"you ready, stan?" richie stood outside of stanley's house, in front of his shitty little pick up truck. stanley always thought it matched richie well, but he sort of hated it. stanley hadn't changed from what he wore to school that day, a polo t-shirt under a sweater with dress pants. richie called him an 'uptight fuck' for the way that he dressed, but he enjoyed it. mostly, anyway.
stanley pulled at the collar of his polo like it was choking him, but he nodded anyway, leaving his house and closing the door gently.
"any girls you getting with tonight, staniel?" richie asked while stanley locked his front door. stanley scoffed while they walked to richie's truck. "i'm serious! i heard betty ripsom likes you. you could definitely get some action." richie jabbed stanley in his sides and stanley, in retaliation, pushed richie into the truck door. "yowch! uris gets off on a good one," he yelped.
"even if she does like me, i don't know that she's exactly what i want to pursue." stanley wasn't quite sure what he meant, even as he said it. he might enjoy... doing stuff with betty ripsom. she was a gorgeous girl, that could not be denied, and if she was into stanley, there was nothing really stopping him.
richie looked at stanley and narrowed his eyes, starting the truck. richie didn't start driving for a minute or so, and stanley didn't say anything about it. if richie was ever asked, he'd say the truck needed a bit to warm up before it drove properly. stanley knew better.
"are we picking up anyone else?" stanley asked, though he had a preferred answer. something about hanging out with richie alone made him feel special. he would never verbally admit that, because it would send richie's ego through the roof, but it was true. richie was his best friend. that's all.
"nah, ben's driving them. i told them i'd pick you up because your house is so... you know." stanley's house was quite out of the way for the rest of the losers, so no one ever hung out there. besides, stanley didn't want them to come over anyway.
"oh. sorry you had to come out so far. i would've bussed or something but--"
"don't worry about it. it's nothing. i like the drive out to your house. it's associated with you." a surprisingly emotional statement from richie, which was followed by him turning up the radio, making stanley laugh a little. stanley stared out the window, the moon visible in the western sky.
"are you getting drunk tonight, rich?" stanley was actually asking a different question, do i have to drive you home? the point got across to richie. stanley had driven richie's truck before, and although it was probably several kinds of illegal (he wasn't insured, he didn't have his license, etc) it hadn't been a total disaster.
in fact, richie had taught stanley to drive in his truck.
"uh, would you mind if i did?" richie tapped the wheel cautiously as he spoke. stanley shook his head, watching richie with a careful gaze. he had combed his hair for this party, stanley realized. maybe richie was more of a romantic than he let on. he looked good.
"i'm not going to get drunk anyway, so i can drive." stanley crossed his legs, then uncrossed them, trying to get comfortable. richie hummed a response.
the two of them sat in comfortable silence for a while until they showed up, the house looming tall over every other house on the block. stanley's throat closed a little, he never really liked parties all that much. he'd been to a few with richie, but he was only going because his best friend was. parties were generally doable if richie was there. anything was doable if richie was there.
