Find Me Later, Brock

Escape

It's like everything around me stops. The world around us goes dark and it's just him and I sitting across from each other.
When the girls told me about the first time Colby said he loved me, I had brushed it off. I thought that maybe they heard wrong, but hearing him say it now, it filled me with so much happiness, hope, and I can't lie, it made me feel like the most beautiful and special girl in the world.
As much as I was happy to hear it, there was still that that annoying, scary voice in my mind that told me that he didn't mean it. That told me that he thought that he loved me, but he wasn't really that serious.
"Colby, I... I don't know what to say."
"You don't have to say anything. But I couldn't keep in an any longer. It's so much more than a romantic love, Rory. You are so amazingly, kind. Your heart and soul and the way you care about everyone and everything is something so beautiful. When we were younger and I was getting bullied, you asked them to stop and they did because you were so sweet and told them that you would always be there to talk to and that they obviously needed a friend. Those kids never bullied again. When Sam broke his wrist falling out of a tree, you ran so fast to get help even though you yourself had just recovered from from a sprained ankle. By the time you were thirteen, you had raised over a thousand dollars for charity. Rory, my love for you is sourced from the kind of person you are. You make me want to be a better person. You've never asked for anything from anyone. You give your all to everyone and everything. First and foremost, that's why I love you." He says holding my hand.
"Wow." Is all I can get out.
I couldn't say that I loved him back. Not yet.
"I know it's early, but I know you're my person. I don't expect you to feel that same way. I just hope that one day, you will."
"Colby, I- I really just don't know what to say. The girls told me that you said you loved me the night of the beach, but I didn't think... I don't know."
"They told you that?"
I nodded.
"I didn't think much about it. I thought they heard you wrong."
"They didn't."
"I know that now."
"Listen, all I want is for us to keep dating. I don't expect you to say it back, I don't expect us to immediately get to together, but I couldn't keep in how I felt anymore."
"I'm happy you told me." I said.
"You are?" He asks with a smile.
"Yeah. Don't get me wrong, it's still terrifying. But I know that I'm starting to feel the same way. I know because when you were in Florida, I couldn't stop thinking about you. When you came home, I was so excited and thankful that you weren't still in prison. When I fell asleep next to you last night, it felt... right. So just be patient with me. There's nothing that should be holding me back, and I know that, but you understand why it's hard for me, and I appreciate that more than you'll ever know."
His thumb rubs over the top of my hand and then he kisses my knuckles.
"I'd wait forever if I had to."
I smile.
"You won't have to wait forever."
***
Colby's P.O.V.-
When we get back to the house, Rory quickly runs to her room to get dressed for the amusement park and I grab a water from the fridge.
"Morning, brother." I hear from behind me and my entire body tenses up.
"What are you doing here, man?" I ask turning around to see Brennen standing there with his hands in his pockets.
"I need to talk to Rory."
"You're not going to talk to Rory. Not after what you did?"
"Don't act like you've never done the same thing, Colby."
"Brennen, you had the most amazing girl and you fucked yourself over. You need to sit with that."
"So what? You're her bodyguard now?"
"No, you fucking asshole. I'm dating her."
"For now."
"What did you just say?"
"I bet she won't stay with you, Colby. You're the person who hurt her the most."
"You don't have a clue what our relationship is like right now."
"All I know is that I'm going to get her back. She deserves to be with me. I can give her so much you can't."
I clenched my fists and took at deep breath.
"If you ever talk to Rory again, it's not gonna look good for you, brother."
"We'll see."
"Get out." I say and he turns way and walks out without saying anything else.
Just as he closed the front door, I hear Rory walk down the stairs.
"Colby, I'm ready." She says behind me.
As soon as I turn around to see her my entire body relaxed and I smile. She wore a yellow crop tank and black shorts with white sneakers and she looked beautiful.
"You okay?" She asked and I nod.
I didn't want to tell her that Brennen was here. It would ruin her mood.
"Uh yeah, I was just zoned out."
Her eyebrow lifts and I squeeze her hand.
"I promise." I say with a smile and she smiled back.
"Okay, well, I'm ready to go."
"Great. Let's go have some fun."
We get to the amusement park and she insists to pay for her herself.
"That's not how dates work, Rory."
"I don't care. I just want to have fun so hurry up and pay for yourself."
We walk around trying to decide on a ride when a group of younger girls walks up to us.
"Sorry, we hate to intrude but can we get a picture with you, Aurora?"
"Of course. Colby, will you take it?" Rory asks.
I take their phone and Rory stands with her arms wrapped around a few of them.
"Thank you so much." All the girls tell Rory.
"No worries. Have a fun day you guys!" She says before waving goodbye to them all and grabbing my hand.
"That was wild." She said as we got a bit further from them.
"Why?"
"That's the first time someone ever stopped me for a picture."
"Really?"
"Yeah. I mean the radio stations have started playing more of my music so maybe that's why."
"That or you're just an amazing artist what the world is beginning to love." I say.
She rolls her eyes.
"It's weird. I don't know if I'm cut out for the world of fame."
"You'll be fine. You handle yourself so well all the time."
"Thanks, Colbs."
Finally we get in line for a roller coaster that was actually historically famous. It was one of the oldest roller coasters in the United States.
"I hope that we don't die." Rory says looking at me and I laugh.
"I'm sure we'll be fine."
"Famous last words."
I grab her hand and finally it's time for us to get into the ride.
She takes a deep breath and looks at me.
"Are you sure we'll be okay?"
"Rory, I'm sure that they constantly make sure that the ride is up to code."
She nods and squeezes my hand.
"Okay. Alright. You're right."
"I know, just relax. I got you."
The worker comes around and puts all the safety bars down and then the ride starts to go.
"Oh fuck. Colby," She says as the ride starts to climb up towards to sky.
"It's fine. Just breath, breath for me."
She takes a deep breath and holds it.
"Rory," I start with a laugh. "You have to breathe out now."
"I don't know what's wrong with me."
"Nothing, you just need to relax."
"Your right. Okay. Okay... I'm gonna relax." She says and a second later the ride shoots straight down.
"Holy shit!" She screams and I can't help but laugh.
I grab her hand and hold it up with mine.
"No! Colby don't!" She says laughing.
"It's fun!" I yell.
"We're going to die!"
Her hands cover her face and I pull her close to me and raise my other hand.
"Yeah!" I yell as we go around in a loop.
She screams.
"Holy fuck!" She yells and as the ride slows down, her chest is rising and falling so fast.
"Oh my god I hated that." She says laughing.
"Come on, you know you had fun." I say looking at her.
She laughs.
"Okay, maybe a little bit."
We get off the ride and then we decide to go do an escape room.
"Okay, this is going to give me anxiety too." She said shaking her head.
"We got this! You're smart. And besides, this is meant for like middle school aged kids."
"You're right."
"Okay, so, where should we start?"
She looks around the room and finds a notebook and a pencil.
"Do you think that it's a little out of place to have a random notebook and a pencil in a room that's all about space?" She said as she took the pencil and started lightly drawing over the page.
Within seconds a message was revealed giving us a clue for the next step of the room.
"How the hell did you know to do that?"
"Remember in middle school science when you could take a leaf and place it underneath a piece of paper and then would draw over the top paper and the image of the leaf would appear? Same concept, but just reversed. Someone had written this clue pretty heavy handedly before hand and then ripped the original piece of paper out so we could uncover the clue."
"God you're smart."
"Come on, the clue says that the next step is hidden in history."
I looked around the room and my eyes landed on the book shelf.
"A history book." I say walking towards the books on the wall.
Rory follows behind me.
I looked over all the sides of the books and all of the books were about space. Except one that was about the first time the moon was explored.
I grabbed it and flipped through all the pages. As I did, a note was placed in between two pages.
"What time is it? Time to find your way out. Where was I placed?" Rory reads.
"What the fuck does that mean."
"The page numbers perhaps?"
The note was placed in between page 205 and 206.
Rory looked at the walls around us.
"Huh?" She said crossing her arms.
"What?"
"I can't see anything like that."
I look around to, and my eyes land on the clock.
"I wonder if the clock has something to do with it?"
"Five or six minutes past two?" She asked confused.
I walked to the center of the room and faced the clock.
"If I were to walk forward, theoretically, I'd be walking to a 12 on a clock, so maybe if I turn a bit to my right, and walk," I say as I walked to the corner of the room.
In front of me was a puzzle on a small table.
"Rory, come here."
She walks over to me.
"Good job." She says with a smile, her hand landing on my neck and her fingers grazed the hair there.
"There's no box so we have no idea what it's supposed to be unless we put it all together."
"Let's get busy then."
About ten minutes later we complete the puzzle and it's a picture that resembles one that I know I've seen in the room.
"Isn't this the same image as the one on the desk?" Rory asks and I grab her hand.
We get to the desk and I take the picture frame and start working on getting the picture out.
On the back of the picture is another clue.
"Hidden below is the final clue. Don't rush."
Rory starts looking through the drawers of the desk and she doesn't find anything at first.
"What the hell?" She says before looking through everything again, even faster this time.
"Hey, it says don't rush. We need to take our time." I say placing my hand on the small of her back.
She takes a deep breath and nods.
"You're right. Okay." She says as she starts to look at the empty drawers.
Her eyebrow lifts and her head tilts to the side.
"Wait, that's weird."
"What?"
"There's a small gap here." She says as she takes out a small part of the desk and it reveals a small key."
"Oh my god! You did it!" I say with a smile.
"No, we did it." She said grabbing my hand and leading me to the door.
She puts the key into the lock and turns it. She pulls at the door and it opens.
She sighs and turns to hug me.
"Oh my god, we fucking did it."
I spin us in a circle and then we high five.
"All of that clue solving has made me hungry. Let's go get something to eat."
She nods.
"I agree with that. Let's go."