it had been exactly a week since their first kiss, and exactly five days since their first date. bill sat in his room, fiddling with his thumbs, and biting his lip.

he almost felt guilty, stan had brought him on the first date, and bill was oblivious to the fact that he would have to plan a date for the two of them as well. he didn't exactly know the town of derry very well, so for their second date he had no perfect plan, like stan had.

"hey georgie?" bill wanted to ask, but instead he stood up regrettably from his comfortable position, and began searching the house for georgie.

"billy?" georgie asked from the living room floor, reading the great gatspy, a rather complex book for a ten year-old, but georgie seemed to love it nevertheless.

"reading it again?" he sat down next to him, taking his time to write down his note, and georgie only smiled.

"yeah, it's so good!" georgie squealed, holding the book against his chest, and bill wondered if regular ten year-old did this. then again he went on a date with a boy, so he couldn't judge a ten year-old for loving books more than playing sports.

"have you ever heard the word, gay?" bill asked, slowly bringing the subject in conversation, not too fond about coming out to his ten year-old brother, but something made him proud to have gone on a date stan; to like boys.

"yeah, kids call me gay all the time at school, what does it mean?"

it wasn't like a lightning strike hit bill in that moment, in one moment he was oblivious to the fact that it was thundering and raining, the next hit with the burst of enengy.

"nothing, forget it." he signed next.

bill didn't remember walking back to his bedroom, or bursting into tears for a reason he didn't know, something about other boys picking on georgie made him want to— he didn't know. he felt the weight of the world on him, when his father died he knew he would protect georgie, he just wished he did a better job.

"hey bill." beverly spoke though the cell phone painted in a simple, white case. bill didn't reply, holding the phone up to his ear, as if to tell her to continue.

"um, you can't exactly talk but i was wondering if you wanted to hang out at the park, we could get ice cream, and i know it's late, but i'm fucking bored, so..."

"hang up now for yes. i'll pick you up. for no, stay on."

bill hung up on the girl, laying on his bed flat on his bed, eyeing the ceiling, wiping away his tears that had threatened to continue down his wet cheeks. he finally stood up minutes later, slipping on his shoes and grabbing his coat.

he didn't bother to tell georgie he was leaving, he simply left a note on the front door saying where he was and that he would be returning home soon, before slipping out the front door, locking it behind him.

he eyed stan's car when he walked down his driveway, and felt his fingers slip into his pockets, a blush entering his cheeks.

he waited silently for beverly's car, his eyes to his black vans, as if they could fix everything wrong in his life, as if he could look up to them. but he couldn't, just like his mother.

her car came moments later, bill hopping in almost immediately, clipping in moments later.

"hey, you good?" beverly asked bill, seeing his fatal expression, feeling his presence.

she ran her pale fingers through her red hair, her orange freckles reflecting off her skin more than ever during the nighttime.

"let's go." she said after bill slowly nodded, and she drove fast through the streets off his neighborhood.

the truth was, she had richie number memorized, had it typed in to her phone, but something stopped her from pressing call. he stopped her.

bill. the boy was mysterious to her, the boy almost seemed ancient, and she didn't like that she knew nothing about him, considering he had been in derry for around a month.

she didn't like that he was a mystery, because she was a mystery herself, and too much mystery made her head hurt and her stomach wail.

so she pressed call on bill, and answering after three rings hesitantly, she could hear his breathes through the phone, and that was enough.

but the real reason he was a mystery was the biggest reason she pressed call on his name tonight; she wanted to know why he was mute. she knew it had been a few years, more than a few; five years. but that wasn't enough, she wanted to know why.

it sounded selfish, egging the answer out of him, but she needed to know, it was simply the only way to help him, maybe get him towards speaking once again.

"we're here." she said with a raspy voice, knocking the fixed cigarette against her lips on the ground, stomping on in with the heel of her converse, watching the fire burn down.

both of them knew they weren't getting ice cream, both of them knew the store would be closed by now, and both of them knew what their topic would stay on, as much as they regretted to say so.

"so, bill, how have you been?" beverly asked, starting the flowing conversation, fixing a new cigarette to her lips outside the closed ice cream shop, and when bill didn't answer, not wanting to, she continued.

"my dad's been on my ass lately." she started, leaning against the wall and turning towards the night sky, bill as well. "he's crazy. sometimes, i just wanna leave." she added, rolling her eyes.

bill nodded understandably, sitting down on a blue park bench next to where she leaned against the ice cream store door, playing with the cigarette on her lips with her teeth.

has he ever... you know?

beverly opened up her phone quickly, and bill questioned why her eyes seemed to scan over the text at least ten times, as if she wasn't sure what the answer exactly was. but only bill would see this.

you know what they say, when you loose once sense, the others seem to pop out more, replacing the one that they lost.

can i tell you a story?

bill sent the text, seeing that beverly wasn't going to answer his question, merely ignoring it, as if the problem would simply leave her to ponder other ideas.

"go ahead," she replied, sitting down on the ground to face him, as if he was the storyteller and she was the little kid preparing for it. maybe that is what it had turned to.

a quiet boy telling a story to a extroverted girl.

updating again tomorrow! love you all <3 thank you for one thousand reads and all the amazing comments/support!

~ penny (feb 21, 2018 @ 6:24pm)