Page 44 of The Cuffing Game
But then, slowly, Jack smiled as he linked arms with Matías. “Should we snowboard or ski?”
Matías’s jaw dropped. So did Mia’s and pretty much everyone else’s. From behind his camera, Damien let out a shriek that was several octaves higher than his usual voice, before quickly saying in his normal tones, “Sorry, Alex.”
Everyone laughed.
Alex let out a fake sigh of exasperation. “It’s fine,” they said. “As with all things, we can fix it in post.”
Mia grinned. “Fixing things in post” was something she’d heard often in film school, especially whenever something unexpected happened and needed to be edited out. Which, she was rapidly learning, it almost always did.
Jack grinned at Matías’s still stunned face.
“What?” he asked with a shrug. “I never said I was straight. People just assume I am because I play football and have a deep voice.”
Mia carefully composed her face back to a neutral, “professional host” expression before saying, “Jack, listen. We appreciate you being so open about everything, but I want to make sure. Are you okay with this going public? If you’re not comfortable with the whole world knowing, we can edit this out.”
Jack shrugged. “I’m not exactly out, but I’m not closeted, either. Like I said, everyone just assumes you’re straight if you play college football. And I never mentioned I’m bi to keep things simple. I guess I was always waiting for the right time and place to say something, if it ever came up at all. But I think I finally found someone who’s worth taking that leap for. Especially since he just took a huge one for me.”
He turned back to Matías, who looked like he was about to faint.
Jack lightly bumped his fist on Matías’s shoulder. “We need to work out together sometime, man. Because your speed was insane. Anyway, what’ll it be?”
Matías stood up straighter. “Wait, what?”
Jack gave him a patient smile. “Ski or snowboard?”
Matías let out a nervous laugh. “Oh, I’m more of a snowboarder, definitely. But more than anything else I’m a sledder. Don’t let this morning fool you. I’m notthatathletic, especially not compared to someone like you. I just have plenty of shoveling experience since I have relatives in upstate New York.”
“You seem plenty athletic to me.” Jack gave him a once-over, and Matías let out an excited laugh.
“Wow, okay,” he said. “It’s gonna take me a while to get used to that. How are you literally so hot?”
Jack blushed.
Mia smiled, feeling deliriously happy for the two boys.But then she accidentally made eye contact with Noah. She froze. Noah had a large, goofy grin on his face, too. For one alternative-universe-esque moment, they smiled at each other, and Mia’s heart beat impossibly faster.
That was the problem with crushes—some never completely went away.
Chapter Seventeen
Noah
Mia was smiling at Noah, and he didn’t know why. He could only assume they were both happy about Matías and Jack. He himself wasecstaticfor his roommate. But why was Mia staring athimfor so long? Andsmiling?
He narrowed his eyes in confusion, and Mia immediately scowled and looked away. Well, that was strange.
“Okay!” Mia exclaimed, addressing everyone. “That’s the first cuffle for Day Three. Congrats, Matías and Jack!”
The other contestants burst into cheers.
“Now, let’s cuff the rest of you,” Mia continued after the applause died down. “Shirin, since Matías went with Jack, you can go next.”
Shirin looked out at the rest of the contestants, glancing at first Tiana, then Noah, and then Celine, only to look at Tiana again.
“No offense,” she said. “But if I had to choose, I’d choose Tiana any day. Because besides Matías, she’s mybestie. And I’m sure Celine wouldn’t want me to steal her man.”
“Definitely not,” Celine said. “Thank you so much, Shirin!”
“And, of course, I’m going to say yes to my girl, Shirin!” Tiana exclaimed.
