love ; bill denbrough

17

A/N: I got something to say to y'all at the end of this chapter :)

Cass

"I was w-wondering if everyone is f-f-free tomorrow?" Bill asked.

"Yep."

"Yeah." 

"Sure." The boys replied.

"C-cass and I wanna g-go look-k for Teddy and G-G-Georgie." He stated.

"Yeah man, we'll come." Mike smiled.

"Stanley, can I talk to you for a second, please?" I asked. All night, he'd been extremely distant, never engaging in conversation by choice, only when he was forced. "Stan?"

"Oh yeah," He jumped, as if I had startled him. "Sure."

"So." Stan and I made our way out of Bill's room and onto the landing as I closed the door behind me. "What's up?"

"N-nothing." He smiled.

"You just stuttered. Stanley Uris never stutters." I smirked.

"Nothing is wrong." He stood taller. All it took was a slight raise of my eyebrow, and he cracked. His bottom lip trembled as he tried to steady it between his teeth. "Stan. You can tell me." I put my hand on his shoulder.

"I don't wanna tell you," His voice cracked. "You'll think i'm c-crazy."

"Stan." I opened my arms, he almost lunged into them. It was clear a hug was what this boy needed, since he never got that sort of affection from his parents. "I will never think you're crazy. You're one of my best friends, and I hope you can trust me as much as I trust you."

He shook his head. "I think it was just a hallucination or a trick of the mind, but it felt so real. It was a painting, in my dad's office. I've always been terrified of it, and it's like it- like it came out of the canvas."

"That explains it. You've always been scared of it, it most likely was a trick of the mind. In fact, I don't see how it could be anything else." I reassured him. 

"You're right. It's impossible. I'm sorry." 

"Don't apologise. You have nothing to be sorry about, but promise me not to let it get to you anymore. It's getting boring without you and Richie constantly at eachother's throats." I smiled, making him do the same back. Once I saw that mischevious glint in his eye again, I opened the door, pushing him back into the bedroom.

:::

"We have searched everywhere in town." Eddie sighed.

"We will find them, it's just i'm getting kinda hungry." Richie piped up. 

It was around 5pm and the sun had just begun setting, we'd been on our bikes all day, riding, looking for any sign of Teddy or Georgie.

"Let's g-get something t-t-to eat. We can t-try again tom-morrow." Bill smiled.

"How about the Max?" Stan asked, referring to the diner that was just a short distance away.

"Let's go." Eddie smiled. 

Conversation was flowing between the boys, but I just rode my bike silently behind them all. I didn't really feel like meaningless chatter right now, i'd much rather be punishing myself over my little brother.

1 more day. 1 more day in which we'd accomplished nothing. 1 more day that Teddy was alone without his family or, 1 day that his body decomposed further, no-one having any clue of where he was.

"Hey." Before I even realised it, we were at the diner as I desperately skidded to a halt on my bike. "Whoa, watch out." Bill steadied me by my shoulders as I almost dismounted and flew over my handle bars. For a split second, I was so close to Bill, I heard him whisper in my ear. "I'll ask later." And then, in an instant, I was away from him again. That boy had some freak ability to read my mind, sometimes I was sure of it.

I shook my thoughts away as I stepped into the well lit diner, the boys heading to order. "I'm just going to the bathroom." I smiled, slipping away from my friends, not before noticing a knowing look from Bill, I couldn't bring myself to look back at him, so I only continued into the girls bathroom.

"Shit." I muttered, looking at myself in the mirror. I breathed deeply, forcing myself into one of the cubicals behind me, locking the door as I got in. "Shit, shit, shit." I whispered, dropping down onto the toilet, with my head in my heads. I dug the heels of my hands into my eye sockets, lightly rubbing my temples as if it would alter my train of thoughts, stop me from dwelling on my possibly dead little brother.

"Cass?" I heard the door creak open, accompanied by the soft voice of Bill.

"Bill? This is the girls bathroom." I sighed.

"C-c-couldn't care less. I can t-tell something is up, a-and I wanna know w-what right n-now." A shadow appeared under the door and I could tell he was standing outside. 

"I'm fine. I'm just, tired of the guys." I lied.

"Open up." He knocked rhythmically on the door, slow, extremely annoying taps.

I pulled open the latch on the door and Bill entered the cubicle so fast my head span.

"What th-" I was interrupted by Bill's finger to my lips. Then I heard it, the little pitter patter of footsteps and a very feminine sounding humming of a tune I vaguely recognised, leaving someones lips. To skip the dirty part, we listened for a few excruciatingly awkward minutes as she did her business, washed her hands, and left.

"Told you not to come into the girls bathroom." I scoffed.

"I t-told you I don't care." He smiled, reaching up to twirl the hair that had fallen onto my face. "What's u-up?" 

"Nothing." I smiled, but knew I wasn't going to get away with it. "I just, I just feel bad, what if we don't find Georgie and Teddy?"

"We w-will. They're al-live, I know it." He smiled.

"They're probably so scared," I whispered, suddenly, the air felt dry and my throat got increasingly tighter by the second. "And what am I doing, eating burgers with my buddies."

"We're d-doing everything we c-can, Cass. We c-could've just shut d-down, stopped everyth-thing like our p-parents, but we d-didn't. We're looking, and th-that's more than most othe-ers can say."

"Yeah, yeah I guess." I leaned in and wrapped my arms around him tightly around him, as he did the same. A small sigh escaped my lips as I rested my head against his chest. 

"What about t-tomorrow we look-k on our o-own? Without the g-guys?" He proposed, earning a nod from me. "Whatever h-happens, we will cover all b-bases. There will be n-n-no alley, in Derry we don't s-search. We'll f-find them."

"Yeah," I nodded catatonically. "We'll find them."

A/N: Hiya, ur daily reminder that JOEY TROTTA DESERVED BETTER. anyways i gotta tell y'all something.

i feel the updates of this book are kinda repetitive now, and i don't wanna become 'that person' so! updates will be EXTREMELY slow until january 15th, when i can buy the new it movie and write the storyline accurately. lucky for y'all i have a 

NEW IT PREFERENCES BOOK 

and i'll be updating that instead to fill the void! <3

also, im so excited for 'ready player one' kill MEE