"Ready?"
"Just count to three."
'''
Adelaide Flint could swear living in Derry was a nightmare, and the summer of '89 only proved that to be true. But maybe Derry isn't so bad. That was, after all, where he was...
From the movie franchise, IT (2017...
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~~~At The Barrens~~~
"Billy, can I talk to you for a sec?" Adelaide pulled Bill's arm gently to the side, a little distance between the two and the others.
"Wh-Wh-What's up?"
"I know coming here is important to you," she began, her voice low in a hushed tone and he gave a small nod with confused eyes. "And if it's important to you, it's important to me too. And if today doesn't work out the way you wanted to, I know you'd want to come back, wouldn't you?" She asked and he nodded again. "But please, can it not be tomorrow? Can we go to the quarry tomorrow? Or we can do something else, just not-"
"We'll go to the quarry tomorrow, Del," Bill's hand touched Adelaide's elbow that was bent because she still had her hand on his arm.
Adelaide looked into his green eyes, searching for something that would prove the uncertainty of his words, but they were blank of it. All his eyes held were kindness, the kindness that Bill always showed, and admiration. Adelaide had seen it before, but she never really knew what the admiration was for, or who.
The clearest thing in his eyes though, were assurance. And she knew he wasn't lying, and that tomorrow was already a plan set in motion. His pink lips curled into a smile, an assuring one, like how his eyes were, and she gave him a tight hug. She didn't know why, neither did he, but she hugged him and he hugged her right back. They only broke apart when they heard Richie making kissing noises from where he stood.
"Fuck off, Richie," Adelaide gave him the middle finger.
The color red rose on Bill's cheek as he lowered his head and walked ahead, to the direction of the sewer pipe. Adelaide could feel heat rising up her cheeks as well when she rolled her eyes at Richie while flipping him off with her middle finger.
Richie noticed how red both Bill and Adelaide had gotten and he managed to sneak a peek at Stanley who was red too but his eyes had a glint of jealousy in them. Richie didn't voice it out loud, much to his surprise, but he grinned widely, knowing his best friends well enough to know that they were secretly in love with another.
Stan was in love with Adelaide, and so was Bill. But Adelaide, Richie could see, seemed to be in love with both Stan and Bill. Richie knew Adelaide well enough to know that she would never do anything that could put all their friendship in jeopardy, but wouldn't that mean she'd have to keep quiet and not let herself love the two boys? That seemed cruel, Richie thought.
Richie loved his friends. But if he had to be honest, he loved Adelaide the most. Not in the way Bill and Stan did, that love from Richie was set on another. No, he loved Adelaide like a friend. Maybe it was because she was the only girl but Richie loved her the most.
He wanted to protect her, he wanted her to be safe, to be happy. Everyone thought at first, when they had met, that Richie had a crush on Adelaide. And maybe he did. She was the only girl he was friends with and maybe she was his first crush but he didn't love her like that at all.
