The rain hadn't stopped.
A dark-eyed junco sat on a tree branch, the rain hitting at it rudely. But the bird didn't care and simply shook off the water from it's wings. The bird craned it's neck and stared at Stan and Stan could feel what the bird was feeling. Cold. A different kind of cold. He felt sad and angry, bitter, confused. Drained even. He opened his window and felt the cool gust of air hit his face. He squinted. He hadn't noticed how windy it had gotten.
"Hey." He called out to the bird who simply stared and pecked at the branch. "Wanna come inside?" The bird didn't look up. He felt stupid, talking to a bird. But nowadays, Stan felt he didn't have friends. Only Richie. And that friendship was slowly deteriorating.
"It's warm here." He had remembered a night in this cold November month where he was sitting around a fire with Richie. Hot coco in hand and Richie's cup had a big mountain of whipped cream. "You'll get diabetes." Eddie had scowled, sitting on the couch on Richie's right. "You can't get diabetes from whipped cream alone." Stan had said in a solemn voice.
The relationship Stan and Eddie had was rather complicated. Eddie hadn't liked Stan when he had first met him. He was only five and the only friend he ever had was Richie, so when Richie met Stanley and started playing with him more, Eddie got jealous. He never liked Stan sitting with them at lunch, nor Stan being Richie's plus one when Eddie invited him over. Now, they had become friends though a bit of hatred went around the two once in a while. Truth be told, they didn't even hate each other. They just had unresolved feelings.
When Eddie turned thirteen, everyone's views kind of changed. For once, the losers saw Eddie differently. Especially Richie. Stan had found him cute with his new look and new self esteem. With his mother gone, Eddie had felt free and it had been time for him to fit into his own skin. So he did.
It was then that Stan realized he liked boys.
But that was years ago, and he didn't like Eddie now. Even though sometimes he found himself staring at Eddie's freckles and had attempted to count each and every one of them. Or sometimes, he'd look over at Eddie's shaved legs in the bright yellow sun while they were at the quarry.
But now, it was like the two had some unknown grudge between them and Stan thought he knew what it was about. He was right.
That night, sitting around the fire, a blanket draped around him and Richie, Stan knew that he, Richie and Eddie were in some love triangle that they didn't know about.
Eddie loved Richie, Richie loved Eddie. Simple. But Stan loved Richie. But Stan liked Eddie?
It was all so confusing to him and he hated thinking that he could be in love with his best friend and also have a liking to someone who had hated him in old times.
If there was one thing he missed about that night, it was the warmth of the fire and the warmth of Richie's hand on his.
The dark-eyed junco had now inched closer to Stan. The brunette smiled and extended his hand. Surprisingly, the bird waddled over to it and sat on the palm of Stan's hand. Stan smiled in awe and brought the bird inside. He grabbed a handkerchief and wrapped the tiny winged creature in it. He observed the bird and thought he should take care of it. "What should I name you?"
On Jackson street, Richie Tozier's house had never looked so quiet and out of place. Richie crept up to his dad's room, the loud sound of the tv roaring in his ears. He guessed his dad was watching the sports channel, something he never did with all the working and drinking he had been doing lately. His dad wasn't always like this. Richie doesn't know what's going on but he wants the old Went back. His dad that would take him to every baseball practice when he was younger, just a little kid. The dad that once loved Eddie Kaspbrak and Richie Tozier as best buds. The dad that would always ask, "Want Eddie to come get ice cream with you, Rich?"
