Filmed_ An Alpha Bad Boy Romance(74)

I really didn’t have to pay for the sins of my father.

The next day, the banquet room was hot and packed as the judges announced the winners. I was sitting at a cheap round table with Linda and another group of students that we didn’t know, and my leg nervously bounced against the plastic seat of my chair. Linda’s hand was warm and moist in mine, and she looked at me, smiling.

Obviously, we were pretty nervous.

Frankly, I was a mess.

I wasn’t sure why I cared about winning so much. The whole point of the movie was to honor Miss H in some way, and we had clearly achieved that goal. At least, that was my end game; for Linda, I guessed it was more to get me off drugs, which worked as well. Still, winning the contest would validate everything we worked for, and would give Miss H the recognition she deserved.

An older guy that I didn’t recognize walked up to the microphone.

I looked at Linda, and she squeezed my hand in response.

“And the winner in the documentary category is...” he said, tearing open an envelope.

“Come on, this isn’t the fucking Oscars,” I grumbled under my breath.

Linda gave me a look.

“The Life and Times of Miss Havisham, Actress!”

“Holy shit!” Linda said, and the room began to applaud loudly.

I stared at Linda, honestly shocked. I had never won something in my entire life, at least not something that I cared so much about. We stood together, my body feeling like it was moving through a thick cloud, and we walked up to the judge’s podium to receive our plaque. It was a cheap wooden thing with a gold-tinted metal front, but it was the most precious thing I had ever seen. All of my trust fund money, all of the nice things my father had lying around the house as I was growing up, none of it compared to that cheap, crappy student film contest plaque.

I had always been too cool. I had always been too detached, too busy to give a shit about anything other than the people closest to me. Maybe I helped people here or there, maybe I did some good things, but I never invested in myself.

I never let myself get hurt.

But the movie, it was my way of putting myself out there. Maybe it wasn’t my idea, and maybe I needed someone like Linda to push me, but it was real and it was something I cared about. And I couldn’t have done it without her.

The old guy smiled, shook our hands, and congratulated us. The crowd clapped like they did for every other category, but it felt more real for us. At least, that’s what I thought. We walked back to our table in a daze as the applause slowly died down and the judges began to announce the winners of the next category.

“I can’t believe it,” I said to Linda.

“I can, Noah. You put a lot into this.”

“Congrats you two!” one of the other guys at our table cut in. “You really deserve it.”

“Thanks man, I appreciate that,” I said.

Linda and I nodded to the others as they all congratulated us, and went back to holding hands under the table, the plaque resting on the table in front of us.

After the screening the day before, Linda’s parents had gone home and had made us promise to call them as soon as we knew the results of the contest. Her mother seemed to genuinely like the movie, and even went so far as to offer to let us borrow the equipment as often as we wanted.

Which was good, since we were already planning our next story together.

Miss H wanted to go to the awards ceremony, but had an audition to attend. Even though she was one of the hardest working people I had ever met, she never stopped auditioning. She never stopped trying to land that big role.

She never gave up on her dream.

I stretched my legs out and breathed deeply as the ceremony moved forward, boring and drawn out, but important to each individual filmmaker in the room. I was pretty surprised at how many films had been entered, and figured it was at least upwards of a hundred.

Finally, though, the ceremony ended, and people began to mill about the room, shaking hands and congratulating each other.

“Let’s get out of here,” I said.

“Yeah, okay,” Linda said, standing.

I stood, stretching my legs, and admired Linda’s body as she picked her way through the crowd.

She may not have realized it, but she was the most radiant girl in the room. I shook my head, smiling to myself. I was becoming such a sentimental asshole.

Outside, the halls were quieter, and Linda pressed herself up against my arm, smiling up at me. I kissed her softly as we walked, the weight of the plaque in my other hand a comforting weight.

“So what now, dots?” I asked her.

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess we can finish writing the script?”

“That sounds good.”

We walked down the stairs and pushed out the double doors, out onto the sidewalk and the cool night air. I breathed deep, letting the fresh air hit my lungs, and make my head buzz slightly with adrenaline.