✓ | BETTER WITH YOU → richie tozier ³

two

"I CALL bullshit on your logic."

"What logic? I haven't even said anything, dipshit!" Ash said, annoyed.

"I called bullshit on gazebos. And that's not even what they were." Eddie spoke up, and Richie rolled his eyes.

"We know, Eds. 'Hey, remember that time when I confronted my mom and told her all my pills were gazebos and just fucking stormed out the house yet I still haven't been able to tell her I'm as straight as a circle?'" He mocked.

"Beep, beep Richie!" Eddie exclaimed, and Bill said, grinning, "H-he's not wrong."

"And anyway," Richie said, looking at Ash. "I knew you were going to start spewing about something bullshitty so I called bullshit on your bullshit before you could get a chance too!"

Stanley groaned. "I want to hit myself very hard in the face with a frying pan right now. Does anyone have a frying pan?"

"Nobody give Stan a frying pan!" Ben announced, and Eddie snorted. "That rhymes."

"Oh my God, it's happening. I'm entering high school as a senior and I'm still friends with dumbasses." Stan said.

"Hey!" Richie said indignantly.

They all laughed as they reached the school, Ashley skidding to a stop and putting her bike into the oh-so-familiar bike rack she remembered from freshman year.

"Can't say I've missed this place." She announced, looking around.

"Yeah, well you're lucky you haven't had to spend the last three years here." Richie grumbled. "It still sucks ass."

"I'm sure." Ash replied, and Bill said, "Wh-why are you all already hating on the pl-place? We should enjoy it!"

All of them, even Stan, stared at him, and Bill's face went red. "Okay, y-you're right."

After they had gotten their schedules and Richie had let out a delighted whoop that he was in one of Ash's other classes and all of them were in the same lunch period, they headed back out to the front of the school to kill time before the school day officially made its start.

"I am so glad," Richie began. "That they're serving these for breakfast again."

His mouth was full of blueberry bagel, and Ash cringed. "Don't talk with your mouth full."

He cheesed so the bits of chewed up food were flecked between his teeth and leered at her, saying in a new accent, "Itsuh Blueberry Boyuh here for ya, darlin. How bouta kiss? Huh huh huhhh?"

She made such a face that he snorted and choked on the bagel, hacking and gasping, until Stan came up behind him and thwacked him on the back.

The bagel went flying out of his mouth and Richie coughed violently, trying to regain his breath, but wheezing all the same.

"Serves you right. Still can't do accents." Ash said triumphantly, and Eddie grinned, his eyes shining.

"Do your gay impression of Stan and Bill, Richie!" He asked, pressing his knuckles to his mouth to keep a laugh from escaping.

Richie, pleased someone appreciated his voices for once, shot a look at Ash and then proceeded, putting on a prissy expression.

"Now Bill," He said, his voice girlish as he pretended to flip his hair. "We do not do anal in public, sweetie, I have told you a million ti-yumes!"

Stan's face turned bright red. "Beep, beep-"

But Richie didn't give him time to finish, grinning at Ash; who's shoulders were shaking with laughter as he pressed on, "Stanley, we cuh-can't not do anal in pu-public, dearest, no sirree! No, no, n-n-no!"

"Beep, beep Richie!" Bill and Stan both chorused, glaring at Eddie and Ash who had collapsed onto the grass, laughing so hard they were both gasping as Richie finally shut up.

"Now that," Ash said, shaking her head. "Was pretty good, Tozier."

The bell sounded from inside the school, and Richie held out a hand. "Come on, gorgeous. We really don't want to make a bad impression on our first day."

She slid her hand in his and raised her eyebrows. "Are we still ditching fifth period again?"

"Yeah, duh." He gave her a look, like, what else would we be doing?

"I swear, none of you are getting into good colleges." Stan grumbled, but followed the rest of them as they headed across the lawn.

As Ash was about to follow Richie into the school, she saw a figure standing near her bike at the bike rack and squinted.

Her mouth dropped open, and she dug her nails into her palms, feeling them sting, and whispered, "This cannot be happening."

Because she was sure, for an instant, she saw Spencer Allen.

Tall, menacing, his eyes almost black, and a smirk playing on his lips as he stared directly at her, and Ash whipped around when she heard Richie say, "Beautiful!"

His forehead creased as he saw her expression. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"

"I-" She swallowed, and then looked over her shoulder again, stifling a gasp.

Spencer was gone.

"Um, I have to-" She thought wildly. "I have to go check my bike. It'll only be a second."

Richie's eyes bored into her's, studying her suspiciously. She was lying through her teeth, he could tell.

"Beautiful-" He began, but she forced a smile, cutting across him. "Be right back."

Before he could answer, Ash had turned and was walking quickly across the grass, nearing her bike.

She dropped to her knees, and examined it, running her fingers down the body of the bike, and when she didn't see anything, breathed a sigh of relief.

As she began to stand, her eyes caught sight of something on the handlebars, and she moved to look at it, her mouth dropping open in horror.

Scratched onto her bike were the words:

YOU'RE DEAD, BITCH.

"Who the fuck wrote that?"

Ash whipped around to see Richie standing behind her, his eyes dark with fury as he glared at the message. "Who the hell wrote it?"

Ash opened her mouth to speak, to tell him, and then swallowed, shaking her head. "I-I don't know."

His eyebrows narrowed as he studied her. "You sure?"

She nodded, and Richie slipped an arm around her. "You know I'd never let anything happen to you, right?"

"Yeah." She said shakily, and then cleared her throat, twisting her fingers around his. "Come on. Let's go inside."

~

The next day, Ash was again hanging out with the Losers before school started.

She had scratched over the words on her bike, and had an feeling Richie had confided to Eddie about it, because he kept looking anxiously over at him.

She had barely gotten any sleep the night before, arguing with herself. Had she really seen Spencer? Or had it been someone else?

As she once again picked herself up off the ground and headed into the school, she stopped when she heard someone say, "Hey, Ash! Losers!"

They all turned, and Ash shielded her eyes from the glare of the sun as she looked to see who was coming towards them.

Her mouth dropped open as the figures neared them, and she realized it was Dustin Henderson, Lucas Sinclair, Will Byers; and standing right at the front, his black hair messy from the wind, his brown eyes twinkling at her, was Michael Wheeler.

"Mike?" She asked disbelievingly, and he shot her a grin, running his fingers through his windswept hair before winking at her. "Miss me?"