lying in my cold bed alone in the darkness, I thought about what richie had said to me four days ago;

do you think he actually meant it, or was it just another one of his crazy pick up lines?

but, it wasn't crazy, wasn't crazy at all

he meant it, and not in a pickup line sort of way

is the richie tozier catching feelings for me,

or am i catching feelings for him?

getting up out of my bed, I looked at my clock on the wall

'9:45 am'

it read

'i should get up and ready now' I thought to myself

it was sunday, which meant that richie was at the arcade

part of me wanted to see him,

but another part of me didn't

you know what, maybe I could hang out with eddie today

i decided that that was what I was going to do

before opening the door to my room, I opened the blinds in my room to let some light in the enclosed room, and then I creeped out to go to the family phone

even though we didn't ever act like a proper 'family' did, we still had a family phone

picking up the bright yellow phone off the wall in the kitchen, I dialled eddie's number

ring, ring, ring

he picked up after three rings, 'hello?'

hearing the tiredness from his voice, I could easily tell he just woke up

'hey eddie, it's me, victoria; do you want to hang out with me today? I don'r really care where or when'

the line went silent for a second, 'okay, meet me at the library in an hour' he said before hanging up.

walking back to my room, I noticed that the house was completely empty, 'oh' was all I said

when I got to my room, I went straight to my closet and picked out a pair of blue denim knee-length shorts and a yellow shirt with no sleeves. I wrapped a few necklaces around my neck, and decided I didn't want to wear any rings today

when I was done with my outfit, I walked out of my room again to go to the bathroom

picking up my toothpaste and toothbrush, I looked in the mirror

'hm,' I thought to myself, 'why would anyone like a girl like me?'

when I was done brushing my teeth, I quickly brushed through my hair and braided it so it wouldn't be in my face the whole day

once I was done getting ready and ate some breakfast, it had been an hour

grabbing my key to the house off of the kitchen counter, I headed for the front door; I opened it up to reveal a bright outside

as I left the house, I thought about why eddie would want to meet at the library, what are we going to do there, study?

walking to my bike, I got ready to leave. I put the house key in my back pocket, and then rode off to the library

when I woke up, I remembered that it was sunday,

and sunday meant arcade day

but maybe, just maybe, I could spend it with victoria instead of being alone in the arcade the whole day

getting up out of my bed I saw my clock, it was almost 11 o'clock

wow, I really must've been tired since I slept in so much

when I got to the house phone in the living room, I dialled vic's number

ring, ring, ring

i sighed while waiting for her to pick up

'hello this is the miller household, please call again later. have a nice day!'

a blank, recorded voice said

it was her mom's voice

sighing, I hung up the phone,

'oh well, to the arcade I go' I muttered to myself

while I was riding my bike on the way to the arcade, I noticed that when I passed the library eddie was there

and it looked like he was waiting for someone

in suspicion, I stopped my bike and got off of it to walk over to eddie

'ed, what are you doing here?'

he looked up at me, shocked to see me,'oh hey richie, i'm just getting some books about diseases here haha. nothing interesting to see, so you should leave.. now'

i gave him a funny look before I realised what was happening,'oh my god, edward kapsbrak is waiting here for a girl!' I sat down on the steps next to him, 'so ed, who's the lucky lady?'

he scratched his head, 'it's just bill'

'okay, ed. whatever you say, but i'm waiting here to see "bill"'

just as I said that, I saw victoria

it was her that was here to meet him, 'eddie, why?' I asked him with a hurt face

standing up in shock, questions came rushing through my head

why was he hanging out with my girl? why didn't she want to hang out with me?

i felt something hot and wet drip down my cheek

'richie, are you crying?' eddie asked as he stood up and put his hand on my back

quickly, I wiped away the tear and jerked my back forward so eddie's hand fell off

i ran over to my bike and then biked away, to the last place she would find me

as I was biking to the library, I saw him

what was richie doing here?

oh no, he's gonna think that me and eddie are together!

peddling faster on the bike, I tried to get to richie before it was too late

but it was too late, I could see the hurt in his face and...

a tear down his cheek?

he was crying, about me.. I can't believe I did this to him

'richie, wait!' I tried yelling after him

but it was too late

he biked away to god knows where

'oh no, eddie! oh no no no no! he's gonna hate me now!' I let my bike fall to the ground with a loud thud as I walked over to the steps of the entrance to the library and sat next to him

'no, victoria. don't do this to yourself. nothing bad is going to happen, trust me! he won't be able to stay mad at you for this long; he just got his feelings hurt a little, and soon enough he'll get over himself, so relax, vic. it'll all be ok!'

at this point I was sobbing, and I could already tell my day was ruined

'but- but- but-' I was crying so much I could barely speak without having to take a breath after every syllable

'victoria, calm down. i'm sure richie just went back home or something, so lets just walk back to his house while you calm down' eddie said with a soft smile

i nodded, and then we both got up and walked over to our bikes

about five minutes later I had stopped crying while we were dragging our bikes to richie's

the air was silent, I was silent

eddie was nice and was quiet too since he knew I didn't want to talk about it

after about five more minutes of walking we reached his house,

but no one was home

'shit, eddie. he's gone'

eddie scratched the back of his head and thought for a bit before, almost yelling,'I know, victoria! he's at the arcade!'

a smile formed on my face as I realised that was definitely where he was going to be.

but he wasn't there;

in that matter, he wasn't anywhere

we had looked almost everywhere in the small town of derry

we couldn't find him

'vic, can we go home now? we've been out here for hours and no luck. plus it's getting dark in an hour'

while getting back on my bike and about to reply to his comment, it hit me,'eddie, we've been stupid this whole time! he's probably down by the river watching the sunset; he always does that at this time, now I don't know where he's been the day, but he'll 100 percent be there! let's go, kaspbrak!'

he closed his eyes and shook his head in defeat, knowing I wouldn't give up before we went there, before getting back on his bike and biking with me down to the river

i had spent the whole day looking for greta bowie, and at last I found her

packing up her things at the pharmacy

'hey greta!'

'what do you want?'

'well, I was just wondering if you would watch the sunset with me down by the river, now?'

she thought about it for a second, when she went silent while thinking, I remembered how much victoria hates greta; and how much greta hates victoria

they're like our relationship to henry bowers, except for it's only vic that greta hates. she doesn't really like the rest of the losers club, but she doesn't hate us, so I guess I have a chance

'but what about victoria, aren't you guys fucking?'

i chocked on my own spit,'what? I- she- well- I mean- no, we're not; and right now we're not even friends'

she smirked,'alright then, and maybe while we're waiting for the sun to set, I can help you with that spit problem' and winked

oh my god, she wants to make out with me!

the greta bowie wants to make out with me!

but what about with victoria?

she's probably home, and she'll never find out

and besides, how would she find out?

we got to the river, and while we were walking I started to regret my decision but when we got here, I didn't

she wasn't going to find out, I kept telling myself in my head

'hey tozier, aren't you gonna sit down?' greta said while sitting on one of the many rocks next to the river, snapping me back to reality

'what, oh yeah, hot stuff' I didn't just do that

i called her hot stuff, she isn't hot stuff

victoria is, victoria is my hot stuff

no. richie. get over yourself! she doesn't like you at all!

oh why can't I just shut up and turn off my thoughts for once

after I sat down on the rock next to her, she moved closer to me

'so, richie, what do you want to do now?' she moved closer to my face and I could smell her minty breath

fuck it

i leaned in to her face and closed my eyes

she leaned in too,

we were kissing

but soon, I could feel that she wanted me to go further

i slipped my tongue in her mouth and could feel her smile as she put her hands on my cheeks and brushed them through my hair

with both of our tongues in each others' mouths, I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her down to the ground with me so she was on top of me

it was getting heated, and I liked it

but, in the back of my mind, I kept thinking about victoria

she would never kiss you like this, richie! seize the moment!

what are you doing? she's probably worried sick about you!

no, richie! she doesn't want you! it's greta that wants you!

richie?!

richie!

RICHIE!

huh? who's calling my name?

i opened my eyes and stopped kissing greta, only to realise she had stopped kissing me and was sitting on top of me while looking left in shock and proudness

looking left, I saw it

saw them

the worst possible thing I could ever see at this moment

eddie and victoria standing on the other side of the river, looking at us

eddie's mouth hung wide open, and victoria just stood there in shock

i could see the tears forming in her eyes,

as my tears started running down my face