As Richie dried his face off, he took one last look in the mirror.
'You got this – don't let this fucker get under your skin.'
Putting on his glasses, he retreated back down the stairs to hear the rest of the Losers laughing.
"Oh, man, that sounds awful. Why would you say that?"
"It was the h-heat of the moment."
As Bill finished saying his one truth, the rest of the group turned towards Richie as he rejoined them.
"So, what did I miss?"
"Oh, a whole lot of embarrassing stories being shared, like for instance—"
"Actually, Richie, it's your turn to spin," Ben said, interrupting Stan.
As Richie grabbed the bottle, he spun it and was almost startled when it landed on Eddie.
Everyone nearly groaned.
"There's something in that bottle, I just know it," Stan said, shaking his head.
"Fine…dare."
Richie chuckled, "I dare you to tell us your greatest fear."
"…Sharks…and minnows."
"Like, the game, or—"
"No need to explain; Bill, your turn," Bev said.
As Bill grabbed the bottle, he looked at Richie, then back at Eddie.
"I swear if this f-f-fucking thing lands on either one of you."
Bill spun the bottle and breathed a sigh of relief as it landed on Mike.
"Truth me, please."
"What is the best pick-up line you ever used?"
Mike chuckled, "It was this – hey babe if I could rearrange the alphabet, I put you and I together."
"And…d-did it works?"
"…No."
Eddie picked up the bottle and gave it a spin, and was not pleased when it landed on Stan.
"Truth or dare," he asked annoyingly.
"…I don't honestly know, because you are such a wild card."
A few seconds passed before Stan muttered, "Okay, dare me."
"I dare you to…"
Eddie placed his right index finger near his lips and pondered in thought before saying, "…kiss Richie."
Richie went pale for the second time within twenty minutes.
"N…no, eww, like are you serious?" Stan asked, feeling grossed out.
"Oh, I'm being dead serious. My face is totally serious about this."
As Eddie shifted his attention towards Richie, he noticed his friend's pale face.
"Say, you need another drink or another bathroom break? If not, then let's get this show on the road."
"…No," Richie faintly said.
"So, you're not down to kiss Stan?"
"No!" Richie said again, finding confidence in his voice.
"I wish you would stop tormenting me!"
Eddie looked flabbergasted, "Me? Tormenting you? Why, that's funny, because just earlier it was—"
Richie found the nerve within him to change his tune from a few seconds earlier.
"Stan, get over here, now!"
"What, no!"
"Why not?"
"Yeah, why not?"
"Because I'm not interested in kissing a boy," Stan answered both Richie and Eddie.
"There's a lot of tension in the room," Bev commented.
"You should have seen us earlier when—"
"What ha-happened earlier?"
Eddie looked at Richie, who was now on the verge of tears…and could only smile.
"We slow danced."
"And that was tormenting to you…why?"
"Oh, it was like that because—"
"Edward Kaspbrak, I swear on my life, if you utter another word—"
"Hey, fucknut, chill with the full name. Only my mother can get away with that."
"She can get away with a lot of things."
At that, Eddie blurted out, "Yeah, same can be said for you, gaydar."
Richie went pure white, absent of any color on his body.
He slowly turned towards Eddie, who was now standing up, and shook his head.
"W-w-what did you call me?"
"I said gay…dar…get it?" Eddie repeated slowly for Richie to understand.
The rest of the Losers looked at each other, confused at the bantering going on.
Eddie didn't read the room; instead, he continued.
"The slow dancing really did you in, Richie – you should have counted your blessings before you decided to do that."
Richie couldn't find any words to say as tears fell down his face.
"Oh, Richie," Bev said as she stood up and embraced her friend, "it's okay. Everything's going to be okay."
"What am I, chopped liver?" Eddie asked annoyingly.
Bev turned towards Eddie and flipped him off.
"G-guess like you g-g-got your answer," Bill said as he stood up, the rest of the group doing so too.
"Do you know what you called him?" Bev asked after breaking off the embrace with Richie.
"Yes, I know what I called him."
Bev marched over to Eddie and looked down at him, "To accuse someone of that…all because you two—"
"It wasn't him accusing me."
Bev and the rest turned towards Richie as he muttered his words.
"I'm…" Richie wiped his face clean of any tears before gathering the courage to finish, "…I'm gay."
The rest of the group looked quizzically at Richie before things started to click.
This whole night – the bantering between Eddie and Richie – led up to this moment.
And for one Loser, he wasn't too pleased.
"You're sick!"
Stan loomed over Eddie, feeling pissed.
"Me? Sick? No, you have it wrong, Stan. How about pointing your energy towards the one that's actually sick?"
"You tried to make me kiss him – all because of—"
"He would have loved it; trust me, he would have run a train on all the guys here."
"That's not true, you…" Richie muttered, fumbling with his glasses.
"What? You got something to say to me?"
As Eddie approached Richie, Bill ended right between them.
"K-k-knock it off!"
"Why, because I just so happened to get him to reveal his illness?"
Bill loomed over the youngster, "You don't out someone."
"He outed himself when he tried to make a move on me! He's loved me long before last summer came! Trust me, I didn't out him…he did that on his own."
"Do you even know what outing someone means?" Ben asked.
Eddie turned towards the boy and said, "Yeah, I know. He outed himself before—"
"You ended up outing him!" Bev said, steaming mad, "And that's not cool, Eddie!"
"We're not talking about what's cool…we're talking about a teen who's sick in the head; who knows what else he could have done with us had I—"
At that, Bill slapped Eddie.
"I had enough of your bullshit."
Eddie grabbed Bill's shirt and pushed him back a few inches.
The leader walked over and raised his hand again, "Are you l-looking for a fight?"
As all the attention in the room was on Bill and Eddie, Richie found it in himself to head towards the stairs.
"Richie, wait!"
Stan's cry went on deaf ears as the teen bolted upstairs.
Mike and Stan followed the troubled boy up the stairs, leaving the rest to look on at Bill and Eddie.
"Great job – what was supposed to be a fun night, now turned into havoc."
"Hey, it wasn't me that did it."
"Bullshit, you didn't! You absolutely did! The fact that you're ignoring it is started to piss me off."
Eddie looked towards Bev, pissed as well, "I'm not ignoring it! Richie is gay, and he tried to make a move on me. Why is it so fucking hard for you all to understand?"
At that, Bill grabbed Eddie and wrestled him down to the ground, kneeling on his body and raising his right hand in a fist.
"Bill, please don't."
The leader looked at Bev, petrified at what he was about to do.
"Yeah, Bill," Ben chimed in, "it's not worth it."
Bill shook his head and lowered his hand, getting off of Eddie.
The youngster bolted up and headed towards the stairs.
'He isn't getting away that easily…'
Richie sprinted out the front door and into the near-night sky of Derry.
Heading towards his bike, before he was able to get on, Stan and Mike reached him.
"Richie, wait!" Mike cried out.
Richie looked up to see Stan and Mike on the front porch, heading towards him.
"Stay back!"
The two didn't listen as they approached the disgruntled teen.
"I said…stay back!"
As Richie hopped on his bike, Stan was the one who ran and tackled him to the ground.
"What the…get the fuck off of me!"
As the boys wrestled in the grass, with Stan winning the battle, Mike walked over to the duo and sat down.
"We aren't going anywhere; we're here to help you."
Once Mike said that, Richie stopped wrestling and broke down.
Stan got off of Richie and moved towards Mike, sitting down next to him.
As the two remained watching their friend cry it out, both didn't know the exact words to say nor the action to take that would help remedy the situation.
Richie screamed into the night sky, his trembling hands holding his head upright.
They couldn't stand to see their friend in this state any longer.
With that, Stan got up and wrapped his arms around his friend.
"We're both here for you," he whispered, "if you ever need to talk."
Richie continued to sob but decided he needed to speak.
"I…don't un-under…stand; why w-would…he say that?"
"I don't know – it wasn't right; you saw how everyone reacted. We're all mad at him."
"Yeah," Mike echoed Stan's comment, "it's never right to out anyone, no matter their sexuality."
"Guys…" Richie said a bit clearer, "am I sick? Am I unlovable?"
Stan looked at Mike, who stared blankly back.
"Richie," Stan said, "you have people that love you. Regardless of your—"
"No, s…stop saying that," Richie stuttered powerfully, "if people found out I was gay…you saw what happened!"
"We are all mad at Eddie for that, not you!"
As Stan said this, he gave his friend a tight hug.
"I just want to be normal…like, liking Bev or some other girl…why is this so fucking hard?"
At that, Richie broke down in Stan's arms.
"There, there," Stan said, consoling his friend by rubbing his back, "everything is going to be okay."
Eddie ran out the front door and looked at the three members all huddled around.
'Good, he hasn't left yet…'
"Eddie, please get back inside," Mike said, alerting Stan and Richie as they broke off.
The youngster shook his head, "I still have a score to settle."
"Oh, the fuck you do," Stan said, gathering to his feet and meeting Eddie in the middle of the field.
"You have two options," Stan explained as he approached, "you can either apologize sincerely to Richie for what you put him through, or you can leave."
"I'm…not saying shit until he apologizes to me for putting me through hell."
Richie slowly got up to his feet, seeing near red as he looked at Eddie.
"The hell you were put through?" Stan abruptly said, "How about being put out by a little pipsqueak because he decided to be an ass?"
Eddie shook his head, "That wasn't me, that was you refusing to kiss him, and so I—"
At that, Richie charged Eddie, tackling him down to the grass.
"You did this!" Richie cried out as he pelted punch after punch towards the youngster, "You refused to do anything to me!"
"Yeah, because I don't fucking love you!" Eddie spat as he got a few punches into Richie's face.
The two continued to fight it out as the other Losers got outside.
"Face it," Eddie said, "you're sick, and you're going to grow old alone…preferably far away from this place, without me, and I'll be off living my own life."
Richie punched Eddie again.
"You take that back."
"Why, because it goes against your own dreams and aspirations? Sorry, I don't like doing it with guys."
"You better watch it!"
"Or what?" Eddie asked, licking his lips and biting them.
"No, seriously, what are you going to do…spit in my face? Make me suck you? Go ahead, just know that I have all the power in the world to—"
Another punch landed on Eddie's face, and he had enough of the fighting. He pulled Richie down to the ground, rubbing his face in the dirt.
"Go ahead, eat it!"
"Eddie, that's enough!"
Eddie turned towards Bev who started to approach him. He spotted a nearby rock and made a grab at it.
"Take one more step, I swear, and you'll see what happens."
"What, you threatening to throw a rock at me?"
Richie found some inner strength within him to rise off of Eddie, rolling away from him and gathering to his feet, his face covered in dirt.
Wiping his glasses clean, he saw Eddie starting to charge him.
"Hey, you're not done eating!"
Richie ran right towards Mike and Stan, and at the same time, Bill ran towards Eddie, successfully tackling him to the ground.
"Okay, are we done here?" Mike asked as he consulted Richie, seeing Bill and Eddie wrestling on the ground. Darkness grew in the area, and as there were no street lights in the area, the Losers needed to decide what to do.
"I wish we were," Stan commented as he hugged Richie tightly.
As Bill and Eddie continue to wrestle, rolling around on the dirt, it was the leader who upheld the youngster and pinned him to the ground.
"Y-you have t-two options – apologize, o-or leave."
Eddie breathed deeply, thoroughly exhausted after his bouts.
"I'm out of here," Eddie said, pushing Bill off of him and making his way towards his bike.
Pedaling over to Richie and Stan, he got up close to the former's face to lodge a loogie right onto his glasses.
"Take that!" And as Eddie pedaled away, Richie rubbed the spit from his glasses before breaking down again.