The Love Is Still There |Richie Tozier (2)

~7~ The Hammock Rule

"For the use of the Loser's only." Bill read out loud.

"Bill." Eddie warned, as Bill started opening the can.

We all watch him apprehensively. Bill opened it and we stopped for a moment.

"What is it Bill?" I whispered.

Bill reached in and pulled out a shower cap.

Another memory flashed by.

Younger Stan was already wearing a shower cap. I took the one he handed me, and I fixed my long hair into a bun, before putting the shower cap on. Stan handed one to Richie, who was laying on a hammock and reading a magazine.

"What the fuck is this?" asked Richie, holding it with a disgusted look on his face.

"So you don't get spiders stuck in your hair when your down here." Stan replied with a smile.

"Stanley, we're not afraid of fucking spiders." Richie threw the shower cap away.

Stan shrugged and moved away. Richie looked up at us, to see that everyone was wearing theirs.

"October isn't scared of spiders at least." he said. He saw me and I smiled, showing off my bright blue shower cap.

Richie shook his head. "I stand corrected."

Beverly laughed, taking a cigarette out of her mouth and handing it to me. "That's a first."

"Touché."

I took a drag from the cigarette and handed it back to Bev.

Eddie and I took off our shower caps. I was gonna be honest, it was making my head itch and I didn't like it.

Eddie walked over to Richie. "Hey Rich, your ten minutes are up."

"What are you talking about?" asked Richie, putting his magazine down.

"The hammock! Ten minutes each was the rule."

"I don't see any sign." Richie looked around mockingly.

"Are you being this way right now?" Eddie asked annoyed. "Why would there be a sign if it was a verbal agreement!"

Mike sat on a swing while I leaned against the pillar next to him. We watched Richie and Eddie argue.

"This is like a soap opera." I said.

Mike laughed.

"I don't remember that!" Richie yelled at Eddie.

"No! I remember you agreeing on the fucking rule!" Eddie snapped, crawling over Richie and fitting himself into the hammock.

Richie groaned. "Get off!"

Eddie kicked around, trying to get comfortable.

I watched with amusement.

"I can see your vagina!" Eddie complained.

Stan rolled his eyes and looked away.

I walked up the hammock just as Eddie yelled "I fucked your mom!"

"No you didn't!" Richie yelled back.

They both stopped when they saw me standing over them.

"Get this fucker off." Richie said

"No! Tell him to go by the rules!" Eddie snapped.

"I'm gonna do neither." I said, and with that, I climbed onto the hammock.

"October get off!" Eddie cried.

"What the fuck Larson!" Richie yelled.

I shifted around as they both tried to kick me off. Eventually, everyone kind of gave up and started listening in to the conversation that Ben, Beverly and Mike were having. I was now half on top of Eddie, my head on his chest and my legs were bent, so that my shoes were resting on Richie's stomach.

"There's a summer program in Bar Harbor, I was thinking of applying." I heard Ben say.

"I'll do that." Richie said. "I'll do anything to get the hell out of Derry." Richie hit Eddie's socked foot away from his face.

"When I graduate, I'm going to Florida." Mike smiled wistfully.

"What's in Florida, Mike?" I asked, digging my foot into Richie's stomach as he tried to get me to fall out of the hammock.

Mike shrugged. "I don't know. I guess it's just a place I always wanted to go."

"Stan, you should go with Mike to Florida." Richie called out.

Stan looked up, confused. "Why?"

I grinned. "You already act eighty. You'd clean up with all the grandmas."

Richie and I made kissy sounds while the loser's laughed.

Stan looked at the ground. "Do you- do you guys think we'll still be friends? When we're older?'

"What?" asked Ben. "Why wouldn't we be?"

"Do any of your parents still hangout with their friends from middle school?"

We all stayed silent as we thought about this. Eddie used his foot to knock Richie's glasses to the ground, then he smacked Richie's face with his foot. Richie heaved an irritated sigh.

"Things might be different then." Stan continued. "We all might be different."

"We'll always be friends." Bill said. "I don't think it goes away just b-b-because we're older."

Eddie started twirling a piece of my hair around his finger.

"Yeah Stan," I said. "You'll always have us, sweetheart."

"Yeah Stan, come one." Beverly smiled. "You don't have to be so....."

"Sad." present-Beverly whispered.

"He was old before his time." Ben said, smiling sadly.

I crouched down on the ground, and buried my face on my knees, covering my sobs. Richie crouched down next to me and put his arms around me.

"I wonder what he was like, all grown up." Eddie said.

"Probably what he was like as a kid." Richie said from next to me. "The best."

"We didn't keep our promise." I choked out.

"What?" asked Bill.

"We promised that we'd always stay friends. But, after a while we all stopped talking." I wiped my face.

"Hey, it's okay." Richie said, rubbing my back.

"But it's not."

Richie looked up at Mike. "Hey Mike, come on man. What're we doing here?"

Mike stood up. "The ritual. To perform it, requires a sacrifice."

"Sacrifice?" Richie said. "I nominate Eddie."

I hit him and Eddie looked up. "Wait what?"

"Because you're little, you'll fit on a barbeque."

"I'm 5'9, it's like average height around most of the world." Eddie retorted.

"It's not t-that kind of a sacrifice guys." Bill said slowly.

"The past is buried." Mike said. "You're going to have to dig it up, piece by piece. These artifacts. That's why we're here. They.... are what you will sacrifice. And if Stan isn't here to find his, I figured we should all be here together to find his artifact."

Eddie put on a shower cap. "I think Bill just did that."