with this place but he insisted that you would love it so I went along with it." I pause, "you like it right?"

She bites her lower lip as she nods, "Yeah, I do." 

Her voice is so full of emotion that I think she might cry. I hope not though, I really don't want to see Peyton cry on her birthday but I suspect if she did they would be happy tears. 

We get out of the uber and head over to where they guys are waiting for us. 

For a moment I think Peyton is going to go up to Phoenix and I think that's what he's expecting too so it shocks us both when she walks right past him. 

His shoulders slump and hurt coats his features. 

"Are you ok?" I ask, squeezing his shoulder and he nods, "Yeah, I'm sure it's nothing."

I doubt it but I don't comment. 

"Whats up with them?" Asa asks as we walk in and I sigh, "I don't think anyone knows, including them."

We end up at a table right near one of the glass walls so we can see directly into the water. 

"Look, that fish looks like you." I tell Phoenix, pointing to the fish that looks like it has an underbite and he points to an ugly fat fish near the bottom, "Oh look, thats you."

This game isn't fun anymore. 

Peyton doesn't say much for most of the dinner and I catch Phoenix continually trying to get her to look in his direction. 

Baylor is chatting the whole time with Miles, asking him how it feels to have my dad as his future step dad. 

Asa is busy watching me watch Phoenix and Peyton. 

At one point between eating dinner and waiting for dessert I watch as Phoenix hits his breaking point. 

He lets out a defeated sigh, "I'll be back in a moment." He tells everyone as he stands and heads towards the hallway where the bathrooms are. 

Peyton watches him go with a frown and a few moments later she stands as well. 

"I-I have to go to the bathroom." He stutters before disappearing down the same hallway.

"Did she think we wouldn't know what they were going to get up to, basically disappearing together." Baylor comments. 

I just shrug as the four of us wait for them to return. 

When they do Phoenix's dark cloud that was hovering over him is gone and Peyton keeps touching her lips. 

Oh there is no denying what happened there. Everything up until now had been possibilities or 'I know what it looked like' but this is undeniable. 

I go to say something to Peyton when the waitress comes over with the birthday dessert she ordered and we all sing happy birthday and when Peyton is told to make a wish she looks straight across at Phoenix before blowing out the candles.