stozier

Chapter Fifteen

I sat perched on the edge of my couch, eyes locked on the door, wondering who would show up first.

If this whole thing didn't go well, I wasn't sure what would happen. Would Richie still be friends with me? Bill? The only two I knew would still talk to me no matter what were Eddie and Ben. They had no part in the Bill and Richie drama, while Beverly and Mike did. That was right. Six people were coming to my house and spending the night, two of which hated each other. I wasn't sure why I thought this would be a good idea, but this week it seemed like I was more impulsive than usual. Maybe it was just Richie rubbing off on me.

The first to arrive was Ben, who was tightly zipped into at least four different jackets. I watched him take them off one by one at the coat rack. I didn't tell Richie that Bill would be at the sleepover, and vice versa. I wanted to see if both of them could contain themselves, or become friends. Ben was nice, I knew he wouldn't dare be rude to my parents, and he was a close friend, one of the only people who talked to me in my classes. Even though he was shy, I thought he would be good to balance all of the drama, if anything even happened.

The second to show up was Eddie, at least twenty minutes early. I missed him so much from our old school, and I could tell he missed me too, because when he came through the door and started talking, he mentioned how I was his only friend. It kind of upset me how sad that was, but it made me feel thankful for all of the friends I did have, even if I wasn't all that close to Mike and Beverly. Yet. Maybe he could make some friends at this sleepover too. He sat down on the couch next to Ben, neither of them talking to each other, just staring. Both of them were... definitely outcasts. Ben did get picked on a lot, and so did Eddie, for different reasons. Eddie was some kind of hypochondriac, and Ben used to get picked on a lot for his weight. I wasn't going to force them to talk to each other, I would let it happen naturally. And they did start talking, as I greeted Richie at the door.

Richie was seventeen minutes early, not that I ever expected him to be early in the first place. He was the kind of person that thought he had time. That told me I was important to him, you know, if he left early just to come to my house. I told everyone I invited to show up at five thirty, and Mike, Beverly, and Bill were still yet to arrive.

As Richie sat down, he immediately started talking, which was good. But he did seem a little suspicious of Ben, who hung out with Bill and I, which was bad. Maybe he was wondering if I invited Bill. Worst case scenario, Richie and Bill fight. That just means they have to stay away from each other for the rest of the night, unless I was undermining the situation entirely. I didn't want either of them to come out of here hating each other, or worse, me. Bill wasn't homophobic anymore, so what was the big problem?

Beverly came next, and she seemed surprised, too, that Richie got there before her. She was ten minutes early. I checked my phone repeatedly, looking at the time, waiting for that Snapchat notification from Bill saying he couldn't make it. I wanted him to come, but there was a chance he knew about everyone else who was coming- Richie, Beverly and Mike. Maybe he thought this was just a set up for all of us to gang up on him. It wasn't. I wished I could tell him that.

Mike was next. Fifteen minutes late, and no sign of Bill. He didn't even greet me when I opened the door, instead he walked straight past me and set his bag on the ground, off to talk to Beverly and Richie. Mike was a little rude, but I didn't say anything. I didn't want to start drama between Mike and I when there wasn't any. The living room was pretty lively now, due to Richie, and I wondered how my parents were holding out upstairs. I didn't tell my mom Richie would be coming, and I hoped she wouldn't come check on us and spot him, either. She wouldn't be making dinner, she only told me to throw a couple of frozen pizzas in the oven if people got hungry. Hopefully, both of them would stay in bed and watch movies all night, and not come down to yell at us if we got too loud. I could probably explain Richie to her well enough, and get her to let him stay around, but I didn't want to do that if I didn't have to.

When six o'clock hit and I still had no sign of Bill, I gave up on him and started talking with everyone else. Maybe he had Richie or Mike on SnapMaps and saw that they were at my house.

Okay, now I was really stretching for a conclusion.

"So that's everybody?" Beverly asked me, in the middle of us playing board games. I wasn't sure why the question came up, but it did. We were playing Uno, and of course, Richie had both of his hands full with at least half of the deck. Luckily for him, we were switching hands on sevens and zeros, so he wouldn't keep it for long.

I nodded, pretending I wasn't worried about Bill not showing. I pretended to invest myself in whatever was happening- Ben, drawing from the deck, Eddie laying down another plus two, and Richie groaning and drawing from the deck after Ben. Then, I had a thought. Maybe it was better this way, without Bill.

Soon enough, we had stopped playing Uno and moved on to other things. Richie pulled off a win, somehow, and nobody expected it- nobody paid attention to him, all of us thinking he was too dumb to win. But he did it. We ended up upstairs, in my bedroom, and everyone was lying around, talking or eating or showing each other stupid videos on our phones, when my mom came into my room.

"Stanley, honey, there's someone downstairs." She looked around at all of us. I think she saw Richie, but if she did, she didn't say anything about it.

I gave Eddie a look as I put my phone in my back pocket and headed downstairs. It was Bill, it had to be.

Once I reached the bottom of the steps I glanced over at the couch, and there he was. He looked upset.

"Hey," I said quietly, moving over to talk to him. I sat next to him on the couch but kept my distance. I didn't know if Bill was just upset or an angry upset. I'd never experienced him being angry before, and I didn't want to find out what it would be like either.

He looked up at me and smiled weakly. "H-Hey. Sorry I'm s-suh-so late, m-my muh-mom and I got ih-into an argument." I could see dried tears on his cheeks, and I knew immediately that he'd been crying.

"Oh. It's fine, Bill, I hope you feel better, okay? Okay? Well, everyone's upstairs. Try not to think about it. Oh, and I should warn you, Richie's here," I told him, deciding it would be better if I warned him beforehand. He nodded, sniffling quietly before he stood up. I stood up with him.

We walked upstairs in silence. The silence wasn't what felt off, it was something else. Bill usually wasn't an emotional person, but he seemed really worn down. Maybe it was that?

Pushing open the door and letting Bill in, I pretended nothing was wrong. Everyone could tell that Bill had been crying, but I ignored the questioning looks, going back to my previous spot next to Eddie and including Bill in our conversation this time. Bill and Eddie turned out to be pretty good friends. I would've never guessed.

-

I left to go to the bathroom, and when I came back, Beverly was whispering something into Mike's ear. Ben was sitting next to her. I wondered when all that happened. And Bill and Eddie were carrying on, as usual, Eddie's face red with laughter. Richie was nowhere to be found, but I found it a little weird that Beverly was whispering, most of all.

She looked at me as I came into the room and she smiled, not saying anything. I wasn't sure where to insert myself. I couldn't just butt into Mike and Beverly's conversation, because it seemed pretty serious (or, rather, secretive) and I didn't want to interrupt Bill and Eddie, since they got along pretty well without me. My mind jumped to finding Richie, but I didn't care that much. It wasn't like he was in my parents' bedroom, terrorizing them or something. I decided to sit down next to Ben, since he looked the loneliest.

"Hey," I said, giving him a quick smile. Ben looked at me weird for a second, and then smiled back. "Hey. I'm going to tell you something," he said back.

"Oh." It striked me as a little odd at first, but when he whispered into my ear, it made sense immediately.

He liked Beverly. At first I felt a little bad, because I assumed Ben had no chance with her, but that was mean. I knew it was mean. So I stopped. She wasn't dating anyone, and definitely wasn't with Mike. Maybe he did have a chance.

"Have you guys talked?" I asked, making the conversation seem like it was about something else.

"Yes. We have," he grinned. "And I think... well, I'll text you. I'll tell you everything."

As Richie came back into my room with at least five cans of pop and three bags of chips, Ben's smile grew even wider. I knew what that smile was about, and it wasn't about food. Ben knew that Beverly liked him back.