Locked In

“I didn’t know my parents were this serious.”

Zane shook the handle one last time. The door didn’t budge an inch. On the door, a big heart shaped padlock blinked neon pink.

A heart shaped padlock.

Seriously.

He turned around, hands in his pockets and looked around.

Purple walls and a huge round bed covered in red satin. A seashell shaped hot tub in the corner.

And in the middle of all that absolute diseaster, a girl.

She stood stiff against the wall. Her hands gripping the straps of her gym bag.

“Okay,” Zane said. “Apparently we’re stuck.”

Lola didn’t answer.

She stared at him with huge eyes, like a rabbit on the highway.

A boy.

There’s a BOY.

In the same room. Locked. All. Night. Long.

“Uh. You okay?” he asked.

“Yes,” she squeaked.

Her voice had gone up three octaves and Zane raised an eyebrow.

“You sure? Because right now you look like someone who’s about to throw up.”

“No no no no, I’m fine, everything is perfectly fine, thank you so much for asking, that’s very nice of you.”

She’d rattled it all off in one breath, with the smile of a receptionist having a mental breakdown.

Stay polite.

If you stay polite, maybe he won’t hurt you.

Zane looked at her for a long moment. Then he sighed and dropped onto the edge of the round bed.

“Look. I don’t want to be here any more than you do.”

“Really?”

It slipped out.

“Yeah. Our parents decided to... how should I put it.”

He searched for the word.

“Set us up. Like in the Middle Ages. Except instead of a wedding, we get a love hotel with a seashell hot tub.”

“What’s... what’s a love hotel?”

Zane stared at her.

“Are you serious?”

“Very serious. Why?”

He opened his mouth.

She really doesn’t know.

She really, really doesn’t know.

“Nothing, never mind,” he said. “It’s not important.”

Lola still hadn’t moved from the wall. She was thinking at top speed.

Okay. Let’s recap. Dad said we were going to “see the neighbors.” The neighbors have a son. The son is him. And now the door is locked.

Wait.

“They did this on purpose??!!” she said horrified.

“Welcome,” Zane replied. “I’ve been trying to tell you for ten minutes.”

“But... but why?!”

“What do you think?”

Lola shook her head, completely lost.

“They think we’re going to... fall in love. Or something like that. Your mom told mine "you needed a little push."”

“A little push.”

“Her words. Not mine.”

Mom said that. To strangers.

And that’s when she broke. The tears fell all at once, without warning.

“Oh no,” Zane said. “No no no no.”

“I... I’m sorry,” Lola cried, wiping her eyes with her sleeve. “It’s just that... it’s so embarrassing... and I don’t even know you... and now you’re going to tell them that I cried in a weird hotel and...”

“I’m not going to tell anyone anything.”

“...and I didn’t want to be here and my parents think I’m pathetic and I can’t even talk to a boy without crying, you see, that’s exactly why they’re doing this, because I’m a hopeless case and...”

“Hey.”

Zane had stood up but he didn’t move too close. He stayed at a safe distance with his hands raised, like you’d approach a wounded animal.

“Breathe,” he said softly. “Nobody thinks you’re pathetic.”

“You do.”

“I don’t know you well enough to think anything about you.”

Lie, yeah. A huge lie but it calmed her down a little. He grabbed a box of tissues from the nightstand. Obviously heart shaped and held it out to her.

Lola took one tissue.

Then two.

Then the whole box, actually.

“Thanks,” she murmured.

“You’re welcome.”

He went back to sit on the bed, as far away as possible, so she’d feel safe.

He moved away. So I’d be less scared. That’s... kind of nice?

“Okay,” Zane said after a moment. “What do we do?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well. We’re here all night. We have to decide how we’re handling this.”

Lola clutched the tissue box against her.

“Can we call someone, like...the police?”

“And say what? "Hello, our parents locked us in together so we’d make babies" ?”

“NO. Oh my God. No. Please never say that word again.”

“Which one? Baby?”

“DON’T SAY IT.”

Zane raised his hands, laughing despite himself.

“Okay, okay. I didn’t say anything.”

Lola smiled a little bit. The first of the evening.

He’s... funny? No. No. Don’t lower your guard. That’s how they get you. (She had absolutely no idea how “they” got you. She just knew she had to stay vigilant.)

“Listen,” Zane said, more serious now. “I have a plan.”

“A plan?”

“Yeah. Our parents want us to get closer, right? For us to fall to get married, and give them fourteen grandchildren.”

“You said the word again.”

“I said grandchildren, it’s not the same.”

“It’s in the same word family!”

“Okay. Sorry. Anyway.”

He leaned forward, elbows on his knees.

“The thing is, if we tell them it was horrible, that nothing happened... they’ll do it again. Over and over. They’ll trap us in creepier places until it works.”

Lola went pale.

“There’s worse than this?”

“There’s always worse. But. If we tell them the night went really well...”

Lola frowned.

“I don’t get it,” she admitted.

“We lie to them. We say it worked. That we get along great, that we’re going to see each other again, all that. That way they’re happy, they stop their stupid plans, and we’re left alone.”

“But we’re not going to see each other again!”

“Of course not. It’s a lie, I just said that.”

“OH.”

Lola straightened up, suddenly lit up.

“That’s genius! That way Mom stops calling all my teachers to ask if a boy is looking at me!”

“She... does that?”

“Every Friday.”

Zane stopped dead.

“Anyway! Yes! We lie! Deal!”

She held out her small hand over the bed. Zane looked down at her hand and then at her.

She wants to shake my hand. Like, officially.

He held back a laugh and shook her hand.

“Deal,” he said.

Lola’s hand was tiny in his. She pulled it back immediately, as if she’d burned herself. Then, she rubbed it against her thigh.

Contact made. I survived. I’m alive!!!!

Zane noticed but he didn’t say anything.

She shook my hand like I might explode. That’s... weirdly endearing.

“Okay,” he said, clearing his throat. “Now we just have to survive the night.”

“What time is it?”

“Ten p.m.”

Lola’s face fell.

“Ten p.m. We’re going to be here for eight hours.”

“About that.”

“What are we supposed to do for eight hours?!”

Zane looked around and his eyes landed on a TV bordered with little glowing hearts.

“We could watch a movie,” he suggested.

Lola stared at him as if he’d just said " jumping out the window."

“Together?”

“Well. We’re not each going to watch one on the same screen.”

“...”

“It’s just a movie, Lola.”

“Okay, a movie.”