Chapter Thirty-One Noah
Chapter Thirty-One
Noah
Noah hated everything. He hated the snow. The wind. And perhaps most significantly at this very moment, himself.
“I am, thanks,” he repeated his own words to Mia in a mocking way as he leaned his forehead on the steering wheel of his stalled Jeep.
The colorful row of rubber ducks on his dashboard smiled at him in a vaguely sinister way. Or maybe Noah was just tired.
His Jeep had all-season tires and snow chains, so Noah thought he’d be fine. But then a deer had crossed in front of him, and he’d swerved, driving off the
road and into the snow.
All things considered, Noah knew he’d been very lucky. His car could have easily veered into a tree or off a cliff. And fortunately,
he hadn’t been going fast enough to cause significant damage.
But he was stuck. He was miserable. And he just wanted to go home.
Thankfully, he’d charged his phone up before he left the lodge, so he’d been able to call for help.
A tow truck was on the way, but with no real ETA because of “a heightened number of accidents in the area.” Noah had heard about how dangerous the roads in the Big Bear area were during snowstorms. And he’d still decided to drive.
All because he’d wanted to run away from a girl.
What a loser, he thought.
Noah stretched his hands out in front of him as he thought about how Mia had grabbed him. And how he’d touched her cheek, before everything blew up in his face.
Even when he’d been mad at her, her touch had still felt nice. It was a new experience for him, not just liking but wanting to be touched by someone else.
Even when that someone hated him.
Noah was hopeless.
From everything that had happened this past week, and after everything he and Mia had talked about over the last couple of
days, he was now sure he needed therapy. Jae-hyun had first suggested it to him a couple years ago, claiming it’d “worked
wonders” and helped him move on from their “hellhole of a childhood.” But Noah had replied he was too busy. And he really
had been, back then. But now that he was about to graduate in a few months, things were a lot more chill. And he definitely
had plenty of time now, alone in his snowbound car.
He picked up his phone from where he’d tossed it on the passenger seat and started looking for therapists near Marlon. He had only one bar of cell service, and it seemed unable to decide if it wanted to stick around, so he didn’t make much progress before he got a call from Thad.
“Bro. Bro!” Thad’s voice was distorted from the bad cell service, but Noah could still make out what he was saying. “Wow,
you’re finally picking up! I’ve been trying to call you all week! Are you still in the game?”
Noah frowned. “What game?”
“The Cuffing Game! The show you’re on!”
Ah. So, Thad had been watching.
“I’m not in it anymore,” he said. “I’m actually on my way back home.”
“Oh, bummer. I’m sure you gave it your all, though. Everyone in Alpha Tau has been talking about it these past few days.”
Noah raised his eyebrows. He’d never thought Thad—or anyone in his fraternity, really—would be the type to watch reality TV
shows. But he stood corrected.
“Wow, you guys must really be into it,” Noah said.
“It’s so good! I’m pretty sure everyone who goes to Marlon watches it now, especially after the show made college sports headlines
when Jack came out. Even my parents are watching it with me. All I’ve been doing this Aspen trip is ski and watch The Cuffing Game.”
That meant everyone and their mom—literally—was going to watch Noah’s little freak-out, if they hadn’t seen it already. He
groaned, leaning back into his seat.
“Hey,” Thad continued. “So—”
The line went dead. In the sudden quiet, Noah’s heart still pounded in his ears. The whole conversation had been stressful, but he also didn’t want to leave his friend hanging. He sighed and called him again when the tiny bar was back.
“Sorry, lost service. I’m back now, though.”
“Wait, lost service? I was wondering why your voice sounded so weird. Where are you?”
“Long story,” Noah said.
“Um, okay. Are you all right, though?”
Noah stared out his windshield, at where his car was half-submerged in snow. “Yeah,” he lied.
“Anyway, who is this Mia chick? Does she like you or something? She keeps staring at you in every episode. Like, I know she’s the host but—damn, she glared at you right now! Sorry, I started watching the new episode they
just uploaded.”
Noah froze. “What do you mean?”
“Huh? Well, apparently something happened last night so they had to delay—”
“No, about Mia. What did you mean, she stares at me?”
He had noticed Mia looking at him a few times here and there throughout the last few days. But had it really been that much? His
heart still stung from her rejection today. He wasn’t sure he could take any false hope.
“Oh man,” Thad replied. “Listen. This is something you have to see for yourself. Is your cell service good enough to watch
the show?”
“Probably not.”
“Okay, well, just trust me and watch the show whenever you get the chance.”
Thad sounded so confident, enough that it piqued Noah’s curiosity. “All right,” he said. “I’ll talk to you later.”
“See ya,” Thad replied. “Have fun!”
Noah hung up. After bookmarking the webpage of therapists, he searched for The Cuffing Game. Blood rushed to his face as the screen slowly loaded with all the different results.
Thad was right. The show had become really popular. Not only did the show already have entire articles and its own subreddit, but a couple of episodes themselves had several hundred thousand views.
It was going to take forever to load up the episodes with his fickle service.
But luckily, Noah had plenty of time.