“How’d you end up proposing?”
Silence.
“Come on, bro. I’m curious. Also, I, uh, really have to pee, so if you don’t distract me right now all I’m going to think about is how much I have to pee.”
“You know, sometimes I wish I could remove the part of my brain that stores the things you say to me.”
I ignore that.
“So? How’d you do it?” Someone comes through the door and I tense, ready to jump forward, but there’s not enough time. My body relaxes back against the wall. “Did you get the ring like I told you to?”
“No.”
“What? What do you mean,no?” I hesitate. “Did you at least, like, light a candle? Make her dinner?”
“No.”
“Buy her chocolates? Get down on one knee?”
“No.”
“No? No, you didn’t do even one of those things? None of them?” My whispers are turning into whisper-yells. “You didn’t do a single thing I told you to do?”
“No.”
“Son of a bitch.”
“Why does it matter?” he asks. “She said yes.”
I groan. “You’re the worst, you know that? Theworst. You don’t deserve her.”
Warner sighs. “I thought that was already obvious.”
“Hey— Don’t you dare make me feel sorry for y—”
I cut myself off when the door suddenly opens. A small group of doctors (scientists? I don’t know) exits the building, and Warner and I jump to our feet and get into position. This group has just enough people—and they take just long enough exiting—that when I grab the door and hold it open for a few seconds longer, it doesn’t seem to register.
We’re in.
And we’ve only been inside for less than a second before Warner slams me into the wall, knocking the air from my lungs.
“Don’t move,” he whispers. “Not an inch.”
“Why not?” I wheeze.
“Look up,” he says, “but only with your eyes. Don’t move your head. Do you see the cameras?”
“No.”
“They anticipated us,” he says. “They anticipated our moves. Look up again, but do it carefully. Those small black dots are cameras. Sensors. Infrared scanners. Thermal imagers. They’re searching for inconsistencies in the security footage.”
“Shit.”
“Yes.”
“So what do we do?”
“I’m not sure,” Warner says.
