ghosts & skeletons

beverly is tired of the losers' bullshit.

[RICHIE]

october 18, 1991

richie's life had been quite monotonous lately. he would go to school, fuck around, not pay attention at all in class, annoy eddie and then go home. it was turning into the most boring period of his life and a person like richie tozier couldn't stay like that for long.

clearly, beverly was like him in some ways because when ben was trying to make small talk with her at the lunch table, she finally snapped.

"oKAY, I AM TIRED OF ALL OF YOUR BULLSHIT. THIS GROUP HAS BEEN FALLING APART EVER SINCE STANLEY HAS BEEN GONE AND NONE OF YOU HAVE DONE ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING TO MAINTAIN OUR FRIENDSHIPS. I AM SICK AND TIRED OF THIS AND I DON'T WANT US TO ACT LIKE WE NEVER WERE CLOSE. MAN THE HELL UP AND AT LEAST TRY, TRY TO KEEP BEING FRIENDS"

everyone turned around and looked her stunned, trying to process her words. ben had been so startled with her outburst that he had spilled juice all over his tuna sandwich and was quietly trying to dry it. eddie was blinking in a fast manner and avoiding her eyes because he was clearly terrified of her. bill just looked at her in awe, admiring how she had the guts to say what needed to be said.

"okay then, what do you want us to do?" richie found himself saying before he could think. he braced himself for the worst, preparing for some angry speech from beverly but luckily for him, it never came.

"I talked to mike, I'm going over to his house this afternoon. if any of you are interested in keeping your friends then show up, we'll be there" and with that she left the table, leaving the four boys dumbstruck.

•

richie hated himself. that's what he concluded on his way to mike's farm. he didn't hate himself in the way that most teenagers do, he was mostly fine with his appearance, he had different problems.

he hated himself because he didn't know what to do.

the losers club was breaking up and it was mostly his fault. stanley had been the glue and now that he was gone, everyone could see how valuable he was. sure, his death hadn't been richie's fault but the fact that his friends were separating themselves from each other were. stanley was holed up in richie's house with no contact with the outside world except for richie and eddie, who had only talked to him once.

richie felt like he needed to tell the losers but he just couldn't, not if there were to be disastrous consequences. eddie already knew but that had been an accident and richie would be sure to be more careful the next time.

by the time that he had gotten to the conclusion that there was no way in hell that he was going to tell the losers, he had finally arrived at mike's farm. he ditched his bike and knocked on the door, nervous to what was in store for him.

a friendly face greeted him and he was relieved to see that mike was still the same person that he had always been. the both of them went into the living room and mike sat down in an armchair next to one filled with bill's figure. this left richie to sit down in the couch which none other but eddie kaspbrak was sprawled out on, using up all of the room.

"move your fucking ass and make room for me or I'll sit on you" richie said while kicking eddie's shins. this made mike and bill smile, because he was the same old richie. just leave it to richie tozier to cut the tension by just being himself.

since it was richie who had said those words, eddie wasn't intimidated in the least and kicked richie back, refusing to move. richie, to counter, promptly sat on eddie's stomach and the smaller boy yell out in pain and begin flailing frantically, waving his arms around, just for richie to fall off.

while their ridiculous squabble was happening, someone knocked on the door, which made the boys stop fighting for a few seconds. mike opened it to reveal beverly and ben, who were out of breath.

"sorry we're late, bowers was being an ass again and we had to run through the whole town trying to shake him off our trail" the redhead waved at the losers and sat on the floor wity ben following her. "did we miss anything?"

"not really," mike sat back into his armchair, with all of the peace in the world now that all his friends were there. "richie and eddie were bickering of course, but that's all"

"oh really...?" beverly raised an eyebrow at them, richie still being sat on eddie's stomach. they both turned red and richie got off, so eddie could scoot over and make some room for him. why would beverly look at them like that, it was strange and left richie very confused.

"i-it's n-n-nice t-that we're all h-here n-now" bill spoke for the first time that afternoon, earning a smile from richie, who was just happy to hear him talk after so much silence from him.

the losers all nodded upon hearing his quiet words, glad to feel like everything was back to normal again.

"oh! I forgot to tell you all that we bought some cookies on our way here!" ben said, opening up a packet.

"haystack, you are a godsend," richie stuffed three cookies in his mouth after he finished talking, making bill and mike groan in disgust. richie just stared at them innocently. "what?"

"oh they're just too polite to tell you that you are a disgusting pig" eddie kicked richie off the couch as he talked, which got him some very angry ankle kicks from the trashmouth.

it was at that moment that mike conveniently decided to start a game of cards, drawing richie's attention to it instead of bickering. the losers loved playing a specific game they had made up themselves, so they enjoyed themselves thoroughly that afternoon, it was just like old times.

the only different thing was beverly's furtive glances at richie and eddie. and of course, the constant feeling that someone was missing.

guitar funds: $194.00