Grocery Clerk

chapter three: firefly

^Richie^

We were all sat around the fire, it sparking everywhere.

Stan stared at Eddie as the boy scarfed down marshmallows rather quickly. "Eddie, you're going to choke." He warned.

I chuckled. "That what he said."

Beverly and Mike let out loud laughs, Eddie actually trying not to choke now. Stan watched as he Eddie swallowed hard.

"Calm down, Richie," Noah chuckled. "Don't be so open so fast."

I chuckled, feeling upset about how Noah said that. What am I supposed to do? Just sit here?

"No, it's okay. We could use a bit of humor these days." Bill chuckled, handing Stanley marshmallows.

"These days?" I questioned.

He shrugged. "High school around here is horrible, stressful." He sighed. "Did you not go to school here?" He looked up at me.

I shook my head. "No, actually. I moved down here a while back."

He nodded. "Lucky you didn't then." He chuckled.

I offered a smile in response.

"Hey! Let's go in the lake before it gets too dark." Beverly suggested.

"Yeah!" Ben stood along with her, the two stepping out of our circle.

"Noah, come with!" Bev smiled. She seems to have taking a liking to him. That's cute.

He looked panicky. "Oh, I don't know." He said.

I patted his shoulder. "Yeah, go have some fun, Noah." I smiled.

He sighed. "Okay, I guess. Have an extra pair of trunks?" He asked them.

"In my bag," Eddie nodded, licking the gooey substance off of the corner of his mouth. Adorable.

Noah smiled with a nod.

"Yeah, I wanna go too!" Bill stood. "Hmm?" He gestured for Stanley to stand along with him.

The tall curly haired boy sighed, standing and following him.

"So," Mike spoke. "Where're you from?" He asked.

I shrugged. "Outta town. I originally came down up from Tennessee, family reasons." I shrugged.

I glanced around, making brief eye contact with Eddie, him quickly looking away.

"Oh," Mike nodded. "Well, I'm going to go make sure Stan the man doesn't try to drown himself, or anyone for that matter, so," he nodded with a smile as he walked off.

I felt awkward being left with Eddie.

"How old are you?" Eddie asked, not looking up at me.

"Twenty one." I said nodding.

He nodded. "I'm seventeen." He nodded.

I nodded. "Cool, so I take it you're a senior?"

He nodded. "Yep."

"How's school?" I asked curiously.

He shrugged. "It's okay, boring. I get teased every now and then." He shrugged again.

"How come?" I gave him a sad look.

He shrugged. "Because I'm Edward Kaspbrak. Why not I guess?" He sighed. "It's because I'm different apparently. I don't let that get to me though. I can over look most things." He squirmed around.