ephemeral // matty healy

escapism

Matty took her hand and squeezed it gently. Bravely, she took a step into the house. The party was bumping. They were immediately hit with the hot, thick, musky grime of the party's air. The house was far away from the heart of the city, but the atmosphere couldn't help but remind them of bars on the main drag near Blair's house. It was small inside, despite having a grand exterior, but it could have been the number of people that were packed into the main room. Not even one minute passed before he was getting pulled in a few directions by people who were very excited to chat with him.

And maybe get him to drink with them.

Blair waved to him to say that it was okay if he went off with friends. She thought it was the perfect time to investigate the house. It was so big, and she decided the best way to scope the scene was to take a tour of the loft first. She got to the top of the stairs and leaned over the railing to see something she didn't anticipate.

Kiss. Just one. A girl in their group of entrepreneurs and aficionados of sorts lingered when she gave him a peck next to his mouth. Blair's face screwed to the side for a moment. Then she stepped away.

In the first room of the hallway, there was a messy bedroom. Blair wasn't sure if someone genuinely lived in the room or a bomb has detonated. It was even worse when she turned on the lights. Nevertheless, she found herself snooping through books on the shelves and settled on a photo album. 

This particular album wasn't special, but she flipped through its pages anyway.

Bit after bit, page after page, note after note. She learned more about the host. She learned that he had two sisters and a dog, from approximately 8 to 16 years of age. He was born with fine, red hair that eventually grew out thicker and darker the summer before he started school. He broke his arm when he was 10 and got everyone in year six to sign his cast.

Matty's mouth was tired from speaking and smiling so much. He quickly but slyly sidestepped to the washroom to get away from the group of people that recruited him into their circle. He wiped the fresh bead of sweat that accumulated on his brow. He reached for the doorknob and debated whether or not he should brave the grimy environment again. Maybe Blair was having a better time.

"Hey!" A hand clasped tightly around her arm. "You can't be in here! Didn't you read the sign?" The boy from the images she had spent ten minutes scouring was shouting at her. Quickly, she hurried out of the room, muttering a "sorry" under her breath, but before leaving she noticed the vein on his head was flaring, just like she had seen in his baby photos.

She did her best to disappear into a crowd at the top of the stairs, hiding her face when the boy walked past.

"Fuck," she muttered, shielding her face. Her eyes turned down and out onto the crowd of people below. In an instant, her eyes met Matty's.

He coned his hands around his mouth. "Balcony!" he bellowed. She nodded and met him in the chilly air, where they were finally able to breathe. There was a short, wooden bistro set outside. Much too late for it to be out in the chill, but when he pulled out a chair for her, Blair couldn't resist.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to get tied up in there," he said as he sat across from her. She curled a stray piece of hair behind her ear.

"That's alright, I was tied up as well."

Blair was cut off by a girl wandering around with a large bucket in her hands. She couldn't really keep her eyes straight until she saw that Matty and Blair didn't have a drink in their hands.

"Oh my, my, my!" She said, reaching an arm into the bucket to pull out two bottles of beer. "You two need to have a drink for the toast!"

"Oh, gee, thanks," Blair tried to keep some enthusiasm to match the girl's drunkenness. "Do you know what we're toasting?"

"How the bloody hell am I supposed to know?" The girl mumbled as she walked back inside to the party.

"Alright then," Matty said. "Shall we have our own toast?"

"What are we toasting?" Blair leaned the bottle over the edge of the table and popped the lid off with a harsh hit with her other hand. The top left a crimped outline in the wood, but she pretended not to notice.

"Friendship?" he offered his bottle to clink. She reciprocated and they each took a swig. "It's been nice having you around again. I missed you."

Her cheeks grew hot and suddenly Blair had an uncomfortable feeling in her stomach. She blamed it on the beer. "It's been good to work with you, too."

They sat together and finished their drinks while talking about nothing in particular. The balcony did not have a spectacular view, which was a bit of a shock, considering how expensive Blair had estimated it would be. They could hardly see over the thick area of trees ahead of them.

"Let's get out of here," Matty said, already getting out of his chair.

"Sure," Blair responded. She could tell he was bored by the way his feet kept shifting. He had always done that, he was never very good at faking things like that. The party inside was still in full swing, but they decided not to stay as they made a beeline for the exit. The two jetted into the night, deeper into the darkness to get away from the house.