He was aware of Ben being somewhere close by - being a Loser and having the Shine meant they all vaguely knew where the rest of them were, all the time - but the specifics? Not much beyond "close by!", which was kinda annoying at times. Like in one of Richie's computer games where you had the radar that told you the bad guys were close, but not where they actually were. Not that Ben was a bad guy, obviously. So he didn't startle when Ben called out his name, but it took a moment to look round and then down to see his friend. At least he stood out against the snow, so that helped.
"Hey," he replied, and set his art stuff down on a flatish rock he'd already cleared of snow. "Didn't you go out ruh-running earlier?" he asked as Ben got even closer, before adding "Are you trying to get another personal best?"