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Richie Tozier was fifteen years old, awkwardly lanky and someone who most found incredibly annoying with his refusal to shut up and the repetitive ‘your mum’ jokes. He was also a new resident at Derry maine which would have been exciting except it was the ninth place he’d moved and he was coming from california where he was leaving behind a friend by the name of Beverly Marsh.
Truth be told he was sick of moving from place to place, leaving behind close friendships and having to find his way through another school. But his parents could never settle in one place, they needed a new adventure and he had to go with them as an unwilling partner.
“You’ll settle eventually.” His mother would tell him and he would but then it would be time to move.
His new room was smaller than his one in california, there was nearly enough space for his bed and wardrobe, not accounting for any of his other beliefs, it was suffocating. To make it worse his window was minuscule and wouldn’t be able to blow away the smell of his cigarettes. He was going to have to smoke around the town.
“I’m going to explore the town.” He told his parents who were unpacking boxes, really he was going to smoke but what they didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.
—
“Isn’t it ironic to be smoking in front of a pharmacy?” A voice asked him, he turned around to seen a shorter boy around his age with light brown hair and a fanny pack that seemed full to the brim. Richie wondered what he was even doing in the pharmacy as he looked to be in perfect health.
“Live fast, die young.” Richie replied, ignoring the point that the shorter was trying to make.
“You won’t be saying that when you’re in the hospital with lung cancer.” Richie wondered when this kid got a medical degree.
“don’t badger me about my health when you’ve just walked out of the pharmacy.” Richie laughed, “Why don’t you tell me your health problems?”
“Just fuck off.”
“I’ll certainly be fucking your mother tonight.” He tried not to cringe after saying that, he wished he could keep his mouth shut but the boy seemed to take no notice of the phrase as he walked away.
If this was what the people were like in Derry Maine Richie hoped it wouldn’t be long before his parents found a new place to call home.
—
School was the biggest anxiety that came with moving to a new place, it consisted of trying to fit in with already established groups of people and relearning content already taught at one of his previous schools. It led to him having average grades without having to study so he was almost grateful but he’d give anything for a consistent social life.
He had to meet the principal first to sort out his timetable meaning he would miss the first period, one lesson missed wasn’t a tragedy and looking at his timetable showed that his second period lesson was biology. It was certainly better than maths so he walked around the school trying to find his classroom.
Today in Biology they were dissecting a frog, completely sickening and torture to put teenagers through, the teacher who was a woman in her early fifties with hair going gray and wrinkles painting her face assigned everyone lab partners. “Eddie Kaspbrak you can partner up with Richie Tozier.”
She fumbled over his last name and had to point so that Eddie knew who he was and that’s when Richie took his first look at his lab partner. It was the guy at the pharmacy. Eddie glared at him but it didn’t make any difference because love or hate there was still a frog that needed to be dissected.
“I’m guessing you're new to town.” Eddie commented as Richie cut open the frog.
“Don’t you know about me?” Richie smiled jokingly, “I’m here to marry your mother.”
“You can shut up about my mother because if she knew that I was dissecting a frog right now she would freak out and take me out of the school.” Richie rolled his eyes at the dramatics and decided that Eddie's mother was a freak.
“You’re not even doing any work, you haven’t even touched the scalpels.” As he said this he took out on of the frogs organs and placed them close to Eddie's face, Eddie flinched back while Richie laughed and then he grabbed an inhaler out of his pocket.
“Do that again and I’ll kill you.” He said between inhales just for Richie to roll his eyes.
“And I’ll just knock the breath out of you.”
The rest of the lesson was pretty much uneventful except for an invitation by Eddie to eat lunch with him and his friend who was apparently called Stanley . Richie said that he’d think about it but he knew he’d take the offer as there was no place else for him to go.
—
So lunch rolled around and Richie was met with the gross cafeteria food, he decided on getting a sandwich and some gingerbread then he looked around the cafeteria. Eddie wasn’t hard to spot though his short frame made him almost hidden and he was sat next to another boy. It must have been Stanely.
Richie walked up to them feeling extremely nervous, he was ready to turn back around and eat lunch alone but he needed some conversation. So he took a seat across from the two boys and tried to act like he had known them his old life.
Stanley was dressed like he was an adult rather than a teenager, his shirt was tucked in and his clothes reminded Richie of a Dad, he had curly brown hair and seemed almost done. He soon learned that Stanley was jewish though this news had no effect on him, he didn’t smile or laugh much and on the weekend he was going to hang around at the quarry with a homeschooled guy called Mike Hanlon.
And Richie managed to score an invite to the friendship meet-up.
He left lunch feeling confident that he had found friends who would take him through his time in derry. Usually his first day of school consisted of being completely alone and cold stares from other students but he was already feeling welcome here. He just hoped that he didn’t start to feel too welcome.
—
Mike Hanlon was a young farmer who raised animals just for them to end up in the butchers but what he really wanted was to move to Florida and get a proper education. He had a strong build and hung more closely to Stanley’s side. To say that he had been homeschooled he spoke wisely but Richie wondered how he managed with the lack of socialisation.
To say that Eddie was a massive germaphobe the quarry seemed to have no effect on him, he participated in a spitting competition and even argued that he went the furthest though Richie was certain it was him. Then he jumped into the body of unhygienic water, for a moment he seemed fearless. It was unlike the boy who had reached for an inhaler over a frog's organ.
Richie was unprepared for the coldness of the water, if it wasn’t for the fact that his body had become submerged he would have believed that it was ice. His body was a canvas and on the canvas goosebumps had been delicately painted, the hundreds of bumps starting to make him shake.
“How many diseases do you think are swimming around?” He asked Eddie, trying to see if he could get a reaction out of the boy.
“No sewerage goes into this water so it should be safe, the biggest disease would be my mum finding out.”
And it was a lovely water to splash and swim around in, all the bodies of water that Richie had grown up in were darker than the night sky and contained a high amount of sewerage so his swimming was contained to genuine swimming pools. In California he had been blessed with an outside pool where he and Beverly had spent most of their time lounging around in.
This wasn’t like that, it was as clear as a summer's day and even the weeds were standing upright and full of life. He felt refreshed and excited because he had made some really great friends.
—
“How’s Derry?” Beverly asked, he was grateful that the phone existed or they’d have long periods without any communication.
“I’ve already made some friends and school seems to be going well, I went swimming earlier with my new friends.”
“Sounds like you’re having a good time.” Beverly meant it as a compliment but Richie couldn’t help but feel bad as he knew all about her problems at home.
“Is your Dad treating you alright?” He asked.
“He just pretends that I don’t exist, which is better, it’s such a bore over here without you.”
“If he pretends you don’t exist then why don’t you just run away, I could easily keep you hidden.” Beverly laughed but he knew that she would never follow through with it.
“I would love to but I’m going to just keep my head down and get to college, hopefully then we’ll meet again.”
—
The next few weeks passed by in a familiar hue, he went to school and made annoying jokes where his friends rolled their eyes, in the evenings he smoked outside and then did his homework. On the weekends he hung around with his friends, smoking more cigarettes and telling more annoying jokes. It was enjoyable.
He called Beverly a few times a week though these calls started to become less and less frequent, he soon found out that she had met a boy called Bill and they were starting to get closer. So he listened to her chat about romance and wished that he would get to experience those feelings that she was talking about. The feeling of being in an acceptable relationship.
—
There was one thing that most people didn’t know about Richie Tozier, he was queer. People didn’t know and people would never know, even Beverly never knew his deep secret. And why would he tell anyone? People used the word ‘fag’ as an insult and people on the news we’re talking about a gay disease called aids.
It wasn’t a safe time to be queer, there was no marriage to be had and nearly everyone was scared of queers as if they were sexual predators. Richie had spent enough of his life praying to be something different but deep inside he’d never be able to change who he was. Living as a straight person would be like removing all the organs from his body. Instead he pretended to be loveless.
And maybe as an adult he would move to one of the big cities like New York and he would find other queer people but for now he was living from small town to small town and if there was any place to not be queer it would be in a small town. Sometimes he would pretend to have an interest in girls but he could never look at a woman and want her as more than a friend.
He knew it was wrong and shameful, he was deeply ashamed of himself. His parents would cook a lovely dinner and as he picked at the food on his plate he would wonder if they would still fill his plate if they knew the truth. They’d never spoken horribly about gay people but that’s because they’d never had a reason to talk about them before.
—
While he was close to both Stanley and Mike, Eddie was a different story. They were closer, an unbreakable bond that was formed by unreasonable banter and rolled eyes. On the weekend they brought each other ice cream and Richie made unheavenly comments about Eddie's mother just to get a reaction out of Eddie.
They passed each other notes in class about trivial matters because they both had a desire to talk to each other. They even started passing each other finished homework so they had less work to do at home. He learnt more about Eddie than he thought possible. The biggest thing he learnt was about his mother.
While he had thought about Eddie's mother as a freak in passing it turns out that his thoughts had been proved correct, she was a total control freak. First off she had Eddie on a bunch of bullshit medications that served to do nothing but make him feel like he was immune to sickness then she had made Eddie feel like everything outside was rampant with disease.
He wouldn’t even touch a lamppost out of fear that he would catch some bacterial infection that would send him straight to a hospital bed. Richie tried to understand how Eddie would go swimming in the quarry but not touch a lamppost but he soon decided that some things couldn’t be truly understood.
Another thing was that she didn’t allow Eddie to participate in pe as she was worried that he would get injured, her soft Eddie just wasn’t strong enough to run laps or play an innocent game of football, so he sat out like the girls who’s period had struck. Richie felt terrible that he was missing out on such a carefree lesson but he missed the locker room mess so he was almost lucky.
Richie wanted to scream at Eddie's mother, snap her out of her trance and give Eddie the last of his childhood back. Instead he settled on calling out all of Eddie's bullshit beliefs.
—
Stanley often showed up to school with his hands red and raw, Eddie would give him some hand cream that conveniently stayed in his school bag. Richie soon learned that this was because of a compulsion where Stanley felt like he needed to keep on relocking the front door due to a bullshit belief that it wasn’t truly locked. He mentioned having feelings that someone would break in and Richie decided that everyone in his small friend group had problems.
Beverly was being abused by her Father, Eddie had been cursed to being a germaphobe by his mother, Mike was trying so hard to break away from the farm that was being forced on him and Richie was a raging homosexual.
But he knew that he had found friends that would last him even when he ended up moving away. And so he took every day that he got with them as a miracle and spent every moment that he could with them.
—
Then one Wednesday morning he woke up and realised that something wasn’t the same, his internal feelings had changed, he wasn’t sure what was up at first but then he made it to school and saw Eddie's face. Suddenly, he just knew. The reason he was closer with Eddie was because he was in love with the boy.
Shouldn’t he have noticed, the small tint of blush on his cheeks and wanting to be around Eddie at every singular moment. He wanted Eddie like boys were supposed to want girls. He wouldn’t act on these feelings but he would spend a lot of time with Eddie and fantasise about being able to have him.
Besides, he didn’t want to risk another Conner Bowers situation.
—
Conner Bowers was his first and last relationship, they often played together in the arcade though they were never friends at school. Conner had a problem, his older cousin who’s only joy in life was bringing misery on other people but especially Richie. So they planned secret meetings together behind abandoned buildings.
They kissed in the moonlight, a simple peck and Richie was already thinking of them as soulmates. It lasted only three months but there were three months that he’d never be able to forget even if he came down with amnesia he’d still remember it.
For the most part it was pure bliss, secret touches, kisses and glances from the back of the classroom. His heavy heart had been aching for someone to take it and care for it tenderly and Conner was that person. His head was in the clouds and even his mum kept commenting that he always seemed to be daydreaming.
But there was also the feeling that everything was wrong. He was doing something deeply forbidden and he knew it with the way his friends always talked about the guys they liked, the way there was never any gay relationships in the media. Then Conner called him a fag and it all started to fall apart.
It was in the arcade, they were going to play a game together but his cousin was looking for someone to terrorise and Richie would be that person. Conner was just trying to protect himself but there were so many other words he could have said. If Richie didn’t have some respect he would have called Conner out for who he really was.
—
He won’t tell Eddie how he feels, he can’t bear to lose their friendship and watch the look of disgust rise on his face but he also can’t bury his feelings deep inside himself. Because if he buries his feelings then they’ll come spilling out. However, there is a bridge that looks far too empty.
After his interference with Henry Bowers during his former years he invested in a switchblade to defend himself and now he’s going to use it to cause petty romantic vandalism. He bikes to the bridge, takes in the fresh air until the brown musty wood comes into his vision.
And he gets off his bike, walking slowly until he’s right at the bridge, he feels hesitant and ashamed. Because he knows that his feelings towards Eddie aren’t alright, he should be dreaming of kissing girls and playing with their hair. If he could like boys then he most definitely would but god decided to fuck him up.
There’s only one way he can ever express his feelings, another Conner Bowers won’t come along, and that’s playing pretend in his mind. So he cuts into the wood, two simple letters that mean that entire world. R + E. It’s a fantasy like a straight relationship carving their initials into a tree as he carves the letters he can pretend that he’s writing this for his true soulmate and not a crush he’ll forget about soon.
—
He felt himself lose grip on his reality. It's easier to be laying in bed alone than at school with friends who wouldn’t come within an inch of him if they knew who he really was. If it wasn’t for his mothers refusal to have a day off he would just lay in bed all day imagining a world where he could be truly happy.
Instead he faces them in the cafeteria and sits with them in class, obviously they don’t realise that anything is up with him because he’s still cracking jokes. He knows that something is up with him, he can’t focus in class anymore, he’s even started doing his homework while walking to school.
It’s like there’s two versions of him and one has to remain deeply hidden like a psychopath pretending they’re a normal member of society. Being gay may not be like being a psychopath but with the way people viewed it, it sure felt like it.
—
“How are you and Bill doing?” He asks Beverly over the phone and he has to keep her talking otherwise he’s going to spill all of his own issues out.
“He took me out just yesterday and we shared this milkshake so I’d say that we’re going well.” Beverly paused, “You found anyone that you’re in love with?”
“Nahh, the girls in Derry are nothing like the cali girls.”
“You say that but you could end up finding someone.” She sounded so certain that it started to annoy Richie.
“Trust me, I won’t be finding anyone here.”
—
He laughs, he jumps into the quarry and makes weird sexual jokes about Eddie's mother. He is an actor and a good one at that because nobody notices how much he hates his life at the moment, he stops caring about school at all and then he stops speaking to his parents.
He’s mad, pissed even at his parents because if it wasn’t for them he may have never learnt about his feelings, he could be going through each day believing that he was still straight. Maybe he’d even have a girl who he’d fooled himself into believing that he really loved and nothing would matter.
But this can’t happen now and he can’t take it anymore so in a pathetic act of rebellion he does the best thing that he can which is to make an impromptu day off school and hang around the time. He has a pack of cigarettes and enough money to buy a drink from the corner shop all he can hope is that the school doesn’t ring up his parents.
—
It’s almost a nice day, the fresh Derry air feels good on his skin and not hearing his teachers drag on subjects that won’t impact his future is also a breath of fresh air. He leans against walls as he inhales the toxic smoke from various cigarettes, if he was in Cali he could be smoking with Beverly instead he’s completely alone.
Then he spends nearly an hour looking around the corner shop trying to decide what he should buy before settling on a chocolate bar. His throat is raw from all the smoke so really he should have settled on a drink but the chocolate looked appealing and he hadn’t eaten since breakfast. That was one of the good things about school, he got fed.
Eventually, he wishes that he had just gone to school because Derry is such a small town while the hours pass by at such a slow rate so he just finds himself bored. He could be cracking a joke right now or disturbing Eddie’s peace in Biology. It’s only 1pm but he decides to just head home and fess up to his parents if they’re home.
But they aren’t home so he just makes a sandwich, downs a can of coke and then heads to bed and takes a nap.
—
“Richie, Eddie’s here!” He hears his mother shout, its six now and after taking a nap he’d been lounging around and now he was waiting for his mother to finish up dinner.
He runs down the stairs at the mention of his friend and sure enough Eddie is standing there in a pink polo t-shirt with black shorts and his usual fanny pack. Richie leads the shorter to his bedroom to ensure that his parents don’t hear anything about skipping school because now he’s got away with it he will make sure that there’s no way they find out.
“What are you doing here?” Richie then asks.
“You didn’t show up to school today, I was worried.” Eddie confessed and then he paused as if he’s pondering on if he should say something. “I just had a bad feeling.”
“You don’t need to worry about me, I’m fine.” Richie replies bluntly.
“You certainly don’t sound like it.”
“You really don’t need to care about me, I just didn’t want to go to school for a day so I decided not to.” He shrugs his shoulders as if to show that he doesn’t give a fuck.
“Give me one reason why I shouldn’t care for you.”
And then Richie is ready to blow it all, destroy the friendships that he’s brought. It’s like he’s repeating the cycle that started with his parents the first time they decided to move, it’s not like he has much longer here anyway. So all his shame spills out and it’s not pretty, it’s like an overflowing swamp.
“Because I’m a homosexual.” The words almost fly out of his lips and it’s actually a relief to finally get it out. Eddie is silent for what feels like an eternity but really it’s only a few seconds.
“Do you seriously think that I’d hate you for that?” Eddie asks and Richie almost wants to scream ‘of course I would’ because the world is not a place for gay people to be living in. “Richie, I’m gay as well.”
“You’re gay?” He feels like he’s stuck in slow motion and nothing is making sense.
“Yes and I’m in love with you.”
“Ok, this feels like a fever dream but there’s no way that you’re in love with me.” Richie wants to laugh because it almost feels like a sick joke. “You’re clearly just messing with me, you must just be playing with my feelings.”
“I’m confessing to you because I noticed that you’re in love with me, you aren’t very good at hiding your feelings.” Eddie looked at him earnestly. “Maybe I can’t convince you that I like you but my feelings are real.”
“You swear it.”
“I swear it.”
“Well if you swear it then maybe I like you back.”
Richie’s going to give this a go and if it all blows up in his face then at least he could say that he tried to be in love. He was giving romance one last time and he was just going to hope that it didn’t end up like Conner.
“Now will you stop making jokes about my mother?” Eddie asks but Richie just smirks.
“Trust me, that’ll never end.” Eddie then rolls his eyes but it’s in adoration.
—
It wasn’t all immediate love because Richie still had a lot of issues, just that night he’d dreamt of it all being a hoax and spent fifty minutes laying in his bed with the curtains still drawn before he realised that it was just a dream and he did in fact have someone to call his boyfriend. By the time the morning sun shone through his thin curtains he felt much better and was ready for his day at school.
His mind was like a two faced dice that was constantly being thrown, one side was saying that he’d found his true love and the other was saying that it was all fake. He let his cereal go soggy with the consistent thoughts that drove him insane and therefore walked to school with an empty stomach.
Then he saw Eddie in the hallway and he just knew that what he felt was real. This was love.
—
Richie Tozier was a total lovesick mess, he went through each day with blush painting his cheeks like dried blood and a smile that grew wider and wider. From waking up in the morning to going to sleep at night he felt his heart grow like a plant that had been watered with obscene amounts of care.
Every civil conversation that turned into banter, or glance when they were sat on the other side of the classroom and the soft sound of his laughter just made Richie’s heart grow fonder. He was put on the earth for a reason and that reason was to love Eddie Kaspbrak.
He just wished that they could be in an open relationship, holding hands in the corridors and just being able to express their love out in public. It simply wasn’t fair that straight couples could express their love however they wanted while they were hiding from their own parents.
—
“You seem to be settling into derry well!” His mother said, happiness pouring from her with every word like the sun slowly starting to appear after a storm. “I knew that you would settle down, you should have listened to me from the start.”
Richie wanted to disappear into a large hole because if she knew why he was so happy she would probably look at him as if he was a walking disease and then kick him out. Instead he attempted to remove the bitterness from his voice and he asked, “Can we stay in derry until I go to college?”
She looked at him apologetically, “You know what it’s like staying in one place for a long period of time just can’t do it for me and your father we need to be on the move.”
“But what about what I need?”
“When you’re eighteen you can do what you want but for now you’re stuck with us, we can’t just change our whole lives to accommodate you, you get fed and clothed so you should just be grateful.” And Richie had never felt so much hatred to the woman that he was born to love.
—
The first time that he and Eddie kissed was at the weekend in his bedroom, they had just come back after swimming in the quarry and had recently showered to avoid any diseases living on their skin. It was fun, maybe it was even the funniest day of his life because it was a day filled with pure bliss.
Just the cold fresh water from the quarry hitting his skin was enough to make everything feel like an unbelievable dream. And now they’ve freshened up and both lay on his bed mindlessly staring into each other's eyes.
“What do you think your mum would do if she found us out?” Richie finds himself asking, maybe it’s a way to ruin the moment but they’re both filled with secrecy that they want to understand what would happen if there were no more secrets.
“I think she’d believe that I was sick, sicker than she already sees me, and she’d send me to a mental hospital to cure me.” Eddie replied so quickly that it was clear that he’d already thought of the possibility. “What do you think your parents would do?”
“I think they’d throw me out and live a life without me.”
Eddie took his hand then and held it tightly then he stared into Richie’s eyes more deeply than he had to, Richie saw all the passion in his body so his next words weren’t a surprise. “Will you kiss me?”
And Richie did, he connected their lips into a soft and slow kiss that made a few seconds feel like an eternity. He cupped Eddie’s face, feeling his delicate skin as he pulled him in further. This was the life that his body had always been reaching for.
“I’m surprised you aren’t afraid of all the germs.” Richie commented when they pulled apart.
“I’m not afraid of your germs.” Eddie replied.
—
“This Eddie seems to be a good influence on you, I don’t think that I’ve ever seen you so happy.” His Dad remarked during dinner while taking bites of an apple pie. Richie was speechless, he didn’t want to say anything at risk of spilling his relationship out into the open.
“I know you’re stressed over us moving again but we’re going to remain here until the end of the year so you don’t need to worry.”
Richie just sighed, they just didn’t understand what it was like to move all the time.
—
The best way to get into your boyfriend's house is to throw stones at their window, take that from Richie Tozier who was currently throwing small rocks at his boyfriend's window. He hoped that it wasn’t making too much of a bang as not to cause a crack in the window or wake up his mother.
Luckily, all seemed to be fine as Eddie opened up the curtains and then noticed him standing in the street, he then opened the window as Richie pointed at the door. Richie was left outside for another minute where he stood with his arms crossed due to the wind blowing on his skin.
“What are you doing here?” Eddie asked with a hushed tone as he finally opened up the door.
“Is it so bad that I want to see my boyfriend?” Richie replied.
“It’s 10pm.” Eddie stated just for Richie to roll his eyes.
“So I think you should do your duty as my boyfriend and let me stay the night, I’ll be gone before your mother even knows that I was here.” Then he started to regret not making some perverted joke about him and Eddie’s mother in the middle of the night.
“Fine, you can stay.” He didn’t look happy but really he was overjoyed.
—
So Richie laid next to Eddie in bed and fell asleep with the moonlight blaring through the window and when he woke up that morning their arms and legs happened to be wrapped around each other. One day in the future this would be his everyday life but for now it was just one drowsy morning.
He left while the sun was just starting to rise and snuck in before his own parents woke up to make breakfast.
—
Everything was perfect, a little too perfect. It was like everyday had been drenched with childhood innocence, the sun was high in the sky and it showered onto him. He watched as Stanley and Mike confessed their feelings for each other and suddenly the weekends were secret double dates and sugary milkshakes.
He barely spent any time at home anymore, instead he was always hanging out with his mates and boyfriend, blowing through his allowance and filling up on anything that was sickly sweet. His parents kept complaining that he was smelling too much of cigarettes but he didn’t listen to what they were saying anymore.
It felt like teenage rebellion but really he was just allowing himself to truly live for himself.
—
School dragged on and soon it was time for finals which he was dutifully unprepared for, going into each exam with a ball of nerves bunching up in his stomach. In his defence he had tried to study, laying on his stomach at Eddie’s house with the textbook in front of them but he’d got distracted with Eddie’s lips and he couldn’t focus on studying when he was in love.
He’d just come home from an algebra exam and he heard his parents quietly whispering to themselves, they had a notebook sprawled out on the living room table like they were working something out. Richie wasn’t greeted so he made it into the kitchen and decided to give Beverly a call.
—
“Are you and Bill still together?” He hadn’t realised just how fast the day had been passing by, it had been over a month since he had lost spoken to Bev.
“Somehow, I think he really likes me, I mean it feels like I’ve met my soulmate.” Richie knew that she was smiling even if he couldn’t see her, “You haven’t called me for a while so I’m assuming that you found somebody.”
“I have, this might come as a shock but I’ve found a boy that I’m really in love with.” He was whispering over the phone to make sure that his parents couldn’t hear, “His name is Eddie.” Richie could feel his heart start to beat out of his chest but it also felt good to not be keeping such a big secret from her anymore.
“Is he attractive?” She asked and Richie let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.
“Attractive is not a strong enough word to describe his looks- and then he gushed about Eddie until he heard his parents start to rustle about and he quickly rushed through the rest of the call.
—
“Richie, we need to tell you something.” He was sitting eating dinner, chewing on the unseasoned chicken. “We’re moving in a few weeks, you’ll have the time to finish your exams but then we’re heading to North Carolina.”
Richie put his fork on his plate, his appetite had completely disappeared and he was feeling murderous. “It’s nice to know that you really don’t give you a fuck about me.”
His parents looked like deer in headlights just by hearing him swear but he didn’t care. “I won’t go, this is my home now.”
“You can come back here when you turn eighteen but the world doesn’t revolve around Richie Tozier and what he wants!” His mother shouted at him. Richie stormed off to his room, he’d had enough of his parents' bullshit and he wasn’t going to follow them this time.
—
He had one backpack, it had once been filled with all of his school supplies but now he had forced in it some of his comfiest clothes all of his leftover allowance and then he waited until he heard the soft steps of his parents walking up the stairs. He knew they had a stash of money in the kitchen, kept in a biscuit tin in case they ran into an emergency. Richie decided that this would be an emergency.
Then he left, he walked out the door and took a familiar route to Eddie’s house. Throwing stones at his window didn’t feel so romantic anymore, his hand felt shaky and every moment that he didn’t see the curtain open made his heart want to drop. But then Eddie opened up the window and he’d never felt so relieved.
—
“I’m running away.” Richie announced the moment that Eddie had opened the front door. “And I’m wondering if you want to come with me.”
“Running away?”
“My parents are trying to make me move to North Carolina, I’m going to head to California and then I’m coming back.” Richie explained, he’d gone through the plan in his head though it wasn’t very clear cut.
“So you’re running away to come back?” Eddie was tired and therefore wasn’t fully understanding what Richie was saying.
“I’m running away until my parents leave and it’s safe to come back, I used to live in California so I’m going to spend a few weeks with my friend.” Richie explained. “I want you to come with me.”
“My mum will freak out if I leave.” Eddie immediately said but then he thought for a few seconds. “But I wouldn’t have to take the pills anymore and I’ve been stuck in derry my whole life.”
Richie stayed silent as Eddie weighed out his options. “I’ll come.” He finally said and then he left to pack a bag.
—
Richie’s amazing plan of getting to California consisted of hitchhiking his way to various cities until they finally made it but Eddie wasn’t prepared to get into a car with a random stranger driving. (“The drivers are going to be more scared of us than them.” Richie had argued)
Eventually he got Eddie to agree to hitchhiking to the bus station where they could make it to California on some coach route that would probably take days. Thanks to Richie stealing his parents stash he had more than enough money to pay the way and there’d be a shop at the station where they could fill up on food. It was perfect.
—
A ride with a stranger, four bottles of water, one of coke, three chocolate bars and two ham and cheese sandwiches later they were waiting for a coach to arrive. They had to wait until seven in the morning for the coach to arrive and then it was time to head to California.
He informed Eddie all about Beverly as they watched Maine pass by, old buildings flowing away into fields of grass with the occasional farm animal which they pointed out excitedly as if they were children who had never seen animals before. It was a long coach ride so they fell asleep on each other's shoulders, chatted about everything that didn’t matter and slowly ate their food.
There were occasional stops where they stocked up on more food and drink but for the most part they stayed isolated on the coach trying not to think of all the problems that could arise when they ended up in California. They were together and that was enough, it didn’t matter where they ended up as long as they had each other.
—
Getting off the coach was one of the best moments of their life, they needed to stretch their legs and walking the way to Beverly’s was the perfect way. “Are you certain you know the way?” Eddie fretted but Richie knew California like the back of his hand and he knew Beverly’s house more than he knew the way back to his old house.
It felt like forever but really it was two hours. “I’m starting to wish that I was back on the coach.” Richie complained but really he was excited to see Beverly again. His life had been missing a spark of light without her presence and she had been dating Bill for a full three months and Richie still hadn’t met him.
But eventually they found themselves in a neighbourhood with brick houses and backyard swimming pools, each house looked exactly the same but Richie knew her number like he knew all the freckles on Eddie’s face. House 86, the curtains still drawn except for the ones in her bedroom and he could see a presence walking in the room.
“This is the house.” He told Eddie and he walked towards the front door, he felt so relieved being back at such a familiar place. “Let’s just hope that her father isn’t in.”
Richie knocked on the door, his knuckles becoming red from banging on the wood but if she was upstairs then she wasn’t going to hear a gentle knock. He could faintly hear someone walking down the stairs and he noticed that his heart was racing.
The door opened and Beverly stood, she was wearing overalls and her ginger hair that had once run close to her stomach had been cut just behind her ears but it suited her much more. She looked surprised and moved her head from left to right to take in both of the guests. “Richie, what are you doing here?”
“I didn’t know where else to go.” and she let both of them straight inside.