Chapter Twenty-Eight Mia
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Mia
Mia drove them back to the lodge as soon as the roads were safe. Compared to how scary the drive had been the previous night,
in the early morning light, it was nice. Pretty, even. Golden sunlight streamed down through the trees as they drove on the
newly plowed roads. Mia even felt comfortable enough to speed a little, which earned her a “slow down, partner” from Noah.
She glared at him at the next stoplight. “You know people in Texas don’t actually talk like that, right? Or at least not the
people I know.”
He gave her a mischievous grin. “My only exposure to Texas has been old westerns. And you.”
Mia groaned. “Most of the old westerns weren’t even shot in Texas!”
For the rest of the car ride, Mia gave Noah a condensed summary of a fifteen-page essay she’d written this past semester about
the “Hollywood-ification” of Texas. It pretty much all boiled down to “everything you see is a lie” and “that’s actually California
or Arizona.”
When she finished, he rested his chin on his hands and said, “Fascinating,” like he really was pondering the fact that John Wayne was an Iowan who had never lived in Texas. It was a cute gesture, one that almost brought a smile to Mia’s lips.
The lodge was completely silent when they arrived, and so were the surrounding woods covered by the heavy snow. If everyone’s
cars hadn’t still been parked in front of the house, Mia would have thought they had all left.
She carefully parked Kallie’s SUV behind Damien’s. As Noah grabbed the now half-empty bag from the back seat, Mia’s eyes lingered
on his hands, thinking about how he’d placed them on her shoulders the previous night.
Noah’s gentle but firm fingers had surprised Mia and, of course, she couldn’t forget about what had happened by the door . . .
She shook her head as heat started rushing into her cheeks. She had to focus on the shooting day ahead.
In the early hours of the morning, Damien had texted her a revised production schedule for the rest of the show. Luckily,
they’d had the foresight to schedule today as a travel day. When Kallie and Damien first suggested it, Mia had been hesitant
to include the buffer, worried that it’d slow down the pace of the show. But now she was grateful for her friends’ wisdom.
She always was.
Besides the catch-up work they had to film, edit, and upload yesterday’s episode onto the SPC YouTube channel, all they had to do was drive down to their beach house rental.
As they got out of the car, Mia sneaked a glance at Noah. From what she’d heard from both Celine and Noah, it didn’t look
like that cuffle was going to survive past today. Celine would undoubtedly pair up with Kyle, but where would that leave Noah?
For the first time, Mia worried he would be voted off the show. An uncomfortable feeling settled in her stomach.
They’d reached the front door when Mia heard it: the faint burbling of water.
Noah frowned, hearing it too.
“Is there a hot tub nearby?” he asked.
“There’s one in the backyard, but it’s been covered up all week,” Mia replied. “Unless . . .”
They glanced at each other with wide eyes before heading to the back of the lodge.
In the now very much uncovered hot tub, Carlos and Violet were making out, their bodies faintly illuminated by the tub’s lights.
Thankfully, they were wearing swimsuits. But they might as well not have.
A small squeak escaped from Mia’s lips. The effect was immediate.
“What the—” Carlos whirled around, so quickly that he almost slipped. Violet screamed. Noah burst out laughing.
“Sorry! Sorry!” Mia exclaimed, waving her hands back and forth. “I promise we both just got here. We didn’t see anything, I swear. Well, besides the kissing, but that can stay a secret if—”
“What in the world is going on?”
Damien came running out into the yard, followed closely by Alex and Kallie. Damien was in sweats, like he’d just been working
out, while Alex and Kallie were still in their pajamas. Kallie was carrying a camera, obviously recording.
Noah laughed even harder, bending over with his hands on his knees. Mia could have sworn she saw a tear leak from the corner
of his eye.
Carlos and Violet stood up in the hot tub, dripping wet.
“Noah, I can explain,” Violet started.
Noah straightened, finally growing serious. “No need. I’m completely fine with this. In fact, I’m happy for you guys. I’m
the one who abandoned you first.”
Violet gave him a grateful smile. “Okay, thanks.”
Carlos looked directly at the camera.
“It feels so good!” he exclaimed with a big smile. “Finally being wanted by someone.”
“We need to talk to Carlos about not breaking the fourth wall,” Damien whispered to Mia.
She smiled as Violet said, “You can say that again. I can’t remember the last time someone liked me back!”
Mia resisted the urge to say “aw” out loud. She was genuinely happy for them.
“But also,” Carlos said, “I’m freezing!” He sat back into the swirling hot water. “Maybe we should go back inside and shower.”
Kallie stopped recording and approached the two contestants as they got out of the tub.
“I started filming before I left the lodge, just in case,” she said. “But I wanted to double-check. Are you guys okay with
this hot tub scene appearing in the episode?”
Carlos and Violet looked at each other and shrugged.
“Yeah,” Violet said. “It’s not like we did anything besides kiss. And by the time you came out, we weren’t even doing that.
I’m surprised you guys didn’t come out earlier, since . . .”
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. Something had been 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 up dead . . .”
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 you didn’t have 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 solve a 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.
Alex grinned widely. “Yup, and I’ve always been kind of intimidated by him, but only because he’s so perfect.”
Damien’s eyes widened before he covered his face with his hands again.
Kallie snickered and Mia burst out laughing.
“I’m so happy for y’all!” Mia exclaimed. She threw her arms out by her sides, and they all came together in a big group hug.
“Sorry for the reason behind it,” she continued, “but I hope you feel better about everything now. And that the catch-up work
isn’t too bad.”
Alex gave her a pained look. “I doubt it. But thanks, Mia. Luckily the SPC was pretty chill about us uploading this episode later than usual. No one’s in the office right now, but Carl—he’s one of the staff members I was able to reach over email—just told me to submit whenever I can today before we leave Big Bear.
He’s already put up an announcement on social media that there were some production delays with this episode. ”
“Oh, I know Carl,” Damien remarked. “He used to be one of my TAs. Nice guy, albeit a very hard grader.”
Mia nodded. “Well, I didn’t bring much,” she said. “So it won’t take long for me to pack my bag. If anyone needs an extra
pair of hands today before we leave, I’m all yours.”
Damien gave her an appreciative nod, while Alex said, “Thanks, Mia.”
“Now that we’ve all caught up, we should get started for today,” Kallie said. “The quicker we film the cuffings, the faster
we can finish and upload the episode, right?”
“Agreed,” Damien replied. “Let’s do the announcements. Ready, Mia?”
“Yup.” Mia bit her lip.
She had no idea what was going to happen at today’s cuffing, but all she could do now for Noah and the other contestants was
wish them luck.