🅃🅁🄾🅄🄱🄻🄴🄳 // R.T.

ten

Meadow's POV

"So.. what Richie said back there.. it wasn't cool." Stanley said, scratching the back of his neck.

"Yeah, I know." l said, rolling my eyes as I sat down on his bed. His room was pretty bland, the walls were blue and so were his sheets. All of the rooms were pretty color coded throughout the house and the rooms were pretty neat and tidy, probably OCD.

"But he was just protecting Bill."

"Protecting Bill? Wait- since when is Bill apart of this conversation and since when does he have anything to do with it?" I badgered him with questions, I couldn't help the anger though. It really pissed me off what Richie said.

"We're going to the barrens tomorrow to look for... leads to find Bill's baby brother Georgie. Or at least what happened to him."

"What.." I questioned, "Why?" I asked worriedly.

"Lately.. people have been going missing, in this town. A-and Georgie went missing a couple of months ago.. Richie was just protecting Bill from feeling all of that pain and trying to explain it in front of everyone." He explained it to me and I didn't know what to say or feel about it.

"I know, there's not much you can say to that." He nervously chuckled.

"Yeah.." I trailed off falling against the headboard. "That doesn't change what he said though, I'm still pissed at Richie."

"Yeah and you should be, his a dickhead." Stan rolled his eyes as he leaned back with me. Then the phone rang. I climbed over Stanley, and picked up the phone.

"Hey Bev," I said plainly into the phone, thinking that it was her since we'd been talking almost constantly.

"Bev? Wha-No, Meadow it's me!" A young voice called from the line, one i hadn't heard in about two weeks.

"Lydia! Hey, I've been trying to reach you, but I didn't want to bother your.. family." I said, the word 'family' tasting bittersweet on my tongue. I never really had one of those. She was the only real family I had.

"I know, I'm sorry. A lot's gone on and me and El have been on vacation with Hopper." The names, they weren't familiar, but I could hear the happiness in her voice as she spoke.

"Oh, that's amazing. Did you finish school yet?" I questioned, confused over why she's been on vacation the last two weeks and not there.

"Today was my last day but we went on vacation." She repeated herself, "We had a lot of fun and El showed me magic tricks!"

"W-wow that's amazing! Tell me more." I laughed, moving off of Stanley so I wasn't laying on him the whole time.

We stayed on the phone for about another 20 minutes before Hopper called her for dinner.

"Alright, I love you."

"I love you too Meds!"

I hung up the phone and quickly apologized to Stanley who just smiled and accepted it.

"It's alright, she's your sister and I'm happy you two get to talk still." He smiled. I laughed and hugged him, it was a warm and protective hug.

"Ugh, thank you for always understanding and listening to me." I half smiled as we laid down. "I miss her."

"I know you do, but eventually you'll find each other again. And may-"

"Yeah, yeah. Maybe my adopting family will reunite us. Yatta, yatta." I replied, already knowing what he'd say. I laughed, pushing myself up and off of him. "I'm gonna go hop in the shower, need anything while I'm out of the room?"

"Nope." He smiled, grabbing the comic book next to the phone.

——

As I lay on my bed, I can't help but wonder about what Stanley and I were talking about; my adopting family. I thought about when I would actually get adopted, and if they'd be nice or not. I hoped they'd be everything my parents weren't.

When would Madelaine find one for me? It never really crossed my mind the last month or so I've been here, but when would she?

It didn't bother me as much as I thought it would, being here, I actually quite liked it. I didn't really know it but I had gotten really close with the Uris family. And I know I probably shouldn't get too attached because when she does find a family I'll have to leave them behind, along with any friends I had gotten.

Maybe I should distance myself from the family and from their friends. But I didn't want to. They were kind and welcoming. And as much as I didn't want to admit it, Stan had become sort of a brotherly figure to me. We were close and protective of each other, and he always made me feel loved.

Sarah and Andrew hadn't told me if they had gotten any news from Madelaine, but I was sure if they had they would've told me. They didn't have any reason not to.

I wondered why it was taking so long to find a family for me, was I that difficult to love? Or maybe there's just not many adopting families. That had to be it.

I wondered if the Uris' would want to adopt me. We had all gotten very close and we did a lot together, if we had the chance to. I figured they probably weren't open to it, they already had a family of their own, the 3 of them.

I just shook the thoughts from my head seeing as it was almost 3 in the morning on my alarm clock. I tried not to think about it much, but I couldn't stop.

I was just so curious. But I had to be patient.