Page 36 of The Cuffing Game
Caleb barked out a laugh. “Amazing. Just my luck.”
“Sorry, Caleb,” Mia said. “You’ve been eliminated. Is there anything you’d like to say before you leave?”
Caleb turned to the other contestants. Placing his palms against each other, he said, “Well, it’s been fun, folks. Both my crushandmy backup are gone now, so sucks for me. See ya on the other side.”
“He’s making it sound like he’s dying,” Mia heard Matías whisper to Noah. A small quirk appeared on the other boy’s lips.
Mia tried her best not to smile.
“All right,” she said when Caleb had left. “That means both Bethany and Caleb are now eliminated fromThe Cuffing Game.”
Mia turned to face the final cuffle.
“Matías and Shirin, I’m sorry, but you two were the least popular cuffle, probably because you admitted on camera last night that you’re really friends who just cuffed together to survive.”
Everyone laughed.
“Yeah...” Matías said sheepishly. “No surprise there.”
“The good news is,” Mia said, “since you guys still have each other, you are safe from elimination for today.”
The cuffle cheered, and Mia finally let herself smile.
“And that’s it! Everyone, thank you so much for yet another...eventfulday ofThe Cuffing Game!Y’all are now free for the rest of the night. Just a heads-up, we will have anearlystart tomorrow morning, so please get some rest!”
When they finally stopped filming, Mia exchanged glances with her crew. Alex’s eyes were wide, while Damien and Kallie looked exhausted. Somehow, today had been evenmorechaotic than the previous day. And now they had to go upstairs and edit all the footage.
Mia could only wonder whattomorrowwould bring.
The In-Between
Chapter Fifteen
Noah
At half past two, Noah was still awake. He’d tried sleeping several times, doing everything from flipping to any angle he could turn his body without breaking his back to putting on the well-worn but miraculously still fuzzy blue socks that his mother had given him before he first left for college three years ago. He even counted sheep to two hundred before accidentally digging up repressed memories of a disturbing Icelandic lamb movie he’d watched a few years back.
Finally, Noah sat up. In the other bed, Matías was completely knocked out, snoring like a small airplane about to take flight. Noah envied people who could sleep so soundly. Meanwhile Noah had trouble not only falling asleep but also staying unconscious for eight hours.
He put on his coat and shoes and walked out into the hallway. Snores—some quiet and others less so—came from behind the doors of the bedrooms he passed on his way to the stairs. The dark wooden floors and red Persianrugs that had previously looked cozy during the day now looked downright creepy, and the wooden boards of the stairwell creaked under Noah’s feet.
It was chillier downstairs. Or at least, colder than he remembered it being. When he walked into the living room, the grizzly bear statue’s eyes seemed to follow him as he lit the fireplace and sat on one of the turquoise lounge chairs.
Noah shuddered, promising himself to never watch obscure horror movies again. Or at least not ones with animal-headed people likeLamb.
He’d just bundled up in a blanket by the fire when a rustling sound came from outside.
When he first heard of the Big Bear Lake area, Noah had been excited by the possibility of encountering a real-life bear. Now he wasn’t so sure. Still, curiosity piqued, Noah went against his better judgment and slowly approached the sliding doors leading out to the backyard.
He was almost at the doors when he heard a crash. Heart thudding in his chest, Noah raced back to the kitchen to grab the biggest frying pan on the dish rack. He then gingerly slid the patio doors open, ready to swing at the first sign of fluffy black ears.
Hesitantly, he called out, “Hello?”
Something rustled in the tall bushes. Noah squeezed his eyes shut and swung into the air.
“Hey, watch it!” said a familiar voice. “What the hell are you doing?”
Noah opened his eyes. Mia was crouched on the ground, her arms flung up above her head. She held a flashlight in one hand, and her cheeks were red from the cold.
