cliché || reddie ✔️

twenty one

The house has a sleepy lull to it. No presence is in the kitchen laughing and making breakfast or in Beverly's golden-cast bedroom singing along to Lana Del Rey, just quiet and peaceful.

Right up until a phone starts ringing, loud and obnoxious that breaks into the teens sleep. A redheaded girl lifts her head, eyes fluttering open and closed as she takes a moment to get used to her surroundings.

Richie Tozier is one of few people who can sleep through anything, so it's no surprise to Beverly when she gets up and he's still passed out cold, a blanket laying low on his body. The beer might've also had some play into his temporary coma.

As she's walking towards the phone, tripping over sleeping bodies and tossed pillows, another body stirs in the morning light. Bill, with his bedhead hair sticking up in places, cringes at the light and lets out a groan. "Shh, go back to bed," Beverly whispers over to him.

She's about to shut off the phone and crawl back under her blankets when the contact name and the owner of said phone catches her interest. Before one more person can be awoken, Beverly answers the call.

"Richie?"

"No, this is Beverly."

"Oh.. um, hi Bev, where's- where's Rich? I need to talk to him," Maggie says over the phone. Beverly glances over at the boy in question where he lays with his face in a pillow. "He's sleeping-"

"Please, Beverly, it's important."

She holds back her urge to sigh into the phone, instead closing her eyes and telling the boys mother she'll be right back. On her walk towards the slumbering Richie, she picks a pillow up off the floor, holds it above her head, then smacks it down onto his face.

He wakes up with a start, an arm flying up to protect his face until he realizes Beverly has nothing more to harm him with. As if she'd ever purposely seriously harm him in the first place. "What the fuck, Bev?" He asks, his voice thick and groggy from sleep. He lays his head back down, ready to fall back asleep at any given moment.

"Your mother is on the phone," she says and Richie asks, "So?"

"She says it's important."

He lays there for a second longer, lingering in the comfort of his makeshift bed on the floor before hauling himself up into a sitting position. "I'm going.. back to bed.." she says after pointing to where his phone is on the charger.

As Richie pushes back the blankets and gets up, he realizes that Stanley's eyes are open and staring at the wall. "G'mornin'" Richie mutters on his way over to his phone.

"Morning," Stan responds and rolls over onto his stomach to watch Richie answer the call.

"Yeah?" He asks and leans against the wall.

"Rich, Richie, tell me the truth when I ask you this, alright?" Maggie asks.

From a mile away Richie can recognize this tone of voice and tell you exactly what it means. He's heard it many times when he was a kid and his parents wouldn't believe a word he said. It's the pleading tone, one very different than the threatening tone Wentworth has.

But ever parent has one, right?

"Mom?" He asks, "What's going on?"

"Richie, honey, did you tell your father about the gold chain?"

Richie instinctively looks up at Stan, the only other one awake. "What? No... Why, what's wrong?" He asks, trying to figure out the mystery to Maggie's early morning call.