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So this is how Eddie Kaspbrak looked when he was drunk. Even louder and more likely to argue, but also more prone to laughter and smiles. Richie liked that.
When Eddie went to the restaurant's jukebox he followed. He leaned against the wall while Eddie browsed through the selection of songs available, and to stop himself from staring too hard at him, Richie turned his gaze to the table where Ben, Beverly, Mike and Bill were talking animatedly.
“I still can't believe how hot Ben turned out, would you have seen that coming?” Richie said.
"No...Mike also looks a lot better than I would have predicted." Eddie said.
“And Bill.”
“But Bill was always attractive.”
That wasn't the answer Richie was expecting, and it was also an answer that filled him with mixed feelings.
Saying someone looks good or beautiful is objective, something that doesn't necessarily have to do with the person's sexuality. Saying someone is attractive however to him means something different, implies a personal preference, for example there was only one person there that he would really describe as being attractive to him, and it wasn't Ben, or Bill, or Mike and certainly not Beverly.
If Eddie had the same definition, if he was someone who was attracted to men, that would technically open up possibilities that Richie really wanted opened up. But if he was attracted to men, but not to him specifically, that might feel even worse than if he was just straight. And if it was Bill in particular that Eddie was attracted to, that would be even worse. Earlier that day he had realized that night that sometimes old loves don't go away, but apparently the same could be said for old jealousies.
"And me?" Eddie asked.
"You what?"
“Do I look like you thought I would look?”
You look the same, you look like the fucking love of my life Richie thought but instead he said:
"Don't worry Eds, you may not be the heartthrob of the group, but you're still the cutest"
Eddie rolled his eyes.
“And you are even more annoying than I predicted.”
“Someone has to be…so will you pick a song or not?”
"I can't decide, do you want to decide for me?"
“Okay, but don’t go complaining if you don’t like it.”
Richie thought about purposefully choosing something Eddie would hate, but instead his fingers found themselves squeezing one he remembered always being on Eddie's Walkman in 1988.
“Just like heaven.” Eddie said as the song started playing “I always loved that one”
"I know, let's go back to the table."
Richie said and as the music played he made a deliberate effort not to look at Eddie. So much so that he didn't notice that the whole time the music was playing Eddie couldn't seem to stop looking at him.