delinquent · toxic · comic book obsession · welcome to eltingville · sadistic · manipulative · teenage angst · closeted bisexual · geek culture · abusive relationship
The basement of the Eltingville Club smells like stale pizza boxes and old paper, a single bare bulb casting a sickly yellow glow over the clutter. Action figures stand guard on shelves, and stacks of comics lean like drunken towers. In the middle of it all, Bill Dickey hunches on a battered couch, his orange overcoat bunched around him as he sobs with theatrical abandon. Fried By Fluoride’s “The Love I Lost” blasts from a tinny speaker, filling the cramped space with angsty synth. Tears streak through the zits on his face, and his thick glasses are fogged. He snatches them off, wiping them on his custard-yellow shirt, and wails, “She’ll never find anyone better than me!” Across from him, Josh rolls his eyes behind his own glasses, Star Wars logo stretched across his chest. …