Euphoric

65

Mae

Banff, October 11th

As the months flew by, we had all got caught up in our filming schedules and before I knew it, we had wrapped the first half of the movie. The second half was the most interesting of the two, as it was filled with numerous dangerous stunts and action filled scenes.

As we did in our typical style, the crew were throwing a party at the same house it always was. I had become too familiar with the same music replaying through the speakers and the same drinks on tap. On the ride home from the studio I tried to convince myself to give this one a miss, but I knew that there would be so many conversations on why I skipped out.

Instead of arriving completely done up, this time I decided to take a long-awaited nap before the party and eventually make my way up there in the depth of the night. Each and every night the sun was setting earlier and earlier, so whatever time I made it up to the house it was bound to be dark out.

When I awoke from my nap, I still had leftover mascara on my eyes from set earlier today. I dug through my cabinets to find a set of makeup wipes, only I had run out. I quickly went to the toilet and jumped in the shower before hyping myself up for this party.

The parties were thrown like clockwork. Every weekend, at the same time and at the same place. I was beginning to have nothing to talk about and no new stories to tell because I saw most of them every day. There was no privacy to my life anymore, because these people knew exactly everything about me. I had gotten to know the same people over the course of the past few months and life was beginning to bore me.

We filmed the same scenes all day long and it felt like we were barely getting any results. I had never filmed a movie of any kind for this extended period of time, and I was beginning to question when the last time it was that I properly had a phone call with my mom.

As I stared at myself in the mirror I noticed that all the Miami sun had drained from my skin tone and I was now the same color as the fresh layers of snow outside. My eyes had become darker and redder. For the first time in my life I had bags forming on my under eyes, which was covered with makeup on every AM.

I tore a paddle brush through my hair and untangled all the messy knots before throwing a thermal top over my bare chest. I then dressed up another three layers until I hoped that I would not be able to feel the numbing temperature outside my front door.

I locked up my cabin before trudging through the layers of snow up to the house on the hill where we frequently met once a week. As usual, the music was already pumping through the entire snowy neighborhood. As I turned around just prior to reaching the house, I could follow my own footsteps all the way back to my cabin with my eyes as they were engraved in the snow.

I pushed against the heavy door and was instantly met by a couple making out behind the door, of which I had pushed into the mud room behind the door. I politely apologized to the negligent couple, although I had never personally met them before.

"Parker!" a deep voice shouted from the banister of the mezzanine. There Chad was, standing beside some of the other males in the cast as they raised their cups in the air. Over the past few months my close friendship with Maya had caused me to be 'one of the guys' who chugged down countless ounces of alcohol each and every weekend. I was beginning to wonder if I was developing an alcohol addiction.

Chad bounced down the stairs as he made his way to the island kitchen where the nearest keg always sat. He was wearing an old pair of dark jeans, alongside an off-white sweater underneath his puffer jacket. He wrapped his hands around my body as he drew me in for a hug.