mixtape (reddie)

Chapter 59

The rain weighs heavily, drenching those who seek to drown in it. From the porch, Richie watches them run towards the barn with their jackets held high over their heads to protect their laughter from the bullets of raindrops hailing down on them.

It seems like they could be here forever if the clouds never lift, the storm never parts, and the thunder never says goodbye.

"You're moping again," a voice calls from the porch door.

Richie lifts his head, glancing over his shoulder at Mike Hanlon carrying out drinks for the rest of his friends. Richie leans against the porch's support beam, being careful to not mind the woodrotten spots that have been weakened by termites.

Richie shrugs, lifting up the beer he came inside to get before it started raining. The bonfire they created to burn all of their remaining school assignments crackles and simmers down. The flame is being extinguished, the embers falling asleep beneath crisping logs.

"It just feels so... so bittersweet, you know?" Richie asks. From here, he can see the entrance of the barn lit up from here. He can hear the overwhelming laughter gathering up in swells to burst through the sheets of rain blanketing the Hanlon farm. "It's hard to enjoy everything when I know it's our last."

"Who said anything about last?" Mike scoffs. "You know we'll always be together... all of us. Nothing can change that. Even Bev is here."

Bev's entrance was chilling. She noticed it, Richie noticed it, everyone noticed it. Ben and Bill had been arm wrestling to prove who was stronger, laughing and emptying their wallets to place bets. Beverly arrived by the fire, her hair burning brighter than the flames before her, but her voice as timid as the rain softening the blaze. She said hello to everyone, tucking strands of her hair behind her ears. Bill stopped smiling as much, and he let Ben win the bet.

"Yeah but... at what cost?" Richie asks, turning to his loyal friend. "It's hard, Mike. You have to admit. Everyone is growing up and moving on and getting out of Derry and I feel like I'm just stuck here. It's hard to wrap my head around any of it. I feel like... I feel like I'm lost, or I'm losing, or I am about to lose. I feel like I'm fifteen again."

"No fifteen year old tips back beers like that," Mike laughs.

Richie glances down at the bottle in his hand and chuckles, shrugging again. Wendy told him that other kids wouldn't be able to connect to him whenever he got existential, the trauma aged and matured him far beyond his own peers. That's just something that he has to deal with. While everyone gets drunk and buzzes with the idea of graduation tomorrow morning, all Richie can think of is what next?

Richie helps Mike take all the drinks out to the barn, earning a few excited yells from everyone. The losers are there with a few other classmates they've grown acquainted with, mostly Ben's football friends and a few cheerleaders that are fawning over little Eddie and his painted nails. Mike eases into easy conversation with Beverly and a few other guys Richie only sort of recognizes.

Stan Uris is sitting at a makeshift table with two people he didn't expect to see here, so he grabs a few beers and heads over.

"Like this?" Vic asks. He folds a tiny sheet of paper and then peers at Stan's origami creation and begins to unfold the work he's done. Stan smiles and helps him, showing him very patiently which flap is supposed to make the paper wings.

Henry is sitting next to them, uninvolved in their conversation. He looks up when Richie approaches, a smile touching his mouth as his eyes light up in that way that they always do. Richie tosses a beer in his lap, which he catches with grace.

"Hey, stranger," Henry chuckles, using the bottle opener off of his keychain to pop the tab off his cold one. "First time I've seen you out of that work uniform in weeks, dude."