it wasn't that richie didn't believe stanley. it was just that it definitely seemed like stanley's bladder had gotten a lot smaller than before. he took a lot more bathroom breaks. richie knew if they were girls, he could follow stanley into the bathroom and they could chat while stanley took a piss, but as it was, they would either look weird, or like they were trying to hook up in the school bathrooms.
richie did not particularly want either of these scenarios, so he let him take his four bathroom breaks a day. on this particular day, stanley came back, shoving his presumably just washed hands in his pockets.
he sat down next to richie, and richie inhaled. strange.
"so what is mrs. leplick like? is she a bitch after all?" beverly asked the moment stanley sat down. the seven had some catching up to do over the last few weeks, and it had started with polite small talk about stanley's new classes.
stanley was miserable in these classes, of course, but he didn't tell them that.
"honestly, she's kinda nice. i think everyone says she's a bitch so that no one will take her classes and they get to keep her all to themselves." stanley said, taking a moment to cough to himself. mike laughed softly.
stanley had been coughing a lot more recently, but richie figured it was from talking so much suddenly. he'd coughed a little as he'd warmed up to talking when he was young, too.
"that's a very real possibility, they did that with mr. webster." mike said. eddie pointed at mike with utmost excitement.
"no, i was literally talking to richie about this the other day! i was so fucking terrified for his class, but he's like the sweetest man on earth!" eddie said, the group laughing at eddie's aggressiveness.
a few minutes later, when bill and eddie were arguing over whether teachers knew about their own reputations, the bell rang. the seven kids each got up, grabbing their bags and continuing to chat. stanley took his time, giving richie a kiss before grabbing for his pencil case to put into his bag. the other kids finished packing before stanley, and thus said their goodbyes, heading off to their class without him.
richie stuck around at the edge of the cafeteria, waiting for stanley. stanley glanced back at the group, and didn't see richie standing there. nervously, stanley put his backpack on and walked the opposite direction. richie kept watching, dejected.
in that direction, he found patrick hockstetter, feet up on a table, chewing gum with the intent of blowing the world's biggest bubble. stanley ignored the noises coming from patrick's chewing, slack! slack! and started speaking. richie couldn't hear him, across the room. he watched as stanley nervously scratched his thigh.
needless to say, richie was extremely confused. stanley dug a hand in his bag and pulled something out, handing it over to patrick. patrick slack!ed one more time and stanley left out the door near him. patrick looked at the thing handed to him. richie narrowed his eyes. was it money?
-
"gimme one of those," richie pulled a cigarette out of beverly's pack without permission. the feeling of the cigarette in his hand already eased his headache a little, though the metal bed of his truck on the back of his head was not helping. beverly groaned.
"don't you have your own?" she said, richie sighing. he swore he could see his breath, despite the fact it was warm outside. his breath held words in it, words he didn't think he could admit out loud. his breath said i think stanley stole my cigs, and i'm scared i changed his life for the worse.
instead, he said, "no, i ran out." and grabbed her lighter out of her hands.
"okay, well, i don't know when the next chance i'll get to steal my dad's, so don't let me run through these. don't you run through these." beverly ran a hand through her hair, shuffling up on the truck so she was sitting up.
"you bet your fur we'll burn through these things," richie said, laughing into the air to see if any more words came out. they didn't. he bit his bottom lip nervously. whatever.
"whatever." beverly echoed richie's thoughts. "how's stan? how's... you know, home?" she asked, pausing to take a drag of her cigarette. how dramatic, richie thought.
"he's surviving. he uh, talked to his teachers and they're all sorta supportive of him getting on track, and things, so they're not telling his mother anything. that's nice. i guess they care. um, i don't know about his actual home life." richie turned the cig in between his fingers. he tapped on the edge and let the burnt ash fall onto the truck.
truth be told, richie only ever got to see stanley at school. he still wasn't allowed out, and while they hadn't caught stanley the few times he'd snuck out, richie felt insurmountably bad for stanley having to walk an hour and a half in his pajamas just to get to richie's house.
as if she'd read his mind (and for all richie knew, maybe she did) beverly perked up, "let's go sneak him out right now. it's late enough, right?" she placed the cig between her teeth, and shoving the pack in her pocket, she stood up. with a hand out for richie to grab, she lightly kicked him in the shoes.
"yeah, yeah, hold on," richie did the same with his cigarette and took her hand, pulling himself up. beverly got off of the truck by walking to the end and lowering herself off the truck. richie hopped over the side, hearing a crack in his knees as he landed. groaning, he walked to the drivers side.
once in the car, the cigarette returned to his hand, now with a small dent from his teeth. he turned the key and beverly, used to his long pause before driving, took her time to get comfortable. she smoothed her skirt down and moved the pack from her coat pocket to her bag.
a thirty minute drive later, their cigarettes long forgotten out the windows, richie's truck was very noisily pulling up in stanley's neighbourhood. he stopped far down the street past stanley's house, so as to not concern stanley's parents. and richie was just spitballing here, but he could've sworn stanley was sitting on his roof.
"i'll get him, then we can go to the quarry, or something," richie said, getting out of his truck. he walked down the street, looking back up at stanley's roof for a sign of him. no such sign was found, though richie did come across a cigarette butt in the grass. richie gulped.
stanley's window opened, "i heard your truck! i'm coming, give me a second," stanley whispered down, richie's fear disappearing and being replaced with warmth. stanley smiled at him, and richie had to return it. how couldn't he?
soon, stanley emerged with a small bag, and seemed to hop off his roof easily. like he'd done it a million times before. coming right off his roof, he approached richie with glee. richie reached a hand up to stanley's face and kissed him lightly.
"hi beautiful," richie muttered, tasting the smoke on both their lips. so stanley had been smoking. that was fine, he was allowed. richie couldn't be a hypocrite. stanley felt himself warm up, his arms around richie as he simply leaned into him. "okay, c'mon, bev's here too," richie whispered, taking ahold of stanley's hand.
stanley nodded lovingly and followed him silently as the two walked away from stanley's house. stanley leaned into richie. richie hummed happily. the two made it back to the truck.
"let's go sightseeing, richie," beverly said as she let stanley pass her, sitting in the middle between her and richie.
"sounds good to me, bev."
