cliché || reddie ✔️

ten

"Richie," Beverly calls through the wood. "Hurry up. Stanley said he and Eddie are leaving in half an hour and we need to get some breakfast!" She stands by the bathroom door, pulling her sweater tight against her body, balling the hem behind her back, and tucking it into her jeans.

"Be fucking patient!" Richie's voice shouts back. "I'm.. hold on."

Beverly raises an eyebrow and grabs the doorknob. She finds it unlocked and the door swings open with ease. Richie's leaning over the counter, hands hovering over his hair and a determined look in his eyes. He meets Beverly's gaze in the mirror and flys around. "Can you not wait a single second?"

Her mouth opens in a smile as she crosses her arms, leaning against the doorway. "Do I see someone fixing their appearance?" She asks teasingly.

Richie tries to slap her back out, annoyance in his voice as he says, "No! It's for your mom. She likes it when these curls are to their upmost perfection."

"I thought you said those curls were supposed to stay wild and untamed?" She shoots back, a hand grabbing onto the doorway.

"I only make exceptions to Mrs. Marsh herself," Richie says. He gives up on trying to push Beverly out and moves back in front of the mirror.

Beverly follows him, the smile never leaving her face. Richie's hair still held some straightness to it, but after rolling around in his sleep and brushing it through, the waves have started to form back. As he pushes his hair around, sometimes running a hand through it, Beverly puffs out her sweater and tugs at it to make it look not tucked in.

"Ready to go?" She asks when Richie let out a defeated sigh.

"Fuck it. My hair is going to be wild and he's just going to have to deal with it," Richie says and walks past Beverly.

"So it is for Eddie!" She says, her eyes lighting up with excitement.

"It is not!"

~~~

Snow hasn't fallen since Thursday and tire-tracked slush runs down through the streets. It slops out from under tires and shoes and really ties in with the Gray Derry idea Richie has conjured up in his mind. He pulls up to the McDonald's drive-thru, the one and only McDonald's in all of Derry.

The town has shrunk since when the teenager's parents were teens themselves and only lowered in population after the 2010s murders, so business owners find no need to open big-chained stores and restaurants in such an unknown place.

"Want your usual?" Richie asks as he digs through his back pocket, his hips lifted.

Beverly glances up from her phone, a fingernail set into a dent of her gel phone case. "I'm a simple girl with simple wants," she says and Richie looks over at her expectingly. "Yes, Rich, I'll have the usual."

A voice crackles from the intercom, a broken question asking, "Hello and welco... to McDonald's. What can I ... for y..?"

~~~

The library is completely dependent on sunlight throughout the day, the wintery light floating in through the large windows and leaving a musty look to the place. It is fitting for such an old building, though.

"And they arrive!" Richie announces, narrowly dodging the edge of a table as he and Beverly walk up. Stanley looks up and Eddie offers the two a smile.