dawn : stenbrough

13

"𝐈𝐓'𝐒 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐆𝐎," eddie finds bill sulking in his room, still holding the handle of the suitcase in his hands. bill stands up and eddie ushers him out of the room. 

"yeah, eds, i'm cuh-coming," bill mumbles, thinking to himself for a moment, "that's what richie said," he sniggers. eddie rolls his eyes but takes bill's hand and drags him to the group of people ready to leave the train. 

"you ready to leave, b?" they end up near their other friends, all of them except for stan. bill looks up to richie, who has just asked a question. bill purses his lips and blinked. 

"y-yuh-yeah, it'll be fun." and yes, it will be fun! bill knows that! but he just cannot stop thinking about stanley. he even looks around, and sees stan and his parents nowhere in sight.

bill looks back down to the floor, but he sees richie swing an arm around eddie and kiss him on the forehead. bill's face reddens. 

"hey, bill, we can hang out with stanley in portland," mike nudges bill with his shoulder, and bill nods, putting a smile back on his face thinking about stanley. 

"yeah i know, thanks." bill says, tapping his hands on the handle of the suitcase. soon enough, the doors are opening, and people are piling out at rates faster than bill can handle. he gets accidentally shoved her and there.

"bill!" beverly pushes through some people and ends up next to bill. she grabs his hand, and he pulls himself through with her hand, gripping tightly onto it. 

eventually, they come out to clear ground, where it's just the two of them. they can't see either of the losers, but they had planned for this, deciding they'd meet at the hotel. all they had to do from now was get a cab. 

they continue to hold each others hands as they wait for the cab, their other hands holding on tightly to their luggage. finally, a cab comes, and beverly waves it down.

bill stays silent, thinking about stanley like always. beverly talks to the cab driver, but keeps holding bill's hand, and they get into the back together. once inside and their seatbelts on (hands disconnected by now) beverly looks over to bill.

"bill? can i ask you something?" she says, bill looking over slowly and nodding. he plays with his thumbs in his lap. 

"do you like stanley?" the question is simple enough, and yet bill struggles with it. he knows the answer. at the point, he thinks, everyone must know the answer. 

"o-fuhf-of course i l-li-luh-like stan." bill rolled his eyes, flipping his thumbs back and forth. 

"you mean the same way richie likes eddie?" beverly asks again, bill chuckling a little under his breath. he nods again, smiling in a little bit of disbelief that he can even admit it out loud like this. 

"yeah. of course i fucking du-duh-do." bill mumbles, turning his head back to the window. 

beverly snickered at him, of course, and they laughed a little. "go get your vacation romance, bill, go get it." she urges him, and bill snorts. through the laughter, though, he considers it.