Opposite But Identical

Chapter 3: 'Zza and the Mall

       Richie sat on the living room La-Z-Boy, bored out of his mind as he flipped through the VCR tapes, finally deciding on Caddyshack. His mom didn't really want him watching the movie, but she was gone shopping all day anyway.
        He'd been in his cast for about two weeks now, and he'd never been more bored in his life. The Losers had come over a few times, but they all ended up leaving after half an hour. Ben would have to return a library book... Mike had to get home to do chores... the only one that really stayed with him was Eddie, who had freaked out when he heard what had happened to his ankle.
        Eddie had broken his arm the year before and already had experience with a cast. He showed Richie how to scratch under it, how to shower with it... basically things anyone with a cast needed to know.
        Mike came down the stairs. "Hey! You going on a date with Will?" Richie asked, grinning.
        "I'm going to the mall with Dustin and Lucas, dumbass. And I'm not gay. I'm dating Eleven."
         "Will begs to differ. OH!" Richie put up his hand and high fived himself. Mike rolled his eyes at Richie's stupid comment and went out the door. "I'll be back at three!"
         Richie looked at the clock. It was only ten AM currently. He got up on his crutches and stumbled over to the kitchen. He wasn't quite accustomed to using them yet. He opened the fridge up and grabbed a cheese stick. As he finished it, the doorbell rang.
          He crutched over to the door and opened it to see the Losers: Bill, Beverly, Stan, Ben, Mike, and of course, Eddie. Bill was holding a box of pizza from his favorite place.
          "Hey guys! You brought 'zza!" He pointed to the pizza.
           Stan rolled his eyes. "If you call the pizza 'zza' one more time, I'm going to shove the entire thing up your-"
           "ANYWAY," Eddie said, walking through the doorway, "What are you up to?"
            Richie grinned at him. "I was just gonna watch Caddyshack." Bev gasped.
           "I love that movie! Let's put it in." They all sat down, Bev and Eddie on either side of Richie.
"Hey, Richie?" Bev said.
"Yeah, Bevvy?"
"You know I love you, but how long has it been since you showered?"
         Eddie nodded, silently agreeing. Richie shrugged. "Uh, I dunno. Three days?" Eddie grimaced at this.
"That's absolutely disgusting."
"What? It's difficult to wrap my cast!" Richie pouted.
           In the end, Eddie just ended up wrapping Richie's cast in a trash bag for him and made him take a shower.
          Fifteen minutes later, Richie walked out of the bathroom, his curly black hair wrapped up in a towel. The Losers cracked up when they saw him.

                                       ••••

            
          Mike shoved a quarter into the Donkey Kong machine in the mall arcade. Lucas leaned on the game. "Hey, how's Richie doing?"
            Still focused on the game, Mike responded, "Fine. Why?"
"I dunno. I know he's annoying and stuff, but it sucks that it happened, especially only a week into summer."
"Whatever. He did it to himself."
            Dustin bit into a pretzel he had bought. "Jesus, Mike. Brother of the year award goes to you."
"Shut up, Dustin."
"I'm just saying. If I had a twin, we'd be best friends. We'd dress up like each other, talk about girls, play video games-"
"Yeah, that's what every only child says. Anyways, you have Steve, isn't that close enough?" Mike retorted, still focused on the game. He was already on his last life. He couldn't play with all of these distractions.
"Steve is my adopted mother. Not my twin. Big difference." Dustin replied, ripping off another piece of pretzel.
          The game made a depressing "duh-duh-duhhhhh" noise. Mike sighed. He had lost his last life. "I'm out of quarters," Mike sighed.
          "Good. I have to get a present for Max," Lucas said, taking some pretzel from Dustin, who shot him a dirty look.

"Why do you have to get a present for her?"
"We got into a fight last night?"
"About what?"
"I don't even remember, honestly. But she's pissed as hell."
           Mike rolled his eyes. He then realized exactly how much he had been doing that lately. They ended up going into Max and El's favorite store. Lucas spent forty minutes picking out a shirt for her. He said, "What size should I get for her? Medium?
              Mike sat up. "No, no, no, better go with small. It's better to size down when it comes to girls. That's what my dad told me, at least. One time, he got a skirt for my mom that was two sizes too big. She didn't talk to him for two days."
              "Yikes. Okay. Size small, then. But I don't think it will even fit her right."
              Mike patted his best friend on the shoulder. "It's the thought that counts, dude." Dustin rolled his eyes. His friends were kind of idiots.
              They went and saw a movie after Lucas bought the shirt, then headed home. El had the flu, so Mike dropped off some Eggos, which her dad, Hopper, agreed to bring in for her.
             Richie was playing the Atari when Mike got home. Richie yelled, "Hey, cutie! How was your date?"
             Mike flipped him off while passing him on his way to the stairs. "Wow, real mature," Richie grinned, looking back at his game. The phone rang at Mike yelled, "Richie! Get the phone!"
             "Yeah, make the cripple get it," Richie yelled back, getting up. "God, what a fucknut."
             He crutched over and picked up the phone. "What's shakin', bacon?" This is how Richie always answered the phone.
"Rich?" He recognized the voice as his father, Ted Wheeler. He sounded upset.
            Richie's face fell. "Dad? What's wrong?"
"Y-your mom..."
"Dad, what happened? Tell me, please!"
"Your mom got into a car accident. I need you and Mike to get to the hospital."

The line went dead.