the two sat in stanley's room, richie taking in all the new posters along the wall. richie exhaled. he had always felt comfortable in stanley's room.
he picked up his notebook, ignoring his laptop open next to him, with a blank document open. he grabbed a pen and got to work on his notebook.
stanley looked over, "richie, what are you doing?" richie looked at him, one eyebrow piqued.
"my english work," richie said, though it sounded a little bit like a question.
"no, i meant what are you doing," stanley shook his head and pointed at the notebook. richie looked down at his hand, which was still moving wildly.
"oh. scribbling." richie held up his notebook, and inside were pages full of lines, incoherent words and drawings. richie beckoned stanley, "come here, let me show you the funniest one."
stanley crawled onto the bed and richie opened the book. he flipped through, pointing his book in the opposite direction of stanley. stanley, in retaliation, climbed onto the side of richie's legs. richie laughed.
"is that fucking garfield?" stanley leaned in front of richie, and saw a drawing of garfield if he was a spider.
"yeah, that's the one," richie chuckled, watching stanley blink in denial.
the door opened and andrea appeared, "stanley, matok, can i-" she cut herself off, looking at stanley on top of richie. stanley scrambled off and sat down next to richie, realizing how strange the position was.
"h-hi mom," stanley started biting his thumb nail, richie smiling awkwardly at stanley's mom.
"oh. didn't realize richie was still over. hi. what.. are you guys up to?" andrea's hand stayed on the doorknob, looking at the two of them a little suspiciously.
"just studying," stanley started, gulping.
"i was showing stanley my english work." richie said, still smiling at her. andrea nodded slowly.
"uh huh... anyway, matok, darling, i had a question but uh, i'll save it for later." she smiled, just as awkwardly, and started to close the door.
"okay, mom," stanley said as she closed the door. when he heard her walk away, he sighed, "did she think...?"
"i don't know," richie replied, appearing to hold in a laugh.
"i'm.. i'm not" stanley said, richie nodding.
"i know." stanley could've sworn richie was holding back a smile.
