" LIPSTICK " + STENBROUGH

[17]

a/n: i hope you're ready for this one it's wilD

the atmosphere is loud and upbeat as bill pours himself a cup of spiked punch. he doesn't mind the alcohol, oddly enough, but that might be because bill denbrough is already drunk.

it starts when he walks in and mike hanlon—who has been at carole's party for an hour already and is pretty hammered—laughs and hands bill a cup. he drinks the mysterious contents, because he trusts mike and doesn't care so much about consequences today, and since then he's been drinking cup after cup. ben even tells him to slow down at one point, but bill hasn't been listening. he's in the mood to get shitfaced.

"billy!" bill turns to face a giggly voice belonging to gretta bowie.

gretta bowie is a close friend of betty ripsom, but bill hasn't ever had a real conversation with her. they share chemistry class, but other than that she isn't even seen by bill during the day. when he does see her, it's at parties like these, dressed in a short skirt and tight top like she is dressed in now, as she walks towards bill in too-tall heels.

"hey, gretta."

"wanna dance?" bill's eyebrows furrow. bill isn't necessarily unpopular—at least, not as unpopular as he had been in middle school—but he most certainly is not one to catch gretta's eye. gretta is popular, bill is not, and bill doesn't know if he wants to dance with gretta.

also, he's gay. maybe.

"i-i-i duh-don't know," he stutters.

"just one song?" gretta says, and takes a step closer to bill, looking up at his face. her hands rest themselves on his chest. "your eyelashes look really nice."

"thanks." bill takes gretta's hands in his own and places them at her sides. "b-but i'm not really up for duh-dancing." gretta pouts.

"what about we play a game then?" she suggests.

"what?"

"they're playing seven minutes in heaven upstairs," she explains. "beverly told me to come up if i wanted to play; i wasn't planning on it but maybe if you play too, my opinion could be swayed."

there's a look of seduction across her face, but bill, in his intoxication, doesn't understand the implications of gretta's words. so he agrees.

"s-s-sounds fun," he says. gretta smiles, taking bill's hand and dragging him up a large staircase, and then into a room just down a hallway.

inside, sitting on the floor in a circle is beverly, ben, mike, carole, stanley, betty ripsom, and two others bill doesn't remember the name of—he vaguely recognizes them in his drunken haze as a boy and girl from his economics class. richie is sitting in the corner, eddie sitting on his lap, whispering in the smaller boy's ear. eddie giggles at whatever he says, placing a few kisses on richie's cheek and jaw, just by his ear lobe.

bill is a bit envious of richie and eddie. they're best friends and boyfriends. it just really seems perfect to bill.

bill sits squished between gretta and beverly. the bottle is already spinning as he gets comfortable, carole being the reason behind it.

the empty beer bottle spins against the hardwood floor, slowing down eventually to land on mike. mike chuckles a bit and stands up. carole takes his hand and drags him into the closet just across the hall.