Page 29 of The Cuffing Game
“Good idea,” Mia replied. She snapped a quick picture of the bedroom’s original setup so they could put things back where they belonged at the end of their stay.
The bedroom had originally been a quaint kids’ room, with sky-blue painted walls, two hotel-quality twin beds, and cotton candy–pink rocking chairs. While Damien and Alex scooted the two twin beds to the far-left corner of theroom, Mia and Kallie brought in two long desks and chairs they’d found in the other rooms. Afterward, they carefully placed the cameras onto the desks along with all the other equipment they’d borrowed from the SPC. And, as a final touch, they set up their external hard drives and laptops. By the time they were done, with all the connecting wires and whirring electronic devices, the bedroom resembled a semiprofessional editing room.
Just looking at their setup sent a thrill up Mia’s spine. Her first-ever production room, hopefully the first of many more.
The only things they left untouched were the rocking chairs, “for our great amusement and possibly also our sanity,” as Alex had said.
Damien sat in one of the chairs, contemplatively rocking back and forth as he said, “So anyway, from what I could gather, no one except Celine cuffed with their actual crush. Everyone else just paired up with their friends or people they were the friendliest with. The biggest offenders being best friends, Shirin and Matías. I think we scared them a bit too much with the ‘rejected crushers immediately get eliminated’ rule.”
Mia winced. “Maybe I should have worded that differently. Or encouraged them to actually try cuffing with their crush more.”
“It’s okay,” Kallie replied. “It was your first time hosting, so it’s natural that you made a couple mistakes. You did great, overall! I can’t believe you don’t watch any reality TV.”
“Thanks! I researched a few shows before I got here. And I grew up watching clips here and there, thanks to my sisters,” Mia said. “But yeah, anyway, people are cuffing with theirfriends?”
Damien nodded at Alex, who opened one of the video files on their computer. It was a clip of Matías and Shirin sitting together at the kitchen table.
“We filmed these two right before Noah and Celine sat down for dinner,” Damien explained. “They were the first cuffle we had, actually.”
Alex hit play.
“We don’t have to cuff with the person we have a crush on, now, right?”Shirin was saying in the video.“It’s only the first round, so we just need to pair up with literally anyone to make it to the next one.”
“Pretty much,”Matías said.“No way I’m trying to cuff with my crush this early! It’d be too embarrassing if he said no. How about we cuff with each other and try our best to make it through the early rounds first? We can’t be eliminated if we stick together, right?”
“Right.”
Alex hit pause. “And they’re not the only cuffle that did this,” they said with a chagrined expression. “Tiana and Jack are also acquaintances. I think they had a class together or something, from the conversation I watched at least.”
Mia groaned. “Do they not realize this is adatingshow, not a friends show?”
“I mean, in a way, Matías and Shirin are right,” Damien said with a shrug. “It’s still early on, so they’re playing strategy. It’s kind of funny, actually. Makes great television.”
“But what’s going to happen to Caleb now that his crush is gone?” Mia wondered out loud.
“It didn’t seem like he had any trouble finding a replacement,” Damien pointed out. “Since he cuffed with Bethany instead. I was filming him today, and he didn’t react at all when Carlos got eliminated. Which was both impressive and concerning at the same time.”
“I know, right?” said Kallie. “You’d think he’d care more about his crush.... Poor Carlos.”
Mia frowned. “Maybe Caleb’s main goal is to survive.”
It was entertaining TV, for sure. But it didn’t feel authentic, like she had dreamed of the show being back when she first came up with the original idea. The new reality TV element was already creeping in, and it was unstoppable. Her stomach twisted into knots. “He did seem pretty excited about the cash prize,” she added.
“People are so unpredictable,” Damien remarked. “The beauty of unscripted television.”
Alex sat down in front of their computer with a heavy sigh. “Hopefully we can compile all the clips into a comprehensible episode. Truly looking forward to later into the competition when things will be more streamlined. And we’ll have fewer people to keep track of.”
Without editing, footage was just that: footage. Randomclips of interactions that didn’t have a story. It was only when the clips were strung together that they formed a narrative. Editing wasn’t Mia’s, Kallie’s, or even Damien’s forte. But that was why they had Alex.
“Let’s get to work, team,” said Damien, effortlessly stepping into his lead producer role. “Try to prioritize footage from the main cameras tonight, since we should have more than enough content from all the dates we shot today. Alex, how about you start editing Mia’s intro? Meanwhile the rest of us can sift through the different dates and flag which clips you can use. First things, first, though: Mia, you and I should grab food for everyone from the kitchen.”
Mia nodded. “Sounds good,” she said, just as Alex replied, “Aye, aye, captain.”
As everyone got to work, Mia’s heart nearly burst with excitement.
They were doing it. It wasn’t exactly what she had imagined, but she and her friends were really making their own TV show.
Chapter Eleven
