Reasons To Love A Nerd Like Me (10th Anniversary Edition)

Chapter 15 ~ A Rooftop Meeting

It wasn't long before the lights darkened and Olive took to the stage for the last time. The atmosphere was tense. "Hello again everyone! The judges scores have now been added to the audience vote and the results are in... The talent tonight has been exceptional and it was so close between all of the acts, but there can only be one winner. The band moving forward to the showcase night in April is..."

There was a huge pause and I could feel everyone in the audience collectively hold their breath in anticipation. I crossed my fingers tightly, willing Olive to announce the rightful winner."...THE NIGHT BIRDS!"

The whole room burst into rapturous applause and cheering. I'm fairly sure I was cheering the loudest of all. Vincent and Alexis jumped onto the stage from behind the scenes, whooping triumphantly. Alexis pushed Olive out of the way and clutched hold of her microphone. "Thank you SO MUCH Havensdale, this means the world to us! You guys ROCK!"

Olive snatched the microphone back from her. "Yes, well, thank you Alexis... Congratulations..."

I got the feeling that they weren't supposed to be onstage making a speech, but they had decided they were going to do it anyway. Olive took the sudden invasion in her stride. "Do you have anything you'd like to say, Vincent?"

He leaned into the microphone and looked directly into the crowd. "Cheers."

Olive waited for him to continue, but Vincent didn't elaborate. She brought the mic back to her own mouth. "Um, OK so there we have it folks! The Night Birds! Well done guys, you were brilliant. And congratulations to everyone else too."

Vincent and Alexis bounded off the stage, hugging each other in celebration. I felt a twinge of jealousy to see Vincent rubbing Alexis's shoulders in such a close way, but my feelings of happiness for the both of them outweighed any negative emotion. After all, I'd been invited to meet him on the rooftop! That had to be a good sign.

As the evening came to a close and the crowd died down, I could hear a small chorus of booing from the back of the room. Patricia appeared to be drunk from Taylor's contraband alcohol and was shouting out her disapproval along with one of the girls from Cherry. Talk about being a sore loser. "BOOO! BOOOO! What a FIX! We demand a RECOUNT!"

I saw one of the drama teachers escort her sharply out of the auditorium. She was whining the whole way. Looks like someone had just ruined her perfect record... Patricia's friends stomped out after her, but I couldn't see any sign of Taylor. Of course, he always managed to wriggle out of trouble one way or another.

We filed out, chatting eagerly about the night's events. Yasmin and Sayed asked me if I wanted to grab a post-gig milkshake with them at the 24-hour café nearby.

"As much as I would love to," I replied, "I have somewhere to be..."

I weaved gingerly through the crowd, toward the staircase that led to the rooftop. My whole body was pulsating like I had swallowed an entire swarm of butterflies. I had been waiting so long for this moment that it barely felt real now that it was finally here.

Taking a deep breath, I climbed the stairs...

---

The night air was brisk and I pulled my jacket tightly around myself as I waited. There were a couple of students dotted around, but I think most people had headed straight out as soon as the show had ended. I leaned against the wall which ran along the edges of the roof. It was tall enough to stop anyone from falling to their death, but I was still able to see over the top of it to the beautiful scenery down below. Above me was a sea of stars and underneath their glow was an endless stream of city lights. Looking out into the night made me feel like anything was possible.

I felt a warm presence beside me. "Decent view isn't it?"

Vincent stood next to me, lighting a cigarette. He blew a trail of smoke into the darkened sky. "Sorry Specs, I keep meaning to quit, but I thought I deserved one of these tonight."

I laughed as my heart gave an excited leap. "You really do. Vincent you guys were... just incredible."

He turned to me and gazed intensely into my eyes. "Now you're not just saying that, right? You promised to be honest if we were no good."

"I absolutely promise. I think your songs are so well-written and your voice... it's so rich and luscious. I could listen to it forever."

The words tumbled out of my mouth before I could stop them. Luscious?! What was wrong with me?! Vincent didn't seem to mind though. "Thanks, Scotty. I appreciate it."

We stood in silence for a few moments. Vincent's body was close to mine and our arms were touching. The night was cold, but I was heating up at an alarming rate.

"I bet you can't wait for the showcase night," I said finally, breaking the silence even though it wasn't exactly uncomfortable.

Vincent took another drag of his cigarette. "Yeah, it's exciting. I didn't think we'd actually get through. That first band was pretty great."

"You were better," I said.

Vincent didn't answer, but I saw a coy smile flicker across his lips. He blew more smoke out into the sky.

"I don't think Taylor's crowd took it too well," I added with a chuckle.

Vincent stubbed the end of his cigarette out on the top of the wall. "I heard them booing. It was like music to my ears. That stupid kid and his idiot friends are an insult to humanity." He turned to me. "Has he left you alone? I meant what I said, you can talk to me."

I gave a bashful nod. Vincent's eyes were like two spotlights burning into my soul. "Yeah, he has. I've barely even seen him since you... well, you know... the whole mop water thing."

Vincent looked out to the night sky. His body was still electrically close to mine. "I shouldn't have done that really, but I'm glad it helped you."

"Why did you?" I found myself blurting out. "Help me I mean. No one else has ever stuck up for me like that."

"Because," Vincent replied carefully, "you're a good person Scotty and you don't deserve shit like that. It makes me angry that anyone would want to hurt you."

My pulse was racing as the words sunk in. "What do you mean a good person?"

Vincent turned back to me again, looking sincerely into my face. "You see the best in everyone. And you're always so damn happy all the time, even when things are going tough for you. You know exactly who you are and what you want to do in life. You're basically the total opposite of me. A moody, horrible person who has no idea where they're going."

He laughed out loud, but his words were tinged with melancholy. He really believed that about himself and it made me feel sad.

"I don't think you're a horrible person. I think you're the coolest guy I've ever met. And the kindest, even though you don't always like to show it..."

My words hung in the air, weaving a bubble around us. Vincent opened his mouth to reply, but then stopped himself and just looked at me, his eyes warm and deep. Our hands resting on the wall were so close that our knuckles were brushing together.

Moments went by where we said nothing, just stared intensely at one another. I felt Vincent's fingers gently rubbing against my own, so lightly I wasn't sure if it was just my imagination or not. All I wanted to do was lean over and kiss him. Slowly, I edged myself a tiny bit closer and perhaps it was wishful thinking, but he seemed to be edging closer too...

"HIIIIGHWAY TO HELL!!!"

I jumped out of my skin as Vincent's phone started blaring an old rock song ring-tone from his jacket pocket. The spell was broken. He fumbled around to find it, pulling his hand away from mine in the process.

"Crap, I thought I put this on silent." He hung up on the caller then glanced at me. "It's just Alexis. She can wait a second."

My stomach churned at the mention of her name. It was like she was intent on ruining anything good that might ever happen between me and Vincent. Before I could stop myself, I began vocalising my inner thoughts. "Why are you even friends with that girl? She's so rude."

Vincent paused as he fished another cigarette from his pocket. "Yeah, she can be a bit of a handful... But don't judge her too harshly Specs, she's not so bad."

Not so bad?! I was tempted to tell him about her dragging me into the girl's loos to rant psychotically at me the other week, but I didn't want to start speaking too much out of turn. After all, she was part of his band and it was their big night. It didn't feel like the right moment to go telling tales.

Vincent inhaled deeply then blew a big mouthful of smoke up into the sky, tilting his head toward the stars. "We used to date actually."

He uttered the phrase so nonchalantly that it didn't quite hit me at first. "Who used to date?"

"Me and Alexis," he said.

"Oh," I replied.

There it was. The thing that I had crammed to the back of my mind. The thing that I had whitewashed over and convinced myself wasn't true despite the fact that really, deep down, I had known it all along.

"F...for how long?"

Vincent shrugged. "About a year or so."

This was my cue to ask him what had happened, but I didn't want to know. Just the thought of the two of them together was so heartbreaking that my whole body was starting to shake. "It's um... I'm getting a bit cold up here. I think I'll head back down."

I had never felt so stupid in my whole life. Of course Vincent Hunter was into girls! Into Alexis! Why would I ever think that he would have feelings for me?! He was clearly as straight as an arrow and all the little signs I thought I had seen were just me deluding myself. Olive had warned me all along that this would happen. I felt like such a fool.

"Specs, you OK?"

"Yeah, I'm fine... I just really better get going, it's getting late..."

I turned my back to walk away, hoping that Vincent wouldn't notice the tears that had suddenly formed in my eyes.