Lover| IT

Thinking of him

B.D

Theres no more singles left in the group apart from Kay. She's completely fine with that. I don't know who would win cutest couple out of all of us, though. Stanley and Patty are the type that are soulmates and destined for one another for life. Audra and I are sort of messy but we make it work. Beverly and Ben are similar to Stan and Patty but they've also just gotten together so things are very new. Then there's Eddie and Richie. Richie and Eddie. How to describe them? Soulmates who irritate the fuck out of one another, love public displays of affection and constantly argue but you know they love one another.

"And that's how I managed to convince Eddie to wear one of my Hawaiian shirts tonight." Richie finishes explaining. We're all having dinner at the restaurant on campus. We all look at Eddie, who is drowning in one of Richie's hideous shirts, head in his hands.

"Suh-so you buh-basically just said, 'you'll luh-luh-look cute. Wear it' and he juh-juh-juh-just gave in?" I ask and Eddie sighs.

"Yeah, basically." Richie says with a shrug, drinking his Dr Pepper. He, Stan and Ben are the only ones under 21 at the table. But it's Richie's birthday next week and we're throwing a party. Which he knows about.

"Weak." Audra jokes to Eddie as she sips on her wine. Herself and Eddie get on very well, which I'm shocked by. Patty and Richie are practically best friends, so much so that Patty teases Stanley by saying 'I stole your best friend, how'd you feel?' 

"Extremely weak, Mr Kaspbrak. Shouldn't have caved in so easily." Kay says with a wink at Eddie. He rolls his eyes but smirks. Kay and Eddie have a flirty friendship, even if he's gay and she's not interested in him in that way. That's just their friendship.

"But I'm not wrong! He does look cute!" Richie chuckles and he pinches Eddie's cheek.

"Get off, asswipe!" The shorter man snaps, pushing Richie away with a chuckle. Richie smirks and eats a fry from Eddie's plate." Hey. That was mine!"

"Oh here we go!" Stanley sighs, rolling his eyes. We all laugh as a mini argument breaks out between Eddie and Richie. Audra, Kay and Patty are used to how they act now.

They make up pretty quickly, by Eddie forgiving Richie and kissing him, making all of us the table roll our eyes. We act like we don't like them together but they're actually super cute. We just don't need the PDA. All. The. Fucking. Time.

We pay for our meal and put our jackets on, going outside. It's quite cold, seeing as it's February, so Audra snuggles a little closer to me. Richie, Kay and Beverly are all smoking and having a conversation. Eddie bumps his head against Richie's chest, whining slightly. That's his signal that he wants a hug. Richie puts an arm around him and continues his conversation. I smile. Ben is standing beside Beverly, laughing hysterically at whatever Richie has just said. Stanley is talking with Patty, trying to persuade her to take his coat. She's refusing because she doesn't want him getting a cold.

"What're you thinking about?" Audra asks me, knowing that I'm in deep thought.

"Huh-how much my brother wuh-wuh-would've loved my friends. He nuh-knew Richie, Stanley and Eh-eh-Eddie but not Ben, Bev or Muh-Mike." I reply with a sad smile. Audra nods sadly, holding onto my arm. I kind of explained what happened to Georgie to her. Minus the child eating clown." I wonder huh-how Mikey is duh-doing."

"I wonder that too." Stanley says, joining us, finally giving in to Patty refusing to take his coat. She has a triumphant smile on her face.

"I bet he's having a great time wherever he is." Richie says, stomping out his cigarette and wrapping both arms around Eddie, who looks really tired.

"I hope he's not alone." Beverly says, stomping out her cigarette too and holding onto Ben's hand.

"I'm sure he's fine." Ben says. But he doesn't sound convinced. Derry was a really racist town, and if he's still there, god knows what he's dealing with by himself.