Read Online When Everything Feels like the Movies by Raziel Reid - Free Book Online Page A

I turned to say something to Angela, she was gone—probably already in one of the bedrooms. Some drunk girl I had never seen before hugged me like we were best friends and gave me her beer before stumbling off. It was mostly spit, but I drank it anyway. I didn’t want Luke to see me so I went down to the basement where the stoners were sitting around the couch taking bong hoots while Labyrinth played silently on the TV. Even Hoggle was killing fairies. I finished the beer standing against the wall like a flower, trying not to think of Luke, because the last thing I needed was to be a flower with a stem. I already wanted to leave the party, but I couldn’t move, so I watched David Bowie light up the big screen like a glitter god. Although he had nothing on Jobriath.
    Alexis came out of the bathroom with a couple of girls acting more coked out than they really were. They started dirty dancing. Alexis threw her head back and forth like she was filming a music video on YouTube that would ask you to prove your age before you could view it. She gave me a dirty look and laughed with her friends, who were all wearing the same American Apparel tank tops in different colours.
    I had to get out of there, the set was haunted. The party was unbearable. I went to find Angela and tell her that I was leaving, or else needed all of her mom’s dolls so that I could at least pretend I was Jareth. It had been a mistake for me to come. This trashy teen drama wasn’t challenging enough. I was a true actor, an artist. Not just some coked-out Disney princess with an Electra complex. Vanity Fair even said so.
    While I was looking for Angela, I noticed Luke’s family portrait hanging on the wall. You could tell his dad probably looked just like Luke and Trey when he was younger. They all seemed like they could throw a ball really far, enjoyed having their asses rimmed, and know how to skin a deer. Just then, Luke walked past without seeing me and sat on the couch. Madison stumbled over and fell into his lap. He put his arm around her, and her head rolled into the curve of his armpit, her blonde hair falling over her face.
    All I wanted was for Luke to acknowledge me, because he never would. I’d only get his attention if I demanded it like a hysterical fan trying to touch him just to prove he was alive.
    Madison gave him a sloppy kiss. Luke put his hand on her back, covering the tramp-stamp of a lily sticking out from underneath her tank top. When he pulled away, Luke looked up and almost saw me, but I dodged for the stairs.
    I looked for Angela in the bathroom, but there was just a dude passed out in the bathtub with a beer tucked under his arm. Someone had turned on the shower, and water was pouring over him, washing away the puke. I looked in the master bedroom, but there were two-and-a-half people having sex on Luke’s parents’ bed. I mean, the girl didn’t look fully conscious.
    I heard moaning coming from one of the rooms, so I put my ear to the door. It was Angela. I’d recognize that sound anywhere. It was just like that time she got alcohol poisoning. I was about to leave, but right next to Trey’s room was what had to be Luke’s bedroom door. I opened it, expecting to see someone inside, but it was empty. The room was dark and smelled like laundry detergent and Adidas cologne and his hair when it’s sweaty, like right after gym class. I stepped in without thinking, and the door closed behind me. The window was open just a crack; the room was colder than the rest of the house. I could hear screaming outside. Someone had thrown a beer bottle instead of a snowball.
    I went to his bed and turned on the nightstand lamp. He had a couple Sports Illustrated magazines in his drawer, some condoms, a guitar pick, loose change, a Snickers wrapper, and a picture of him and his brother posing next to a dead moose with rifles at their feet. Right next to the picture lay a piece of paper rolled up in an elastic band. I listened for footsteps,