Chapter Twenty-One Noah
Chapter Twenty-One
Noah
Despite going to bed much earlier than he had in the last few days, Noah couldn’t sleep. Without Matías, the room was now
completely still and quiet. Too quiet. He missed his roommate’s booming voice and easy laughter. Hell, he even missed Matías’s airplane snores.
It’d been so easy to forget that they were in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by snow and trees, with Matías around. But
now, Noah was alone in this room with nothing but his thoughts to keep him company.
Usually when he couldn’t sleep, Noah would look at his phone and scroll aimlessly until his vision blurred. He knew this wasn’t
something that was medically advised, but it weirdly helped him. Most of the time.
What would Mia do if I tried to take my phone back? Noah smirked just thinking about Mia’s extreme look of outrage. Her reactions were always so dramatic, overtaking her face
and sometimes even her whole body. They were hilarious. She was hilarious.
If it’d just been him and Mia, he would have definitely attempted a grand heist of some sort.
But since it wasn’t, he stayed in bed. The last thing he wanted to do was derail the show.
He had real respect for the crew, Mia included, and he’d hate to ruin all the time, hard work, and money they were putting into The Cuffing Game.
He wished he’d brought a book like Matías had. Sure, he had his music, but it wasn’t the same. And if he was being honest,
Noah couldn’t remember the last time he’d read a physical book. He usually just read Korean web novels or webtoons on his
phone.
I bet Mia reads physical books, he thought. And stopped himself. Why was Mia constantly popping up in his head today?
Rolling over onto his side, Noah forced himself to think about his date with Celine, something he’d avoided thinking about
ever since they got back from the slopes. Compared to how bad the beginning had been, the end had been decent. Even though
they didn’t talk much, they’d still shared a brief kiss—initiated by Celine—during the car ride back. Which was nice. Sort
of.
Everything else about their date, though, gave him pause. Celine had barely made an effort to talk to him. And for what? Because
he couldn’t shovel snow?
Maybe she just hadn’t been feeling great yesterday. Or maybe Noah had done something wrong. Or maybe it really was the skis,
all in all. He hated guessing. Why did he have to do so much guessing?
Wanting to clear his head, Noah got up and went downstairs.
The house was silent, like it had been the other night when he’d talked with Mia. But this time, Noah’s attention didn’t stray
anywhere else. As if in a trance, he made a beeline for the firepit, coming to his senses only after he’d stepped outside
into the frigid night and realized he’d forgotten his coat.
A sigh escaped from Noah’s lips. He sat down at the pit and lit the fire.
What was he doing? He and Mia had sat at the firepit one time. Not twice. Not thrice. But once. Mia had even told him that her walking out in the woods was a one-time thing.
And yet, he’d somehow ended up here, by himself, staring at the lodge and wishing a girl in a pink puffer jacket would somehow
magically appear in the doorway.
He wanted to talk to Mia and hear her thoughts on Matías and Jack, on Celine, on everything.
Noah doubted Mia would ever call him a friend. But he also wasn’t sure if they were still enemies like they had been back
at school. What he did know was that he had genuinely enjoyed his time with her the previous night. And from the way she’d
smiled and laughed while they talked, he thought Mia had too.
But maybe it’d all just been in his head.