Page 8 of The Cuffing Game
“W-what? How do you know I’m not dating anyone?”
She shrugged. “Just a lucky guess. I figured you’d be the type to be super public about your relationship if you were.”
Noah frowned at Mia’s assumption. But in truth, he had no idea how he’d act in a relationship. Before college, he’d been too busy studying English and doing everything else he could to get into Marlon. Then, over the last three years, he’d bounced like a ball between classes, the fraternity, and work. A part of him had always assumed he’d eventually meet someone. And yet, here he was now. A fourth year who had never really dated anyone.
Now that he thought about it, he was probably the only brother in his fraternity who hadn’t had at least one girlfriend. His chest suddenly felt empty.
“Well? Are you happy?” Mia asked again. “Being single?”
In the now almost-empty lecture hall where time seemed to have stopped, Noah quietly said, “No, I guess not.”
“Okay.” Mia opened the Notes app on her phone. She took another deep breath and, as if reading off a teleprompter, continued, “Then what reason do you have to not be on the show? You’ve literally been voted the most eligible student bachelor at our school. If people hear that you’re on the show, they’ll flock to it to learn more about you.Campus Crushisn’t like your usual content. It’ll have quiet moments and heart-to-heart conversations that will give you space to be vulnerable and open, something you can’t do with your normal ‘unattainable cool dude’ online persona. Everyone will eat it up, and you’ll most likely end up with someone. Either because you meet them on the show or because a viewer will want to date you after seeing you open up, on-screen. It’ll be a win-win, either way.”
“Wait, did you take notes on me? And my content?”
Although he had many fans, no one had analyzed either him or his work as thoroughly as Mia had just now. Or at least, they’d never been brave enough to do it in front of his face. It was bold. Surprising, even. And it was the exact thing that made Noah wonder if he should take Mia more seriously, after all.
She opened her mouth to reply when someone coughed.
They both jumped and looked up to see a very tired-looking Dr. Thompson.
“Can you two please take this somewhere else?” the professor asked. “It’s 10:15 p.m., and I’m not allowed to leave students alone in this building at night.”
Noah blinked. Fifteen minutes had gone by, just like that.
“Noah, please,” Mia said, surprising him even more. “My friends and I worked hard on this show. I don’t want all of that to go to waste. At least give me a chance to continue this conversation somewhere else.”
Mia wasbegginghim now? The world was going to end before the clock struck midnight. He was sure of it.
Even so, Noah found himself saying, “All right. Let’s meet up sometime else then. To keep talking.”
There was no harm in meeting with her once, was there?
After shooting Dr. Thompson an apologetic look, he pulled up the Calendar app on his phone. “Just one moment. Sorry, Professor.”
Noah’s schedule was already full of big, ugly blocks that made up different facets of his life, from the monstrous chunks of time that film school classes required, late into the evening, to the hours he carved out for either the gym, his content, or the catch-up calls with his mom and brother back in Seoul.
“My calendar’s a mess...” Noah trailed off as Mia opened uphercalendar. It was somehow even more terrifying than his.
“How are you even alive?” he asked, in both horror and awe.
Mia shrugged. “My calendar.”
A grin threatened to make its way across his face. To any other person, the differently colored and sometimes even overlapping boxes of his own calendar would also seem nightmarish, when in reality, they were the keys to his survival, too.
Noah had entered into an alternate universe. He never thought he’d be able to relate to Mia.
Dr. Thompson coughed again.
“I can do Friday night at eight,” he told Mia. “You live on campus, right? By Carlisle Library, since you’re a first year? How about Ground Smoothie? I think it’s one of the few places on that side of campus that’s still open then.”
“Ground Smoothie? Where’s that?”
Noah smiled triumphantly. Finally, something Mia the Know It All didn’t know about. “Oh, you’ve never heard of it? I have to say, I’m surprised.”
Mia scowled. “Just tell me where it is.”
“It’s by C Dorm. They have good milkshakes and smoothies, but they also grind and brew their own coffee, hence the cursed name. If you don’t know where it is, I can send you a location pin—”
