𝐌𝐈𝐃𝐃𝐋𝐄 𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐑𝐒 [R.Tozier]

III. Midnight Misery

Alisa makes her way back home, arriving just a few moments before bill and Richie. "Hey, you sure you don't wanna stay over, princess?" Richie asks, smirking towards the red head. She sends him an eye roll then turns to the blue-eyed boy.

"Beep beep." The young teen says as she looks to Richie once more. "Hey, that's actually kinda f-f-funny." Bill laughs, nudging his friend. "Beep beep R-R-Richie."

"Oh shut the fuck up." The four eyed boy shouts, winking to Alisa before dropping his bike and running into the Denbrough residence. "Is he always like that?" Ally asks, raising her eyebrows. Bill nods, then drops his bike as well, heading inside.

Alisa sighs, making her way into her own empty house. Her parents haven't been around lately since the death of Amber Parker. It hit Mr. and Mrs. Parker hard, harder than it could hit anyone. That's why Alisa always stays over at the Denbrough's, although their house has been been pretty depressing as well.

She slouches over to her messy room, viewing all the papers thrown around, the dirty clothes on the floor, and a dropped glass of water she never bothered to clean up.

It's time to tidy up this place, and there's no time to wait. Alisa pulls up her window to let in some air and begins her chore. Just last night she had once of her breakdowns, causing her to destroy everything in sight. What Alisa's parents didn't know, is that Amber's disappearance had hit her just as hard as them, but she chose to hide it around others not to cause a scene.

While she brooms away the small pieces of glass from her wooden floor, she can hear the yelling and shouting coming from Bill's room. Out of instinct, she listens in, taking out her headphones from the Walkman and looking out towards the two boys, sitting down on bill's bed, watching television.

"How come I've never spoken to this Alisa girl? She your girlfriend?" Richie asks, smirking towards the blue eyed boy. "Alisa? Oh! No. We started talking after G-G-Georgie and Amber disappeared. A-A-Alisa is the only friend who really understands me, no offense." Bill replies, head looking straight at the tv.

Alisa can't help but smile, knowing that she is his source of comfort, as he is hers. "None taken , Billiam." Richie replies, patting his shoulder, smiling. "W-W-Why? Do you like her?" Bill turns around to look at his friend, smirking. "Well- um-" Alisa doesn't want to listen anymore, so she slams her window, quickly getting out of view.

She quite frankly did not want to hear the answer to that. What if he did like her? She doesn't like him back. She's never even spoken to the boy, at least not for longer than a few minutes. It would only make things awkward and weird between the two, so she convinces herself to forget about it.

•••

"Well- Um." Richie stops as he hears something slam coming from outside. Both boys turn to the window, only seeing the curtains swaying a bit, despite the window being closed. Richie smirks as Bill stares in confusion, wondering where the noise has came from.

Alisa sighs, plugging in her earphones once again and walking back into view, as if nothing has happened in the first place. Right stuff by New Kids On The Block plays into her headphones, causing her to dance a little as she sweeps around, without even noticing that the boys were staring at her.

"Is.. Parker.. dancing?" Richie asks, raising his eyebrows as he stares. Dancing is something Alisa only does in her alone time, as she loves to move around, but doesn't actually know how to really dance. "I th-th-think she is." Bill replies, squinting.

When Alisa turns around, both boys look away, quickly turning back to the tv and pretending to talk. Alisa doesn't seem to notice, and just continues on.

•••

As Alisa lays in her now cleaner bed, she looks up at her ceiling, covered in glow in the dark stars that her and amber spent weeks putting up. The entire ceiling was absolutely filled, lighting up the entire room in green stars.

They had even put in the effort as to cover amber's ceiling as well, using the last of their allowance money. Alisa can feel her eyes filling with tears as she remembers the days when amber was around, when her family was happy.

The pain inside her gut is too hard to handle. It's times like these where she would need bill, her source of comfort, her best friend for all she knew. She makes her way down the stairs, completely forgetting that Richie was still over at bill's.

She walks up to the Denbrough residence, heading to the side and throwing a pebble over to bill's window, not wanting to knock at the door, waking up his parents.

The window opens, but Bill doesn't look out, it's someone else. "Bill?" Alisa calls out, waiting for the blue eyed boy to poke his head out.

"You regret saying no to my offer?" The large-eyed boy asks, smirking down at the girl. She rolls her eyes  looks down at the ground. She pulls her lips into a thin line and looks back up at Richie. "Shit, have you been crying?" The boy asks, his face turning into a concerned one. "Just let me in." The girl calls out, sniffling.

"Right on it, hot stuff." He smirks, turning around and running down. In just a few moments, the front door swings open, revealing Richie standing at the door. "Bill's asleep, guess I'll just have to do." He winks, moving aside to let Alisa in. "I'm not in the mood." The girl sighs, ignoring his existence and heading up the stairs as she always does, heading right to bill's room.

"Alrighty then.." Richie mutters to himself, quietly shutting the door, then heading upstairs, following behind.

"What happened? Miss me so much you started crying?" Richie asks, sitting next to her on the mattress that was set up on bill's floor.

"I said I'm not in the mood." Alisa replies, looking away from the annoying boy. "Right, sorry." Richie sighs, adjusting his glasses and scooting over a little closer to the red head. "Look, you're kind of on my mattress, so if it means anything to you, I'll grab a blanket and just sleep on that, alright?" He asks, patting the girl's shoulder.

"U-um Yeah." She sniffles, managing to send him a sad smile. "Alright, you can try and sleep. I'll be right back." Richie whispers, getting up from the mattress and heading out of the room to get a blanket and a pillow.

Alisa didn't know this yet, but despite Richie's comments, he was sensitive around the girl. If he saw she was hurt, he felt hurt himself. He hadn't really know the girl except for occasionally listening to her answering questions in class or talking to bill when he was around, but this is the first time she's ever really acknowledged him.

"Alright, I'm back. You sure you're okay?" The boy asks, setting the soft blanket on the hard floor and lying down, facing towards Alisa. Alisa nods, then begins closing her eyes. "Night, princess." Richie smirks as he closes his eyes as well. "Call me Ally." Alisa replies, annoyed by her nickname. "Hey, I would love it if you called me your boyfriend, but we can't always get what we want." Richie jokes, earning a small smile from the girl.

"Night, jackass."

"Night, Parker."