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Working with Henry Bowers was much harder then Rosemary first anticipated.
She'd split the work between them, telling Henry exactly what he had to do and find for research over the weekend before she talked him through what he'd found on Monday. Henry was willing to do the work, if he felt like it. And he really didn't feel like it.
"Why dear god would you willingly partner yourself with him?" Gretta asked in incredulous as they sat on the curb outside her father's store, an ice-cream in each their hands. It was the Sunday following Rosemary's decision and Gretta had kindly taken her after Sunday church to spend the day with her. They'd spent several hours talking at the library and park before getting ice-creams on the uncomfortably humid spring day. Still dressed in her church clothes with her cardigan tied at her waist, Rosemary sat with her heels together atop the slate of the sewer channel in front of Mr.Keene's pharmacy, her hair tied in an intentionally messy bun atop her head.
"Henry's been polite to me since I arrived, I thought I'd help him pass Social Studies" She replied, shrugging slightly as she leant against Gretta's shoulder.
"Never thought I'd hear polite and Henry in the same sentence. You know he's a nutjob right?"
Rosemary shrugged, licking from the cone of her ice-cream. "He hasn't been that bad to me yet, maybe a little straight forward but he isn't rude or anything" Gretta huffed in amusement. "What's he done that's so bad?" She looked at Rosemary in shock.
"Other then carving a kid's stomach up last year? I'd say that's enough!"
"Is there any proof that it was him? If someone was carving someone up in broad daylight, why did no one stop him?"
"Probably because his dad's a cop? I don't know!" The pair where silent once again, Gretta practically inhaling her ice-cream. "And that's not all, him and his 'gang' are just bullies! They beat up Stuttering Bill and his friends all the time, especially Tozier" Rosemary sighed, not responding to the names she didn't recognise.
"As far as I'm aware, they're just rumours until proven otherwise" The sun had begun to sink lower into the sky, the clouds washing out any chance of colour with dreary layers of gray. A fine sheen of sweat coated them both as the uncomfortably humid weather intensified and Rosemary couldn't help but shift as a light draft of hot air blew against her ankles from the sewers.
"I think I'm going to head home" Rosemary said after a minute, carefully balancing what remained of her ice-cream as she stood.
"Really? My dad can give you a lift if you want, his shift ends in about twenty minutes?"
"It's fine, I'll see you tomorrow"
Truthfully, Rosemary wanted time to herself because she was bothered. Not in a physical sense (though the sweat collecting beneath her dress was becoming more and more of an issue), but because in the three weeks she'd been in Derry, she hadn't touched herself once. She missed the feeling of touching herself between her thighs and the dominant issue was not that she wasn't in the mood (because god knows she was) it was because Nathaniel and Jude didn't leave her alone long enough for her to do her business.
As her head swam with hormonal thoughts, she failed to notice the car driving alongside her until Victor stuck his head out the window and called out to her. "Ey sweetheart, lookin for a ride home?" Victor jested in a horrendously overdone western accent. Rosemary giggled, turning to face them whilst Belch smiled at her from the driver's seat.
"I'm droppin Vic off and then I can swing by your place and drop you off if you want?"
"Anything to escape this heat" Victor watched her cardigan sway around her petite waist from the side mirror as she moved to slide into the backseat, only noticing Patrick's lanky, slim figure when she ducked her head down to hop into the car. Draped across a seat and a half, Patrick's only form of acknowledgement came from the slight flicker of his eye when she sunk into the seat beside him.
He hated it, being so unbearably close to her and yet unable to do anything because of the two beings in the front seat. Pulling his lighter from his pocket, he flicked it open, struck a flame, shut it, and repeat the process.
"So what where you doing in town?" Victor asked, resting his head on the frame of the car door.
"I hung out with my friend Gretta for most of the day and then went to get ice-cream. You?" Rosemary was painfully aware of Patrick's fixed and unmoving gaze on her face as she leant back into her seat.
"We hung around at the train yards for a while, but Henry had to go home so now everyone's being dropped off" Belch chuckled.
"Fair enough" Glancing at the mirrors, she saw that in both Victor and Belch's she was unseen; Victor's focusing on the road whilst Belch's focused on Patrick. Across the car, she and Patrick locked eyes for the briefest of moments before he hastily looked the opposite way, letting out a long, low breathe he'd been holding. She smiled coyly, knowing the hold she had on him and how little he could do. "You getting ready for the party next weekend?"
"You know if you can come yet?"
"Not yet, my brothers still need some convincing" After another several minutes of driving and Patrick repeatedly flipping his lighter, they stopped in front of a tall apartment complex as Victor finished talking about the bonfire party. "See you at school" She waved as Victor left the car, leaving just Belch, Patrick, and herself in the quiet of the car.
"Back to West Broadway?" Belch asked jokingly, turning his car around.
"Yes sir" Rosemary saluted, giggling as Patrick rolled his eyes and let out an audible scoff of annoyance.
"Something the matter Patrick?" Belch asked, glancing back through the rear view mirror.
Rosemary turned her entire attention to Patrick, given the opportunity, and he swallowed slightly as he chuckled to himself nervously. "Fine Belch" Just as he looked at her, she ran her tongue from the base of her ice cream to the peak in a long, overtly sexual manner which made Patrick swallow nervously, his eyes never leaving her mouth. "Just tired" It came out strained, and he shifted ever so slightly in discomfort.
"So Belch, what do you do?" She licked a chunk of ice-cream that had slid down the length of the cone, "Tell me about where you work"
"It ain't that interesting" Belch chuckled modestly, unaware of the heated interaction between his passengers. "But, it can be a bit surprising-" He begun to speak about his work, oblivious to Rosemary whom was teasing Patrick as she very slowly began to run her hand higher up her thigh.
"Fuck" Patrick swore, his voice barely above a whisper as he stared at Rosemary intensely, wanting to touch but unable to given Belch's presence in the car. He was avidly aware of the boner which was making his pants uncomfortably tight as he pinched his face together and stared at the sidewalk outside. His breath came out in long gasps of air as the muscles around his body constricted. Unable to restrain himself, he looked back at Rosemary, her hand pulling her dress higher to reveal the impeccably smooth muscle covering her legs. He had an overwhelming desire to bite her skin, to damage the perfect layer which taunted him and sent wave after wave of heat to his already twisting stomach. Pressure was building in his abdomen and cock, neither hurting nor being all that comfortable.
Her hand slid between her own legs and she tilt her head back slightly, her gasps for air silent as Belch continued to talk and Patrick stared at her, transfixed. He could see her rubbing herself, the only barrier being her underwear as she widened her legs slightly and stared him down, as though daring him to make a move.
He couldn't move, because he didn't know what to do. Subconsciously, Patrick began to rub his wrist against his crotch in a pitiful attempt to relieve the settling pressure. His tongue dart out, wetting his drying lower lip as he gripped the door handle tightly. She twisted her body, playing the part as she touched herself, but produced no genuine pleasure from doing so.
Rosemary wasn't stupid enough to make herself even more hormonal in someone else's car, but Patrick didn't know that.
Regardless, she played the part, her eyes fluttering closed for a second as she arched her back, letting out one more sigh as she stared at Patrick's face. He didn't look angry, or disgusted. If anything he looked conflicted.
"Which road is it again?" Belch asked quite suddenly, glancing back into the rear view window as Rosemary let the arms of her cardigan and hand rest in her lap. "I can't remember if it's this one or the one further down Witcham Street" Patrick almost shrunk away when Rosemary pulled herself across the seats, staring out Patrick's window as Belch stared out his.
"Uh, nope-" Patrick's head arched back in shock when she placed her hand over his crotch, kneading her hand into his jeans as she stared out the window, "-it's this one" She smirked at Patrick from behind her ice-cream as he trembled slightly, glaring at her intensely as he grabbed her wrist, silently demanding she finish her motion.
She pulled away, leaning comfortably in her seat as her attention moved away from him once again. "I guess this is your stop then" Belch smiled as he stopped the car, turning to fully face her in his chair as she smiled at him.
"Thanks again for the lift Belch, I owe you one. See ya!" She turned to open the door, casting a brief glance over her shoulder. "Bye Patrick" The two boys watched as Rosemary ran towards her house, but rather then approaching the front door instead walked through the side gate.
"What's up with you?" Belch asked Patrick, whom was quietly taking low, steady breathes as he stared at where Rosemary had disappeared. Twisting slightly, Belch grimaced as saw the state Patrick was in. "Really?" He asked in annoyance, "You're popping one in my car?"
Patrick grinned at him. "What can I say? She has a pretty strong hold on me"
He was blunt with what Belch quickly assumed to be a love confession. "Yeah well..." He quickly restarted his car. "Don't let Vic or Henry hear you say that" But the minor warning didn't deter Patrick in the slightest. Staring at the house, he could remember Rosemary as she walked inside, one hand holding her near melted ice-cream whilst the other pushed open the gate. The gate which they left unlocked. He grinned maniacally as Belch drove out of West Broadway.
He'd be doing alot of exploring that night.
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