oblivion | stenbrough

two

Two weeks pass without Stan noticing and it's Friday. He tended to like Friday's more than any other because he only had two classes. It meant that when he left his last class of the day, he could head back to his dorm and get a jump on the homework assigned to him over the weekend. The perfect setup.

Stan was in his second and last class of the day when his phone vibrated against the side of his thigh. He'd been startled but ultimately chose to ignore it, more focused on what his professor was saying than checking it. As he sat in his chair his curiosity was peaking, his finger tapping restlessly against the small wooden table that his laptop was resting on. He chewed on his bottom lip wondering what it was. He reached into his pocket and pulled his phone out, turning the screen on and he thought he had a heart attack upon seeing the notifications on the screen.

Instagram: billdenbrough sent you a message

Stan stared at the screen until it timed out, confused and intrigued. He tried not to let his thoughts run out of control but it was hard to stop his train of thought once it got moving. What did he say? How did he find me? He curses under his breath and shakes his head, blinking a few times, as if that would help him clear his mind, and desperately tried to focus on the lesson but that was easier said than done. He slid the handheld device back into his pocket. He began to play with his fingers, picking at his nails in the last ditch effort to distract himself from the urge to open the message.

The next thing he noticed was that the rest of the class was packing up and leaving the lecture hall. Stan mentally kicked himself for missing the remainder of the lesson and he resisted the urge to reach back into his pocket to retrieve it, pulling the screen of his laptop to meet the keyboard and shoved it into his bag, slinging the straps over his shoulders and walking out of the row, down the steps to the exit doors. When he gets outside he exhaled a breath that he didn't know he was holding.

He started walking, staring down at his feet as he made his way toward the building where Eddie's class should have been getting out. When he arrived, he stood at the end of the concrete stairs and waited for Eddie to come bounding down the stairs. The doors flew open seconds after Stan arrived and the students filed out of the building in small groups until he spotted Eddie walking with Richie who now wore a pair of glasses with oddly thick lenses. He smiled down at Eddie and laughed, lips moving but they were too far away for Stan to hear him, not that Stan wanted to.

Richie had been walking Eddie out for a week and a half and Stan had grown to know just what a conversation with him may consist of, usually jokes that were either offensive or crude, or both, and he was more at ease being distanced from him. Eddie spotted Stan at the bottom of the steps and waved while walking down the steps. "Hey." Stan smiled in return as Richie came up behind Eddie and leaned against the stair railing.

"Stan the man, how's it been? Get any fun messages today?" He smiled innocently and wrapped his arm around Eddie's shoulders. Despite his need for space away from others, Eddie didn't try to shove him away. Stan glared up at Richie.

"What are you talking about?"

"Big Bill, Stanley." Stan cringed at the nickname used for Bill and crossed his arms over his chest.

"I'm not sure how but, yeah, I did." Richie was smirking somewhat victoriously and it confused Stan even more than the message itself. It also annoyed him. "Why are you smirking?"

"I'm the reason he messaged you! They call me Cupid, ya know." Richie said with the same satisfied smirk on his lips. Stan felt like he could punch him then but decided to go with his better judgment.

"Why the fuck would you tell him to message me? And how did he even find me? I never told him my name." Stan asked, noticeably irritated.

"He asked me for your name after the party, and then did some searching or some shit and found you. As far as me telling him to go for it, I don't know, I think you two would hit it off. He gets a bad rap." Richie explained and Eddie removed his arm from around his shoulders while watching the situation unfold before him, stepping down to meet Stan at the bottom of the steps.