I wore my lover t shirt that's designed like Eddie's cast whilst writing this so if that doesn't show you dedication idk what does??
"Help me."
The second the unknown boy collapsed into the water behind them, the group of friends immediately stopped what they were doing and stared. No one moved, not until the boy tried to get to for a second time and once again fell face down into the water.
"Holy shit! What happened to you?" Richie yelled
"Are you okay?" Lyds eyes widened
Before she even knew it, she'd walked across the stream, kicking water up behind her, and knelt beside the boy. The water immediately covered her bare legs.
"Don't just stand there! Help!" She suddenly turned on her friends, to which they all ran over at once.
Soon enough, the losers found themselves riding away from the sewers and in the direction of Keene's pharmacy. Ben was forced to catch a ride on the back of Billie's bike, whilst Lyds had to once again get a ride from Richie. Something which she didn't particularly enjoy
"I really need to talk to you Rich." She mumbled in his ear
"About what?"
"You know what I'm talking about." Lydia let out a frustrated sigh, "Please, I'm begging you, just don't tell Eddie."
"I won't L. We all know how he gets over you."
"What?"
"You know what I'm talking about." He repeated her, but this time with a smirk plastered on his face.
Bill pulled to a stop in the alley beside Keane's and cautiously, he set Ben down on top of a crate. Richie stopped too, and helped to Lyds to climb from the back of his bike, Eddie and Stan followed closely behind them.
From just one look at the short boy, Lyds immediately knew that Ben must've been in a lot of pain, and she could tell he was much stronger than they'd judged him to be, he'd been cut with a knife for crying out loud and he hadn't cried once. She wished she could be as strong as him.
"Richie stay here!" Billie called out
Hastily, he grabbed Lydia's hand and pulled her inside the store, and for some reason from the moment Eddie saw Billie grab Lydia's hand, his heart sparked with jealousy.
They didn't even let go of one another's grasp, perhaps they wanted to hold hands, perhaps didn't realise they were doing it, but still it annoyed Eddie all the same.
"Okay!" Eddie clapped before he forced his way in between the two friends, and he proceeded to drag Lydia towards the medical supplies.
"Hold this." He handed her a bag of cotton balls, in a desperate attempt to occupy her hands with something other than Billie's. "And this, and this, oh! And that too."
"Can we afford all of this?" Billie questioned
"This is all we've got..." Stan frustratedly motioned to the five dollar bill in his hand.
"Are you kidding me?"
"Your mom has an account here, right Eds?"
"If my mom finds out I bought all this stuff for myself then I'll have to spend the entire weekend in the emergency room getting X-rayed."
"Don't worry guys, I got this."
Only Billie knew the things she had to do for her aunt, meaning how she had to steal from that very same place for her. He immediately shook his head in protest, knowing exactly what she was thinking.
He was right. Lyds knew just how wrong it was, and besides that Eddie had no idea of the things she had to, the poor girl didn't want his opinion of her to change, she cared about his approval too much.
Only a moment later, Beverly Marsh, a girl from Lydia's Chemistry class turned the corner and immediately stopped short at the sight of the group. The four friends looked at one another before looking back at Beverly, who still didn't move.
"A-Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." She answered, "What's wrong with you?"
"None of your business." Stan nonchalantly answered
"There's a kid outside who looks like someone killed him." Eddie explained.
"We need s-s-supplies, but we don't have enough money."
Moments later, Lyds, Eddie, Billie and Stan were all running out of the store and back into the alley whilst Beverly created a distraction for them. The young Greystone girl couldn't have been more grateful for that, partly for the fact that someone had been kind enough to help them, and also that she wasn't the one who had to flirt with gross old Mr Keane.
"You need to suck the wound!"
"Shut up, I need to focus right now." Eddie hissed at the older boy, all whilst he worked at fixing up Ben's wound.
"Oh, you need to focus?" Richie scoffed
"Yeah, can you go get me something?"
"Yeah?"
"Get me my bifocals, they're in my second fanny pack."
"Why do you have two fanny packs?" Stan chuckled
"Why do you have any fanny packs at all?" Lydia laughed
"You aren't listening to me, you need to suck the wound it's first aid 101!"
"You don't know what you're talking about."
"Ben from 'Soc' class?" Beverly called out as she joined the losers in the alley, "Are you okay? That looks like it hurts."
"No I'm good, I just fell."
"Yeah, right onto Bowers." Richie cut in, which once again earned him an elbow in the ribs from Lydia.
"Would you quit with that?"
"No."
"Richie!" Billie scalded
"What? It's the truth!"
"Are you sure they got the right stuff to fix you up?" Bev asked
"We're sure."
"Okay cool, maybe I'll see you guys around."
"Y-You know we were thinking about going to the q-quarry tomorrow if you wanted to come..." Billie mumbled
"Good to know, thanks."
With that Beverly waved everyone goodbye and turned the corner out of the alley. However, Lydia wanted to thank her for what she did for her and her friends, and so without any warning she ran from the alley and jogged to catch up with the flame haired girl.
"Beverly! Wait!"
"Oh it's you again." She smiled
"Hey, sorry, I guess we all forgot to say thanks to you back there. It means a lot what you did for us."
"Don't worry about it, it's no big deal." She paused for a moment as the two walked together, "So are you going to the quarry with those guys tomorrow?"
"I don't think so." She shrugged, "Swimming with those guys can get a little awkward."
"Staring?"
"Plenty of staring." The Greystone girl chuckled
"Okay, well then how about you and I hang out tomorrow instead."
"Really?" Lydia rose an eyebrow
"Why not? I mean, it looks like we could both use a girl friend. That's not a problem right?"
"No of course not, I just thought..."
"What?"
"I thought you wouldn't want to hang out with me, because of what Bowers says to everyone. That I'm a freak, and that I... whore around with the guys back there."
"I don't listen to Bowers, or his stupid fucking rumours." Beverly spoke softly, "So I will see you tomorrow, Okay?"
"Okay."
"I'll meet you outside of Keene's at 2 and we can hang out."
"Okay, cool!" The brunette tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, "I'll see you tomorrow Beverly."
"See 'ya."
With a Cheshire Cat grin plastered on her face, Lyds walked back down the alley, only to be met with strange looks from all of her friends.
"Where did you just run off to?" Eddie asked
"I was thanking Beverly." She told them, "We're gonna hang out tomorrow."
"So you're not coming to the quarry?"
"No, sorry guys."
"Oh." Eddie sighed, "Okay."
"Curfews in a half hour, we should probably get going." Stan sighed
"You need a ride home Ben?" Billie questioned
"Sure, thanks."
"Lyds?" Richie turned to her
"I'm gonna catch a ride with Eddie. He only lives two blocks over so it's easier."
"Suit yourself, I'll see the rest of you guys tomorrow!"
Soon enough all of the losers had headed off in separate directions towards their own homes. No, but not Lyds and Eddie, they stuck together like glue. With Eddie pedalling, it felt like they were going at a hundred miles an hour and Lyds let out a shriek of joy every time he sped up. It was always so easy for them, they'd been friends since day one and no matter what happened between them things always set themselves back on course, which was something the rest of the losers club were unadmittedly jealous over.
"Faster Eddie!" Her hair flew in the wind
"I'm going as fast as I can." He chuckled
Just as those words left Eddie's mouth, the Greystone house came into view in the distance and a shiver immediately ran down Lydia's spine.
"What's wrong?"
"It's nothing." She swallowed the lump in her throat as the bike began to slow.
When they came to a stop, Lyds could see her Aunt Kim sat on the porch steps, chain smoking and spitting mucus into the front lawn. Eddie immediately covered his mouth.
"See," Kim called out
"What did you say?"
"Told you your little boyfriend was still alive."
"What?" Eddie furrowed his brow, "What's she talking about L?"
"It's nothing. Don't worry about it."
"You know when you say that it makes me worry more."
"Sorry." She said, "I'll see you Eds."
And with that, Lyds gave the brunette boy one last tight hug, and she hoped that in that action he would be able to sense that something wasn't right. But he didn't.
"Bye!" He waved before sailing off down the street
"You know you're late don't you?"
"Yes." Lyds swallowed
"And you know what that means?"
"Just get it over with."
And then they headed inside, Where for the rest of the night Kim's knuckles grew sore and Lydia's body swelled. Just the way it always went, as it always would.