ephemeral // matty healy

homecoming

She sat in the busy airport and looked at the gate. She was nervous, but she also felt her chest vibrating with excitement. However, it could also be the poorly steeped coffee from the cafe three gates down. She didn't really need to drink it, she thought, but it had been a part of her nighttime routine for the past four years as she studied graphic design at New York's School of Visual Arts.

"No, I don't think my flight will be leaving before 10 pm," she laughed. "You'll have to wait for another seven and a half hours, Stella."

Her friend moved closer to the webcam with her bright pink lips forming a tight pout. Blair rolled her eyes and laughed into the microphone.

"I suppose I'll just have to ask the pilot to hurry up."

"Knew it." Stella leaned into her chair, her arms reaching up to cradle her head triumphantly. "I knew you could never stay away from me."

"Yeah, sure," Blair said sarcastically. "Hey, did you hear? Alanis is releasing a single soon." Stella nodded her head, letting her fluffy curls shake about.

"I know! I'll have to watch out for any upcoming Fiona releases, too. It'll be like the reset my Costar predictions have been looking for."

Blair briefly removed an earbud and listened to the attendants at the desk. They had called her loading zone.

"I have to pack up now, hon, but I'll see you soon." The two girls blew kisses through their webcams then laughed at their own absurdity.

"Bo and I will be waiting for you at the luggage carousel. See you after work! See you soon!" They logged off at 9:20 pm. It was already dark outside.

Blair packed her items into her bag, then stood in line with her passport ready. She made uneasy eye contact with the baby ahead of her, which looked back at her with no ill intent, but Blair didn't see it that way. Instead of having a stare-off with the child, she searched to look at anything else.

Settling on the television screen above a section of seats, Blair watched the news. Or at least, it looked like news until it grew more and more trashy. It started as a celebrity baby announcement, then grew into movie reviews and scandalous behaviour of some Hollywood elites.

"Coming up after the break," she read the closed captions intently, as a lady in a pretty dress read the headlines. "The 1975 talks about their upcoming album and how it will be a much different experience than their debut and sophomore releases." The next shot was a shot of the band members on a couch, where the frontman spoke intently.

"So, it's a lot about the future, and where I've come to terms with the fact that the future is always coming and changing at the same time. I was fighting it for a long time, and this paranoia set in for a while." The others nodded as he continued. He gave the interviewer a cheeky smile and tossed his hair around. "It's grown into a really fun hodgepodge-y project where we can all spread our wings a bit and have a little fun."

Blair rolled her eyes away from the screen and back onto the queue, thinking about how pretentious he was. Still, after all this time.

"Passport and boarding pass, please, miss," said the flight attendant. Blair shuffled around in the pocket of her sweater and rushed to the monitor.

"Sorry," she watched as her pass and the bland photo in her passport were scanned under a red light, then handed back to her. Blair looked back over her shoulder just as the television with the band disappeared from her vision.

-

"What time is she landing?" Bo asked, frantically scrolling through text messages and emails from Blair.

"I think she said two o'clock... or she might have said three." Stella stood on her tiptoes as she scanned the groups of people at the luggage carousels. "I don't remember, my little Songesand."

"Stop calling me that." Bo blushed furiously, but he never dared give her a nickname she didn't care for. He would be a fool to do so.

Stella craned her neck to the right, where the doors to the gates stood tall and proud. She grew more frustrated with every passerby that looked like Blair. Until she spotted some shimmery dark hair off in the distance.

"Do you see her?" He could hardly contain his excitement as Stella's expression changed from contempt to glee. She grabbed Bo by the hand and weaved through disgruntled passengers. Blair had just picked up her luggage from the parade, but let out an ungodly squeal when her friends approached her. The trio was reunited.

"You guys!" Blair tried to cover her bleary eyes by pulling her friends into a tight hug. The type of hug where you're getting strangled, but you never want to let go. "I missed you both so much!"

"Even though we only saw you, like last holiday," said Stella, gasping for a breath of air.

"Yeah, but that and video call aren't enough for me to sustain life," Blair said as she pulled herself away from her friends. She dramatically placed the back of her hand on her forehead, as if to feign an illness.

"Get over yourself, girl. Let's get going," said Stella. Bo took hold of Blair's suitcase with an eager expression as the three of them made their way out of the airport.

"You must be so tired from your flight over," he said.

"No, it wasn't too bad," Blair admitted. "I slept most of the trip."

"You slept?" Bo asked. "I meant your arms must be tired from flying."

"You are ridiculous," joked Blair. "Don't test me, Bo. I'll get on another flight and go back to New York!" Stella reached around her friend and swatted Bo on the back of the head. Her bracelets jingled at the impact.

"Shut up, already!" The three of them walked across the parkade until they reached Stella's reliable Nissan.

"Looks the same, I see." Blair ran a hand along the rusted passenger door then examined the dent in the back door and the missing side mirror.

"Yeah, yeah," said her friend with a dismissive tone. "It's either my dinosaur or you can take a taxi home."

The three of them sat in the vehicle, with Bo sitting with Blair's suitcase in the backseat. Stella plugged her phone into the car's aux cord, then selected her "late 90's booty-shaking" mix.

"Oh, by the way," she began as she pulled out of her parking spot, "I may have killed some of your plants when Spring rolled around."