Page 66 of The Cuffing Game
But what he actually said out loud was “Don’t remind me.”
Day Five
The Cuffing Game
Behind-the-Scenes Contestant Interview
Violet Russo
ALEX:Hey, Violet! Thanks so much for joining me, and for joining the show on such short notice. Please look at the camera and state your name, year, major, and crush.
VIOLET:Hi, it’s no problem. I’m Violet Russo. I’m a junior and a dramatic arts major. And my crush is Noah. Or at least, I thought it was Noah. Now I’m not sure.
ALEX:Oh? And why is that?
VIOLET:He kind of just... ran off during our date. It was so bizarre. And apparently he made one of the other girls, Celine, cry? Before disappearing into the woods? Sounds like a huge red flag to me.
ALEX:Yeah, it’s been a wild twenty-four hours. He’s fine, now, though. Mia found him.
VIOLET:Well, that’s good. But in any case, that’s a bit too much for me. Plus, I met someone else on the show who’s a lot more... stable.
ALEX:Oh, that’s great!
VIOLET:Yeah.[smiles]He’s really sweet. Funny, too.
ALEX:Cuff with him, please!
VIOLET:Idowant to cuff with him. But I don’t know. Things are really complicated right now. And I don’t know if he feels the same way.
ALEX:Well, there’s only one way to find out, right?
VIOLET:I guess. But I don’t want to create extra drama, you know?
ALEX:Listen, this is a reality TV show. Made bycollegestudents. And this is the last day before the finale! As the editor, I give you permission to go wild. Just, if you can, try to wear the same outfit and keep the same hairstyle all day. To make things easier for me.
VIOLET:Okay... if you say so.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Mia
Mia drove them back to the lodge as soon as the roads were safe. Compared to how scary the drive had been the previous night, in the early morning light, it was nice. Pretty, even. Golden sunlight streamed down through the trees as they drove on the newly plowed roads. Mia even felt comfortable enough to speed a little, which earned her a “slow down, partner” from Noah.
She glared at him at the next stoplight. “You know people in Texas don’t actually talk like that, right? Or at least not the people I know.”
He gave her a mischievous grin. “My only exposure to Texas has been old westerns. And you.”
Mia groaned. “Most of the old westerns weren’t even shot in Texas!”
For the rest of the car ride, Mia gave Noah a condensed summary of a fifteen-page essay she’d written this past semester about the “Hollywood-ification” of Texas. It pretty much all boiled down to “everything you see is a lie” and “that’s actually California or Arizona.”
When she finished, he rested his chin on his hands and said, “Fascinating,” like he really was pondering the fact that John Wayne was an Iowan who had never lived in Texas. It was a cute gesture, one that almost brought a smile to Mia’s lips.
The lodge was completely silent when they arrived, and so were the surrounding woods covered by the heavy snow. If everyone’s cars hadn’t still been parked in front of the house, Mia would have thought they had all left.
She carefully parked Kallie’s SUV behind Damien’s. As Noah grabbed the now half-empty bag from the back seat, Mia’s eyes lingered on his hands, thinking about how he’d placed them on her shoulders the previous night.
Noah’s gentle but firm fingers had surprised Mia and, of course, she couldn’t forget about what had happened by the door...
