Chapter Twenty-Four Mia
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 felt lightheaded.
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 a romantic day 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.
“Children,” Damien said under his breath. But the slight smile on his lips told Mia he thought this moment was adorable, too.
This was the nature of reality TV, she was beginning to realize. You set the rules and gave people instructions, but in the
end, they did what they wanted anyway. And sometimes, they did things that were much better than you originally planned.
Mia had barely attempted to think positively when she caught sight of something that almost made her heart leap out of her
chest.
“Damien!” she hissed. “Zoom in on Tiana and Shirin.”
While Carlos and Violet were off to one side, continuing to roll a big ball for the snowman’s torso, Shirin and Tiana were rolling a smaller one for the head.
As the girls worked, their hands brushed together, too many times to be accidental.
They laughed, staring into each other’s eyes with the sort of heat that threatened to melt their snowman before he could even stand.
Mia’s ship was finally sailing. Just not how she thought it would. She smiled and rested her chin in her hands.
Her head still woozy with secondhand euphoria, Mia was looking around to see how everyone else was doing when she realized
someone was missing. Or rather, multiple someones.
“Wait,” she whispered to Damien. “Where’s Noah? Or Celine and Kyle?”
She glanced around at all four corners of the clearing. But all she could see were trees, snow, and more trees.
From behind the camera, Damien shot her a concerned look.
“Is your walkie-talkie muted?” Mia hissed.
He nodded.
Mia grabbed her walkie-talkie, rushing away so the contestants’ lav mics wouldn’t pick up on her voice.
“Does anyone have eyes on Noah? Over,” she asked. “And Celine. And Kyle. Over.”
Alex’s response came first. “Shit, did we lose all of them? Over.”
Mia looked around, her stomach lurching when she realized she couldn’t find Kallie either.
“Wait, where are you, Kallie? Over.”
There was a long pause. Mia’s body began to tremble from head to toe. Somehow, her worst nightmare had come true, and she hadn’t realized it until it was too late.
She was about to tell Alex to call for help when her walkie-talkie crackled back to life.
“Hi,” Kallie said. “I’m with all of them right now, over. About a ten-minute walk north of the clearing.”
Mia breathed a big sigh of relief. They were fine. She freaked out for nothing.
But then Kallie continued, “I think Noah and Kyle are about to fight. Mia, come quick!”