Ready. | A Bill Denbrough FanFiction. | IT (2017).

twenty-two.

~~~A Story~~~

 Adelaide had slept quite well in the night. When she awoke, she recounted the memories of the night before. Specifically, how she had kissed Bill. If she were to be honest, she'd say he looked almost as shocked as she was except it wasn't just that. Only she wasn't exactly sure what the other look was. 

 She took a quick shower after waking up and got herself ready. She decided to wear a short sleeved polo shirt. It had white and green stripes with lines of yellow and orange in between. The shirt was tucked into an above knee high black denim shorts with the ends cuffed. Once she got herself ready, she went downstairs to eat. She settled on a bowl of cereal before going over to the garage to fix the flat tire on her bike. 

 Adelaide had a sense of mechanics as she often helped her dad in such matters and it took her less than 20 minutes to fix it. It truly was a mistake not to have opened the front garage door because the heat felt suffocating. Her hands quickly found the bottom latch and she rose it up to let light from the outside world shine in with chill morning breeze. 

"Adelaide!" 

The dark-haired girl looked up from where she was doing last minute checkups of her bike and saw Sharon Denbrough's familiar face. "Oh, hi, Sharon."

"It's been so long since I've seen you," the woman flashed a sullen smile.

"Oh, yeah, sorry about that," Adelaide lightly chuckled. "How are you?"

"Did you and Jacob go to the fireworks ceremony last night?" The older woman with red hair asked, ignoring Adelaide's question.

"No, no. Dad had to work long today. I just watched it from my room," Adelaide replied politely. 

"Alright then. Well, I better get going. Long day ahead of me," she softly laughed. 

"Where are you off to?" 

"Shopping with some friends downtown," she smiled. "Have a good day, Adelaide."

"You too, Sharon."

 Adelaide carefully watched the red headed woman walk down the street. Sharon Denbrough was sweet to Adelaide, always had been. It was clear as day that the woman had tried her best not to show her grief in front of Adelaide and her father, but at times when Adelaide would visit the Denbrough Residence, Sharon wouldn't even notice her. It goes without saying that when that occured, Adelaide could truly see the neglection upon Bill. 

 When the thought was reminded, Adelaide sighed sadly, suddenly missing Bill. It wouldn't be another fifteen minutes until the other Losers would come along as per Bill's request from the day before.

 Adelaide decided to just go next door anyway. Bill would be alone at the time as Sharon had just left and Zack would have already gotten off to work. She decided against all odds to stride her bike beside her as she went to his house. 

"Del, what are you d-doing here?" Bill asked, shocked and a tiny bit flustered from last night's events. It was just a kiss on the cheek, nothing more, nothing less. But Bill couldn't help but feel like it was indeed more. 

"I was bored so thought I'd come earlier. Maybe help you set up whatever it is you had in mind for us?" She rose a brow, offering. 

"M-Maybe later. L-Let's just go in first," he grinned, holding out a hand for her to take. "I have s-s-something to show y-you."

 She laced her fingers with his, an apparent gentle smile on both their faces as he led her into the empty house. The front door closed with a light thud and the two walked up the stairs, hand in hand.

 He led her into his bedroom and Adelaide admired how he had his bed made. It was clear though that it was his work because it was a little sloppy. But the way the blanket was slightly ruffled round the edges of the bed amused her. 

 Bill walked over to his desk while Adelaide chose to sit at the edge of his bed. He dragged open a drawer from his desk and took out some papers that were clipped together by the upper left corner. Adelaide's head slightly tilted, eyebrows furrowed, curious to see what it was that were written on the papers that he would like to show her.

 She had her suspicions though, and it was proved to have been the correct assumption when he handed the papers to her, taking a seat beside her. Adelaide's left leg folded up onto the bed as she turned her body slightly to face Bill. She began skimming through the first page, not really reading anything yet as she flipped through the few pages before looking up at him. 

"I-It's just a short s-s-story," he gulped, feeling slightly nervous. 

 It had been a while since Bill had written a story. Well, almost eight months, to be precise. He used to write quite a lot of stories. Sometimes, he would give them to Adelaide to read herself and express her opinions, or sometimes he would read his stories aloud for her and Georgie.

 But ever since Georgie had gone missing, Bill couldn't find the right words or ideas in his mind. It was only until lately that he managed to write a short story of five pages. Adelaide, of course, knew of his troubles of late. When she held the papers and scanned them quickly, she felt a little lightened and proud of Bill. 

"Bill," she softly uttered, looking up at him with gentle eyes.

 She laid down the papers carefully beside her and leaned forward to embrace him in a hug. Her hands were looped behind his neck while his were wrapped around her waist.

"I-It's nothing g-g-great, really," he shook his head slowly as they pulled apart. 

"Well, guess I'll find out myself," she grinned, laying her back against the silky surface of the bed, ready to indulge herself in whatever story Bill had for her. 

 Adelaide's eyes latched onto the words written ever so elegantly as she began reading his story. She was in complete focus, eyebrows slightly furrowed as her forehead slightly frowned.

 There was no other way to describe her feelings when reading his words other than in awe. His story was of a tragic romance that was not meant to be due to the horrors that seemed to haunt the characters. 

 Bill could only admire her deeply with affection. He was always compelled by how she looked when reading, especially when reading his stories. The story that he gave her was that of a story he would never write of before.

 Bill wasn't much of a romance fan and though the story had horrific tales to it, it was still upholded by romance. His heart was beating quickly and at every change of facial expression on Adelaide's complexion, he could feel the pace of his heartbeat quickening. Admiring her features, he realized, had helped him in feeling less nervous. 

Once Adelaide had finished, she sat up. Her expression was unreadable, even to Bill who almost always knew what she felt or thought just through her eyes. "So?" He nervously asked. 

"It was great, really," she assured, relaxing his body with a smile. 

He could see that she meant it and he felt grateful for it, though he realized there was something else that led him to ask, "But?"

"There's something rather," she trailed off, trying to find the right words. "Bad about the ending," she winced slightly, trying not to sound harsh. 

"Oh," he uttered. 

"But the story is really great, Billy, I promise," she firmly assured, taking both his hands in hers. "I love the romance part of it. You should write more of those," she giggled and he joined in her laughter. "But no matter what, I really enjoyed it. You should be a writer when you grow up, Billy."

"Y-You always s-s-say that," he smirked, rolling his eyes playfully. 

"Only because it's true," she beamed.