"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...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
After that afternoon at Neibolt, weeks passed by with no contact between the Losers. Well, with the exception of Richie and Elaine. The days had been long and quiet, even with Richie's loud blabbering. There was still a certain loneliness that Elaine could not place. On occasions, she would run into Ben at the library.
He'd quickly look away while she looked down and kept walking. No matter how hard Richie tried to cheer her up, she still wasn't herself. Certain things were just out of his control. It pained him to see her so sad. She sat quietly in her room, book in hand even though she couldn't quite bring herself to read.
Her eyes ran over the words, her brain not processing them. She started to cry, angry at not only herself, but also at her friends. Was she really not that important to them? Tears slid down her cheeks, leaking onto the pages of her book. She crumbled onto her pillow, feeling herself start to break down.
Elaine found herself crying more than usual lately, practically every night if Richie didn't stay with her. He had been the only one to keep her together. He tried his best, and that was all that mattered to Elaine. She had urged him to go to the arcade, something he was missing out on since he'd been spending all his free time with her now.
The second the front door had shut behind him, she felt herself fall apart. While she continues to cry, Eddie stood on her porch gently knocking on her front door. He checker his watch impatiently while he tapped his foot against the ground. "Shit." He cursed, hitting the door once again. When Elaine didn't answer for the third time, Eddie took it upon himself and walked into the house. The front door was unlocked anyways.
He quietly looked around, not wanting to seem like he was intruding. "Elaine?" He walked upstairs hurriedly, "I don't have time for this," He sighed as he knocked on Elaine's bedroom door, not having much time to explain what was going on. Elaine jumped up, quickly wiping her eyes when she heard the light sound. She assumed it was Richie, though he didn't normally knock.
"Richie?" She sniffled, staring at the door. Eddie cleared his throat, hesitant to enter, "Dolly? It's Eddie..." He trailed off, "I didn't mean to intrude or anything, it's just you didn't answer the door and it's kind of an emergency." Elaine slowly opened the door, revealing Eddie awkwardly standing in front of it. Her eyes drifted to the cast on his arm, 'Loser' written across it. "Your arm," She pointed.
Eddie laughed embarrassed, "You know how Greta can be," Elaine patted for him to sit beside her on her bed, "C'mere," He did as she said, the girl digging for a red marker in her desk. She scribbled over the S, turning it from 'Loser' to 'Lover'. "There," She smiled softly, Eddie sending her a grateful nod as his eyes lingered around the room. "So, what is it?" Elaine asked, wondering why he had come over in the first place.
"Oh, it's- have you been crying?" He changed the subject, noticing the girl's puffy face. Elaine sniffed self-conscious, "No. Why? Does it look like I've been crying?" She looked at herself in the mirror. "No, no, you know what- Fuck, never-mind." He pursed his lips. Squirming at the silence between them, Eddie blurted, "Is it Richie?" "No, me and Rich are fine," She reassured.
Raising her brow, Elaine was now extremely confused on why he'd joined her. "Oh right, Beverly, it's got her," The boy replied nonchalantly. "What?" Elaine gasped. "I know, crazy, right?" Elaine ran a hand through her luscious brown hair concerned for her friend. "Anyways, Bill called, he's going to get Rich at the arcade, everyone else is meeting us back at the house." Elaine gulped, the situation clearly real.
"W-What if I don't want to go back?" She shuttered, her hands clammy. "Do you think I want to go?" He exclaimed, looking terrified. "Hell the fuck not! I do not want to go back in there!" He yelled, fiddling with his cast. "But I am. Because Bev's... My friend." He finished, hoping Elaine would come with him. If Eddie of all people could do it, why shouldn't Elaine?
"She needs us, Dolly." Elaine nodded, anxiously picking at her fingernails. "It'll be fine, they won't let anything happen to us." He reassured. Elaine smiled, knowing exactly who he meant by 'they'. Before the girl could respond, he slammed his body into the brunette's, hugging her tightly. Eddie was one of Elaine's best friends after all. They had both missed each other's presence during these past few weeks.
"You have no idea how shit it's been without you." Elaine sniffled, "I missed you so much, Eds. I've never felt so lonely in my life," The two let go of each other smiling. "Same here Lainey. You don't even want to here the start of what my mom's been telling me," Elaine stifled a laugh, "It's good to be back." As they got ready to leave, the two gathered her things.
Though she promised she'd never return to Neibolt, there were different circumstances then she'd last expected. She needed to go back, for Beverly. "W-What are you doing?" Eddie asked, seeing the girl was searching for things in her room. She took a flashlight out of a box and smiled weakly. "Hey Eddie, could you do me a favour?" He fiddled with the band of his watch, "Make it quick," "I need you to go into Chris's room... To get me something." Eddie's eye's widened at the mention of her dead brother.
"O-Oh, yeah." He tried to play it off, clearly failing. "In his desk, the third drawer, there's a gun. Grab it." She finished. "Oh okay-" Eddie turned back on his heels, "Wait, what?!" The girl smiled innocently, "Just in case." Usually, Elaine would've hated the idea of simply being in close range of a gun but it was time to face her fears. That was the whole purpose of it, right?
Eddie quickly made his way into Chris's room, holding his breath as he took in it's surroundings. Someone died in there. There could be blood and it could get into his system, he could die- "Shut up Eddie." He snapped at himself, taking a deep breath. He opened the third drawer, just like Elaine had told him. He moved around some stacks of comic books which revealed a hidden gun underneath. "Oh god."
He sucked in a breath, fumbling with the weapon till he finally grabbed it and ran out. He passed the girl the gun, a shiver running down her back. She ignored the thoughts that crept into her mind and shoved the weapon into her backpack with the rest of the things she'd packed. "Let's go before Beverly- Oh god! Bev could be dead!" Eddie panicked. "She's gonna be okay, c'mon, let's go," Elaine urged, also sounding unsure.
The two ran down her stairs and made their way outside to their bikes. Thankfully, Richie had retrieved Elaine's from Neibolt only a few days before. He insisted on getting her the beloved pink biked back, not pleased with the idea of the bike just sitting there and rusting. Though now, the hot pink colour was a bit lighter from sitting in the sun for a few days. As Elaine and Eddie biked off, the girl sucked in a breath, "God, please don't let me die."
