Page 30 of The Friend Scheme
“Yeah, me too.”
“What do you think it means?”
“Hmm.” I put my hand on my chin, and lean back a little, like I’m an art critic. “I think it’s about the way men bottle rage, until it all finally erupts, ruining the lives of everyone around them.”
“Really?”
“God no, I have no idea.”
He laughs, and then we go down the hall.
“Oh, and the bathroom is there, if you, um, need to use it,” I say.
“Noted.”
“And down there’s my brother’s room. Don’t go in there, it smells like Axe.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Like, all the time. And this one,” I say as I walk into my room, “is mine.”
I feel really self-conscious. I’ve put a lot of work into my room.
Now it feels stupid.
Like, who has this many movie posters? They feel childish now. Maybe I should’ve taken them down before I invited him over. Tried to man the place up a little.
“I love this,” he says.
I kick at the dark carpet. “Really?”
“Yeah, dude, your room is sick. Have you seen all these movies?”
“Multiple times, yeah.”
“That’s amazing.”
He walks over to the poster I have ofCreature from the Black Lagoon. He touches it.
“Which one’s your favorite?”
“Movie or poster?”
“Either.”
“Well, my favorite movie isMulholland Drive. I don’t really have a favorite poster.”
I walk him over to one of the posters by the door. MyMulholland Driveone.
“What’s it about?” he asks. “It looks cool.”
“It is. It’s about this actress… actually, you should probably just watch it. It’s better to just experience it blind, trust me.”
That’s how I found it. I heard a lot of discussion about it being good, so I decided to finally watch it. When it ended, I knew right away that I’d just seen my favorite movie.
“There’s this great song inspired by it. I could play it, if you want?”
“Sure.”
