sweet ♡ richie tozier

chapter two

"Cool." Was all she said.

They biked to Stans house and picked him up, all of them continuing to go on their way to the barrens. They parked their bikes someplace on the road where they hoped they wouldn't get stolen before they headed down the trail in the woods.

"That's poison ivy, that's poison ivy, and that's poison ivy," Stan pointed to random plants on the ground.

Eddie frantically asked, "Where? Where's the poison ivy?"

Richie turned his head and said, "Nowhere. Not every fuckin' plant is poison ivy, Stanley."

Adelaide couldn't help but let out a bit of a laugh. All four boys heads whipped to her, and her smile dropped. "What?" She asked them, the boys proceeding to shrug and turn their heads.

Bill was the first to enter the large tube, Richie following, then Adelaide. One step inside and she already scrunched her face up in disgust.

"Okay, well, I'm starting to get itchy, so-" Eddie started.

Richie, completely changing the subject, asked him, "Do you use the same bathroom as your mother?"

"Sometimes, yeah."

"Then you probably have crabs."

"That is so not funny."

Adelaide snorted. It was a little funny, she thought.

She followed the two boys in, then turning around to see Eddie and Stan still standing at the entrance. "Why aren't you guys coming in?" She asked them.

"Why?" Eddie asked. "That's grey water!"

"What the hells grey water?" Richie asked, obviously confused and tired of Eddies nonsense.

"It's basically... piss and shit, so I'm just telling you. You guys are splashing around in millions of gallons of Derry pee," Eddie finished.

Adelaide frowned. Why was she here, again?

Richie began sniffing the air, causing Adelaide to look at him in bewilderment. "Richie, what the hell-"

"Doesn't smell like caca to me, señor," Richie said in some accent, causing Adelaide to scoff and raise her eyebrows.

Maybe not caca, but it smelled salty and like seaweed and like rotten eggs.

"I-I can smell that from here," Eddie shot back.

"It's probably your breath wafting back into your face," Richie commented, using hand motions to describe what it would look like.

Adelaide couldn't help but roll her eyes at their banter, not even listening anymore while they talked about staph infections and Eddie freak out on Richie.

She was starting to second guess hanging out with them, and not even because of their social status. Sure, they're losers. But it's not like Addy's rank could go any further down than it is right now.

With the next step she took, her heel slipped on something in the mucky water, and her body was flung backwards, her arms catching her just in time before her butt hit the water. She cringed and mumbled, "My hand landed on something," she breathed, disgusted. When she looked up and nobody was helping her up, she mumbled, "Help... me?"

Richie quickly darted his eyes to everyone else, seeing they weren't going to do anything, and smiled a bit. "Don't mind if I do," he said, walking over to her.

He bent down and pulled an arm around her back, grabbing her hand and standing up with her. She huffed out a sigh of relief and looked around.

Then, she realized Richie hadn't moved his arm around her back and a hand in hers.

She quickly flushed red and pushed him off of her out of instinct, taking a step away from him and diverting her gaze. When her eyes flickered towards Richies face, he pursed his lips in hurt. She felt a pang at her heart for a second, but then decided that she shouldn't be worried about Richie Tozier.

So, she bent down and grabbed what her hand had been touching moments earlier, and she held it up. She saw it as a white shoe, which was barely even white anymore, and all eyes turned to her.

"Shit," Stan said, his voice involuntarily cracking. "Don't tell me that's..."

"No," Bill said, stepping towards her and taking the shoe into his hands. "G-Georgie wore galoshes."

"Who's sneaker is it?" Eddie asked.

Richie, Bill, and Adelaide flashed the flashlight onto it and inspected it. In black letters drawn with sharpie read 'B. RIPSOM.'

Richie said, "It's Betty Ripsoms."

As Eddie said, "Oh shit. Oh god. Oh fuck," Adelaide's breath hitched in her throat.

She suddenly was questioning her life decisions. Like: walking around in the sewers with a missing girls shoe.

"I don't like this," Eddie said.

"How do you think Betty feels?" Richie asked rhetorically, a half smile on his face. "Running around these tunnels with only one frickin shoe?!" He hopped on one door to demonstrate.

Adelaide sighed loudly and held a hand to her forehead. "You're so facetious..." she mumbled under her breath.

"What if she's still here?" Stan asked, obviously a bit horrified by now.

When Richie began following Stan further into the tunnels, Adelaide hesitated at first. Well, she's already knee deep in water. No going back now, especially since she'll already smell horrible.

"Guys, come on," she called back to Eddie and Stan.

"My mom, will have an aneurysm, okay, if she finds out I'm playing down here. I'm serious," Eddie rushed out. "Bill?"

"If I was Betty Ripsom, I'd want us to find me," Bill said. "G-Georgie, too."

"What if I don't wanna find them?" Eddie asked. "I mean, no offense, Bill, but I don't wanna end up like G—"

Adelaide rubbed her forehead. God, was she craving sweets right now. "This is such a mess," she muttered.

"I don't wanna go missing, either," Eddie corrected himself.

"He has a point," Stan spoke up.

"Y-You, too?" Bill asked.

"It's summer. We're supposed to be having fun. This isn't fun. This is scary, and disgusting—"

A splash behind the two boys in the small stream was enough to make Adelaide shriek and jump closer to Richie, but when she realized it was just a boy, she breathed a sigh of relief.

Richie scooted closer to her. "You know, if you're scared, we could always-"

"In your dreams, Richie Tozier," she said, a smile appearing on her face, trying to lighten the mood. Before he could see her lips turn upwards, she turned around and walked towards the kid in the water.

"Yeah, my wet dreams," he called after her.

She felt her face heat up, but nonetheless rolled her eyes.

When they all got to the end of the sewers and took a look at the kid, they realized he was totally flushed and soaking wet, a totally bloody and ripped up shirt.

"Holy shit, what happened to you?"

—
1563 words<<
A/N<<
SECOND CHAPTER
im hyping myself
but yeah i love richie. the iconic line of "my wet dreams" felt like exactly something he would say, so im pretty proud of myself hhahhahha am i clever yet? love ur friend maya