Experiment - BYLER + REDDIE

➵ chapter three

"Hey, hey, you're okay." Mike looked at her arm and grimaced. "Your arm is broken, but it's fine, we can take you to the hospital and you'll be fine."

She sniffed and wiped her nose. "N-No hospital, can't."

Mike frowned. "You have to. It'll heal wrong if you don't go."

She didn't respond, and Mike sighed.

"Oh, thank God, there you are!"

Richie rushed into the basement, shoved Mike out of the way, and crouched in front of the girl. He put his hands on either side of her face, eyes filled with concern.

"Hey, can you hear me? What happened?"

"I f-fell from the w-window and my a-arm is broken and c-concussion and can't breathe." she started to hyperventilate, and Richie cursed under his breath. Mike was still standing awkwardly behind Richie. Richie turned around, rolling his eyes.

"Get in the corner, dumbass, this is private." Then, he turned back to the hyperventilating girl. "C'mon, breathe with me. You're gonna be fine." He faced Mike again. "Hey, dipshit, be useful and comfort her while I call the others."

Richie ran across the room to the phone, and Mike slowly approached the girl.

"Um... would a story to distract you help with the pain?"

She hesitated, then nodded. Mike's mind suddenly went blank, and he could only think of stories from the events of the past three years. He considered his options, then picked a story.

"There was this dance at my school a couple years ago. A winter dance. It was called the Snow Ball. Me and my friends all went together, but we all ended up going off in pairs. I went with my girlfriend, two of my friends danced together, and one of them got asked by someone else, but there was one more friend who didn't have anyone to dance with. He asked the girl he had been planning to dance with, but she said no, and so did a bunch of other girls, so he ended up dancing with my sister, which is... kind of weird, but whatever."

The girl, who's breathing had slowed down as Mike spoke, giggled a little bit, and Mike grinned.

"The girl that I went with, my girlfriend, we had actually told our science teacher that she was my second cousin, so I don't know what he thought about that... especially when we kissed."

The girl sighed. "Lucky."

Mike tilted his head to the side. "Why is that lucky?"

"You're lucky the person you like likes you back. Mine would never."

"Hey," he put a hand on her shoulder, and she tensed, then relaxed, "you seem really cool. Anyone would be lucky to have y-"

"Okay, the others are coming. You doing okay?"

The girl nodded, still covering her face with her hands as her body shook with silent sobs, and Richie turned to Mike, scowling.

"If you tell anyone, and I mean anyone, even your stupid girlfriend back in stupid Illinois or wherever the fuck you came from, about this, I will personally hunt you down and make sure you're six feet under by the end of the hour, got it?"

Mike nodded, then didn't move anywhere.

Richie threw his arms up in the air in exasperation. "Now is the time when you get the fuck out of my basement."

Mike scoffed. "This is my bedroom!"

"Out."

Mike stormed up the stairs, the door slammed, and Richie sighed, muttering about how he didn't have to be so dramatic and he could have just used the basement door, then turned back to Will.