"Here. Take my umbrella."

Chapter 4

          As much as that summer was hell, it so wasn't. It so so wasn't I hung out a fuck ton with Eddie that summer, and in addition to those horrific memories of the Neibolt house, and IT, and Pennywise, and what happened to all of us, those 27 years later, I have some of the best memories with my best friend. And I wouldn't trade those for the world.

          We had a sleepover. At Eddie's house. Of course, those happened often. Even though Mrs. Kaspbrak didn't necessarily like me, because she didn't want Eddie to have friends. But she secretly gave in and she let us have sleepovers. We ate dinner that night, and we played games, all kinds. He kicked my ass in checkers, of course, because he was way better than me in that, and he also beat me in Operation, because, once again, he was better than me in surgical stuff. But, after a long game of Monopoly that I beat him in, contrary to his beliefs, we relaxed and would get ready for bed soon. It was hot that night but neither of us thought anything of it when we were just in boxers. I mean, we all were in just boxers at the quarry, we were just used to it.

          We had sleeping bags laid out on the floor in his room, with lots of pillows and a blanket. Which we had to share. Share a blanket. "So wadya wanna do tomorrow, Eds? I'm takin your ass to the arcade!" Eddie's eyes were sparkling, and I could tell that inside that brain of his, he was filled with excitement. But what came out was something totally different, because he had to act as though he wasn't as excited. "What makes you think I wanna go with you?" Well, of course I had the perfect response. "That's fine. I'm sure your mom would love for me to take her out to the arcade. We'll have a better time anyway." Eddie scoffed. "I hate you."We talked and talked that night and played truth or dare. "Truth or dare, Kaspbrak." After what felt like a billion years,  he finally answered. "Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh truth. Hey Richie-"

          "EDDDIE BEAR- TURN OFF THE LIGHTS AND GO TO BED. MAKE SURE YOU BRUSHED YOUR TEETH, EDDIE!" Eddie let out a sigh and got up, turning out the lights. Eddie hid his tiredness pretty well, but as soon as the lights went out, Eddie, I could tell, even in the dark, had the heavy eyelids. We laid down in our sleeping bags, a blanket spread across between the two of us. Nothing was ever thought of it, that was just things best friends did, right? There were a few moments of silence, but then again, I never shut the fuck up, so I broke it. "Eddie, what was it you were gonna say?" Silence. Eddie must have fell asleep. In the pitch black darkness, I laid there. 'What was that kid thinking about? What was he gonna say?'

          Eventually, Richie fell asleep. The two, during their sleep, pulled the blanket from side to side, fighting over it in their sleep.

          I opened my eyes to find 2, big brown ones staring back at me, inches apart. "Your breath reeks, dude." Eddie sat up immediately, covering his mouth, panicking and blushing from embarrassment. "Dude, relax. I'm just messin with ya." I laughed a little, messing with Eddie was too much fun. "WHYwouldyoudothat you fucking idiot! YouknowIhateitwhenyoumesswithmelikethatevenifit'soversomethingstupid." "Can't hear you!" I was already in the hallway, leaving his ass to ramble as I cackled at his nervous mess. He stormed off after me.

          The arcade was filled with fun, and by fun I meant me kicking Eddie's ass in just about every video game in the room. He was more used to the other types of games, closer to board games, while I was the MASTER at arcade games like Centipede, Pac Man, Frogger, Street Fighter (especially), and Mortal Kombat.

          "I keep dying! Stupid ghosts!" Eddie threw his hand up in the air in frustration, turning around for a brief moment and sighing in annoyance, the way Edward Kaspbrak does, when he's done with my shit. But this time it was Pac Man that was getting on his nerves. "How the hell do I beat them so you can stop kicking my ass?" "But see, Eduardo, this is fun. But let me show you."

          The game started. The famous music from the beginning of Pac Man that I oh-so loved. I moved closer, bumping elbows with Eddie, not caring. "See? There's a pattern." I pointed. "Whenever you go this way, they go this way. And then whenever you go into a corner, they go into the corner diagonal from you and come to meet you wherever you went since then. Now look. Try." He moved his hand to the joystick, moving it along and I watched in horror as he nearly got himself killed. I followed my first instinct and reached for the joystick, jerking it, and saving him. Our hands had collided. Mine was on top of his, trying to help him. Soft, delicate hands. I didn't even realize what I had did though until after I pulled away. But Eddie didn't react much so I figured he brushed it off. Once he got used to playing Pac Man, it was smooth sailing for Eddie and we versed each other. Sure, I still did kick his ass, but he won once. It was just because I had been playing longer and I had better practice. Introducing him to Street Fighter was hilarious. He flailed with the controls and he couldn't even get a hit in because of his slow reflexes. I beat him as Ryu AND as Chun Li, which was one of the weaker characters in my opinion. "COM ON, WHAT THE FUCK, RICH?!" In a laughing fit, I responded. "We'll practice this another time, Eds. This one will take a while. For you." Clearly flustered, he huffed. "Chop chop, Kaspbrak! I'm out of tokens, let's go."

          Then another time we went to the quarry. We always went with the losers, but this time they were busy and it was just us. "Dude... Eddie, what was that?" I stepped on a branch and put on my best impression, speaking if I were terrified. Of course it worked and Eddie frantically looked around. "What?" he asked and he was panicked. "Richie I swear to god if this is another-" "SHIT! It's coming, Eddie! Jump in the water, quick!" Biting down on my lip to hide my laugh, I fake jumped like I'd go over the edge, and at that point, Eddie was already panicked enough that he beat me to it and had already jumped. I was finally able to let out my fit of laughter. "Got ya!" "I'M GONNA KILL YOU, RICHIE!" I jumped down too, coming back up for air, only to meet Eddie's angry face as he smacked me back down in the water, cursing me out and doing every little thing to be the angry little man he was. Did I get smacked around and beat the hell up? Yes. Surprisingly. Was it worth it? Abso-fucking-lutely.