possibilities ( it: chapter 2 )

ONE.

☆彡

THE TOZIER HOUSEHOLD WAS never quiet, never. the sounds of richie tozier's continuous skype calls to his colleagues, the sound of eileen's finger tapping against her laptop's keyboard, the bickering of the two tozier offsprings all somehow managed to fill a void of silence in the house.

the ruckus, however, always seemed to simmer around dinner time. that was a time for the toziers to bond and calm down before they all went to sleep.

"rich! can you come help me, please?" eileen's voice called out into the hallway. she knew that her husband was most likely busy from his job that always seemed to occupy his attention.

"in a minute, love!" richie responded. eileen sighed and began to set the table herself.

eileen and richie tozier had been together for twenty-four years and married for seventeen and the one thing that eileen managed to learn was that richie never did things when she asked him to.

"jay, reece, dinner!" eileen yelled out, this time knowing that she'd get an immediate result from her children.

jade, or jay, and reece never skipped a beat. they always listened to their parents and never questioned the authority.

the sound of running footsteps came down the staircase as reece tozier jumped to the floor. eileen furrowed her eyebrows at the sight of only reece.

"where's your sister?" eileen asked, ruffling the boy's brown curls as he walked past her.

"she's in her room playing some video game, i don't know." reece shrugged.

"eileen, i think i got it right this time!" richie's voice sounded as he entered the dining room. he walked over to his wife, pressing a quick kiss upon her lips.

"really? you can show me after dinner!" eileen smiled, leaning in for another kiss. across the room, reece stared in disgust.

"you guys are gross, ugh." reece's face twisted in pure distaste. eileen and richie only ignore his comment and richie began to glance around the room.

"where's jay?" he asked, taking his seat at the dinner table. eileen shrugged and sighed.
"reece said that she's playing that video game that you got her last week." eileen responded.

"are you serious? i told her not to play it right before dinner. can you go get her?" richie sighed, sitting back in his chair.

reece attempted to hold back his smile, as he knew that his sister was in deep shit. their sibling rivalry had never been at such a high, but it was the end of their school year and the tozier kids were competing for their mother's approval of their school grades.

eileen walked to the end of the staircase, taking in a deep breath before she used her 'strict mother voice,' as richie called it.

"jade olivia tozier! if you are not down here in one minute, your father is taking away that game!" eileen bellowed up the staircase.

richie scoffed, shaking his head because it was, in fact, his turn to be the strict parent.

jay tozier ran down the wooden staircase, her long brown hair flowing behind her. jay grumbled under her breath as she passed by her mother, upset about losing her ranking on her video game.

"i'm sorry, what was that?" eileen questioned, following her daughter into the dining room.

jay plopped down in her seat across from her brother, sighing as she looked down towards her plate. eileen sat down across from richie, ignoring her daughter's mumbling.

"jay, come on, we agreed that you wouldn't play the game before dinnertime. you promised me that you could manage your time on that thing." richie looked towards his daughter.

richie and eileen hated to be strict parents, they hated to be the parents that 'cracked down' on their children. they believed that their kids should be able to live carefree, happy lives.

some days, richie would realize that he was cursed with a child that acted exactly like him, from her vulgarity to her attitude.

"dad, i honestly don't see what's the big fucking deal with the game. i did all of my homework and i have good grades." jay shrugged, glancing up towards her father.

"i couldn't give two shits about the homework or the grades. we put that rule into place so that conversations like this don't happen at the dinner table." richie explained.

eileen and reece watched the conversation unfold. reece was the youngest and the kinder of the tozier children, he was truly their golden child. his personality was a photocopy of his mother's, giving her a stronger bond with him.

"we don't have to have conversations like this if you didn't initiate them." jay mocked her father, causing richie to raise an eyebrow.

"jay, we're not doi–" the trill of richie's cell phone cut him off, and he sighed. the tozier patriarch excused himself from the table as he went to go take his call.

reece stared at his sister, only for him to look up at him.
"what are you looking at?" jay scoffed, looking at her brother in annoyance.

"you don't have to be a bitch to him. he bought you that game and you're being a piece of shit, jay." reece said and eileen groaned. the tozier kids looked towards their mother in confusion.

"he beat me to it." eileen pointed out, and reece nodded. jade rolled her eyes and she looked back towards her brother.

"i just think he's being ridiculous. why can't i play it whenever i want?" jade rebuttaled.

eileen felt a hand on her shoulder, causing her to jump slightly. she looked up, seeing a now concerned richie standing over her.
"honey, we need to talk." he started.