Lollipop // Richie Tozier x OC ( IT 2017 )

A Date or Something (Chapter 3)

Lolly's mouth hung open, then abruptly closed again. The word's pushed her into a flashback of their last encounter when Richie had said the same thing. She replayed, "want a date or something?" over in her mind for a second. Weighing her options for a moment,

 "Maybe I do," 

"I've never gotten that answer before," Richie shrugged as a short blush walked up to his cheeks. He'd use that line whenever anyone was staring. Girls, boys, even the Bowers gang who were in a category all their own. 

"Date aside, that's not why I'm here." The brown haired girl smiled, the blush on Richie's cheeks was a sign of success in her eyes. 

"Yuh-you said something about needing Stan too," Bill interrupted 

"OH. That's what this is about. Stan-The-Man!"

Richie remembered the encounter with Lolly on the last day of school. Their group had been successful in hiding from Henry and his goons since then, and he was hoping Henry hadn't figured out it had been him who swiped his knife. Richie's homeroom teacher, Ms.Markle had seen him sneaking around but ignored it. Richie decided she must hate the Bowers gang as much as the kids did. 

"Stop calling me that," Stanley groaned, walking up behind the group. His light brown curls bounced with each step, "Thanks for covering for us the other day Lolly, " he continued. Stanley had been surprised enough Lolly had stopped to speak to them at school and was even more surprised to see she was here on Richie's porch.  

Lolly appreciated the recognition, she wasn't sure what she wanted from this declared IOU. Lolly was mostly alone this summer, her best friend Kimberly had moved away after the murder of Bill's little brother. She'd been alone and close to friend-less all year since Greta Bowie had made it her mission to make her life hell-ish. She desperately wanted new friends to be herself around, sitting in the sun listening to Wham! alone was getting exhausting. 

"You're welcome," she started before taking a deep breath, " This is like, kinda lame.." she started, and took another breath, "I was just wondering if you guys wanted to see a movie this week or something..", she toyed with her hair, "You too Bill. I don't know maybe that's dumb."
"So you want a four-way date?" Richie laughed, "Eighth graders are frisky!" 
"Not as a date!" Lolly said, her cheeks turned hot at the mention of a real date with Richie.
  
Was she acting weird? She felt like she was acting really weird.
"Rejected by underclassmen, talk about embarrassing, loser, loser, loser."  Lolly could hear Greta's new material already. 

"Ignore him, his life mission is to make everyone look like as big of an idiot as he is. A movie sounds great." Stanley side-eyed Richie. Stanley wouldn't admit it if any of the boys asked, but he'd found himself quite enamored with Lolly. Even before their encounter he'd thought of the girl with the candy name and the chocolate colored hair. 

Bill had been hanging around a little like a ghost, for once feeling left out of the conversation. Usually a leader, Bill had missed out on the earlier exchange but was happy to be included in the movie not-date.

"Cuh-Cool. I'm in too." Bill smiled 

Lolly perked up, but her eyes were still on Richie. Was he interested in coming too?

"Whatever yah say, missus! If it's-ah date yuh want!" Richie dipped into a character, one of his signature 'Richie-isms'.

Lolly wasn't quite sure what it was supposed to be. She'd find out later that a lot of Richie voices were like that, very much Richie with just a little splash of something different. 
Lolly nibbled on her lower lip to keep a big smile from going from one corner of her face to the other. It'd been a long time since she'd made plans with friends, and an even longer time since she'd been excited to be around a boy. 

I can't wait for that movie, Stanley thought.
He also thought the 'date' would be a lot more fun if Richie wasn't around. He had tried to ignore Lolly's lingering eyes on his trash mouth friend, but he couldn't help but notice. If she had taken a liking to Bill, Stanley would've just accepted it. Bill was a leader, with broader shoulders and bravery that the other members of their group couldn't match. Even following the death of his only sibling he'd trudged on with life, and continued to be their unofficial leader. However, Lolly wasn't sweet on Bill, she was sweet on Richie and this made Stanley a little bit sour.

(Authors note! Hey guys! It's been a little while since I updated! Sorry if I kept anyone waiting, I got back my IT inspo after rereading the book! I hope you like the chapter, thanks so much!)