The Losers Club: Their story, but with an outsider.

Chapter 9

     "Who's ready to finish this movie?" Richie asks excitedly and we all settle back down after distributing the popcorn. Bill retakes his seat next to me and Richie shoots me a weird look. I ignore him and press play on the remote. I settle back, enjoying the movie, and feel Bills hand work his way into mine. I look at him and smile. 

     He squeezes my hand and I lay my head on his shoulder, trying to not fall asleep. 

     "Char?" I open my eyes and see Bill looking at me. I rub at my eyes and look around. "What happened?" I ask groggily and look at the others. Bev is kneeling infront of me and Eddie is asleep on Richie's shoulder, Stan no where in sight. "You fell asleep that's all." Bev says and sits next to me. I nod and close my eyes, leaning my head on the wall. "Where's Stan?" I ask and open my eyes to look to Bill. "He's in the bathroom." He explains and looks at the dried blood on my hand. 

     "When did you do this?" He asks and holds my hand up. I shrug and look out of the window and outside. It's dark out and you can see the stars. "Richie, what time does Eddie's watch say?" I ask. Richie rolls his eyes and checks the time. "9:30. Why?" I open the balcony door and look in the driveway for Butch's car but don't see it. "What's going on?" Bev asks and walks over to me. 

     "Just wanted to see if my dad's home." I tell her and shut the door to the balcony. I sit back down next to Bill and put my head in my hands. "Can we address what's going on with you two?" Richie asks and glares at me. I look at Bill, unsure of what to say. Bill looks at me then at Richie. "What do you mean?" Bev snickers and sits down next to me. "I mean, when I went down stairs to see what was taking you guys 5 years, you we're making out." He says with an eyeroll. 

     Bev's eyes widen and she elbows me with a 'why-didn't-you-tell-me?' look. "Okay for one, we weren't 'making out'," I say and make air-quotes. "And two, the popcorn decided to blow up." Richie snorts and lets out a sarcastic "Sure, as if that's an excuse.". I roll my eyes and stare at the ceiling. 

     "Ignore him." Bill says into my ear, making me shiver. Richie continues to rant about how I'm probably" just trying to fuck with them" and "am too nice to be a Bowers".  I block him out and realize Stans been gone for a good 10 minutes. I get up and leave them in the room to argue and walk to the bathroom. "Stan?" I ask and knock on the door. "Can I come in?" I ask and wait outside the door. He unlocks it and I open the door to him crying on the floor.

     I sit down next to him and try to get him to look at me. "What's wrong?" I ask. He looks at me, his eyes red and filled with tears. "When the bathroom flooded, it wasn't because of the plumbing.. it was from something else.. right?" I put my hand on his shoulder to reassure him that he's okay. I nod. "What did you see?" I ask and look at him, concerned. 

    "This lady.. she was in a painting, and then she was gone? She tried to.. to.. kill me.." He says between tears. I nod again and pull him into a hug. He cries on my shoulder and I hold him in my arms until I hear the door to my room open and Bill comes out, looking for us. "Stan, what happened?" He asks and Richie walks up behind him. 

     "It's going to be okay." I tell Stan and he pulls back to look at me. His tears left streaks on his face and his skin is blotchy. I ruffle Stans hair, making him smile, and look at Bill and Richie. "Eddie still asleep?" I ask Richie and he nods, giving me a weak smile. "Sorry I refused to trust you.." Richie says quietly and I smile and nod. "It's fine, if I were in your situation I wouldn't trust me at first either." I tell him and look at Bill who has a concerned look on his face. 

     "W-what happened?" Bill asks me and looks at Stan who has his head on my shoulder. "Nervous breakdown is my guess." I tell him and look to Stan. "You think you're okay to come out of the bathroom yet?" I ask him. He slightly nods his head yes and allows me to pull him up. "How about, Bill and I go get you some ice cream and we can all watch another movie." I ask him when we get in the room. 

     "Last time you and Bill went to get something together, I found you guys thirty minutes later kissing." Richie says and snickers. He then focuses on Eddie, cupping Eddies face in his palms. "Fine, Richie you and I will go then. Besides, there's something I'd like to talk to you about." I say and give Bill a reassuring look. "Alright, bring it on." He says and jogs after me.

     We get downstairs and head straight for the kitchen to find the ice cream. "So, what's up?" Richie says and sits on the counter. I open the freezer door and search for ice cream. "I know." I say and Richie's face pales. "Know what?" He asks quickly, tapping on his leg. I smile and shake my head. 

     "Richie, I'm not going to judge you. No one is." I tell him and pull out a carton of chocolate vanilla swirl ice cream. "Char, I really have no idea what you're talking about.." He begins tapping on the counter. "Yes you do." I insist and open a drawer trying to find spoons. "No-" he starts but I cut him off. "Eddie. I know you like Eddie." He stops tapping and stares at me. 

     "It's obvious. You tease him, but make sure his feelings aren't hurt. You let him sleep on your shoulder. You stick up for him no matter what. And I can see it in the way you look at him. You like him. And not as a friend." Richie looks at me with a horrified look. "You can't tell anyone, please, not even Bill." He says quickly, holding onto my shoulders. "Rich.." I start, but he cuts in. "No one!" I nod step to the side. 

     "I won't tell anyone. I promise." I say and hold out my pinky. He locks his pinky in mine and I shake my hand up to down as if we were shaking hands. "Oh, and from what I can tell, he feels the same way." I say and begin scooping the ice cream into a bowl. I don't even have to turn around to know that Richie is smiling, and stick the ice cream back in the freezer. 

     "What should I do?" Richie asks me as I grab a few paper towels. "I'll talk to Eddie and make sure that he feels the same and then we'll see from there." I tell him and walk to the stairs. He nods and mumbles what I think was a thank you and we walk into my room. "Here you go Stannie." I say gently and kneel down next to him, handing him the ice cream.

     "Thank you." He says quietly and I smile before moving over to sit on the bed. "Should you all just like, spend the night here?" I ask, looking at Eddie who's sound asleep. "I could." Bev says and Richie nods his head in agreement. Bill sinks on the bed next to me and tells us that he could. "Stan, would you want to?" I ask, glancing at him. He nods and gives me a small smile. 

     "Cool, alright." I say and wrap myself in a blanket. "Want to gather snacks for the movie marathon?" I ask Bill. He nods and we get up. "C I swear you're gonna fall down the stairs with that stupid blanket just throw a hoodie on." Bev says before I can drag the blanket with me. I sigh and walk to my closet and looking through my hoodies. I pull out a black one and slip it on, shooting Bev a quick wink before running after Bill. 

     "What should we grab?" Bill asks me in the kitchen and I stare into the pantry. I shrug and grab a box of cereal, setting it on the counter. I glance at Bill and see that he's staring at me. "What?" I ask, blushing. He takes a step closer and I look to the stairs to see if someone were standing there. No one was there so I take a step in Bills direction. We're about a foot away from each other and I smile at him. 

     "What's so comical?" He asks me, his stutter gone. "Nothing." I say and turn to the pantry, grabbing a bag of marshmallows and tossing them onto the counter too. He stands next to me and pulls out a bag of chips. "This should be g-good." He tells me. I nod and grab the cereal and marshmallows. 

     We get to my room and Stan and Bev are talking on the floor and Richie fell asleep, his head resting on Eddie's shoulder. I smile and dump the snacks on the floor and Bill and I sit diagonal from them, creating a circle. I turn the vinyl player on and we listen to music and before I know it, everyone but Bill and I are asleep. I look up at him and smile, drowsily. I lay my head on his shoulder and slip my hand in his, ready to fall asleep. "Goodnight Char." He whispers to me and I smile. "Goodnight Bill." 

A/N: Hi, I'm getting back on schedule!! Also, I apologize for lack of keeping schedule, I've been swamped with school and other stuff and haven't been able to find time to write. I'll work on getting better with it <3 hope you all enjoyed this chapter, it's kinda lame tho ngl. ANYWAYS, have a good night/day/morning !!