.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

SHE'S TALKING AGAIN

CHAPTER THREE

iii. the pharmacy

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A BOY, COVERED IN DIRT AND BLOOD lay in the stream. The group looks at the scene unfold. He coughs and you can see bruises already blossoming on his skin. "Holy shit, what happened to you?" Richie shouts out while squinting and leaning forward.

Eddie and Stan quickly run over to him quickly in hopes to aid him while Bill and Veronica run to get their bikes ready.

♧

They bike through the woods while they ramble out nonsense. Eddie ranting about an AIDS epidemic and Richie making stupid comments.

"Man, you look like death itself. Who shot ya?" Veronica asks while glancing at Ben who held onto Bill's waist.

"Henry Bowers..." Ben responds, shaking his head and frowning.

"Ah, of course. Nasty bugger, isn't he? He's a piece of shit!" Veronica continues while looking ahead and biking uphill towards the pharmacy.

♧

"How do you amputate a waist!?" Eddie shouts out as they pull to a stop in the alley of the pharmacy.

"Fuck! Ed's, don't ask us!" Veronica snaps. "But I'm pretty sure, you don't, you dumbfuck!"

"You guys do know that alleys are known for dirty needles that have aids, right?" He adds as they begin dropping their bikes to the ground. Bill and Veronica get Ben situated onto a wooden crate.

"Richie, wait here. Come on!" Bill gestures for the rest of them to follow and they set off running into the pharmacy.

The four of them find themselves in an aisle filled with cotton balls and bandages. Eddie hurriedly grabbing at boxes and bags of supplies. The begin to pool their money together. Bill pulling a dollar bill out of his pocket, Stan with 60 cents, Eddie tossing 50 cents in, and Veronica with 68 cents.

"Can we afford all that?" Bill asks, staring at Eddie's full arms.

"This won't get us much... That's all we have," Stan mumbles while looking at the crumpled bill and coins.

"Are you kidding me?" Eddie groans face falling, with his arms full of supplies.

"Well, that's just fucking peachy! Isn't it?" Veronica exasperates while leaning into a shelf.

"Wait, you have an account here, don't you?" Bill turns to Eddie.

"My mom finds out I bought all this stuff for myself, I'm spending the whole rest of the weekend in the emergency room getting x-rayed," Eddie shakes his head.

"Well, what are we supposed to do now? That kid is practically as good as dead," Veronica asks, looking at Stan's hand which held the money.

Suddenly, a redheaded girl walks into the aisle, catching the groups attention and she hurriedly hides a box behind her back. Eddie then drops some supplies and Stan quickly picks it up.

"Y-You okay?" Bill asks while tilting his head, confused at her demeanor.

"I'm fine. What's wrong with you?" The redhead girl, who they recognize as Beverly Marsh asks stiffly.

"None of your business," Stan responds.

"There's a kid outside that looks like someone killed him" Eddie rats out earning a kick from Veronica in the leg.

"We n-need some supplies, but we don't have enough money," Bill adds while shrugging.

♧

They found themselves waiting in the same aisle as the girl stood in front of Mr. Keene. She decided to try and distract him. How? They had no idea.

Standing close to one another for a good few minutes, they hear the sound of something falling. She had knocked something over. Quickly, she turned her head to them and nodded. Signaling for them to leave. As they began pushing out of the aisle, Eddie trips into a rack and knocks things over.

"Dumbass!" Veronica whisper-shouts to him while they run out of the store.

♧

Eddie was knelt down at Ben's stomach, adjusting a bandage onto his stomach. Richie was helicoptering over him and shouting out, "suck the wound!".

"I need to focus right now!" Eddie snaps at Richie while carefully fixing a gauze.

"You need to focus?" Richie scoffs.

"Yeah, can you go get me something?" Eddie mumbles.

"Jesus! What do you need?" Richie rolls his eyes.

"Go get my bifocals, I hid 'em in my second fanny pack," Eddie says.

"Why do you have two fanny packs?" Stan questions while shaking head.

"Why do you carry around bifocals?" Veronica adds.

"I need to focus right now and it's a long story. I don't wanna get into it," Eddie quickly explains, sounding irritated.

A sudden gush of blood came from the wound causing Stan to squirm and shout out, "Oh god, he's bleeding! Oh, my god!".

"No shit, he's bleeding! He was stabbed, dumbass," Veronica rolls her eyes as she peers over Eddie's shoulder with a look of disgust.

"You have to suck the wound before you apply the bandage! that's 101!" Richie shouts out.

"You don't know what you're talking about" Eddie rolls his eyes while adjusting his position.

"Are you okay? That looks like that hurts!" A new voice comes into the group, Beverly. The boys turn their attention to her while Veronica had a pang of jealousy overcome her. She narrowed her eyes at the redhead despite her not noticing.

"Oh. No, I'm good. I just fell." Ben explains with a smile on his face.

"Yeah, right into Henry Bowers!" Richie chimes. Usually, the blonde would giggle, but she found herself hiding behind her best friend, holding onto his arm.

"Shut it, R-Richie," Bill says in a warning tone.

"Why! It's the truth!" Richie shakes Veronica's hand off his arm, annoyed at the tight grip causing her small frame to stumble back. She moves towards the wall and pulls out a lollipop from her pocket and rips off the wrapper and tosses it to the ground.

"You sure they got the right stuff, to fix you up?" Beverly asks while winking at Ben.

"Y'no, w-we'll take care of him" Bill responds for Ben.

"Thanks again, Beverly" Bill adds.

"Sure! Maybe I'll see you around," she says.

"Yeah, we were thinking about going to the q-quarry, tomorrow, if you wanna come," Bill informs her of the plans for tomorrow. Veronica leans her head on the brick wall and closes her eyes. 'wonderful!'

"Good to know. Thanks," Beverly says while walking off and waving.

When she was out of earshot, Stan turns to Richie with a scowl already on his face.

"Nice job, bringing up Bowers in front of her!" Stan says, narrowing his eyes at the boy in coke-bottle glasses.

"Yeah, you heard what she did!" Eddie adds.

Veronica rolls her eyes. She had wandered off, stepping on the lollipop wrapper which had been tossed to the ground earlier. Snapping her scrunchie on her wrist, she leaned her back on the brick wall at the front of the pharmacy.

A small sigh escapes her lips and a strong pang of jealousy which was quick to come but slow to leave hits her in the chest. She was in a war with her mind and she kept having to tell herself that she was being dramatic.

After all, they couldn't replace her! They couldn't forget her! Could they? The question made her blood run cold. After all, they all had been together since second grade. And, she had met Richie when she was four! There was no chance of being replaced, right? The bond felt unbreakable. They were her normal and the thought of only being a mere memory terrified her.

As the Mills girl leaned against the wall, worrying her mind about the possibilities of losing her friends, the boys bickered of the mention of Bowers and the rumours surrounding the redhead. Richie had noticed something off in the air. He hadn't felt the usual tug at his arm from a particular blonde or heard a comment. This was enough to send him into a panic when he looked around the area and noticed the absence of his best friend.

"Hey! Where's my Ronnie?" He panics while looking between his friends with his eyes wide.

"She was just here," Stan replies, nonchalantly as Eddie sets back to work on Ben.

"You know how V is, Rich. She wanders off without telling us, she'll be back," Bill adds in an attempt to calm the panicked boy who had now resorted to pacing the alley while running his hands through his hair.

He always got like this when he didn't know the whereabouts of the frail girl. Not that he didn't think she could take care of herself -- No, Richie knew, Ronnie could outsmart nearly anyone. It was just the fear of having her disappear and not be able to find her. To have her end up like Betty Ripsom. Or worse, Georgie.

"And if she doesn't fucking come back? I'm checking the front, alright!" Richie responds while brushing past the rest and rushes over to the front of the store.

As he rounds the corner, he sees her. Biting on her lolly and twisting her scrunchie around her wrist. He breathes a breath of relief.

"There you are!" He says while approaching the girl and grabbing her arm to pull her towards him.

"Why'd you wander off? I was losing my shit back there!" He asks while putting his hands on her shoulder and looking down at her.

She reverts her vision to the ground, far too embarrassed to admit why she had wandered off. Richie catches on. He could read Ronnie like an open book. They had been friends since they were four, after all. He knew when and how to spot her emotions.

"Were you jealous?" He asks, raising a brow. She shrugs.

"Was my Ronnie jealous?" He presses, a smirk playing on his mouth. She looks up at him., her blue eyes boring into his brown ones and with a small voice, she responds,

"Maybe. Just a little bit,"

He smiles at her quiet voice. It was a rare occurrence but golly! Did he ever find it cute!

"Don't be. Brace Face, you're my absolute favorite," He mumbles before kissing the girl on the forehead.

And, with a smile, Veronica giggles out,
"Don't call me that, Bucky Beaver!"

Leaving them both smiling, thinking to themselves

'That's my best friend. My best friend in the entire world'