ephemeral // matty healy

head scan

"So, what we're going to do is take some pictures of your head." Blair ushered Adam in front of the greenscreen. "It'll be like those panorama photos that you do for those wide shots."

"Right," he said. "and how is this going to help with the video exactly?" This was the first day that Blair had seen the rest of Matty's friends in years, it was like she was re-meeting an old relative she had only seen when she was a kid. They had vague memories, but there was still hesitation and awkwardness about the whole thing.

"Well, based on the end goal, we want you to look like you, but just a little more machine-made. Try not to blink, please." She put her camera close to him, then carefully moved the lens across his face. By the time she had finished the photos of his head, Ronan had already been working on a nearby laptop, stitching them together to create a "flat image" of Adam's head.

"Take a look," he said, spinning the computer around. The image had flattened his head like a warm ball of dough that had been rolled out into a sheet.

"Oh my god, that looks horrible!" he admitted. Immediately, he nervously locked eyes with Ronan, who luckily wasn't offended by his comment.

"For now," Ronan grumbled. He quickly scooched himself away from Adam's prying eyes.

"Alright, alright, next up." George waddled up to the green screen and placed his big boots on the mark. He was more at ease than Adam as the camera circled him, but Blair thought that it was probably because he knew what to expect having seen it before. Ross was even calmer than the other two. He was the stillest, which made his photo the easiest to stitch together.

Matty was left. It was just the three of them in the room now - him, Ronan and Blair - because the others had gone to the kitchenette for a tea top-up.

"Jesus Christ," Blair mumbled before aligning her lens up with his face. She got the angles as quickly as she could so they could rejoin the group. She waved her hand at Matty as she set down her camera, "Okay, you're done."

"Not so fast," Ronan piped up, straightening his spine in his chair. "Would you mind getting one more go-around? Not quite lining up like the others." Blair's face fell as she noticed him snickering behind his screen once again. He breathed once, not long enough to calm down, but long enough to let Matty know that if it wasn't right this time, she was going to run into traffic.

"Stand still," she said sharply. Matty's spine straightened, but he kept his eyes level, even though he felt shaky.

"Much better!" said Ronan excitedly. He packed up his computer and started to make his way out the door. Before exiting, he gave a small wave and easy smile, "See you outside, Blair, and Matty, it was a pleasure."

Blair had her head in her camera bag, ready to kill Ronan for being the most cheerful person today. She felt so awkward like suddenly her limbs became too big for her to pilot. Blair met Matty's eyes and dropped her bag, which hit the floor with a soft thud.

"Sorry!" she gasped. He knelt down to pick it up for her, telling her it's no big deal. Suddenly, she missed Ronan. He was the buffer that allowed her to stay stoic, now that it was just the two of them, she felt the dark cloud of "Can we talk?" looming over them.

Blair took a few steps backward before Matty bravely broke the awkward silence, "Thanks for doing this for us, we're all really excited."

"It's no problem." More steps towards the door. The only exit. Escape.

"Is it alright if we chat for a bit?"

Her eyes rolled so far into their sockets that she swore she could see her brain.

"I'd actually rather not," she began, but one look in his eyes hypnotized her to stay. She pulled up Ronan's chair and let Matty continue.

"I just wanted to apologize about yesterday. It was really immature of me." He rolled around a pebble under his boot. Blair couldn't help but zero in on how it sharply scratched the floor. "So, I'm sorry and I hope we can still work on this video like friends."

"I was never going to let what you said to get in the way of my work, Matty. I'm not a child." She said, clearing her throat. "And it isn't likely I would call you a 'friend' exactly."

"Oh," he said.

"Probably an acquaintance, but even that's giving you more credit than you deserve." She picked up her bag off her feet and stood up. Their shoulders stayed square with one another - neither one wanted to step away first.

But then Blair winked and smiled a bit. She walked away from Matty, leaving him trapped under the fluorescent lights.