𝐰𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐥 | stanley uris

eight

stanley and bill rested in their cabin, talking about girls. the sky outside was light blue with no clouds, their conversation seemed to reflect that. bill's mouth gaped open in anticipation as stan described the encounter he had with y/n the day before.

"well.. she, like, asked if we could hang out together... alone."

bill smiled widely. "a-alone? do you kn-know what that means? sh-she likes you, dude."

stan blushed and buried his face in his pillow. a muffled "no.." came from under the down and polyester. he thought again about what eddie said, and his flushed cheeks went back to being pale.

"what do you mean, 'no?'"

he brought his face back up and sighed. "you know how eddie feels about that... plus, why would she like me, anyway? i don't know if i can do it."

bill thought about eddie for a moment, and then thought about stan. "j-just don't tell him," he suggested.

stanley groaned and dropped his face back onto the pillow. this was a bit much for him, as he'd never really felt the way he did about y/n with anyone else. it wasn't something blatantly vigorous, but it was very real, making it just as intense for him. he didn't like intensity. he always thought it would be mind-numbing to be enthralled in such trivial things as girls. but it wasn't, it was much more interesting to him than he thought, which scared him.

he sat up and thought to change the subject. "how's beverly?"

"she's v-very nice. we like the s-s-same books and m-movies."

stan squinted. "very nice? i thought you guys were out doing sex stuff every night."

"what!? n-no!"

"oh.. what're you doing then?"

bill stopped to think about what beverly said last night. "sh-she s-s-said to me that she l-l-loved that we hung out-t. i d-don't think she likes m-me."

"do you like her?"

he liked the way her hair shone in the sun and thought she looked nice in dresses, but he never felt the way richie described 'liking' girls. "i... i don't know."

his cabinmate got out of bed. "well.. tell me when you figure that one out. i have to go now."

bill looked up at him. "how do you feel?"

stan fashioned a light blue button-up shirt tucked into dark grey shorts with white crew socks. he adjusted his collar and sighed. "i feel like i'm gonna shit my pants."

~

"it's.. it's around here somewhere," stanley said as he and y/n stomped through the tall grass. she started to become doubtful of his knowledge of camp. he looked back at her and smiled nervously. "does this count as showing you the ropes?"

she laughed. "i don't know, stan... where even are we?"

he stopped and started pointing. "well, our cabins are, like, over there.. and the quarry is way back there."

"ah. i see."

they trudged in the strange forest-type part of camp. there were small planes of grass surrounded by trees and sometimes mud to walk through. ahead of them were two obscured figures. the ones y/n couldn't identify and the ones stan had been looking for the whole time.

"here they are.. i'm sorry for making you walk through mud."

she found the apology very cute as she knew he probably felt worse about it than she even cared. "that's okay."

in front of them were two statues. one looked like a young boy and the other a young girl. stan spoke up. "this is what i wanted to show you.."

"wow."

the statues looked like they had been there for many years, tarnished and forgotten. except for one boy who remembered them. "sometimes i come here to birdwatch or read... or if i'm tired of richie's 'your mom' jokes."

y/n laughed. she could tell this was special to him, which made it special to her. "why here?" she asked.

"i guess it's sort of cool to think about how long these have been here.. i don't even know where they came from." he sat in the grass, facing them. "but i know someone took the time to make them. a-and to put them here... but i don't even know if those people are still alive, so.. i think i might be the only one who knows about them."

"why did you show them to me?" she sat next to him, looking down at the cuts grass had made on her legs.

he sighed. "i guess i think you're worth showing them to."

y/n and stan looked into each other's eyes and shared a moment of silence. silence was much more intimate than talking to the two. they could say things without talking, though y/n preferred saying things with her voice. it was less vulnerable that way.

"why?" she kept asking 'why?' because she wanted to hear his voice. she liked the way it changed when he got serious or when he made a joke or when he rolled his eyes and made a sarcastic comment. all of his tones were shades of the same wonderful color, a color she only saw when she was with him. she couldn't pinpoint what color it was, though.

"maybe i was wrong, but, i think you have an appreciation for things other people don't.. even if you don't say it."

she looked at him once more. he was right. "you always preface your sentences with doubts when you talk about your feelings."

stanley laughed a genuine laugh. "see? that's exactly what i'm talking about."

y/n smiled and laid back in the grass. stan followed. "so now it's just the two of us that know about these creepy statues?" she examined them. their hands and eyes were chipped a certain way she'd never seen in any art before, and she didn't know whether that made them more special or more lonely. probably both.

"they're not creepy. i think they're divine," he said. "but, yes. i think it's just us."

y/n turned her head, and through the grass she could see the profile of his face. after admiring it for a second she turned back to the statues. the ones he had shown her.

"just us?" she repeated. "i like that."

they both felt the strong desire to stay in the grass. to let it grow over them for seasons on end. if they were lucky, nobody would find them. maybe one boy would. he would find them and come and visit them to read or birdwatch or just to be engulfed in silence, and he would never forget them.

y/n could hear the smile in stanley's unmistakably wavering voice when he responded. "i like that, too."