Page 59 of You're The One
Okay. Straight to business, then. Someone’s taking this a little too seriously.
“You’re not gonna let her beat you, are you?” he teases, already spinning the blocks.
“I’ll do my best.”
He lets out a low chuckle.
I move beside him, though I’m still not entirely sure what he’s doing. After a few seconds of silently watching him work, I take a small step back to give him space.
“You know if I ‘win’, I get the date tonight, right?”
He nods but doesn’t look up.
“… So, you’d miss out on time with one of the women you’re actually dating.”
“I’mtechnicallydating you, too, aren’t I?” he mutters, eyes fixed on the puzzle.
Sure, technically, as far as the show’s concerned, it looks like we’re dating. But we’re not?—
Are we?
Dominic lines up the blocks to spell WATER, then glances at a nearby plaque showing which musical notes match each letter.
“I just figured you’d want time with Emma. I thought you liked her.”
“I do. But I like you, too, Mia,” he says easily. “If we win, we can hang out tonight. Don’t you want that? You said you were going stir-crazy. Getting out of the house would help, wouldn’t it?”
That makes sense. He’s looking out for me. Again. If matchmaking is my full-time job here, I guess his is watching out for me.
Thanks, Ryan.
“Here. Read these notes to me.”
I rattle them off, and he taps them out on the xylophone. Something clicks, and a panel in the wall slides open, revealing another corridor.
We move on to another puzzle, this one more complicated than the last. But Dominic’s surprisingly good at them, so I let him take the lead again. If this wereSurvivor, I’d nominate him as our team’s puzzle guy.
The next one requires a little more effort from me, though. We’re on opposite sides of a wall, and I have to call out symbols while he enters them on his end.
“Looks like a snake wrapped around a trident,” I say.
Dominic grunts. “Next one?”
We go back and forth for a while, calling out shapes and matching them as fast as we can. At one point, I mess up the combo and have to repeat it.
Through the wall, I can hear Summer and Emma making progress. A moment later, their shout of success rings out loud and clear.
“Fuck,” Dominic mutters. “Mia, focus.”
I hope he realizes this isn’t actually a life-and-death situation, because the urgency in his voice is a little alarming.
We move fast, matching and rotating until the final piece clicks into place.
I’m not sure if we won, but at least we “escaped.”
“Fuck, yeah.” Dominic grins and holds up his hand for a high-five.
I laugh and slap his palm.
