golden boy : stozier

two

"um, my point with that story was that one day while percy was playing songs, i hit the piano with my foot to piss her off and ended up breaking my ankle. why was i telling that story? fuck, i don't remember. anyway, that's the only body part i've ever broken. i don't know how strong that fuckin' piano was, but my god. or maybe i was just young. little children are so fragile, i would love to just kick the shit out of a kid. not in a harmful way. just in like, a hypothetical situation way," richie continued talking through the dead space, mike once again zoning out a little. mike would laugh pitifully on occasion when he heard something just a little funny. richie was now shaking his head every now and then.

while richie kept talking, mike felt his phone buzz in his back pocket. he pulled it out and opened it underneath the cafeteria table. he might have not been paying attention to richie, but he didn't want richie to outright know that. he saw a message notification, and started texting that person, still humming every now and then to richie's story. he noticed the time.

"i gotta go richie, i have to meet with thea to see what i missed yesterday at key club yesterday," mike stood up, his backpack already in his hand. richie stopped talking and nodded, understanding. he knew he wasn't the priority. that was a little bit of a given.

mike casually strolled away towards the library, and richie's eyebrows furrowed. richie shoved the paper plate with a sandwich on it away from him. he brought out his own bag, scrounging through it. he slapped a notebook on the table, as well as some earbuds. humming to a song that wasn't even playing yet, he untangled the earbuds and plugged them into his phone. he turned his phone on, ready to take notes from a class he hadn't gone to yesterday. he found he couldn't focus on it, and he kept forgetting what he was writing down. eventually, it turned to scratchy doodles. he scribbled and scribbled, thinking about bill getting so offended. frustrated, he ripped the page out, balling it up and throwing it away from him.

the last bell rang, finally, thank god, and richie hopped up and out of the classroom. he slinked to beverly's locker, where the four had originally planned to meet up so they could hang out. he found bill and beverly already there, beverly already glomming over bill. bill saw richie and looked away, a little pissed.

"hey, bill, i'm sorry about what i said. i didn't mean it to be mean, it was just a joke," richie decided to cut himself off before he said anything else that would be misunderstood. richie didn't make eye contact, feeling rather apathetic about the whole thing. bill finally looked up.

"okay," he replied, accepting richie's apology, who tried to smile. beverly squeezed bill's hand, and bill looked away. beverly used her other hand to organize stuff in her locker. a silence hung in the air around them. richie bit his tongue and rubbed his nails, trying to stop himself from talking. after all, awkward silence was better than annoyed silence, right?

"god, where is mike?" beverly whined, bill rolling his eyes when she couldn't see. beverly closed her locker and wrapped her arms around bill, who tensed up a little. he relaxed as soon as mike arrived, waving and panting.

"sorry guys, you know how lilian keeps students late. sorry." he apologized, referring to one of the woodwork teachers. 

"no" richie thought, "i didn't know lilian keeps students late." he internalized it and nodded as acknowledgement upon seeing mike, rubbing his nails more and more aggressively. mike noticed, but stayed quiet.

"g-guh-glad you're here, mike. let's go," bill said, beverly letting go of bill to take his hand. they walked away, richie and mike following behind. richie pulled on his backpack strings, anything, anything to stop him from talking. mike's hands fit right into his hoodie pocket, staying quiet as well.