Watching a Silent Dawn

A Truth So Plainly Told

By noon the following day, all the Losers' were together at the quarry. Everyone was waiting for Stan and Bill, as they were the last ones to arrive. Bev was the first to ask the pair a question. "What took you guys so long Bill? Did something happen with your guys' parents?" Bill and Stan quickly exchanged a look unrecognizable to Bev before Stan spoke up. "No Bev, nothing happened. He just got late to picking me up." Bev's concern grew into a sly smile. "Got late pickin' you up huh? Any particular reason for that Billy?" Bill was confused for only a second before he noticed the look on Beverly's face and groaned with a hand covering half his face. "That's d-d-disgusting, Buh-Bev." Stan looked like he wanted to be anywhere else. "Are we going swimming or what? Seriously guys." He spoke up, and before letting anyone answer, he immediately began to shed his clothes at lightning speed and made a break for the quarry, and dove. Ben just stared after him in awe. "Woah, Stan never goes first when we jump..." Mike didn't hesitate to be the next jumper. Strip, run, dive. Ben and Bev together went next, their shy hands linked together, both faces as red as Bev's hair. Bill went after them, leaving only Richie and Eddie. Eddie turned towards Richie who stared down at the water below. "You know you don't have to jump right? We can just take the long way and swim into the water instead of jumping." Eddie spoke in a soft voice. He reached his pinky out. "Whatever you wanna do, I'm with you Rich. Wanna walk down instead?" Richie continued to stare at the water uneasily before turning to Eddie and nodding, and linking their pinkies on the walk down. Finally they reached the level where the ground met water and began to wade in to meet the others. Once re-joined with the group, Stan questioned them with a smug look. "Hey Eddie, have you eaten any spicy foods lately? Cause your face is redder than Bev's hair and I don't think it's a sunburn either." Bill and Bev giggled while Ben and Mike rolled their eyes with a smile. "Hey Stan, when you leave, don't be gone too long because I think someone might miss you." Eddie quiped back with a smirk. Richie joined the others when they all laughed as Stan was now the red one. "Okay guys, enough of that. Let's play some games!" Mike had saved everyone from Stan and Eddie's bickering, or whatever that was, and they all went off to play quarry games. Soon after they'd finished their 3rd game of playing chicken, Eddie swam to shore claiming he'd "die of exhaustion soon if he didn't get a break or at least a cigarette." Lately, with Richie around, Eddie found himself too busy to need a smoke, but now as he settled himself upon a smooth rock on shore, his fingers twitched for a light. "Hey Bev!" Eddie called out to her. "What's up E? Need a smoke or somethin'?" Eddie nodded. Bev turned to Bill. "What about you Billy? Crave a smoke lately?" Bill thought about it for a minute before giving his answer. "Y-you know w-what? Yeah, I-I'll take o-one." Bev and Bill made their way back to shore where Eddie sat waiting for them with jittery fingers. Bev made the trek back to the top of the quarry where her bag sat, then quickly came back. She reached into her bag, pulled out the pack of cigarettes and handed Eddie and Bill two each. "Alright fuckers here you go. I'm only giving you two because this is my last pack and I'm almost out. Savor it." Bill nodded his thanks and Eddie wandered towards the treeline. He smoked his way through a jumbled mess of feelings, frustration, and Richie. Richie of course, being the sole occupant of both of the other two sub-thoughts. Eddie grumbled as he flicked away the last of his second cigarette and began to dress and pack up his things. "HEY GUYS! I THINK I'M GONNA HEAD HOME ALRIGHT? DON'T WAIT UP!" As Eddie began down the path back towards town and out of view of the quarry, he heard a pair of footsteps running after him. A hand on Eddie's shoulder turned him around. Richie. "Oh, uh, hey Rich. Did I accidentally grab something of yours? I might've." Richie just shook his head no, raised his hand to about waist-height, and stuck his pinky out towards Eddie, with a shy smile on his face. Eddie immediately knew what Richie meant to ask, seeing as apparently he already had his things with him, and not a notebook in sight. The question, Richie was asking, was something burned into Eddie's mind from the day before. Eddie returned the smile, and stuck his own pinky out. Linking their pinkies once again, Eddie led the pair towards his home. As the duo began to reach the neighborhood in which Eddie resided, Eddie's jumbled mess of a mind cleared up- if only a little. And what suddenly became so clear, was absolutely frightening, but Eddie welcomed it with open arms as he realized what came into fruition: Eddie had feelings for Richie- romantic feelings.