Chapter Text
WINTER BREAK, GRADE 8.
Richie ran out of the house, and not that he was surprised in the slightest, but no one noticed. He was their only child, yet the only thing that mattered to them was themselves; they only cared to argue.
He ran down the roads, past houses with bright Christmas lights. He was freezing — being out in the winter weather with no jacket will do that to you, maybe he should have grabbed a jacket before bolting, it’s not like they’d notice that either.
He stopped for a second, so he could catch his breath. He was in the middle of the road, but no one was driving, so he paid no mind to the danger. The house to his right had a window without curtains, making it so that their dining room was shown. Two smaller kids and three older ones sat at the table with two older women. Richie assumed the older women were the mothers since they were holding hands. They looked happy — so, so happy. They laughed as they ate, and Richie really wished he had that family dynamic — he wished he wasn’t so jealous.
Richie started running again, until he got to the end of the neighborhood, and was on the road that would lead to shops or ways to get out of this place . Tears started to fill his eyes, but because he was stubborn, he refused to let them fall. There were trees near him along with a flickering street light. Richie finally realized he couldn’t take this anymore. He couldn’t just hold in his emotions anymore, it was just becoming too much too quickly. So, since it was the first thing he could think of to relieve stress, he screamed. Richie held his hands in tight fists and screamed into what he felt was a void. It lasted a few seconds.
Once his throat burned and the tears were finally falling, he slowly let his slightly sweaty hands relax and started to work on steadying his breathing, but he stayed in the middle of the road. He heard the rustling of trees, followed by a thump, so he looked towards the place he heard the noise come from.
“You alright there?” it was a boy, he could tell by the voice. “I thought someone was getting murdered.”
Richie felt a tear fall, “Yeah, yeah, I’m cool,” he let out a dry laugh, “Just peachy! Screaming is actually part of my nightly routine, I heard it pulls the girls right to you.”
The boy started approaching him, “You know my mom always told me that when someone says they’re fine, they’re usually not,” he got closer, “also that some people make jokes to hide their pain.”
Richie scoffed, not daring to say another word, fearing that if he did the tears would flow easily. He immediately dismissed the idea of letting himself full-on cry in front of a stranger.
Said stranger seemed to notice this, because they spoke again, this time hoping to lighten the mood just a bit, “Well, my mom also told me I was allergic to Coca-Cola because she didn’t want me to become diabetic, so maybe she’s wrong.”
Richie laughed, and he felt another tear fall. The stranger came closer to him at the sight of tears rolling down Richie’s face, and Richie couldn’t even begin to wonder why — why he cared so much. He backed up towards the sidewalk. He wouldn’t let a stranger see how broken he was. As soon as the stranger saw that Richie was backing up, he stopped walking towards him.
“Oh shit!” the stranger exclaimed, “I probably look like a weirdo, don’t I? Fuck man, sorry! You just... seem sad. I know what it’s like to feel alone, you know? To feel broken, like you’re a lost cause. I just don’t want anyone else to go through that?”
Richie looked at him as tears silently fell down his cheeks, still not quite on board with talking to a boy he didn’t know.
“Listen, I’m Eddie. Now before I was interrupted by screams, I was sitting in the tree right over there,” he pointed to the tree behind him, the one he jumped from to approach Richie, “stargazing.”
Richie finally spoke up, “So?” He was quiet — so quiet that if it was a normal day, of kids playing and cars flying past them on the streets, Eddie wouldn’t have heard him.
Eddie smiled and held out his hand for Richie to grab, “So, screaming boy , why don’t you take a breather and stargaze with me?”
Richie hesitated, sniffling as he pushed his glasses up, offering a weak smile, “Yeah, okay. Let’s stargaze, Eddie spaghetti.” He walked forward and grabbed Eddie’s hand.
“Eddie spaghetti? ” Eddie asked as he led Richie to the tree they were going to climb.
Richie sniffled again, this time laughing louder, “Yeah, Eddie spaghetti!”
Eddie reached the tree and put his free hand on the trunk. Just after he did, a branch broke off the tree, falling to the ground. Eddie looked up at the tree, seemingly horrified
“Shit...” he let out, speaking mostly to himself.
Richie unknowingly tightened his hold on the other boys’ hand, “What?”
“Oh, fuck man! That was the branch I was sitting on!” Eddie exclaimed, pointing down at the broken branch.
Richie pulled Eddie away from the tree, “We are laying on the grass.”
“Fucking ew! Bugs, man! I don’t want bugs in my fucking hair!” Eddie shouted, running his hand through his hair as if the bugs were already there.
Richie laughed and got comfortable on a patch of grass, also letting go of Eddie’s hand.
“Shut up, wuss. Just lay your head on my stomach or whatever.”
They had just met, but it felt like they had known each other for years. Richie could get used to this — used to having a friend.
Eddie admired the boy on the grass. The moonlight lit up his face just enough. He was calm now, even if the tears from several minutes ago still stained his face — even if he still sniffled every few seconds. Eddie would have never admitted it to himself at the time, because as his mother said “Boys don’t love other boys, and girls don’t love other girls,” but he really did look beautiful. Without notice, Eddie sat on the grass and rested his head on the other boys’ stomach. Richie started playing with his hair.
“Richie.”
“What?” Eddie asked.
“Richie, that’s my name.”
“Oh,” Eddie replied, closing his eyes, “I like that name,” it was silent, and then Eddie spoke up, “is it short for Richard? Does that mean I can call you Dick?” Richie laughed as he lightly smacked Eddie’s head.
They fell asleep, and only woke up because a squirrel scared the living shit out of Eddie just as the sun started rising. Eddie said he wanted to walk Richie home, just in case he felt sad again. Although it was also so Eddie could come to his house again later, Richie didn’t know this yet.
Then, many hours later, Eddie came back to the house he previously walked Richie to and told Richie to follow him. That day, Eddie introduced Richie to his group of friends. Beverly, Stanley, Ben, Bill, and Mike. They all became close friends and stuck with each other through everything.
Still, even if Richie had an entire group of friends now, he would always be the closest to Eddie — and Eddie felt the same. Richie opened up about his issues at home, and the thoughts he has. How before he met Eddie, he was ready to give up — how Eddie had basically saved him.
Eddie told him about the things his mother says to him. How she slapped him across the face when he asked about boys kissing other boys. How she told him he had several illnesses, and took him to the doctor weekly, even when the doctor told her he was a healthy boy with a slight case of a panic disorder, which is the only reason he was given an inhaler.
They opened up to each other and became each other’s best friend, they believed they would never become any more or any less.