Page 136 of Talk Nerdy To Me
“I don’t even know what the last half of that meant, but that may be the single most amazing moment of my entire life,” Randy says as he just stares at the door.
Mom fans herself as she grins. “Now that’s a man. I may have formed a different opinion about artists if I’d met him in my wilder days,” she overshares.
“Sitting right here,” I remind her.
She nods. “I know. I’d have been perfect for him back then. Artists are free spirits. He said that’s why he and his daughters’ mother didn’t work out—two free spirits. I could have learned to be his anchor,” she goes on.
I lift my head, studying her as she glances back over at me, giving me a tight smile.
“I’d say let’s celebrate with champagne, but you look like you’re hurting too much for that right now. This is happening, Base. Differently than planned, but it’s happening all the same,” she goes on. “It’s okay to celebrate.”
I clear my throat and nod before I stand.
“Actually, I think I’m going to put some words to some music,” I tell her as I walk out.
“I’m going to go fucking practice until my fingers start to hurt,” Randy says as he scrambles by me, practically knocking me out of the way.
“Yeah, I’ll skip the champagne for now, Ms. Bee, but I’ll take you up on it another time,” Sticks calls as I hear the familiar clanking of drumsticks.
I head into my room, hearing Taylor suddenly burst out a loud, “Whooooooooooooo!”
I lift my guitar, eyes flicking to the mirror, before I hit the first note.
Sticks pokes his head inside the door before stepping in, and he leans against it as he twirls a drumstick between his fingers.
“What?” I ask, tuning the strings.
“We spent our whole lives trying to get to this step, and spent five minutes changing the entire course of our lives because your girl called in a favor. I’d like to hate myself for it, but it feels too fucking stupid to walk away from something this rare,” he says.
I nod, completely getting it. “Suck it up. No one would pass it up, and they’d be lying if they said they would. If it pans out, we’ve achieved the goal, and we’ll sure as fuck earn it.”
He makes a snort, his lips kicking up in a grin on one side.
“You said we’d make new goals when we made it through this one—to keep us from feeling like we’ve hit our peak. This one was supposed to take a lot longer, even after we got our foot in the door.”
I nod slowly.
“What’s the new goal?”
“Three months,” I answer without hesitation.
“Three months what?” he asks.
I glance up. “We do whatever in the hell Vince fucking Jaggons himself tells us to do for three months. We’ll see where that gets us, while we just focus on making the music right,” I answer.
His grin steadily grows.
“After that?” he asks.
“You have three months to figure that out. Because that’s when I get selfish and go for the girl,” I tell him as I scoot back on the bed. “I have three months to figure out a way how to be the guy who fucking deserves the girl who gets back at him by hand-delivering his fucking dream in a way he couldn’t possibly refuse. She walked away at the airport because she was already in the process of fixing me.”
I have to clear my throat again, and he clanks his drumsticks together on accident.
“Good luck with that. You’re Britt Sterling’s first love and now her first heartbreak,” he reminds me, sounding a little annoyed with me. “Wards of the state usually have strong abandonment issues.”
“I’ll take all the luck I can get, but I do have a plan,” I assure him as I start toying with a new melody that’s playing in my head.
“You’re not going to break into her house and take pictures of her sleeping, are you? I doubt she’d find it cute anymore,” he cautions.
I glare over at him.
“I’m not an idiot.”
“That’s debatable,” he’s quick to point out.
I don’t even argue with that.
