Chapter Text
the rain came down in torrents, hitting hard against the roofs of the houses lined against the road.
against the groggy, grayness of the day and the water running along the street, a bright pop of yellow appeared.
a yellow rubber duck.
it floated downstreet, swept along in the runoff and tossed around in the currents. the duck got stuck against the curb near a storm drain, yellow paint chipped and faded.
the duck stayed for a moment, the runoff seemingly not enough to deter it from it’s place—until a small hand, covered in blood, dirt and grime, stretched out from the storm drain, the yellow of it’s sleeve barely peeking through the dirt covering it.
the hand grabbed the duck with a tight squeeze, forcing a wheezy quack from it, before yanking it down the storm drain and disappearing, the only sign either of them were there a smudge of dirt and blood against the curb.
[—]
a scuffed up shoe kicked at a rock, sending it flying to god-knows-where. it belonged to a tall, wavy black-haired boy with thick-rimmed glasses too bag for his face, walking down the street with a backpack slung over his shoulder. he had a bandage under his left eye, which was swelling a nasty purple color. walking with him was a freckled red-haired girl, curly hair falling just above her shoulders. they walked in a comfortable silence, before the girl spoke up.
“y’know, stan’s gonna be pissed.”
“i know, bev,” the boy responded, not seemingly interested in the conversation.
bev remained silent and the two continued walking, the boy’s eyes drifting to a dark red house they were passing.
“isn’t that the house that one kid lives in? y’know, the one who’s mom won’t let him out of the house?” beverly asked, but the boy wasn’t really listening. his eyes trailed up the red brick and siding to the window of the garret, where a short boy around their age sat reading a book.
as if the boy knew he was being watched he glanced out the window and returned the tall boy’s gaze, eyes meeting for barely a moment. he immediately turned away, refocusing his gaze on the sidewalk in front of them as his face warmed, though he didn’t know why.
well, he did, but he didn’t like thinking about that too much.
“uh, richie?” bev’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts and he quickly turned.
“huh?”
“have you heard anything i just said?”
whoops.
“uh, yeah. definitely.”
bev smirked, glancing back at the brick house they just passed. “uh huh.”
richie rolled his eyes, ignoring her and rubbing at the bandage under his eye. “we’re meeting stan at the quarry, right?”
“yep. you got the cigs?”
“no duh. who do you think i am?” he replied with a smirk.
“do you want me to answer that honestly?” she replied with a smirk of her own, to which richie flipped her off and they both laughed.
by the time they got to the quarry, stan was already there, sitting near the cliff. richie and bev sat on either side of him, richie dangling his legs off the edge and beverly sitting criss-crossed.
“what happened to your face?” stan asked, narrowing his eyes at richie’s black eye. “oh, nothin’, just a lil lovers spat with your mom,” richie replied without missing a beat, pulling an unopened pack of cigarettes out of his backpack. stanley rolled his eyes and scooted backwards as bev stretched over his lap to hand a lighter to richie, who used it to light up his cigarette.
“somebody got into a fight with hockstetter again,” bev replied, taking back the lighter and lighting up her own cigarette, ignoring the tongue richie stuck out at her.
“again?”
richie rolled his eyes. “what else was i supposed to do? he has a very punchable face.”
“so do you, idiot,” stan replied, to which bev laughed. richie blew smoke into stan’s face and stan slapped richie’s arm with a huff.
the three sat there and chatted for a few hours as the sky turned from blue to a hazy orange and purple, which is when the trio packed up their things and walked home. richie parted first, asking stan to say hi to his mom for him before leaving bev and stan by themselves.
bev and stan chatted a bit, but walked in a comfortable silence for the most part. bev was talking about something to do with her dad when she realized stanley had stopped walking a few feet behind her, looking down a street she was quite familiar with, eyes trained on a gray house down the block.
“stan?”
he snapped towards her, immediately continuing to walk. “sorry.”
“…it’s fine.” her eyes stayed on the grey house for a few moments, before starting to walk again.
the rest of the walk was silent, the only other words a muttered goodbye as stan parted.
beverly’s walk home was filled with pieces of memories she wished she didn’t get so sad thinking about.
four kids hanging out at the quarry—beverly, richie, stanley, and a boy with auburn hair, drawing something in his notebook while stan watched the birds and bev and richie smoked a cigarette.
“what’re you drawing?” richie questioned, leaning over the boy’s shoulder, blowing smoke in his face as he did. the auburn boy blushed and immediately closed his sketchbook. “n-no-nothing, f-fuc-ck off!” he yelled in defense. “oOoh, is it that hot girl from class? what was her name, aubrey? audrey? bet you’d like a slice of her pie-“ “s-shut up, ri-r-richie!” the boy yelled, face even more flushed as he shoved richie away. “c’mon, bill! just let me have a little peek!” richie laughed as he tussled with bill.
bev looked over at stan, who’s gaze had dropped to looking down at the lake. she let out a sigh, exhaling smoke as she did. she knew what—or more accurately, who—bill was drawing, and it definitely was not audra phillips from english. her gaze stayed on stan for a few more moments before she looked up at the blue sky, exhaling more smoke as she did.
beverly blinked, inhaling sharply as she realized she’d reached her house. she tucked the memory away in her brain to think more about later as she opened the front door, mentally sighing.
maybe they’d be able to make more memories another day.