"Richie," Beverly calls through the wood. "Hurry up. Stanley said he and Eddie are leaving in half an hour and we need to get some breakfast!" She stands by the bathroom door, pulling her sweater tight against her body, balling the hem behind her back, and tucking it into her jeans.
"Be fucking patient!" Richie's voice shouts back. "I'm.. hold on."
Beverly raises an eyebrow and grabs the doorknob. She finds it unlocked and the door swings open with ease. Richie's leaning over the counter, hands hovering over his hair and a determined look in his eyes. He meets Beverly's gaze in the mirror and flys around. "Can you not wait a single second?"
Her mouth opens in a smile as she crosses her arms, leaning against the doorway. "Do I see someone fixing their appearance?" She asks teasingly.
Richie tries to slap her back out, annoyance in his voice as he says, "No! It's for your mom. She likes it when these curls are to their upmost perfection."
"I thought you said those curls were supposed to stay wild and untamed?" She shoots back, a hand grabbing onto the doorway.
"I only make exceptions to Mrs. Marsh herself," Richie says. He gives up on trying to push Beverly out and moves back in front of the mirror.
Beverly follows him, the smile never leaving her face. Richie's hair still held some straightness to it, but after rolling around in his sleep and brushing it through, the waves have started to form back. As he pushes his hair around, sometimes running a hand through it, Beverly puffs out her sweater and tugs at it to make it look not tucked in.
"Ready to go?" She asks when Richie let out a defeated sigh.
"Fuck it. My hair is going to be wild and he's just going to have to deal with it," Richie says and walks past Beverly.
"So it is for Eddie!" She says, her eyes lighting up with excitement.
"It is not!"
~~~
Snow hasn't fallen since Thursday and tire-tracked slush runs down through the streets. It slops out from under tires and shoes and really ties in with the Gray Derry idea Richie has conjured up in his mind. He pulls up to the McDonald's drive-thru, the one and only McDonald's in all of Derry.
The town has shrunk since when the teenager's parents were teens themselves and only lowered in population after the 2010s murders, so business owners find no need to open big-chained stores and restaurants in such an unknown place.
"Want your usual?" Richie asks as he digs through his back pocket, his hips lifted.
Beverly glances up from her phone, a fingernail set into a dent of her gel phone case. "I'm a simple girl with simple wants," she says and Richie looks over at her expectingly. "Yes, Rich, I'll have the usual."
A voice crackles from the intercom, a broken question asking, "Hello and welco... to McDonald's. What can I ... for y..?"
~~~
The library is completely dependent on sunlight throughout the day, the wintery light floating in through the large windows and leaving a musty look to the place. It is fitting for such an old building, though.
"And they arrive!" Richie announces, narrowly dodging the edge of a table as he and Beverly walk up. Stanley looks up and Eddie offers the two a smile.
Beverly says her hello's and sets her backpack down, something crinkling inside when she does. She zips it open, casts a glance to any watching librarians, and slowly pulls out the brown bag. The familiar smell of processed McDonald's and salty fries escapes from her backpack as she drops the bag onto the table.
"Food isn't allowed inside," Eddie says, his back straightening to watch a librarian working on logging books.
"That's why we snuck it in, Eds," Richie says as he pulls out the fries. Beverly ate half of them on the way over and left only a few handfuls. Thankfully, she didn't touch the chicken nuggets.
"You two can have some if you want. I don't plan on eating all of this in front of you." Eddie looks at her as if to ask, "Really? Are you sure?" and she only nudges the bag closer to him.
"Thanks, Bev," Stanley says and leans over to peer inside the bag before grabbing a chicken nugget.
The two settle into chairs across from Stanley and Eddie. Beverly props up her backpack and laptop in a way where if anyone looks at them, they won't be able to spot the McDonald's. Richie pops another few fries into his mouth and waits for his laptop to power up.
"Did you get the books you were looking for?" Beverly asks as she types in her password.
Stanley reaches down, a hand feeling for something before a hardcover book appears. The cover is light blue and it's filled with small and large sketches of all types of birds. Beverly peers at it with some interest before saying, "Well that's pretty cool."
"Since all the birds in Derry flew down south for the winter, this is the best I can do until spring," Stanley explains, his own eyes studying the cover. Eddie glances at his friend before breathing in deeply and going back to his laptop.
"What about you, Eds?" Richie asks, noticing how quiet he's been. "Do you like what Bird Boy here likes?"
Stanley's eyes dart over to him. "Bird Boy?" He repeats, gaining Richie's attention again.
"Do I hear judgement of your nickname?" He asks and Stanley shakes his head.
"If you can even call that a nickname."
"Wow! Staniel coming for my specialty! I'd like to remind you that I've had the pleasure of giving each and every one of you nicknames," he says, a smug smile on his face.
"Birds are cool and all," Eddie starts, getting back to the original topic, "but do you know how many diseases they can carry? A lot. Just be careful with your bird watching in the spring, Stan." The boy nods as if he's heard this rundown a million times before. He flips the book around in his hands and slides it back into his backpack.
Beverly never really paid much attention to the conversation in the first place, instead munching on the fries and scrolling through websites. They have most of their powerpoint together, only three slides away from being finished according to her. "Take a look at this, Stan," she says and flips her laptop around. "Is this too gruesome of a fact for the project or what?"
Richie places his elbows on the table to lean over and look at the screen himself. When he does, his arm nudges the red cardboard cup of fries. They topple over too quickly for Richie to react, let alone save them. The cardboard hits the table and fries go flying over Eddie and his laptop.
They all go quiet for a second as they stare at the damage. Eddie breaks the silence as he stands, hands waving in the air.
"Really, Richie? You just had to spill all the fucking fries over me? Now I got McDonald's grease..." he fizzles out into more cuss words.
Richie's face falls and he swallows whatever pathetic joke he had waiting. "I'm- I'm sorry, okay? It was a mistake. I didn't mean to knock them over." He stands up, scooping up the mess with the help of Beverly and Stan.
Eddie huffs out and throws a fry into the pile. "I'm going to the bathroom." His face is set, angry, and he storms past the tables and few people to the restrooms.
Richie watches him go, his eyebrows drawn in confusion. "Who stuck a stick up his ass?" He asks, turning back to the two people left.
Stanley looks past him and Beverly to the fuming Eddie, an apologetic look on his face. "Eddie got into a fight with his mom this morning. That's why he's so... bitchy." Richie only nods and glances over his shoulder again, but Eddie has disappeared into the bathrooms.
"What was the fight about?" Beverly asks only to revive a shrug.
"I'm not sure. But Eddie has been fighting with his mom a lot, so if he's ever like that someday, this is why."
wow, richie, way to go with spilling those fries. just made eddie's day even worse
"But," Stanley continues as he picks up the rest of the fries from Eddie's empty spot. "I know he doesn't mean to be rude. But when you're all.. angry and agitated it's hard to keep your mouth shut. Especially for him."
"Especially for Richie," Beverly adds playfully, an elbow sticking out to nudge him in the arm.
Meanwhile, Eddie's clutching a paper towel in his hand, wiping off any salt clinging to his shirt and desperately trying to keep the frustrated tears away. His eyes sting and his throat feels like it's closing in on itself, but that doesn't stop him from rambling on to no one.
"Way to go yelling at Richie like that," he mutters to himself. He breaths in deeply. It's shaky, but it soothes a little of the frustration storming around under his skin. God, if he would've just listened to his mom in the first place and did as she asked without arguing, he wouldn't be scrubbing his shirt and hands feeling like complete overwhelmed shit.
But she can just be so overbearing.
Eddie, did you take your pills? You need your pills, Eddie. They help you, Eddie.
Eddie, your pills!
Pills, Eddie, pills.
"My pills," he gasps out. fuck where are they? He left his fanny pack at home, not daring to take it out in public after Bowers and Vic relentlessly picked on him about it. He breaths in steadily, he can't have his asthma acting up now. No, not now.
He uses the paper towel to open the swinging bathroom door before tossing it. He didn't take a second to fix his appearance in the mirror. He just needs to get to his medicine, his backpack, and everything will be alright.
Something comes barreling into his view. It tries to jump back but it's already bumping into Eddie's side. "Oh!" They say, regaining their balance and stepping back. "I'm- I'm sorry!" Eddie can't find it within himself to be agitated again and only shakes his head.
"It's whatever," he says.
He lifts his gaze to meet with whoever he bumped into only to lock eyes with Ben. "Oh, Ben. It's only you.. Hi."
A nervous smile slides onto Ben's face and he nods his head. "Hi. What- what are you doing here?" He asks. Eddie looks over to his table, watching as Stanley throws a fry back at Richie. Beverly catches Richie's raised arm, a fry in hand, and nods to the librarian.
"For the project," Eddie responds and Ben follows his gaze across the library.
"What about you? Why are you here?" Ben takes a side step and Eddie's eyes fall on a boy he's never seen around before. He's standing with his hands plastered to his lower hips, glancing around the library. "This is my friend Mike," Ben introduces.
At the sound of his name, Mike's eyes dart over to the two. "Oh, uh.. hi!" He gives Eddie a small smile and Eddie nods his head in acknowledgment.
"We come here to read up on Derry and it's history," Ben explains as Mike steps to stand with them.
"We also, uh, sometimes trade books to read," Mike adds.
"Okay.. that's cool, I guess," Eddie says. He looks to his friends again and he debates with himself. His pills and medicine is far from his mind, never really seeming like too much of a deal in the first place. "My friends and I are sitting way over there.. if you wanna join. We have enough room and we got spilled fries.."
"Spilled fries?" Mike repeats, confused.
Eddie nods, a small smile on his face. His anger has simmered down, leaving his body aching from when he was all tense. "Yeah. Richie and Beverly bought McDonalds and bought it inside," Eddie whispers, not daring to get busted, "and Rich accidentally spilled them all over me. I was just in the bathroom trying to get all the salt off."
Mike nods, understanding now, as Ben's eyes dart back to the three across the room. "Bev- Beverly's here?" He asks.
"Yeah! You know her?" Ben's gaze lingers before moving to meet Eddie's.
"Yeah," he breaths out. "I- I guess you could say that."
Eddie steps away and towards the table. "Great. Then you guys will fit right in." He's already making his way across the library and Mike and Ben shoot each other questioning looks.
Ben answers it by following Eddie.
Because Eddie approches from behind Richie and Bev, Stanley is the first to see him.. and the two trailing behind. Stanley recognizes one from school, Ben Hanscom, but not the other..
"Hi guys," Eddie says and rounds the table back to his chair. Richie looks up, mouth already open to start spewing out apologies.
"Eds, dude, I'm really sorry. I honestly didn't mean to make you all.. mad or whatever!"
"Richie."
"We can just get this stupid World History project done and I can buy some fries and you can spill them over me. Sound good? Like a plan?"
"Richie!"
He looks up, hands still open from his ramblings. "What?" He asks and Eddie shakes his head.
"You're fine! I was just upset because of this fight I got in with my stupid mom and I took it out on you and..." he breaths in, catching his breath, "..and I'm sorry."
"Eddie," Stanley says before Richie can respond, "you just lost the chance to throw fries onto Richie!"
He shakes his head and says, "I never said that wasn't necessary. Only the thousands of apologies. "And," Eddie continues before the topic could switch again, "this is Mike and Ben. It's okay if they join us, right?"
Beverly twists in her chair to face the two boys. "Oh.. Mike! You're the homeschooled kid, correct?" She asks and he nods.
"Yeah. Yeah, that's me." She smiles at both him and Ben and motion for them to take a seat.
"Hello again Haystack!" Richie says as Ben takes a seat next to Beverly. Stanley's eyes roll at another nickname.
"Hey, Richie," Ben says and Mike pulls out a chair next to him.
"Okay, Richie," Eddie says, staring Richie in the eyes from over his laptop. Richie stares right back.
"Okay, Eddie," he echoes in the same tone, if not a little more jokingly.
"We have all our notes compiled together and now all we have to figure out is if we want to do either a poster," he says and sticks out a finger. Richie's eyes never leave Eddie's, "or a powerpoint." Another finger sticks out, challenging Richie to choose between the two. He hums, quickly going over the pros and cons of each option.
A powerpoint would be easier, both of them could load it up at any time and work on it..
A poster is more complicated.. but.. it gives the two excuses to meet up more..
"Do the powerpoint," Ben butts in. "The presentations are supposed to be around 8 minutes long and doing a powerpoint gives you more to talk about."
"Ben's right," Stanley also butts in. "A poster only gives you so much room to put things on." Richie lets out a little sigh, knowing the two are right.
"A powerpoint it is. I'll make one and share it with you," Eddie says, eyes falling to his screen as he clicks away.
"I'm glad I don't have to deal with this," Mike says, a small smile on his face.
"What? School work?" Stanley asks and he shrugs.
"That and presentations. I've never really gotten much to talking with other people, so the idea of standing up in front of them and talking about something.." He glances to Beverly and Ben before shrugging again.
"Oh, it's not all that bad," Beverly reassures.
"Yeah, Homeschool," Richie says from across the table. "Welcome to the life of public schoolers."