Beverly was filled with equal parts excitement and mild panic, Ben was here, Mike too. She couldn’t believe it. She hadn’t seen her friends, her family in so long. To herself, the small part of her that was most excited to see Ben, she had always felt a special connection to Ben, he was shy, sometimes it was nice to see him read, to build things, he had a kindness about him she had always kept close to her chest. She was nervous, she wondered what her friends had been up to these last few years, they had all gone off to college, had a life. She had too but she feared the life she lived wasn’t as fulfilling as others.
Beverly didn’t want to think about that, the fear that bubbled up at the prospect of someone finding out what really happened that night in February of 2013, she especially didn’t want Ben to find out. His kindness had to only stretch so far and some things were unforgivable. Even if Alvin was a piece of shit, she had no excuse. Beverly stood outside of her tent, the breeze lifting the auburn strands of her hair, it had grown long since she left Derry, no longer the short cut that was a staple of her teenage years. She fiddled with her lighter, flicking the flame off and on before she lit a cigarette. Beverly took a deep drag from it, the toyed with the idea of quitting often,she didn’t smoke nearly as much as she used to. She somehow just couldn’t kick the habit. Beverly heard the crunching of gravel and was pulled from her racing thoughts to see a man walking towards her. She flicked the cigarette to the ground, her eyes trained on him as he walked forward. That couldn’t be Ben. Beverly took a few steps forward, she didn’t know what to do. Her throat was suddenly dry and she couldn’t find the simple words to ask if his name was Ben.
To say that Ben was floored once he realized Beverly was here, at the Carnival he’d happened to land in, was an understatement. Seeing her, speaking to her, triggered a flood of emotion he had no words to communicate. To say their reunion seemed like fate was insane, even by his standards, though he couldn’t stop the nagging feeling that perhaps there was something larger at work. He’d quickly realized another of his old, best friends, Mike, had also managed to find his way into the Carnival’s gravitational pull. And, as of late, apparently so had Belch Huggins and Henry Bowers. Shaking his head, Ben made his way to Beverly’s tent, his eyes scanning the rows of trailers and other set ups as he searched for her- the same way he always searched for her, in every crowd, even if he wouldn’t admit it.
When his eyes finally fell upon her, Benjamin was certain he might faint. He felt something he hadn’t fully felt in years, the thing he could never recreate with anyone else, no matter how hard he tried- the thing that kept him holding on. A blush immediately fell upon his cheeks and he ran his hands self-consciously over his shirt, then through his hair, suddenly feeling as though he should have changed, showered again, shaved, something, before coming to her. Although she didn’t speak as he approached, her expression nearly brought him to his knees, though he did his best to maintain appearances. “Beverly...” He began, her name rolling from his tongue as easily as it ever had. “I’m so happy to see you.” Rushing forward, he enveloped her in the biggest hug he could muster, closing his eyes as he did his best to memorize every millisecond of the moment.
