Endings are hard. So are goodbyes. Emily was learning that as she stood outside the Derry Townhouse with the Losers grouped around her and her suitcase.

   She had taken all the books she checked out from the library back the previous day, and her friends helped her clean up her motel room. All that was left in the last five minutes they had together was saying goodbye.

   It was mid-afternoon Saturday, August 28th, 1989; the day her dad said he would be picking her up or coming to help her if she had not already killed the monster. Emily felt that what happened over the summer of 89' was personal and would forever be cherished in her memories. 

   This would be the summer that she always remembered; meeting her friends, gaining her first boyfriend, and fighting a demonic shapeshifting clown.

   For the last month of summer, the Losers had spent nearly every single day together. Whether it be swimming at the quarry, getting ice cream, or even sitting in the library reading up on Derry's spooky history, they were together. 

   Beverly's aunt had recently come to take care of her in her late father's place, and much to everyone's happiness her aunt was the coolest adult around. Beverly loved her and already saw her as a mother.

   It was because of this new change in Beverly's life that she had been allowed to have Emily sleepover, they had three sleepovers in that last month. However, that number was nothing compared to Richie and Emily. They had a sleepover at least every other day, Richie's parents were surprisingly cool with letting Emily sleep in his bedroom with him. To be fair, they knew Richie and Emily's relationship was still in the early works and they had nothing to fear concerning sexual advances.

   They were correct, as despite Richie often making crude sex jokes, he and she never went any further than the occasional makeout.

   But now, their short time together had come to an end. Richie and Emily were heartbroken, both of them knowing that a long-distance relationship would not work, so they were forced to break up. Though, Richie and the others made Emily promise to call them as often as she could.

   "Baby, come on, you don't need to go, you can stay with me and my parents. They won't mind, I swear!" Richie had been trying to convince Emily to stay for the entire month, but it was not working.

   Shaking her head, Emily smiled. "My dad won't go for it." She said sadly, frowning when she saw Richie tearing up.

   "Are you... crying?" Stan accused Richie, amusement heavy in his tone.

   Sniffling, Richie glared at Stanley, wiping tears off his cheeks. "No, you are!" He yelled defensively, Stan backing away while holding his arms up.

   "Oh, Richie." Emily sighed, feeling tears threatening to fall from her own eyes.

   Stepping forward, Emily engulfed Richie in a tight hug, both of them hanging onto each other. 

   John Winchester was due to arrive any minute, they both knew that, and they intended to use every extra minute they had together.

   Over the course of the month, Richie had grown so he was nearly equal with Emily height-wise. Unfortunately, Emily still had an extra few centimeters which she constantly teased him about.

   Leaning over, Emily kissed him, tasting the salty tears rolling down his pale cheeks.

   "Ugh, stop with the PDA, this is disgusting." Eddie gagged, taking a few whiffs from his inhaler.

   Pulling away, Richie still held onto Emily's hand as he turned to Eddie with confusion. "What the hell is PDA?"

   "Public Display of Affection, genius." Eddie rolled his eyes causing multiple laughs to emerge within the group.

   "We're going to miss you, Emily." Bill smiled gently, Emily nodding back.

   "I'm going to miss you all too." She sighed, Beverly's eyes moving behind her to where Emily's dirtbike was parked.

   Emily had that dirtbike all summer, and it had become an item akin to a baby for the teenager. There was no room in her father's car for it though, so after a lot of thinking, Emily had finally decided on what to do with it.

   "What are you doing with your dirtbike?" Beverly questioned, causing the rest of them to wonder the same thing.

   Emily's eyes brightened, her lips forming a smile. "Oh! That reminds me!" She spoke, shoving her hand in her back pocket, bringing out the glistening silver key.

   As Emily held it, the summer sun seemed to make it even shinier. To everyone's surprise, Emily placed the key in Richie's palm, Richie's eyes widening in disbelief.

   "Baby—?" Richie began only for Emily to shush him with a playful grin.

   "Think of it as a gift to remember me bye." She winked before her tone became playfully serious. "But like, if you crash him," She made sure to refer to the bike as 'he'. "I will come for you."

   Richie stood shell-shocked, his lips pulling into a grin, the tears fading away. "Wicked." He breathed, looking at the coolest person he knew, also known as his girlfriend.

   With no hesitation, he pulled Emily into a tight hug. "I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you..." Richie kept repeating while also placing dozens of kisses on her face.

  "Ah!" Emily squealed as his lips touched all over. "I get it, I love you too!" She laughed as Richie pecked her lips before pulling away looking to the dirtbike.

   Stanley shook his head while Ben sighed. "Oh no, Richie with a dirtbike. I can think of a hundred ways this could go wrong." Stan admonished, Richie only shushing him.

   "Oh, shut up!" He laughed but stopped a few seconds later at the sound of a loud engine.

   "Holy shit!" Richie breathed at the sight of a midnight black 1967 Chevy Impala driving down the street.

   Emily smiled at the car which had become her essential home.

   "Damn, is that your dad's car?" Mike asked, Emily simply nodding with a proud smile.

   As sad as she was to be leaving her friends, she was also excited to get back on the road with her family. This summer had not turned out to be at all what she was expecting. When she was first dropped off, Emily was excited to be independent and do her own thing. 

   For the four months she had been in Derry, she learned to understand that independence was not as awesome as she thought.

   Emily now knew that one could always use help from a friend.

   As the Impala drove down the road toward them, Emily turned around to face her friends one last time. She was not sure of the next time she would see them or if she would ever see them again.

   "Richie, I don't want you waiting for me or any cheesy shit like that. You're smart, enjoy your high school experience." Emily smiled, kissing Richie one last time.

   Richie only shook his head while fixing his glasses. "Sweet cheeks, you know I will always wait for you despite what you say." He leaned in for another kiss, and Emily happily reciprocated.

   The two pulled away just as the Impala parked on the street opposite them. The windows on the car were tinted incredibly dark; all that was visible were the figures of three people. Two in the front seats and one in the back.

   "Well, I guess this is it." Emily smiled at the group of losers who she called her friends. "You know, for losers, you're all pretty damn cool." She smirked, reaching down and grabbing the handle to her suitcase. "I'll see you all around." She mockingly saluted, giving Richie a pointed look. "And take care of my bike."

   "Yeah, of course, toots!" He shouted as she walked away from the seven people who were her first friends.

   With a smile, Emily opened the trunk of the Impala feeling a wave of nostalgia overcome her at the smell of gunpowder. She eyed the handle which would open the hatch to the underside of the trunk holding every single hunting weapon in the history of weapons. Instead of pulling the hatch, she threw her suitcase next to Dean's.

   Breathing in, Emily fixed her flannel shirt. Closing the trunk, Emily's beat-up Converse hit the ground harshly as she made her way to the back door.

   Gripping the door handle, Emily turned back to her friends watching them with a smile painted over her lips. Without saying anything she waved, all of them waving back with smiles of their own. It was time for all of them to grow up and step into the future.

  Endings are hard, but then again, nothing ever really ends.

   And so, Emily opened the door to the 1967 Chevy Impala and got inside. 

   Emily never did tell her family about the events that unfurled in the summer of 89'. Some things were simply better left unsaid.

― 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 ―