'39 [Stanley Uris]

30: Can't Help Falling in Love

That same night, Mike introduces Andi to his grandfather and asks him to stay the night at her place rather than lying.

Surprisingly, the older Hanlon absolutely loved the girl and was insistent they stay for dinner. He even offered them to stay the night there at the farm, but Mike quickly cut that idea out of the picture with a flat no.

So, they compromised and left after dinner.

Before they left though, Leroy told the girl that she should make a point of going over more often. Of course, she agreed and complimented the fine dinner.

Parents seemed to fall for the girl's charm every time!

Now, they're back at her place, trying to decide what they should do next about Pennywise.

Meanwhile, Stan finished dinner and somehow convinced his dad to let him go over to Richie's for the night.

A lot has happened within the day, but what Andi said scared him more than the clown. Now, he's pacing Richie's messy room and ranting to his friend about the past events.

"What do I do, Richie?! She can't love me!" Stan exclaims.

Richie is sat on his bed, watching the Jewish boy pace around nervously.

"Well, why not?" He asks, shoving his glasses up to bridge of his nose. "What's wrong with her loving you?"

"We're kids! That's what's wrong!" Stan shouts. "She probably doesn't even know what it means to love someone! She doesn't even know me that well at all— I-I think!"

"I don't know everything about pizza, but it's still my favorite food," Richie points out.

"That's different!"

"How?" The trash mouth shrugs. "Nobody is ever going to know you better than you. Does that mean you're never gonna love? No! It doesn't! Dude, you've got to just let shit happen sometimes. Why does this bother you exactly?"

"Because she's perfect! It scares me! How can someone be so perfect?" Stan mutters, "She's different. She actually cares. She listens to me. She likes everything I like. She's smart. She's gorgeous—"

"Aren't those all good things?" Richie confusedly questions.

"It feels too good to be true. Good things don't just happen to kids like me," Stan insists.

"Why not?! Dude, if you weren't dating her to get married, you were dating her to break up. That's just shitty."

Stan sighs.

"The risk was calculated, but man am I bad at math."

"Do you love her, or not?" Richie finally asks. "Just answer that simple question."

"I think I'm beyond loving her at this point, I just don't think there's a word for that," Stan nods. "I'm so scared."

"Why?" Richie sighs.

"Because the thing about loving someone is that they can easily rip themselves away from you at any given moment and you'll be left to suffer."

"You think too much, man."

"What if it doesn't work out?" Stan frowns, sitting beside Richie.

The trash mouth wraps an arm around the boy's shoulder and grins.

"Ah, but what if it does?"