"Maybe I stormed out of every single room in this town."
In which the quiet girl, Elaine Fitzgerald falls for her loud mouthed, polar opposite best friend, Richie Tozier. All while fighting a growing threat in the small cruel town of Derry, Maine...
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Elaine woke up startled by a loud banging against her front door. The girl shot up, immediately thinking the worse. She peered to look out the window, quickly running downstairs when she didn't see anything outside. She cautiously opened the door, relieved when it was only Richie standing there. He stood confused, his brows furrowed in surprise.
He hadn't exactly been expecting a tired-looking Elaine standing meekly behind the heavy door. She was still in her pyjamas, a small white nightgown which immediately told Richie what he needed to know. Elaine was an early riser, she wasn't the type to sleep in every morning. Her body just physically couldn't.
Her pyjamas were accompanied by her puffy face and bloodshot eyes, confirming that she had in fact been crying all night. By the third knock without any answer, Richie knew something wasn't right. But he still stood tall outside the door, waiting for Elaine to come down at noon as she usually did.
She tried to comb out her puffy hair with her fingers, pursing her lips at Richie on the porch. His face was tired and sad, last night hadn't been an especially pleasing night for him either. His father had gotten home late, drunk as per usual. When this happened, the man almost never went down without a fight.
Yelling at his wife, Richie came down to his mother's rescue. Though, looking back at it, maybe he shouldn't have. Let's just say, the night hadn't ended well and man oh man did Richie feel like shit today. However, he stood hopeful at the door, knowing that Elaine could make him feel better. He'd been wrong.
Seeing Elaine just as sad as himself broke his heart even more. Elaine saw Richie's optimistic expression change to concerned within a matter of seconds when he entered the house. Closing the door behind himself, he scanned the shorter girl's features, her face stained with tears. "Laine, it's noon, usually you're up by now?" He admitted, confused by her odd behaviour.
"It's just... My alarm.. It didn't go off." She lied, hopeful that he wouldn't notice. But, Richie saw right through her. "You're lying." Elaine lowered her head with embarrassment. "You don't even own an alarm," Richie remarked. "I just didn't sleep well last night, that's all." She lied again. "Stop lying to me." She sighed, annoyed by how well he knew her.
"What happened, baby?" He tried, gently reaching for her, but Elaine was not having it this morning. She pushed his arm away. "Really, I don't want to talk about it Rich," "Elaine, please-" He begged. "I said I didn't want to," She stormed off upstairs, leaving Richie alone downstairs to scoff. "Someone's grumpy,"
Elaine changed in her room, feeling bad for snapping at Richie already. She pushed away the feeling, changing quickly as she didn't want to leave Richie waiting for too long after that. She tied her hair in a messy ponytail, trying not to imagine how bad she must've looked when she opened the door for him.
She brushed her teeth and smoothed down her hair a bit. She groaned, noticing how puffy her face was. Elaine took a deep breath, hoping the cold water would help reduce the puffiness. She glanced at herself one last time in the mirror, trying to shake off the earlier tension. So, she ran back downstairs to Richie as if nothing had happened.
