Page 57 of The Cuffing Game
Maybe she’d been location scouting that night but didn’t want to tell me,Noah thought.
Her dedication continued to amaze him.
The sunlight streaming down through the branches warmed Noah’s face. Feeling hot, he unbuttoned his coat and caught sight of Mia glancing in his direction. When he met her gaze, she quickly looked away.
They soon came to a clearing with some trails leading deeper into the woods. An untouched layer of snow covered the ground, and Noah overheard Carlos say to Tiana, “This is perfect snowman-building snow, right here!”
“Yes, build that snowman!” Mia exclaimed. “Have a snowball fight. You can do whatever you guys want. I’ll be here, behind the cameras, if anyone needs me.”
With that, she walked to the back of the clearing, giving all the contestants some space.
Carlos and Tiana started rolling snow into a ball, and before Noah could see where Celine and Kyle went, Violet pointed at one of the paved trails and said, “Hey, do you want to go for a walk over there?”
“Sure.” Noah followed Violet, searching for Celine andKyle as they went. The other cuffle was nowhere in sight.
“You know, as a kid, I thought snow was reindeer poop,” Violet suddenly said.
“Wait, what?” Noah snapped to attention to see that Kallie was currently recording both him and Violet. From behind the camera, Kallie gave him a look that saidWhat are you doing?
Noah winced. Right. The date. With a smile, he looked back at Violet. “And why did you think that?”
Violet smiled back, but there was the faintest bit of hurt in her eyes. She’d noticed he’d been distracted. Guilt crawled up inside of him, and Noah turned his body to give her his undivided attention.
“Don’t get me wrong,” she continued. “This was when I was young. Like, not even five. My older brother convinced me that snow was whatever fell on the ground whenever Santa and his reindeer were flying overhead. In my defense, it always snows around Christmas where I’m from, so it made sense to my four-year-old brain.”
“That’s adorable,” Noah replied.
Part of him wished he could stay here like this, listening to Violet’s stories about her childhood and just having a peaceful day with her. But the knowledge that Kyle was out there, somewhere in the woods with Celine, pressed down on his shoulders like a heavy weight.
I have to find them, quick,Noah thought,so I can give Violet my full attention after I’ve dealt with Kyle.
“I felt so stupid when I found out my brother was lying tome this entire time,” Violet went on. “But now, I think it’s cute too. Because of that, whenever I see snow...”
There.Past Violet’s head, at the far edge of the clearing, Noah spotted Celine and Kyle walking down the trail that led deeper into the woods. And after Mia explicitly told them to stay close too. Not even five minutes in, and Kyle was already breaking the rules.
“Sorry,” Noah said. “I’ll be right back. I just need to take care of something first.”
Before Violet could even reply, he took off running after Celine and Kyle.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Mia
What had started as a peaceful day out in the snow quickly became... not that.
Just a few minutes into his date with Tiana, Carlos abandoned the big ball of snow they’d been rolling to throw himself, back first, onto the ground, spraying white powder in all directions. Tiana shrieked, and Damien cursed under his breath as the snow hit his camera.
“LA native here,” Carlos said. Mia wasn’t sure who he was talking to. Tiana? The camera? “This is the most snow I’ve ever seen in my life!”
Damien wiped the lens clean carefully, then resumed recording as Carlos swooped his arms and legs up and down in the snow.
With a laugh, Tiana joined in, and so did Shirin and Violet. The four contestants let out loud whoops as they made snow angels. The big smiles on their faces made Mia smile, too.
As happy as she was to see them have fun, Mia also feltlightheaded. It felt like the Earth’s axis had shifted under her feet, like it often did for her when things didn’t go according to plan. This whole snow day was supposed to be aromanticday for the cuffles. Not whatever this was. Shirin wasn’t even supposed to be joining in with the rest of the contestants!
But at the same time, she had to admit the present moment was cute. Wholesome, even. A nice change of pace from the structured days they’d had in the past week. Maybe they all just needed a small break.
Damien came to stand next to Mia, his camera still pointed at the contestants as they stopped making snow angels to resume the snowman Carlos and Tiana had started.
