Chapter Thirty-Four Mia
Chapter Thirty-Four
Mia
In the end, Mia and the other crew members had decided to do a vote. She’d abstained, and everyone else had unanimously chosen
to keep filming.
“We only have the finale left,” Kallie had said. “And they’re both adults. For all we know, Celine could be making out with
Kyle at an EDM show right now. I just don’t think it’s fair for everyone else to stop production now.”
They’d also asked the contestants, who pretty much said the same thing.
Mia knew everyone was right. Celine was most likely fine. But she still couldn’t shake off the guilt and worry that pressed down against her chest.
First Noah, and now Celine. Somehow, Mia had gone into the show with her crush and roommate and walked out with neither. And
not just on camera, but off, too.
Maybe the mistake was having my roommate and crush involved in the first place. Mia winced. But it wasn’t like she had a choice this time around. As a freshman, she’d had virtually no power. She promised
herself to only cast complete strangers for her next show. If she was ever allowed to have another one. Right now, with two
missing cast members, her chances were getting slimmer by the minute.
In her bed, Mia mentally went over what had happened yesterday. There were so many little interactions to sift through, to
turn over and over again like a rock in the palm of her hand. She went through everything that had transpired both on and
off screen, wondering if she could have somehow prevented things from happening the way they did.
She’d just drifted to sleep when her phone rang.
It was Celine.
Mia bolted out of bed.
Not wanting to wake up Kallie, she grabbed her phone and ran out of the room. Some part of her brain was still stuck in Big
Bear, so when she opened up the back door to a stunning view of the moon shining over the dark-blue waters of the Pacific
Ocean, Mia did a double take. This was something she could never see back home.
Breathing in the cool, salty air, Mia answered her phone. “Hi.”
“Hey,” Celine said. Mia could barely hear the other girl’s voice above the rush of people. Music blared nearby and, at first, Mia wondered if Kallie had been right and Celine really was at an EDM show. But then she heard sporadic car horns. So, Celine was outside. But where?
“I got your messages,” Celine continued. “All ten of them.”
After she had heard about Kyle’s plans for Las Vegas, Mia had spiraled and left Celine a broad spectrum of messages in the
last twelve hours, ranging from the quick and casual “Just checking in!” to the heavy-handed “Hey, please call me back so
I know you aren’t dead.”
In retrospect, they were all so embarrassing.
“Are you okay?” Mia asked. “You’re in a safe place, right? And you and Kyle didn’t elope?”
Celine laughed. “Wait, what? Of course not! He did ask me to be his girlfriend, but I told him it was way too soon. And I’m
okay!”
A loud car honk burst through from the other line. Mia jerked her phone away from her ear and brought it back in time to hear
a guy—Kyle?—laugh. Celine giggled and cheerily said, “Sorry! That was Kyle jaywalking. We just got out of a show and are headed
back to the car right now. Should get a lot less chaotic in a few minutes. Hold on.”
More loud voices and traffic noises ensued. Mia held her phone at a distance until she heard the car door slam shut. The background
noises subsided, and Celine yelled, “Be quiet, please! I’m having an important conversation with Mia on the phone!”
“Hello?” Mia asked. “What’s going on?”
“Hi, yes,” Celine said, her voice a lot more audible than before.
“I’m in the car now. Sorry, it’s been a wild twelve hours.
My phone died while we were at Big Bear, and after I dropped off my car back at school, Kyle drove us to a show in Vegas!
I thought everything would suck since we’re not twenty-one yet, but we’ve been finding a lot of fun eighteen-plus things to do, especially since it’s only a couple days until Christmas. ”
Celine sounded happier than she had all week. Somehow.
“That’s . . . good!” Mia did the math. The drive back from Big Bear to school was at least two hours, and then the drive to
Las Vegas was another four. And that was without factoring in SoCal traffic, which added even more time. To a “plan everything” type A individual like Mia, that kind of long-distance,
last-minute trip sounded like a nightmare. She always knew she and her roommate were different types of people, but she never
realized just how different they were from each other until now.
“Sorry I left you and everyone else in the dark,” Celine continued. “If I’m being completely honest, I didn’t think you’d
care that much. Considering we’re not exactly friends. But then I listened to all those voice messages . . . and I was surprised.”
Mia blinked. “You were?”
“Yeah. I mean, come on, you barely talked to me in the entire semester we lived together,” Celine said with a sharp laugh.
“You were always off doing cool film school things with your cool film school friends. You only really started chatting with me after I agreed to be on your show and got Noah involved.”
Mia looked down at the white sand beneath her feet, processing Celine’s words. It was true that she had always thought of
Celine as more of a “roommate” than a “friend.” But she was surprised to hear Celine’s side of things.
In Mia’s eyes, Celine had been the one that was almost never in their room, always going out to the coolest parties or hanging out with influencer
friends who would never give the time of day to dorky freshmen like herself. Until now, Mia had no idea that it went both ways. That while she was feeling left out by
Celine, Celine was feeling left out by her, too.
“I do care about you,” Mia said. “Roommate, friend, whatever. And I care that you’re happy and doing well.”
She told Celine about how she’d been feeling the past several months, and the other girl let out a long sigh.
“Being someone’s roommate isn’t easy, huh,” she replied. “But yeah, it’s okay. Now we know. And I’m fine! I’ve just been trying
to relax and have fun. This week has been hard. I thought I knew who I liked, and I thought I knew what kind of person he
was. I was so wrong on both counts. And to top it all off, I discovered that the roommate who invited me to be on her show actually has
a crush on the very same guy as me!”
Mia dropped her phone in the sand. After picking it up again, she asked, “Wait, what? How did you . . .”
Celine laughed. “Okay, so, at first, when you told me you knew Noah, you were so intense.
I was, like, wow, she must really hate him.
And while I was on your show, I got a sense that something was up, but I was too busy with my own drama with Noah to figure out what.
But after watching the show on our way to Vegas,
I realized that intensity is part of your dynamic with him. You hate each other, but you like each other just as much. Maybe
more. Either way, you two are obsessed and there are entire fan edits out there shipping you guys! I watched a few of those, too.”
“Oh no,” Mia groaned. She’d accidentally stumbled upon a couple on social media earlier today herself. It was all so embarrassing.
“Celine, I’m so sorry. While it’s true that I had a crush on Noah, I never thought it’d be reciprocated. I would have never
brought you and him onto the show otherwise.”
“Yeah, well . . . no real hard feelings. Because we both got what we wanted in the end. Don’t get me wrong, what happened
on the show was really awkward, and I’m glad we’re getting a few weeks off from living together during the break. But I’m also low-key grateful
because the show helped me realize that Noah isn’t the kind of guy I like at all. Kyle is.”
“Kyle?”
Celine giggled at Mia’s disbelief.
“Okay, I think you got a really bad impression of him from Noah,” Celine replied. “But he’s not that bad, I promise! He’s just a rebel, which I like! Kyle is what I thought Noah would be like in real life. Based on his social media, I mean.”
Mia made a face at the thought of Noah being like Kyle. She remembered what Noah said about Kyle wanting to be like him and
cleared her throat. “Well, even though you said it was okay, I’m still sorry for the mistakes I made. Really. I promise to
be a better roommate—and friend—next year.”
“Same here,” Celine replied. “I’m glad we’re having this conversation, honestly! We’ve talked more now than we did all semester.”
Mia winced. “Yeah, we should definitely fix that in the new year.”
“Agreed!”
Mia was thinking back to her conversations with Celine when she remembered an important detail. “Wait,” she said. “So are
you not going to see your family in China this year? The main reason I thought you were kidnapped or something was because
you said you already had plans for break.”
A few seconds later, Celine replied, “Oh, yeah, okay. I can see how that made you worry. But nah, that flight isn’t until
tomorrow. And I asked my parents if I could skip this time around. I love my family and all, but we go every year! I’d rather
hang out with Kyle.”
“And they just let you skip?” Mia’s mouth fell open in disbelief. Dropping out from a family trip and going to Las Vegas with a boy were both things her parents would never let her do. Her life and Celine’s were so different from top to bottom.
“Yeah,” Celine replied. “I mean, they don’t know I’m in Vegas right now. But I’m going back home at around noon to drop my
parents off at the airport, so everything should be fine. That reminds me. Could you please do me a favor and edit out any mention of Kyle and me going to Vegas? And about me going missing? Please, roommate to roommate?
I don’t want to get disowned.”
Mia grinned. “Sure. Not just roommate to roommate, but friend to friend. It’s the least I can do after everything I put you
through this week.”
“Thanks, Mia,” Celine replied. “You’re the best.”
Mia smiled. From her voice, she could tell the other girl was smiling too.
She was about to say bye when Celine said, “Oh, also. Mia? Now that we’ve cleared the air, can you tell Noah to please go back to LA? He and Kyle had a pretty intense dance-off at the concert we were at, and now I’m watching them try to one-up
each other outside of the car. I feel like I’m third wheeling on my own trip.”
“Wait, what? Noah is in Vegas right now? With you and Kyle?”
“Oh, I thought you knew! Yeah. He got here an hour ago, and he kept pestering us to tell you I’m okay. Which is why I called you as soon as we got out of the show. Whoa, Noah just did a backflip!”
Mia’s heart felt funny, jittery, and nervous in a way it’d never felt before.
“Okay,” she said. “I’ll call him right now. Thanks so much, Celine. For everything. Happy holidays and I’ll see you next year!”
“You, too!”
They hung up. After taking a few calming breaths that would make Jeannette proud, Mia called Noah.