How to Date a Nerd

Chapter 8 - Chugging Fest for the Broken Hearts

Chuck and Reed Ferguson waited inside Gil’s in our usual table at the very back of the diner. I pulled my beanie down and straightened my T-shirt, running a hand over it, trying to check if my body parts were still intact. Seriously, I didn’t expect to make it down town in one piece.

As we entered the swivelling glass doors, the wind chimes on top of it clinked. The interiors of Gil’s had a cosy feel about it, with the two-seater cushioned chairs around the narrow wooden tables. Incandescent lamps were propped on the wooden walls, accentuated by several abstract artworks. Nathan was grinning widely, obviously too pleased that he managed to not crash into anything or hit anyone. Apparently, he learned how to drive from Need for Speed in Wii.

“Dude,” Chuck, the younger of the two, not to mention, the slightly skinnier one, waved at us as we made our way to them. For some reason, he always wore a jacket, even in summer. “So, you’re finally out of the hospital,” he said to me.

Beside him, Reed sniggered gulping from his beer bottle. “What kind of question’s that? He’s here. Of course he’s out of the hospital.”

Chuck just furrowed his brows and grunted angrily. “Pssh. Not asking a question, bro.”

“Right…” he rolled his eyes and turned to me and Nathan as we parked ourselves on the two-seater lounging chair. “Drink up.” He pushed a couple of beer bottles in front of us. There were about ten empty bottles lined on the side of the table.

“So… what are we drinking for again?” Nathan asked, downing half the beer from his bottle in one gulp.

While looking expectantly at the staff counter, Reed just shrugged and tilted his chin to his younger brother. “Ask Chuck.”

Chuck let out a silent humorless chuckle. His face was already flushed with the amount of booze he managed to glug down.

“Life is officially crap, man. First, your team captain gets the girl you’ve been crushing on since like the fifth grade. Just when you thought it’s over between them, your best bud just had to make a move on her. Then before you know it… Poof!” he rambled, gesturing animatedly with his hands, before chugging from his bottle. “Next thing you know, they’d be inseparable. What next? When I wake up tomorrow, they’d be married and have twelve kids?”

Nathan threw Reed a puzzled look. “Care to tell us what happened?”

“Drake and Becky happened,” he replied smirking.

“Oh,” Nathan and I chorused. So Chuck had something going on for Becky. I shook my head. Who’d have thought?

“Well, life’s a bloody hell, that way,” Nathan blurted, staring at his bottle. It just occurred to me that since his brake up with Louella Cole, my showbiz best friend, he never talked about her ever again or even why they broke up. So far, he never dated anyone. Not that I knew of. And I got this gut-feeling that he still wasn’t over Elle.

“Couldn’t agree more.” I laughed bitterly, thinking that this must be the first time I agreed with my brother about something. Before I knew it, my bottle was already half empty.

Chuck just nodded. “So how’s Nerdy?” When I didn’t answer right away, he continued. “Amnesia, huh? I thought that was just some crap invented by movie junkies.”

My right eye twitched involuntarily after hearing the word amnesia. Reed must’ve noticed it since he nudged his brother to shut up.

“Yeah, I don’t want to talk about it,” I said staring away as I glugged what remained in my bottle. The cold bitterness surged into my throat, slowly numbing my senses. I caught the attention of one of the waitresses and ordered five more bottles.

“Anything else I can get for you?” A brunette about a few years older than me smiled, tucking a lock of wavy hair behind her ear—something Sarah always forgets to do. She seemed not to mind when her hair covered her face.

“No thanks,” I turned to the others, pinching the bridge of my nose, trying to take Sarah off my mind. “You want to order something? It’s on me.”

Reed ordered a few more additional bottles and a plate of Mojo—which was pretty much homemade potato chips. After that, the lady still stood in front of us, staring. Hurriedly, I checked if my eyeglasses was in place and pulled my beanie down so that it covered part of my face. Beside me, Nathan did the same.

It was Chuck who finally told the lady, “Uh, I think that’s all and can we get ketchup with that?” while throwing me and my brother bewildered looks. “What’s wrong with you two?” he asked when the waitress practically stumbled her way between the tables.

“Nothing!” Both of us said in sync, almost too defensively.

Reed snorted sourly. “That waitress is hitting on Leonard,” he muttered, inclining his chin to my direction.

“Me? No, man,” I replied almost smiling, counting the bottles I managed to empty during the last forty-five minutes. Five bottles down so far and I still felt like running in the middle of the street whenever a speeding cargo truck passed by. My thoughts strayed to Sarah. Would she remember me tomorrow? If it was this hard for me, maybe it was a lot more painful for her, not being able to remember the past two years.

“Seriously, dude. If Nerdy can’t remember you, we could hook you up with other girls. You might want to lose the glasses though,” Chuck butted in, receiving a dangerous look from his older brother.

Silently, I just shook my head and downed one bottle after the other. At times, (meaning all the time) Chuck just didn’t know when to shut up. I didn’t want other girls. All I needed was Sarah.

The waitress came back with our orders, still smiling at us. I didn’t make eye contact when she sat with us and introduced herself as Lena. Honestly, I wasn’t in the mood to humor her. While they made small talk and gobble up ketchup-covered Mojo—the smell of ketchup making my insides roll—I tuned them out, trying to figure out what to do next, arriving to nothing as the booze clouded my thoughts. As the night went deeper, people started getting off their seats, leaving the whole shop to us.

When at last, the waitress left, Chuck waved the small piece of paper where Lena wrote down her number. “See? Easy as pie.”

“I’ll never get why you’re so crazy about older women,” Reed muttered after a while. He looked like he was ready to drop. So was I.

“I’m not crazy about them. They’re just… more mature unlike the girls our age.”

“You mean unlike Becky,” Nathan laughed. “You’ve got some serious issues, mate.”

Grudgingly, Chuck took another gulp of beer before raising his bottle. “Let’s make a toast,” he slurred, his eyes red around the edges like he was about to cry. “For the broken hearts!”

“Dude, I’m… not broken… hearted.” Reed slumped on the table, barely able to lift his head. “I’ve a… girlfriend.”

A hysterical laugh came from Chuck. “You mean the one who’s invisible?”

“Well, she… just doesn’t know… that I’m her boyfriend… so far. Because she still haven’t… broken up with Mike… yet,” Reed moaned grudgingly while his head lolled, managing a chuckle that sounded more like he was a snivelling kid.

Ugh, crud. He just lost his mind. Mike Sullivan would go ballistic if he found out that Reed had the hots for his girl, Leigh. That was just so messed up.

After a while, he grabbed his bottle and clinked it shakily against Chuck’s. “For pathetic losers,” Reed said.

Nathan raised his bottle. “And for brothers’ brothers.” He turned to me.

I just about dropped to the floor with the whole world distorting and whirring around me. But then, I managed to hold my bottle up and sport a stupid grin. “For us.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PLEASE READ: Just had a major set back there because of time constraints. I'm thinking of a casting change for Matt Adams because even though Avan Jogia is just smoking hot, I dunno if he really fits Matt's macho image. So, any suggestions? Oh, and the song to the right is one of my faves so...