stanley stood at his locker, planning on grabbing his things, and then heading to richie's. before he could get to that point, he was interrupted.
"hi baby," betty ripsom walked up behind stanley, grabbing him by the waist. he turned around, surprised, and she kissed him chastely.
and suddenly, like a repressed memory, stanley remembered.
stanley and betty moved further back on the bed, and betty rolled around so that she was on top. betty moved to kiss his neck and started fumbling with his belt. stanley pushed her back a little bit. she looked up at him with confusion.
"hey, can we maybe, take it slower? like, not get into all this right away?" stanley asked, noticing how slurred his voice seemed. betty sat up. she put her hands on his bare chest.
she laughed, "what, like a couple?"
"uh... yeah." stanley did not mean to say that. why did he say that? was it the alcohol?
"did you just ask me to be your girlfriend?"
stanley smiled awkwardly
"stanley! what a romantic. i never would've expected it," she kissed him gently, "i accept."
shit.
"hi, betty," stanley started, not quite sure what he wanted to say. so sorry, i don't actually want to date you, i was just drunk! not the best option, perhaps.
luckily, he didn't have to continue, as betty started talking, "i have to run to math, i'm getting tutored before class starts, but i wanted to say hi~" she giggled, and stanley nodded.
"oh, okay," stanley said, not sounding too broken up about not getting to spend the time before class with his girlfriend.
"see you later!" she said cheerily before walking back down the hallway. stanley gulped.
-
"richie there you are, you'll never guess what happened," stanley stopped, taking a good look at richie. there were dried tear tracks down his cheeks, and he was facing the locker, like he was hiding his face. richie's undereye bags were deeper than stanley had ever seen them, and he looked wrecked, generally. stanley reached out to richie, "are you okay?"
richie ran a hand through his hair, "yeah, i'm fine, i just, uhm, didn't sleep well."
"are you sure? you can tell me." stanley's reached out hand was clearly rejected by richie, so he put it back in his pocket.
"stan, it's fine, i just..." richie's voice quieted as a couple of girls walked by, whispering to each other quite obviously as they stared at richie. richie looked to the ground.
"hey, fuck off," stanley said to them, richie turning further away from him. stanley looked to richie and waited for him to say something.
"i'll see you in class," richie slung his backpack around his shoulder, and leaving only one strap hanging off, took off down the hallway towards the bathroom. stanley stood alone, confused.
later, he found the rest of his friends in his first class, each of them standing around a group of desks, except for richie. richie still wasn't there. stanley walked up.
"hey guys," stanley said softly, mike and beverly turning around.
"stan! oh, have you talked to richie? is he coming to school?"
"i don't expect he would," mike interrupted, and stanley realized how sad the two of them looked just mentioning richie's name. what the fuck happened?
"no, i, i talked to him this morning, i haven't seen him since though, why?" stanley replied, raising an eyebrow. mike blew air through his teeth nervously. beverly's eyebrows furrowed.
"is he okay?" she asked.
"i mean, he seemed distraught but he wouldn't tell me why," stanley leaned against a table.
"oh, bev, stan doesn't know, i don't think he..." mike muttered, bringing a nail to his lips to chew on.
"what? what happened?"
"greta outed him last night," beverly whispered.
