Chapter Two
Richie woke up the next morning thinking about the day before. Spent with Eddie. Maybe this project was a miracle in disguise. Richie would never have thought about catching up with Eddie until this project came their way. Eddie had somehow connected with Richie in a way no one ever had. Not even his family. It was a Saturday and Richie needed something to do. He wondered if someone might be able to talk with him right now. He wanted to know if he would be able to connect with the others as he connected with Eddie.
So Richie got into his car and drove to another part of town he hadn't been to in years. He got out and looked at the worn down apartment building, still knowing exactly which door to knock on. He climbed the stairs and knocked.
"Richie? What are you doing here?" Beverly Marsh asked as she opened the door.
"Hi Bev. I just wanted to talk. Is that okay?" he asked.
"Of course Rich. Come on in," Bev looked a lot different than she did when she was 13. Her hair had grown out to shoulder length, it was wavy and it was a deeper red. Her eyes were a brighter green. She was about 3 inches taller. There was only one way Richie could describe her; beautiful. He wondered how many guys were falling for her. They went into her room. Richie caught a glimpse at her dad on the couch watching tv. Luckily, her dad didn't notice him.
"So, what brings you here Rich?" Bev asked, sitting down on the edge of her bed. RIchie sat down on her desk chair.
"Well, in art, we have a project and we got random partners. I got Eddie. You know, Eddie Kaspbrak from 7th grade. We worked on the project at the library and then went to the football game and we really started talking. We connected. It was like we were best friends. I wanted to know if maybe the rest of us would be able to become friends again like Eddie and I did," Richie replied.
"Wow, that must've been really nice, talking with him again. That would be good, getting together with the old group again," Bev said thoughtfully.
"It was nice. That's what I was thinking," he said.
"You know, I could probably have you all over here tonight. My dad is going on an overnight work trip this afternoon. He won't be back until Monday morning. I still have Ben and Bill's contacts," Beverly said, planning it all out.
"I have Eddie's and I'm sure Bill has Stanley's contact and Ben probably has Mike's," Richie caught her drift.
"I'll text them right now. You text Eddie," she said as she got out her phone. Richie nodded and got his own phone.
You wanna come over to Bev's later tonight for a sleepover? We want to get the group back together
Richie waited for a response and within seconds, his phone buzzed.
What time should I come over?
Richie smiled. 13 year old Eddie would probably have said he needed to check with his mom first.
Come over at 4. Bring snacks. Richie texted.
Okay see you soon :)
"Okay Eddie's coming over at 4. What about Bill and Ben?" Richie said and looked up from his phone.
"Bill is coming at 4 and Ben is coming at 5. I don't know about the others but they both said they would tell me when Stan and Mike respond,"
"Great! We need to get some things. Snacks, games, movies, you know," Richie said, grinning. Bev smiled back. Bev might have changed a lot over the past few years but her smile was still the same, sparkling smile it was before. Richie was willing to bet 20 bucks that Ben would be starstruck by her when he saw her.
"I have a ton of old board games and movies in the living room. You go to the grocery store and get anything you want. There's a Safeway across from the gas station down the street. Meet me back here in 30 minutes," Bev said, handing Richie a 50 dollar bill.
"Got it," Richie went out her window to keep the fact that he was here a secret from her dad. Richie found the Safeway and walked inside. He went straight to the candy isle and grabbed sour patch kids, skittles, twizzlers, gummy bears, and milk duds for good measure. He then went and got sour cream and onion chips, BBQ chips, pretzels, popcorn, and hot cheetos. He paid for the snacks and threw the bag into the passenger seat. Richie went back to Bev's house and climbed through her window again. She was laying on her bed looking at all the movies and games she had found. Richie tossed the bag of snacks to Bev and she caught it easily. She looked through it.
"Good, here's what I found." she gestured to the dozens of movies and games spread out on the bed. There was a good selection.
"Alright, I think we're ready," Richie said. It was now 12:00 and Bev's dad was about to leave for his work thing.
"Bevvy, I'm leaving! I'll see you on Monday," he called up the stairs.
"Okay, dad! I love you!" she called back.
"Love you!" they heard and then the front door slammed shut.
"He never actually comes to say goodbye to me anymore. He always just calls it to me from where he already is," Bev said, looking down.
"I'm sorry Bev, it must suck. I sort of know how you feel though," Richie tried to comfort her.
"It does suck. But when I turn 18, I'm leaving. For good. This place, it just brings back so many horrible memories. It's like I'm living it my worst years when I'm here," she said with a sort of wistful look on her face.
"Hey, maybe I can leave too. It's not like I have anything to stay here for. My parents aren't the best either," he admitted.
"At least we aren't going through it alone," Bev said, touching his arm. Richie knew right then, that everyone would get along great when they all got back together. This was a really good idea. One of the best Richie had had in a long time.
"What do you want to do? We have like, four hours to while away," he said.
"Hmm.... maybe we could just watch a show or something?" she suggested.
"Okay, I heard that Riverdale is really good. Have you ever watched it?" Richie said.
"Yeah, I've watched all four seasons but it is so good and we can watch it again,"
"Okay. I've never seen it so I hope it's as good as it's supposed to be," Richie said as they walked to the TV.
"Ohhh Rich, you're in for a ride. A long, intense ride. This show can ruin you Rich. You'll get sucked in and end up binging the entire thing within 24 hours of starting it," Bev smirked and went to Netflix. Richie liked the sound of that. He loved binging shows.
Bev wasn't kidding when she said that. Richie was obsessed after the second episode. All he wanted was to keep watching. They got through almost 7 episodes before they heard a knock at the door. Richie got up off of the couch reluctantly and they went to answer the door. It was Eddie.
"Hi Ed's!" Richie said as they let him in.
"Don't call me that. Hi Bev!" was Eddie's greeting. When they got a close look at each other, they seemed mildly surprised.
"Hey Eddie, how've you been?" Bev replied.
"Good, what about you?"
"Great! I'm glad to see you again!" she said with a smile. "I'm going to grab something from my room be right back," once she had left Eddie said quietly,
"Damn Bev had like, a MASSIVE glow up. She must have a million boys trailing after her,"
"I know. That's what I thought when I first saw her," Richie said with a laugh. They continued to laugh and Bev came down with all the snacks and games.
"Okay, so I found all these games Eddie. Which one do you think we should play when the others get here because Richie and I couldn't decide," she laid them all out on the floor and they all sat to look at them. There was a huge selection. Monopoly, Clue, Uno, Trouble, Pictionary, and so many more.
"What about Monopoly? I know it's only for four people but we can do teams. I don't know, I haven't played monopoly for a really long time," Eddie suggested.
"That's exactly what I was thinking but Rich over there was stone cold set on playing Clue," Bev smirked.
"Yeah well there's more players and it's just overall more exciting," Richie protested.
"Maybe we can play both," Eddie said. There was another knock at the door.
"I'll get it!" Eddie jumped up to get the door. Bev leaned it towards Richie.
"Eddie really grew into his looks. He's like, kinda hot," she said. "I don't like him, obviously, but it is true,"
"Yeah. He doesn't look like a little kid anymore. He's really grown a lot," Richie said. He could tell Bev didn't like Eddie because her face wasn't flushing red. She didn't seem embarrassed either. But it was true. Eddie really had grown up over the past few years. His eyes were a caramel brown and his hair had gotten longer. It was wavy and swept across his head in a particularly attractive way. Eddie overall was more easy going and happier now. It really suited him. Richie thought.
"Hey guys! Bill and Stanley are here!" Eddie walked back into the living room followed by Stan and Bill.
"Richie! Bev! It's s-so good to see you again!" Bill said and they got up to go see them.
"It's nice to see you Bev! I wish I could say the same about Rich," Stanley said with a small laugh.
"Good to see that you haven't changed Stan. And hey Bill!" Richie said. They all laughed and greeted each other. Mike and Ben arrived soon after that. Just like Richie had suspected, that moment Ben saw Bev, he seemed sort of dazed. Starstruck. Everyone had changed so much. They all looked so much older. Ben had become muscular, his hair was longer and had a sort of windswept effect. Bev seemed to notice this before anyone else did.
"Okay, you guys wanna play monopoly? We'll have to do teams," Bev said to everyone.
"I want to be my own team if that's okay?" Mike told them. No one disagreed.
"I want Eddie on my team!" Richie said, looking at Eddie. Eddie shrugged and sat down next to Rich.
"Okay, I want Ben on my team," Beverly said and Ben eagerly sat with her.
"I guess it's just you and me now Stan," Bill said and then the whole board was filled.
"We're going to be the sack of cash because that's the best one in the game," Richie called out.
"Fine Rich, but does it really matter?" Stanley rolled his eyes.
"Uh, yes," Richie said like it was so obvious. Eddie laughed which made Richie laugh.
The group had almost bought all the properties within the first 15 minutes. It was now a race to see who could get the most before becoming broke. This strategy wasn't working out too well because the only team who had a decent amount of cash was Mike's. This didn't surprise anyone in the slightest. Mike had at least five properties but also had money. Richie and Eddie had 5 properties but were somehow almost broke. This was not Eddie's fault at all. Bev and Ben had 3 properties and the second most cash. Stan and Bill had 4 properties and were also pretty much broke but that was because they kept landing on property tax. They finished the game when everyone was broke except for Mike.
"Yes! You guys suck at this game. You know it's not about getting all the properties right?" Mike laughed.
"Whatever. Let's do something else. Ooh! Let's play spin the bottle," Beverly said excitedly. She grabbed an empty coca cola bottle and they all sat in a circle around it.
"I'll go first!" Richie said and spun the bottle. It landed on Eddie. Eddie's face flushed a dull red. Richie's eyes went wide.
"You have to do it! It's not like it means anything," Stan called out.
"Yeah I know that Stan," Richie said as he slowly inched to the middle of the circle. Eddie followed his lead. They leaned in and closed their eyes. It was such a quick peck you wouldn't even know it happened if you hadn't been carefully watching. They quickly went back to their spots and no one mentioned it. Richie had noticed how soft Eddie's lips were. The kiss wasn't horrible was how Richie would describe it.
"Okay I'll go next," Mike said. It spun 'round and 'round and ended up landing in the middle of Bev and Ben. "Oh, guess I'm not kissing anyone tonight," they all laughed at that. Bev went next. Richie had a hunch on who she wanted it to land on. And surely enough, 5 seconds later, the bottle had stopped, right on Ben. They both went to the middle and looked at each other for a split second, as if for each other's permission and then kissed. It wasn't a quick peck either. Bev cupped Ben's face in her hands and Ben put his hands around her waist. It was the kind of thing you would see in a movie. They kissed and kissed. It was as if they didn't know there was anyone else in the room with them. Eddie breathed in sharply and looked at Richie with a "OMG I didn't expect this" look on his face. Richie nodded as if to agree with Eddie. The five on the outside of the circle looked at each other as if to say "What the HELL is going on". Bev and Ben continued the passionate kiss.
"Umm...... guys? We're still here, watching you. Seeing you," Richie waved at them. They didn't respond with anything but another soft kiss.
"GUYS! We're right here!" Stanley said firmly. Ben and Bev seemed to come to their senses and realized exactly what was going on.
"Sorry," Bev said, but she didn't look sorry at all. In fact, she looked completely overjoyed. Ben looked as if he was living inside of a dream. They all stopped the game after that. They all settled on the couch to walk a movie together. Eddie sat down next to Richie.
"You know, I thought something like that might happen," Richie knew exactly what Eddie was talking about. The movie had just started so no one paid any attention to what they were saying.
"Me too. I mean look at them. They are literally made for each other," they both looked at Ben and Bev. Bev was currently sitting on Ben's lap with her hands on his chest. Ben had his arms around her waist, as if to keep her from falling. Eddie looked back at Richie and giggled softly. They both smiled at each and tried hard not to laugh out loud. After that, they stopped talking and watched the movie.
By the time the movie had finished, Stanley was asleep on the couch. Bev was asleep, leaning on Ben. Ben was watching her with loving eyes. Mike was still awake, watching the credits roll down the screen. Bill had fallen asleep on the floor and Eddie had ended up sleeping with his head on Richie's shoulder. Richie didn't want to disturb Eddie so he sat in the same position, not moving. It was midnight. Mike got up and went into the kitchen for water.
"Does anyone else want something to drink?" he asked them.
"Yeah, I'll have water. Thanks," Ben replied.
"I'm good," Richie said. Eddie woke up suddenly.
"Hi Ed's. Was my shoulder a good pillow? Fluffy enough for you?" Richie joked. Eddie yawned.
"Yes it was just like my pillow at home," he rolled his eyes. "Sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep on you,"
"Don't worry Eddie Spaghetti. It actually wasn't that bad," Richie laughed.
"Do not EVER call me that again," Eddie pushed Richie in the side. Everyone who was awake laughed at that. They all got into more comfortable positions and fell asleep for the night. Richie and Eddie both slept on the ground with blankets. Somehow, Eddie had yet again managed to curl up right next to Richie, his head on Richie's chest.