they won't catch us || lachambers

They Won't Catch Us

    They ran down the empty streets of Castle Rock as Ace and his gang tried to catch up with them. Labored breathing and hearty laughter rolled out of their lungs and into the air as the shoes on their feet slapped the broken concrete. With cap in hand, Chris raced around the corner and behind Blue Point Diner, hiding behind the dumpster, leaving Gordie trailing behind him. He crouched with Chris and the foul smell of rotten breakfast foods and panted, trying to catch his breath.

Thinking they were alone, a sound barely left his lips before there was a hand over his mouth, shutting him up. Christopher smiled back at him lightly, the kind of smile that didn't take a lot of effort, one corner of his mouth turned up. He kept Gordie's mouth covered and put his Yankees cap on his head before moving his hand and letting the two of them chuckle. Rocks under Chris slid against his legs as he moved over to let his friend sit next to him, backs against the wall. The smaller of the two sat down and pulled his legs up to his chest, resting his hand on his hat and smiling.

"Thank you, Chris, it really does mean a lot," He put his head on his friend's shoulder and sighed, "I didn't think I'd see this hat again."

"C'mon, Gordo! You know I wasn't gonna let Eyeball, or any of his wannabe hardass friends as a matter of fact, take your hat," Chris threw his arm around Gordie and laughed, "Those guys are complete bogus! Now, don't have a cow, Lachance, they'll be looking for that hat."

As if on queue, a hand slammed down on the top of the dumpster and made the two boys jump up from where they were standing. Ace Merrill cornered them and smirked, waving Eyeball to come next to him. He tried to grab that hat but Gordie ducked and Chris stepped in front.

"C'mon, Eyeball, we got the hat fair and square, man." Chris pushed his brother's hand away and continued to keep his friend behind him.

"Who'd've thought that my ankle-biter of a brother was bent! Dad's gonna flip his lid!" He laughed under his breath and tried to reach around to grab the hat but his little brother pushed him off, "You just made this a lot more difficult than it had to be, Christopher."

"Give me all you got, Richard." He spat in directly on his brother's cheek and watched as he wiped it off.

Before Chris could blink there was a fist flying towards his face. Quickly, he pushed Gordie against the wall behind them and ducked, kicking the back of Eyeballs knee causing him to fall to the ground. Ace started to try and grab him by the neck but Chris punched him in the gut without hesitation, earning gasps from Billy and Charlie as their "fearless leader" held his stomach and coughed. Pulling Gordie towards him, Chris lifted his friend on top of the dumpster's lid and yelled at him to get on the roof and run. As always, he was right there with him, stomping on the weak rooftop of the small diner. Behind them, they heard the two boys shout at their partners in crime to run after them and they ran like hell.

Gordie almost slipped down the side of the roof as he heard Billy and Charlie's feet on the metal of the dumpster they'd climbed up. He turned to Chris and told him that they needed to jump. Next to them stood the post office, not much taller than the restaurant and an easy roof to run on, but it was one hell of a jump. Footsteps were coming closer and closer when they looked at each other and jumped. To say they screamed would be an understatement, as all of Castle Rock heard Gordie Lachance and Chris Chambers scream for their lives as they hopped roofs. They ran against the panels and slid down the side of the roof onto the street below and Ace and Eyeball ran around the corner to meet them.

"GET BENT, MERRILL!" Chris yelled over his shoulder, "YOU'LL NEVER GET US YOU DIRTY BASTARD!"

As his voice echoed through the roads, shop owners looked outside to see what the commotion was and saw two young boys running for their lives from a group of no good hooligans. They screamed and laughed and went every which way, weaving through alleys and behind buildings in order to lose them. And after a while they did. Sure, they could still hear their footsteps in the alleys but they were out of sight- out of mind.

Gordie and Chris slowed down once they got to the outskirts of town and into the woods where their treehouse sat. Though he would never say it, Gordie had been scared shitless. He knew Chris' family treated him like shit but to watch his older brother try and deck him for something as small as that? It really made him wonder what happened behind closed doors, and it terrified him.

"Chin up, Gordo, what's buggin' you? We totally just had a blast!" He playfully hit his friend in the shoulder and started to climb up the ladder, his friend (as always) close behind. He answered only after they closed the door.

"You know your brother's really a wet end, Chambers. What's the deal about the hat anyways, it shouldn't be that big a deal! And why does he have to go jump bad with everyone who eyeballs him! He has no business raggin' on you, either! I know he's family, Chris, but he's a no good son of a bitch who won't make it anywhere doin' what he is now," Chris didn't even try to defend his brother, he just sat there and let Gordie go off, "You really don't have to let him pound you like that, dude. I still don't know why you let people rake you like you do, Chris. You deserve better."

He didn't need to hear any more, Chris started to breathe heavier as his eyes welled with tears.

"I don't wanna turn up like him, Gordon, I really don't. He's gonna have it with me when I get home, he's gonna really kill me this time. Oh, this is just swell, isn't it." Words that came out of his mouth were barely intelligible as he choked, "Why did I have to be brought up here? I could've been raised a Tessio, for god's sake!" It made Gordie cringe. If there really was a God, why would he stick a good kid like Chris in the Chambers family?

"Chris, it'll be alright. Eyeball won't hurt you too bad, he's just tossed that you bested him at his own game!" He tried to comfort his friend but it was no use.

"There's nothing for me, Gordie. Nothing. Count on it! In ten years time I'll be a deadbeat just like my father!" It hurt to hear Chris speak like this. Truly, it made Gordie feel like he was about to throw up, "There's no way outta it, it's over! It's been over since I was born to that sack of shits no good name."

Chris droned on and on about how there was nothing. Nothing left for him to do and how his future was set, but it wasn't true. Gordie hurt when he heard Chris talk this way about himself. All the sense he had told him his friend would do great things someday. Pain shot through his body when he heard nonsense like this come from his mouth, he needed to shut him up.

Faster than the eye could blink Gordon grabbed Chris's cheeks and leaned in to kiss him. Their lips met for only a second, but everything around them stopped. He pulled away and opened his eyes to see Chris wiping the tears off his face. Behind the cover of his hands, though, Chris was smiling.

"I'm sorry, I should've asked," Gordie whispered, hands now resting on the back of his friends neck, "I couldn't think of any other way to shut you up and I've wanted to do that for quite sometime now."

"Eyeball was right, Gordo," Chris laughed and wiped his eye of tears, "We are a bit bent."

They both giggled to themselves and leaned in once more. Until the sun went down, the two boys sat there and kissed, breaking apart only to speak once or twice, maybe even have a laugh at themselves.

"Y'know Gordie I think I might love you."

"I know I love you, Chris."