The school day had finally ended, and Richie waited outside the large school doors for Eddie and Beverly, who both had last period together.
Richie stood outside with Bill, Stan, and Ben, cracking a few jokes here and there and earning lots of 'Beep beep, Richie''s.
Except for Stan, who was too focused on his book about birds.
"Do y-you guh-guh-guys wanna come over t-to my house this w-w-w-weekend for a sluh-sleepover?" Bill suddenly asked, causing Stan to break away from his book and look at Bill.
"Sure Big Bill, that sounds pretty fun." Richie agreed, pushing his glasses farther up onto his nose.
"Sure, what time?" Ben asked.
Stan shrugged his shoulders and nodded, returning back to his bird-book.
"I-is 1pm okay for you guh-guh-guys?" Bill asked, answering Ben's question.
Everyone nodded their head in agreement.
"Then ih-it's s-s-settled then. I'll j-just have to ah-ask Mike, B-B-B-Beverly, a-and Eddie."
As if Bill's mentioning of their names summoned them, Beverly and Eddie came walking out of the school doors, both caught up in their own conversion.
"Heh-hey g-guys." Bill greeted the two losers. "Would y-you guys be a-a-able to have a-a sluh-sluh-sluh-sleepover at m-my house this wuh-weekend? 1pm?" Bill added.
"Of course! Sounds fun." Beverly said at once, smiling.
Eddie on the other hand, looked rather nervous.
"I'd have to ask my mother, and you know how she can be..." Eddie looked down at his white sneakers.
"Suh-say it's for stuh-stuh-studying p-purposes." Bill advised Eddie, who looked back up at Bill.
Eddie shrugged his shoulders, and said, "I guess that could work. But I've used that excuse a million times before." Eddie looked ashamed. "But I can try."
And with that, the losers broke apart, each going their own separate ways home, Beverly walking down the school yard, her ginger curls bouncing after her, Eddie heading down the sidewalk, whistling into his hands, Stan following short behind him, still emersed into his book, Bill hopping onto Silver and riding away, and Ben staring after Beverly with puppy-like eyes, Richie beside him.
"You still like, Beverly, huh old chap?" Richie asked in a British accent, breaking Ben away from his admiration.
"What, no, I never liked her! I just think she's pretty, that's all..." Ben quickly defended himself, hopping onto his own bike and Richie doing the same.
"Y'know, I know how you feel." Richie's traitor mouth suddenly blurted out as him and Ben rode home together.
"You like someone too, Richie?"
Ah, fuck. Richie thought, panicked.
"Well, no-yes-it's, uhm. Complicated?" Richie sometimes wish someone would grab him and sow his stupid mouth shut.
"You can tell me, I won't judge." Ben reassured the curly black haired boy.
Richie wanted to say: 'You say that now, but if I tell you, you'll see me as a disgusting pervert who'll try to give you AIDS', but all that came out of his mouth was, "I can't. You'll hate me."
As they were reaching closer to Ben's house, Ben stopped his bike which led Richie to stop his too.
Ben gave Richie an understanding and empathic look.
"I'm not gonna force you to tell me, but if you ever wanna tell me, you can." And with that, Ben pulled ahead until he got to his house and pulled into his driveway.
For once, Richie actually thought before making a choice. He thought of what Ben had said. Richie had been keeping this secret since he was twelve, maybe eleven. And he was sixteen now.
Should Richie tell someone his secret and get it off his chest?
Should Richie tell Ben who he liked?
Should Richie tell Ben he liked Eddie?
No, not liked. Loved.
