STARGAZE - IT IMAGINES & PREFERENCES

brown paper bag // richie tozier

the old brown bag crackled under my fingertips.

"ma! what's this brown bag?" i yelled to my mother. she walked into my messy room, for i was cleaning it. well, power-cleaning it. that means cleaning out my pigsty of a closet.

that brown paper bag was at the very top, where i keep nothing else but good memories. maybe this bag was one.

"i don't know, look through it h-" she stopped because my little sister, holly, screamed for her doll while the oven beeped because the lasagna for dinner needed to be checked. "look through it, sweetie!" my mom yelped as she closed my door in a hurry.

i sat on my bed, looking curiously at the thin material of the brown paper bag. there was scribbly writing on the front, it read, remember me. i was confused, for i had never seen that writing before.

i peeled back the folded paper, and it revealed an opening to the pocket inside. i reached in and out i pulled about fifty polaroid pictures, different small writing on each one. i looked at the one on the top of the stack, and it was a picture of me...and another kid. he had thick glasses, a white shirt underneath a hawiian button up. freckles littered his face. he had a grin; a type that looked like the boy was  laughing. i, on the other hand, was smiling as wide as him; because i was laughing, too. but one thing i noticed was that the boy's hand was latched to mine. but i had never seen him in my life.

the writing on the bottom confused me even more.

you're mine.

who was his? me?! no, it couldn't have been. i had no clue who this guy was!

i flipped to the next one, questions clouding my head. it was the same boy. but instead of a pink hawiian button up, he wore a blue one. and i was there, too. it was both of us, sitting on a blue swing. the scenery was very cloudy, almost raining. we were looking at our feet, and one of mine was dug into the wood-chipped ground. and, again, put hands were locked.

through thick and thin.

the bottom read. i decided to flip to the back, and it had a note.

richie tozier & y/n l/n - fall of 87'.

richie tozier. who was richie? how did he know me?! i was getting freaked out, so i flipped to the next picture.

instead of showing richie & i, it showed my wrist next to a pale, freckled one. his. on our wrists, his was a small moon. on mine lay a small sun.

you are the sun and stars to my moon.

the bottom said. i was absolutely terrified, only because of the fact i had no clue who this boy was, and there were so many pictures of us.

i threw the pictures aside and looked at my wrist. a faint drawing of a sun was inscribed into the skin. i gasped and covered my mouth with my other hand.
how had i never seen that before?

there seemed to still be things in the bag, so i dug my hand into it. a stick-like thing had found its self to my hands. i pulled it out, and it was a long dead rose. but all the petals were intact. around one of the thorns, was a note tied to it. i flipped it over.

no matter how far away you are, i am always there. you are my vibrant rose in my garden of weeds, my darling. i love you, y/n. and i always will.

i stared in shock as the aged yellow paper. a stranger loved me?

i set the rose down carefully, and reached back down into the bag. out came out was a light bulb. but there were no wires, instead there were dead baby-breath flowers. i smiled and sighed. whoever this richie was, he was pretty nice.

i dug back in, and i grasped a ring. i yanked it out, and there was another note. it read, promise ring. on the back, it said, perfect.

i slipped it on my finger, and it fit.

"perfect." i whispered.

there was nothing left in the bag, so i put everything back.

who was this richie character?

___

two weeks later

___

i fiddled with my ring and dug the tips of my shoes into the rocks. it was the first day of ninth grade, and there i was. the only person on my block, waiting for the bus.

a screech of brakes came from the end of the fogged streets. it was never foggy here, so this was unusual. a yellow bus came rambling down the asphalt. i counted twelve seats before the familiar sound of brakes bellowed out as the bus stopped in front of me.

i stepped onto the bus, and a nice looking man sat at the drivers spot. "hello, little lady!" he beamed. "you are in the twelfth seat, next to mr.tozier." he looked at a paper and smiled at me. all the kids were in seats 1-7, but i was at the very back.

who was i sitting next to? all the kids talking blurred out my hearing. welp.

a familiar back of a hawiian shirt caught my attention.

tozier.

he looked up.

it was richie. the brown paper bag richie. he sent me a smirk, and moved over. i put my backpack on the floor. "hello, miss..." he was expecting me to say my name.

"y/n." i said plainly, taken back by who he really was. "y/n..." his whispered. "y/n?" he repeated. "y-yeah?"

he took my hand and saw my ring, and turned my wrist over. "the sun." he said.

he turned his wrist around, and there i saw a faint drawing of a moon.

"you're the sun and stars to my moon." he recited.

i smiled.

he knew it was me.

we talked and talked, and i finally knew who he was.

richie tozier. class perv and clown. he was the king of dirty jokes and bad puns. he was the love of my life.

___

after school

___

we walked home together, and he lives way farther than me. we were at the stairs to my house.

"goodbye." he said. he glanced at my lips.

"goodb-"

he kissed me.

he cupped my now dark red cheeks, then held my hands.

he kept kissing me for around two minutes, then we both bulled away for air.

"see you tomorrow, tozier."

___

wow that was a long one huh