stanley and bill stare at each other for a few moments. no one moves. the chatter in the room halts, and everyone is watching to see what will happen, who will move first.
stanley visibly inhales a deep breath, his eyes squeezing shut, and he pulls the door open further. he doesn't say anything, just leaves enough room for bill to enter the house, and then bill does, pretty much shocked that stan hadn't had a harsher reaction.
"okay," max claps, and it slightly relieves the awkward tension that had settled over everyone as stan had made his way back to el's side.
"i thought he wasn't coming?" stanley whispers to el, who grabs his hand in her own and squeezes.
"me neither," el replies, because she really didn't think bill would show up.
"guys," max calls everyone to attention, and everyone does listen up, because max is such a comfortable middle ground that no one can really help it. "we're gonna play a game, okay?"
a chorus of hesitant okays circle around as max nears the centre of the room with an empty bottle.
"it's seven minutes in heaven," she explains, motioning for everyone to join her in a seated circle on the ground. "except inside of smooching we're going to be forced to talk. seven minutes, chat and be nice! okay? it's a great way for us all to catch up."
bev smiles a little, and bill peers nervously at stanley, who hasn't let go of el's hand, despite them moving to sit down.
all eleven of them follow max's lead, sitting around her in a circle. beside max is el, who still clutches stanley's hand tightly. eddie is next to him, quietly whispering to him. richie is beside his boyfriend, arm around him, with bev on his other side. and, as expected, bill sits next to her, with lucas and mike making harmless jokes to his right. then it's will, who is laughing with dustin as if nothing had ever happened, and then ben, next to max again, typing something out on his phone.
"okay, who wants to spin first?"
