philophobia → it

fourteen

fun times in a bathroom

"this is fucking disgusting," eleanor scrubbed at the tub covered in blood. her sponge no longer yellow anymore and her hands covered in the crimson.

"you literally cleaned up ben's wound, how is this more disgusting?" eddie asked and she turned to him.

"i don't know, it just is," the dark haired girl answered and the small boy rolled his eyes. she ignored him, continuing to remove the blood from the tub with ben.

"so it all just came from the sink?" stanley asked and beverly nodded.

"my dad thinks i'm losing my mind."

"we're all freaking crazy in this town bev, don't worry," eleanor reassured the girl and beverly gave an appreciative smile before approaching her.

"so you and stan, huh?" the tall girl nudged and eleanor caught a glimpse of the boy in her peripheral vision, cleaning blood like the rest were too from the walls now, instead of the window. "i don't know what you're talking about."

"he likes you." beverly smiled and eleanor stopped scrubbing at the tub, turning to the only other female of the group.

"how could he possibly like me? i'm a mess of a person and anyone can see that." the dark haired girl responded and beverly's smile faltered in confusion.

"you are far from a mess. and trust me, he likes you."

eleanor huffed, the strands of hair in front of her face moving with the puff of air. "whatever, let's just hurry up and clean this bathroom up." she dismissed, dunking her sponge into the bucket of water and squeezing it out before emptying it into the tub. beverly's words remaining in the back of her mind.

"h-hey, you.. you okay?" bill asked dumping his bucket of water out before refilling it. eleanor looked up at the boy and she gave a small smile and a nod.

"i guess. how about you?" she questioned, pulling herself up from the floor to move onto somewhere else. "i'm- i'm fine. and, i was.. was asking, because- because you s-seemed a bit out, out of it." he stuttered and she placed a gentle hand on his arm.

"bill, i'm fine. don't worry about me." she lied, trying to reassure the boy who posed as a leader for all of them. "now like i told beverly, we need to hurry up before her dad gets back."

the brunette gave a nod, not wanting to ask anymore questions. he had a feeling she didn't like them and he was correct because if eleanor was asked one more question she would most likely snap at the person.

with that, they remained silent through the rest of their cleaning. buckets all dumped out and stacked one inside another as eddie put all the cleaning supplies back in their exact places and ben took the trash out. eleanor and the curly haired boy exiting, and eddie and ben following shortly afterwards.

"so what happened?" richie inquired the four.

"we cleaned." eleanor responded, pulling her bicycle up off the ground. she took note that stanley was keeping an eye on her and she almost scoffed.

finally, the red haired girl and the stuttering boy had come down. a suspicion growing in eleanor's stomach about the feelings the two had for eachother. it made a smirk appear on her face, but a weird feeling in her stomach had set in when she thought back to what beverly had said.

"hey, thanks for helping me guys." beverly smiled nervously. however, eleanor hadn't been listening. she was too caught up in her own head.

"el. eleanor. hey, you there?"

eleanor snapped out of her thoughts, her eyes meeting stanley's and she furrowed her eyebrows. "yeah, sorry. just thinking about something." she replied and he eyed her suspiciously before getting on his bike.

"okay well, let's go. the rest of those losers are already ahead of us."

"yeah, i noticed. and stan, it's not el."