"Hey, Bill?" Eddie called from the backseat of Mike's Chevy Silverado. All seven of them had piled in, Mike and Bill both in the front, Richie in between Stan and Eddie, while Ben and Bev sat in the bed of the truck.

"Yea?" Bill hummed as he gazed out the window.

"Do you think Pat could meet us at the diner?" Eddie asked. 

Bill paused for a moment, "Yea sure Eddie" Bill replied, uncertainty looming in his voice. 

"Ok thanks, Bill" Eddie replied cheerfully, pulling out his wallet so he could use the payphone once they got to the diner. Richie looked down at Eddie, noticing he came up ten cents short in exact change. Richie reached into his pocket and pulled out a quarter, handing it to Eddie.

"Thanks," Eddie said, looking up a Richie with a faint smile on his face.

"No problem Eddie Spaghetti"

Before Eddie could say anything about the obnoxiously stupid nickname, they pulled into the parking lot of the diner, everyone hopping out and going inside except Eddie, who stayed outside to make his call. They sat in a rounded booth in the corner of the restaurant, and Stan pushed Richie to the side, scooting the two of them out. "We're gonna go order, the usual for everyone right?" he turned to look around.

"Yea ba-" Bill cleared his throat "Stan"

There was a small glare, but nevertheless Stan turned to Bev and tapped her shoulder, "Bev, come with us so you can see the menu" Bev slid out of the booth and walked with Richie and Stan to the cashier. Stan handed them each a menu and rang the little bell on the counter.

"Hey Stanny," Richie started, looking up from his menu after only glancing at it. Stanley smiled and looked up from his fidgeting hands. "Yes?"

"Who's Pat?"

Stan unconsciously looked away from Richie and gazed at the booth. He looked like he was deciding in his head whether or not to tell Richie, but there was no point in keeping it a secret if all of them were friends. "Eddie's boyfriend" he looked at Richie as if he was expecting some sort of bad reaction. "They've been together for a year now". It wasn't common that you'd find a homosexual in Derry, especially in the '90s, but it was even less common to find an openly gay couple.

"Oh," Richie replied. "That's cool, I guess"

He looked back down at his menu, not really reading it, just using it as an excuse to bring his focus somewhere else.

Really Rich? "That's cool, I guess"? What kind of reply is that?

Now you seem like you're a homophobe or something, you dumbass.

Before Richie could wallow in his self-loathing too much, a door to the kitchen swung open. A lady with red curls down to her shoulders popped out with a smile on her face. She wore a button-up shirt, with a name tag that read

Debbie

"Hello Stanley... and Stanley's new friends" Her words floated in the air like fairy dust. A sweet sound to her voice that reminded Richie of his mother. "Hi, Debb," he smiled in return "this is Richie and Beverly, my foster siblings"

"Oh, nice to meet you" Debbie smiled at the two "What can I get for y'all" 

Richie began choking on his words a bit. He'd looked at the menu, but hadn't decided what he wanted. "I'll have the chocolate chip pancakes, please,"

"And for you miss Beverly"

"I'll have the same, thank you"

"And we are gonna take the-" Stan began to order.

"I know what you're gonna get, you guys come in every Saturday" Debb laughed and wrote it down, "I'll have your tabs ready like usual before you guys leave"

"Thank you, Debb" Stan smiled and the three walked back to the booth. Eddie entered the diner, walking over to the counter to order something else, and when he was seemingly done, he walked over to the table and sat down. The group was waiting for their food when a tall, lanky boy entered the diner. He had wavy brown hair down to his shoulders and a transparent smile plastered on his face. He walked over to the booth and Eddie got up from his seat next to Ben.

"Hey, babe" Eddie smiled at the boy, to which the boy smiled back. 

"Hi, handsome" his tone was a forced kind of sweet, eyes of ice as he stared at Eddie. Eddie guided him to the spot where he had been sitting, climbing in first and turning to face Richie and Beverly.

"Pat, this is Richie," Eddie's smiled, "and this is Beverly"

The tall boy looked at Bev with a fake smile on his face, making her grab Richie's hand under the table. He reached his hand out to shake Richie's,

"Hockstetter." He said "Patrick Hockstetter"

Richie shook his hand in return, "Bond." He smiled and tried to hold in laughter "James Bond"

Patrick pulled his hand away, seemingly upset by Richie's joke, but Eddie seemed to be doing everything he could to keep from bursting into a fit of laughter. Stan kicked Richie from under the table, as to warn him, but Richie didn't seem to mind. Before any more tension could rise, their food was served and they began to eat.

Like the hungry and growing teenagers they were, they scarfed down the food and the checks were brought to the table.

"Hey, babe, can you cover my meal? I must've forgotten my wallet but I'll pay you back" Patrick looked at Eddie. "But my mom only gave me a certain amount of ca-" Eddie began to explain, but Patrick cut him off.

"I said I'll pay you back" he seethed through gritted teeth, obviously scaring Eddie into submission. Nobody was really paying attention as they were caught up in their own conversations, except for Richie. He was watching the interaction carefully, as he did a lot of things, and he noticed how terrified Eddie seemed.

"Here man," Richie placed a crisp ten-dollar bill on the table and sliding it across. "It's all good"

"Oh Rich you don't have to-"

"It's alright Eds-" He paused "Eddie"

"Thanks" Patrick glared at Richie, not really seeming thankful at all. "Let's go, Eddie"

He grabbed Eddie's bicep harshly, Richie again noticing the slight wince Eddie made due to the force. They walked out of the diner, got onto a motorcycle, that was seemingly Patrick's, and rode off.

What a jerk

~

Ok but like are you shocked cause I've had this planned for so long and if it flops Ima cry. Anyways you already know I'm tired so goodnight ma peeps