𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐅𝐐𝐔𝐀𝐊𝐄

10

Eddie was drunk enough not care who was watching him dance but sober enough to know Richie was watching.

Richie was just as drunk as Eddie, for the tall boy's pale skin grew a blotchy pink, blooming across the bridge of his nose and cheeks.

Even in the dimmed-lighting, Richie's drunken flush could be seen, but Eddie was too disorientated to notice.

Richie didn't seem to mind that Eddie caught him staring. All Richie did was nod his head at Eddie as if to say 'hey'.

Eddie giggled aloud, before waving his heavy-feeling arm at the curly man across the way. Richie just seemed to stare, the overwhelming feeling of hopelessness sinking in. After that, Eddie went back to dancing as before, Richie's eyes mindlessly trailing the boy's body.

Wherever Stan was, he was probably with Bill, confessing his feelings. Richie wished he had a quarter of the guts Stan did. Instead of being brave, Richie was being a loser.

Maybe it was 4th Vodka shot he had just downed, or maybe it was his anxiety' either way, Richie suddenly became hyper-aware that Eddie was too good for him.

In the middle of his depressing realization, he felt a tap on the shoulder. Richie's head turned slowly to see Daniel smiling, his mouth moving. Richie's brain seemed to be malfunctioning, for the words never registered.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Richie asked with a squinted eyes, focusing in on Daniel's mouth as if he could lip-read just in case he went spontaneously deaf again. The blasting music wasn't helping either.

"I said 'You wanna get out of here?'" Daniel hollered with a smirk, and Richie was so deep in a mood that he was willing to do anything to get out of it. He knew Eddie deserved someone to love, someone to have long-term.

He deserved the whole fucking world, and Richie was ruining his chances of finding someone worthy. He was blocking Eddie from a secure relationship.

Richie irrationally decided that sleeping with Daniel was a solution.

Eddie opened his closed eyes from dancing to see the ginger girl in front of him, rocking side to side.

Beverly was also too far gone in alcohol to notice their interaction, she was too caught up in the music.

She was nearly headbanging to the song, her hair whishing back and forth into her face. Eddie smiled, before doing the movement himself, holding Bev's shoulders as support.

The two began to laugh uncontrollably in a manner that was clearly the opposite of sober.

Their limbs were crashing into each other, falling into one another's space as their laughter grew stronger, simply because there is nothing more destabilizing than getting shit-faced.

By the time they calmed down and Eddie looked over at Richie, the tall boy was no longer resting up against the counter as he had been before. He was, instead, making his way out the door with a blonde haired boy.

Eddie felt his chest cave in and stomach drop as if he had been shot in the very spot he stood in. Was Richie leaving with Daniel?

While Richie was walking his way into a mistake and Eddie was in a sterilized shock, Stan was in a quiet room with Bill.

Stan hadn't told Bill why he dragged them into the room he'd just been in with Richie, but Bill hadn't complained. He actually told Stan that the light's in the room were 'too bright' and to 'please shut them off'. Bill's casual confidence always left Stan in a bashful surprise.

Bill wanted those lights off, falling back onto a stranger's bed; the bright lights that were supposed to keep Stan wide awake in concentrated reality. Yet Bill wanted those lights of clarity kept in darkness, and Stan wasn't sure if it would be the best idea right now, especially in a moment where Stan was meant to admit his feelings for the boy. Stan's mind couldn't focus on an objective when he was trapped in a romantically shadowed room with Bill Denbrough.