Awnings (Reddie Modern AU boyxboy)

Chapter Three: Anti-Prom

Richie was stalling. They could all tell. He always stalled them when they were standing outside the religious center. However, he'd never done it for Anti-Prom before. Today was supposed to be the exception when he runs in and the others try to catch up while he beelines for the basement and the others find him already mingling with all the other partygoers.

Right now though, the small steeple of the building was overlooking the group as Richie pretended he couldn't get through the invisible wall he had mimed in front of himself.

"Come on, Richie," Stan groaned, "You know we're supposed to be greeting people."

Bill walked through the wall that was not actually there.

"Woah! How are you guys doing that?" Richie exclaimed.

"Shut up, you're not funny," Eddie said whilst laughing hysterically.

Bev elbowed Eddie for feeding into this, but they'd been standing there for about two minutes of Richie's absolute nonsense and it was so stupid that it was hilarious. To Eddie at least.

"Do you want us to go in without you?" Mike suggested.

"You wouldn't DARE," Richie answered.

"Then come on!" Bev said. She grabbed Richie's wrist and pulled him along.

The basement was a decent size. It had large beige tile flooring and beige walls to match. There was a small table with plastic cups and an assortment of soda and juices in the corner by the trash bins. Small round and rectangular cheap looking tables lined the perimeter of the room. Music was playing quietly. All of the young people were standing against the back wall talking to each other while adults sat at the tables. Surprisingly, most of the kids looked liked about upperclassman age and there were only a few toddlers and a couple of tweens. Most of the faces looked familiar to Eddie who came to the center every Friday with his friends, but he didn't know most people's names because the losers just typically minded their own during services.

When they got inside, Eddie expected that maybe his dates would greet a few people but then start partying immediately. He had no idea that Stan and Richie were expected to greet every adult sitting at the table in the basement.

They were a big hit too. Eddie was following behind them and waving and smiling. He kept on hearing the adults saying "Such nice young men," and "respectable boys."

One old woman was hoping one of the two would dance with her granddaughter tonight. She pointed at the girl who was probably about fifteen or sixteen. "Her name is Patricia," the woman said, "Beautiful, isn't she?"

"Quite." "Very."

The two had responded at the same time, but Eddie could tell Stan was more intrigued than Richie. Eddie checked his Apple Watch. It was 7:30. They'd been at this for half an hour.

Anti-Prom began at 7:00 because Real Prom started at 8:00. Once the doors were open at Real Prom for an hour, they officially closed so no new partygoers could enter. Anti-Prom just had to keep people here as much as possible until 9:00 and then the party could die out naturally whenever after that.

Looking around the room, Eddie estimated there must have been at least forty youths present, just standing doing nothing except for a pair of toddler chasing each other around the room. Despite the stillness, it somehow already smelled like sweat.

Eddie searched around for the other losers who were currently pouring themselves drinks. He made eye contact with Bev. She gave him an apologetic look and tilted her head to the side. Eddie frowned. When Bill saw that he waved Eddie to come over.