THE GHOST IN YOU - IT [2]

chapter seven

The four inhabitants of Derry Townhouse were pleasantly awoken with still-warm breakfast food from the diner. Jaime put all of the food on the table while Bill went to (try) to wake up the others. At the mention of breakfast, they all bounded down the stairs, still in pajamas. Beverly took one of the plastic containers that held buttermilk pancakes with a cup of syrup and sat silently at the table. Ben ended up sitting next to her, offering her a piece of bacon, but she told him she didn't eat meat anymore. He awkwardly shrank back in his seat.

Richie and Eddie sat side-by-side, Richie finding any and every way to annoy a still half-asleep Eddie. Other than Richie's occasional laughter, there wasn't much noise going on between the group. Bill had gone upstairs to his room for whatever reason, and Jaime simply sat at the table with the losers, frantically texting Corey and the band about what needed to be done today. They were still pestering her with questions about where she went, when she'd be back. It was a matter of time before word got to the record label. They'd chew her out, for sure, even if the album came out critically-approved.

"Thank you, again, for getting us food." Beverly speaks up. Jaime glances up from her phone and gives the woman a tight-lipped smile.

"I'll take credit for the idea, but Bill paid."

"He looked white as a fucking sheet when he woke me up," Richie says, a piece of crispy bacon dangling between his fingers, "is he... ya know, mentally okay?"

Jaime glances behind her, ensuring that Bill wasn't standing on the staircase. "You guys have to realize how tough this has to be for him. I mean, did he even remember Georgie before yesterday?"

"How do you forget an entire sibling?" Eddie asks incredulously. He sips his coffee (that Richie had threatened to pour salt in instead of sugar, then while demonstrating, accidentally put a hefty amount of salt in it, and Eddie was stubbornly drinking it as to not let the man have any self-gratification).

"I don't know, but my mom forgot me at the grocery store a few times when I was a kid." Richie says. Jaime blissfully ignores the flaming fire that ignites in her upon the mention of Maggie Tozier.

"I don't know if that's the same thing." Ben frowns.

"I don't see why not. It's exactly like that, just elongated."

"Yeah, jackass, but your mother was a drunk. Bill's not... as far as we know... so how could he just forget Georgie?" Eddie ponders aloud.

"I guess the same way we all forgot we grew up here." Jaime says.

A few minutes later, Eddie finishes his food and announces he's going upstairs to get ready. Ben soon follows, while Beverly goes out back for a smoke break. Discreetly, Jaime slides into the chair next to Richie, who is just finishing his waffles.

"Save it." He says instantly. He sighs when she scrunches her face in confusion. "Don't say you told me so because I chose to stay." He points his syrup-coated fork at her. "I'm here and you better fuckin' be grateful."

Jaime rolls her eyes so hard it hurts. "With that attitude, go back to whatever hole you crawled out of, please. And I wasn't going to say that."

"I don't want to go back to Eddie's mom's vagina."

Jaime stifles a grin and gestures to his waffles. "Finish up. Mike said he'd be here in like, twenty minutes, and you..." She looks him up and down and notes his attire of an old, stained t-shirt, with boxers that had polar bears imprinted on them. "Well, you look scarier than what we saw yesterday."

"Oh, real funny. These bad boys happened to be a gift." He slaps his thigh.

She sputters a laugh. "From who!? Your grandma?"