Lighting Matches

He opened a beer and leaned against the closest wall. He looked around.

I think I know some of these people…I probably forgot their names.

Somebody moved next to him. “Hey, surprised you’re here”. “Yeah…I guess”, he said back. “Where’s your roommate?” “Girlfriend…” he said as his voice trailed off. “Oh, right. I’ve been seeing them less and less”. He didn’t say anything back. “…so what have you up to?” “You know, same shit, different day” he said as he looked at a group of people laughing. He took another sip of his beer. “Hey, why are you always so serious about everything. Lighten up it’s a party.” He stayed quiet as he took another sip and looked down at his shoes. “…do you want to play kings? There is a game going on in the other room. You can’t say no this time”. “Sure, whatever”. They walked into the room

Fuck, she’s here

and sat down on the floor. He took another sip of his beer. Someone picked up a jack. “Never have I ever” they said. He put three fingers up. “Never have I ever…thrown up at a party before midnight” they said. Two people put a finger down. Person to his right was next. “Never have I ever had sexual thoughts about somebody in this room”. Everybody put a finger down. He looked to his right. “Seriously?” he said. “Yeah, I don’t know anybody here actually. I’m just here for the beer” the person to his right said. They finished their beer, burped, and pulled another one out of their hoodie pocket. “Alright…my turn I guess” he said. He looked across the circle. She was talking to somebody else. He hesitated.

. . .

“Never have I ever ignored somebody’s existence”. The room fell silent. The person to his right took a sip of their beer. He got up and walked out of the room. He started walking down the hallway when somebody grabbed his shoulder. “Hey. Fucker. Why can’t you just act fucking normal like everybody else here?” He turned around and handed them his empty beer can. “Maybe because I don’t want to be normal” he said angrily. He walked up the stairs to the roof. She left the room and walked down the hallway. “Did he go this way?” she said to somebody. “Yeah. Don’t fucking bother” they said as they walked back to the room. She stopped in the hallway and looked back at the room. She heard people laughing. She looked at the stairs again.