Chapter Thirty-Three Noah
Chapter Thirty-Three
Noah
As luck would have it, the tow truck got to Noah in an hour. He’d had to rent another car for the week while his Jeep was
in the shop, but he was able to return to the fraternity house by sunset.
In the end, because of bad cell service, he hadn’t been able to get through more than the first five minutes of episode one
while waiting in his car. Now, he relished the power and speed of high-speed internet. The fraternity house was empty, like
it always was during the holidays, so Noah ordered pizza and queued up all four available episodes of The Cuffing Game onto the smart TV before throwing himself onto the living room couch.
Living out in the woods had been fun, up to a certain point. But it sure felt good to be back in civilization. He took a slow,
deep breath and pressed play.
From the very first second, Noah was enthralled.
Alex had done an amazing job, piecing together all the different moments from the past several days into extremely binge-worthy episodes.
This was Noah’s first time seeing himself—as himself—in long-form content.
It was painful how douchey he came off as in some scenes, even when he hadn’t meant to be a jerk. God, no wonder Mia had rejected him.
At some point, the pizza arrived, but Noah was so engrossed by the show that he almost forgot to bring it inside. When he
finally remembered, he devoured the food as he kept watching and laughed so much he almost choked on pepperoni when he saw
himself try to shovel.
When Matías cuffed with Jack, Noah got up on his feet, clapping and yelling, “Let’s go!” like he hadn’t witnessed the moment
in person. And during the most recently released episode, he paused his fight with Celine to book a session with the earliest
available therapist.
Jesus, he thought. I’m such a mess when I don’t edit myself.
What was amazing about the cameras was how they picked up on little details that he’d missed, even when he’d actually been
there at Big Bear himself. Like how Shirin and Tiana definitely liked each other as more than friends. And how, like Thad had said, Mia kept staring at him, especially in moments when Noah was looking away from her.
And apparently, he and Thad weren’t the only ones who noticed.
Can we talk about how the host is always either looking at Noah or looking at everyone but him? I’m obsessed.
HELLO, does Mia like Noah?? Are they secretly dating or what??
Just me on my nonexistent pipe dream Mia and Noah cuffle ship!
The comments weren’t all over the place. In fact, only a handful of people even mentioned Mia compared to the countless viewers
who talked about Noah, Celine, or the other contestants. But Noah felt hopeful just seeing they were there.
Fully spent after his emotional roller coaster of a day, Noah had finally gotten into bed when he noticed he’d received a
DM request from a @chismetias.
After sounding out the name in his head a couple of times, Noah opened the message.
chismetias: HEY IT’S MATíAS. FROM THE CUFFING GAME.
Noah grinned. Somehow, Matías texted exactly how he talked. Since the message had been from a couple hours ago, Noah replied
immediately.
noahdjang: hey, how are you? thanks for remembering to reach out.
chismetias: GOOD. AND YEAH, OF COURSE!!! WE SHOULD HANG OUT AFTER brEAK. I DON’T KNOW IF YOU HEARD BUT THERE’S A LITTLE SITUATION WITH THE SHOW. I WAS AT THE BEACH HOUSE EARLIER TODAY.
Noah had so many questions. Why was Matías at the beach house? And what was the situation? He responded with the best way
he could summarize his thoughts.
noahdjang: ?
chismetias: CELINE IS MISSING. AND SO IS KYLE. WE THINK THEY’RE IN VEGAS BUT WE’RE NOT SURE. EVERYONE IS REALLY WORRIED. MIA CRIED. THOUGHT
I SHOULD LET YOU KNOW. I WATCHED THE SHOW AND YOU SEEM TO LIKE HER. AND MAYBE ALSO CELINE???
Noah made a face at his phone. So many things were said in that one message that he didn’t know where to start. But most importantly . . .
Mia cried.
After thanking Matías and promising to hang out with him after break, Noah called Thad.
Thad answered on the first ring, like he always did. “Hello?”
“Hey,” he said. “Can you tell me Kyle’s phone number? And maybe also his address? Don’t tell anyone, but Celine is missing,
and we think she’s in Vegas with Kyle. You have his information on file somewhere, right? Since you were his Big.”
“Oh man,” Thad said. “He did mention he has some relatives in Vegas, although his parents are in LA. But I don’t think I’m allowed to share anything else beyond—”
“I graduate in a few months, so I don’t care,” Noah replied, matter-of-factly. “I’ll take full responsibility if we get into
trouble.”
Thad chuckled nervously. “All right then! We’re really doing this, huh? But if anyone asks . . .”
“We never had this conversation.”