"you owe me a quarter." | reddie

three

when richie, beverly, and stan got to the arcade, richie immediately dragged them over to his favorite game. he didn't tell either of them that he has been practicing it so he could take them by surprise when they were playing. he asked stan if he wanted to play with him and stan, of course, said yes.

"let me go get change and i'll be right back to play," stan said to richie. richie nodded and stan made his way over to the change machine. all the games in the arcade only cost a quarter a play, which richie loved. 

beverly already got her change and was intensely playing a game of tetris a few machines down from richie. richie looked over at her and chuckled to himself. her face was all scrunched up and she was deeply focused on the game and everytime she messed up she would curse loudly. 

stan came back with a handful of quarters and gave one to richie. they both inserted a quarter into the machine and picked their fighters. they began playing, and soon enough, richie had won the first game. stan was demanding a rematch while richie laughed at him playfully. 

"how did you beat me so fast?" stan asked him.

"i dunno, guess i'm just that good," replied richie, with a big grin on his face. stan was not having it. he made richie play rematch him and, again, richie won. 

"have you been practicing?" stan asked in shock after his defeat. 

"maybe," richie laughed. 

"not fair!" stan yelled at richie and punched him in the arm. richie pretended to be hurt and called out for beverly.

"bev! help me! stan has injured me greatly!" richie exclaimed dramatically, holding his arm. 

"SHIT!" beverly kicked the tetris machine and looked over at richie and stan. "richie you made me lose my game!" beverly yelled at richie. 

richie and stan laughed at beverly and her frustration with her game of tetris. beverly came over to the two and hit them both. "it's not funny!" beverly said with a smile creeping up on her face. soon enough, she was laughing along with them. 

"sorry bevvy," richie said while still laughing. 

just then, four boys from their school walked through the doors of the arcade. richie looked over and he recognized one of the boys as ben hanscom, who was in his sophomore english class. the other boys looked familiar, and richie was pretty sure that they were in the same grade as him and his friends. 

"i've never seen any of them in here before," richie said, confused. "i think they go to our school."

stan and beverly also looked over to the door and saw the group of friends. 

"i know one of them," stan said, "his name is mike. stan pointed over to the tall, dark boy, but only so richie and beverly could see. "he was in my math and history class this year." 

the boys who just walked through the door made their way over to the change machine. beverly, stan, and richie were following them with their eyes and studying them. richie thought one of them was kind of cute. the boy was smaller than richie and was wearing short shorts and a fanny pack. richie couldn't stop looking at him. 

"that one is kinda cute," bev said with a smile, pointing over towards ben. this broke richie's attention on the boy. 

richie and stan looked at each other, then at beverly. beverly hit them both again. "stop! and don't say anything to him." 

"why would we say anything to him? i barely know his name," richie responded. 

"whatever, just... don't," beverly trailed off. she went back over to her tetris game and began playing a new round. stan also ventured off to test out the different games but spent most of his time playing frogger.

that left richie alone, playing street fighter. he stopped paying attention to that group of boys that walked in and focused on his game. though, he couldn't stop thinking of that one boy in the group. 

when richie went to try and play another round of street fighter, he realized he was all out of quarters. 

"shit," richie muttered to himself. he went over to beverly to ask for a quarter but she was so invested in her tetris game and told him to fuck off. he then went over to stan to ask the same thing but stan said he was saving his last few quarters to play some games that he's been eyeing.

before richie made it back over to the street fighter machine, he felt someone tap him on the shoulder.

"i heard you talking to your friend, do you need a quarter?" asked the voice behind him. richie turned around and saw no other than the cute boy from earlier. 

"uhhh," richie uttered. richie could tell that he was blushing. all of a sudden richie got really nervous and he didn't know what to say to the boy standing in front of him. so richie just nodded awkwardly.

the boy reached into his fanny pack and pulled out a quarter. he handed it to richie and richie accepted it. 

"you owe me a quarter." the boy said with a smirk on his face, and then walked away towards his group of friends.

what the fuck, richie thought. why didn't i say anything?! i am so fucking stupid! i didn't even ask him his name!

richie never really thought about his sexuality. he always told himself that he likes whoever he likes, no matter the gender. stan and beverly knew about this and were fully supportive of their friend.  

richie was lost in thought when his two best friends approached him.

"rich, you okay?" beverly asked. richie quickly snapped out of his trance and nodded.

"something's up with you," stan said suspiciously. he noticed richie's eyes dart over towards the boy who gave him a quarter and then back to stan. stan turned his head and looked over towards the boy. "did something happen with that guy over there?" stan asked, concerned.

richie didn't know what to say. he thought the boy was incredibly cute and he knew his friends supported him, but he didn't want to tell them about the interaction. 

"no, everything's fine. are you guys ready to leave?" richie asked the two. beverly and stan said yes and they left the arcade and got back into richie's car. 

as soon as they piled into richie's car, beverly piped up.

"guys, i talked to that boy that i said was cute in the arcade," she told them, with a big smile on her face. 

"what the fuck? when?" stan asked.

"i went over to him while you two were caught up in your games. anyway, his name is ben and i got his number." she was so excited. beverly never got crushes, so this was big for her, and the boys were excited to see her so happy. 

"that's great, bev! i'm so happy for you!" richie responded. 

"thank you, richie," beverly replied while leaning over in her car seat to give richie a hug. "i also met his friends. they were very nice. stan already pointed out mike, so i knew his name. but the other two were bill denbrough and eddie kaspbrak."

"which one was the small one with the fanny pack?" richie asked, trying to be nonchalant about it.

"oh that one was eddie. he's adorable and very funny, i think you two would get along great," beverly answered and then winked at richie. "why do you ask?"

"um, no reason," richie blurt out quickly. he then started the car and began driving towards his house. beverly looked over into the back seat and exchanged a confused look with stan, but didn't mention anything to richie. they figured he would talk about it if he wanted.