Page 68 of The Cuffing Game
Violet turned to look at Alex, who shrugged.
“I encouraged her to go after the person she liked,” they said, glancing back and forth at everyone. “Was I not supposed to do that?”
“Oh yeah,” said Kallie. “I was filming that. I thought it was super cute.”
Damien groaned. “Technically, we’re not supposed to interfere... but I honestly don’t care what happens at this point.” He raised his eyebrows at Noah and Mia before clearing his throat. “Contestants, please go back to your rooms and wait for the morning announcements. Crew... please come with me to the production room for a brief meeting before we officially get started with the day.”
“Good luck,” Noah whispered to Mia. Before she had a chance to respond, he walked back inside the lodge.
The production room was even more of a mess than usual, with candy wrappers and snack bags strewn across the floor.
“Sorry,” said Alex as they went around picking up some of the trash. “Damien and I were stress eating.”
Damien sat at his desk. Interlacing his fingers with each other, he cleared his throat and stared right into Mia’s eyes.
“Mia,” he simply said.
Mia looked at all her friends, one by one. “First of all, I’m so sorry about last night,” she said. “I had no idea the snow was going to start up again. I didn’t mean to abandon y’all like that, I swear.”
Kallie shrugged. “I’m just glad you and Noah are safe.”
Damien and Alex nodded.
“And before anyone asks,” Mia added before anyone else could respond. “Nothing happened last night. Really. I slept in the living room. Noah slept in the bedroom. And we just talked.”
Damien sat back in his seat. Mia’s thoughts raced as he met eyes with Alex, an unspoken message passing between them.
“Something did happen last night,” Alex blurted out. “Well, here at the lodge, I mean. Damien and I are officially dating!”
Kallie and Mia gasped.
Kallie looked shocked, but Mia almost burst from joy. Finally! Her instincts had been right after all. Somethinghadbeen going on between Damien and Alex.
“Wait, what happened last night while I was gone?” Mia asked. “Besides the stress eating.”
“Well...” Alex glanced at Damien. “Do you want to tell them, babe? Or should I?”
“Babe!” Mia and Kallie shrieked.
Damien covered his ears. “I’ll do it,” he said. He sighed and rubbed his face with his hands before continuing, “Basically, I was having a nervous breakdown. About being behind schedule, about what I should tell the SPC if one of you went missing for good, what I should do if one—or both—of you ended updead...”
Mia winced. “Sorry,” she said. “I tried to text whenever I could.”
“And I appreciated that. Truly,” replied Damien. “And, like Kallie said, the most important thing is that you and Noah made it back safely. But yes, I was stressing and Alex...”
He looked to Alex, who nodded and took over.
“I was freaking out, too,” they said. “Because for the first time since we got to Big Bear, I couldn’t finish editing the episode! Since we still need to film the final cuffings. And I had nothing left to edit after dinner.”
Mia scrunched up her face. “Wait, you were freaking out because youdidn’thave anything to do?” she asked. “Isn’t not having work a good thing?”
“I’m a workaholic, okay? Most editors are. But no, not in this instance. I knew it would mess with the postproduction schedule, and then I worried about how I should organize the episode when there are two separate days of filming instead of one...”
Kallie narrowed her eyes, like she was trying to solvea challenging math problem. “Okay, so,” she cut in, “to summarize... you two were both freaking out... and then you kissed? Wow, so much happened after I went to bed last night!”
Damien buried his face in his hands for a couple beats before saying, “I hate that it can be so easily condensed like that. But yes. I think I’ve liked Alex for a while now, but I never realized it until we roomed together and were together almost every day.”
Mia gasped, remembering how Damien had been so grumpy whenever Alex swooned over Noah’s posts. Now it all made sense.
