Lover | Richie Tozier

Chapter 43.

Bill ran his hands through the cool water of the river beside him, feeling it build up on the perimeter of his fingers. "Y-You guys wuh-wanna play truth or d-d-"

"Let me guess, Stutter," Richie sat forward, blinding his gaze. "You were gonna say dare. Or dick, maybe. I'm down for either one."

"Enough with the dick jokes," Eddie stuck his tongue out, eliciting some form of strange gagging-noise into his elbow.

Richie's smile was one of happiness growing. Or maybe it was torment. Either way, he opened his mouth and said, "That's the noise you're gonna make when you're-"

Elle sat straight suddenly. "Beep Beep," she nudged him, causing her small elbow to hit Richie's most ticklish points. "You're taking it too far, Trashmouth."

Richie paused, turning his smile from Eddie over to Elle.

"Oh thank fuck," Stan clutched a strong hand over his heart, "I thought nobody was gonna stop him this time."

Mike stood up, brushing the dirt off of his jeans and leaving a tan residue on his kneecaps (he didn't care, though. Working on a farm meant almost all of your clothes looked like this). "I can't stay," he enlightened. "It's feeding time for the livestock. I gotta get back before I get my ass beat."

"That's kinky," Richie pushed his glasses up on his face. Truthfully, he only said such a thing so that Elle could beep him again. But she didn't. She only sat and stared.

She thought about what a shame it was that Richie couldn't see himself as she was seeing him now. The way his cheekbones caved into his face allowed for a lot more sun to cover the surface area of his features, turning up the vibrance on his freckles. His skin was without a blemish or fault - not considering his bruises or healing cuts - and was airbrushed with a golden metallic finish. From his side profile she could see just how gracefully unique his features were. As her chin rested upon his shoulder, she let her memory encode all that he had to offer. He was pretty. He was so fucking pretty.

"You're really beautiful, Rich," she said.

Her compliments got drowned out in the ears of Stan, Mike, Bill, and Eddie, who were engaged in their own conversations, but not Richie. Richie was always listening for her.

He looked over at the girl perched on his shoulder. The left side of her face shut off from the setting sun and galaxies stirred in her eyes, one of them closed to prevent the awful glare of the orange light. He thought back to the locker room, and within a second, it felt as if he was still sitting on top of the counter as she covered his imperfections. She never thought they were imperfect, though.

["You have really pretty freckles." She complimented. Her voice flowed into Richie's ears freely, like smooth suede. She didn't notice, but her thumb was gently caressing him. He noticed.

"Thanks, not really, but thanks."

"What do you mean 'not really'? They're beautiful, Richie."]

"Yeah?" He asked. "You think so?"

She nodded. "Oh, I know so."

Time and space now translated into the finest point imaginable on the hypothetical timeline of the universe for Richie. His heart jumped years ahead as he looked down on her. "Well, if it's worth anything, I think-"

"C'mon, ff-fuckfaces. Are we gonna p-play truth or dare or n-not?" Bill interjected.

"Sure," Eddie confirmed. "But there needs to be rules. Because if there's not rules then somebody'll dare some stupid shit and end up in the Emergency room and then I'm gonna have to explain to my mom and then..."

"Does Elle need to beep you too, Eddie?" Stan asked.

His fast moving lips came to a halt. "I'm just tellin' you." His hands went out to his sides, his palms flat out in surrender.

Richie's heart was still thudding from before. He looked around at the others. "Where's Mike?"

Stans eyebrows pulled to nearly meet each other on his face. "Dude, Mike just left 2 minutes ago. He said so. You heard him. The fuck is up with you, man? You drunk or something?"

Holy fuck - Mike had told him that he was leaving. Richie's pretty sure he even saw him walk away but couldn't find it in himself to care. He was so wrapped up in the presence next to him.

Richie's thoughts fumbled while his mouth tried to say anything other than the truth.

"Cat got your tongue, Rich?" Eddie pondered.

"Oh, Eddie." He looked at the boy endearingly. "There's always pu-"

Elle's hand slapped over his full lips, sending the rest of his foul sentence into a muffle of incoherent words. Stan, Bill, and Eddie all found it quite amusing, filling the humid air with the sound of their laughter.

Richie found it amusing, too. In fact, he found it so amusing that he smirked under her hand, slowly sticking his tongue out and dabbing it right into her fingers.

"What the FUCK!" The exclamation spilled out of her mouth quickly. Her hand jerked away, shaking it in the air as if it'd get all the germs off. "This fucker just licked me! He licked me!"

This only made the boys laugh harder.

"Put some pocket-sanitizer on that before you get syphilis or whatever STD is popular around school," Eddie dug through his fannypack, "It's disgusting. Don't worry, Elle, I've got you."

She smiled softly. "Thanks, Eddie. Wouldn't want to catch whatever Richie's ten-thousand girlfriends have passed down to him."

"Eh-Everyone get in a circle for the g-game. Richie and Elle need to be sss-separated, or else he'll spend the whole time flirting with her or wh-whatever he's been doing."

Bill had meant for this to be a joke, but even Richie, as naive as he was, could admit that it wasn't.

Aren't you supposed to flirt with someone you've got a crush on? Isn't that how it works? Richie thinks he can remember. It's been 7 years, after all.