𝔸 ℝ𝕠𝕤𝕖 𝔹𝕪 𝔸𝕟𝕪 𝕆𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣 ℕ𝕒𝕞𝕖 - reddie

#𝟟: 𝔽𝕚𝕩 𝕄𝕖 𝕌𝕡, 𝔻𝕣. 𝕂

"What the actual hell-? Did you get hit by a bus or something?" Eddie cried out in concern. He was being surprisingly loud, which was impressive, considering how much volume the cafeteria had at lunch time.

Stan played with the salad he was eating, using the fork to whisk the different leaves around. He licked the edge of the prongs, and Eddie stuck his tongue out and forced a disgusted expression. "He probably tried to walk into the girl's bathroom again and got beat up by a bunch of freshman chics."

Mike smiled to himself as he scrapped some pasta onto a fork, glancing up. His look suggested that he agreed with Stan.

I rubbed my temples. My brain ached so horribly that I had to sit down. I practically fumbled down onto the bench, and my breathing became stringy and uncoordinated, as if I was sick and had a runny nose. "Sounds about right."

"You're such an idiot." Eddie breathed, rubbing the section between both eyebrows. 

I sighed softly, practically peeling off the dried blood that still lingered on my fingers. "I know."

"It was Henry, wasn't it?" Beverly asked, her eyes fixated on my bleeding head.

I moved my hand upward in a dramatic, rainbow motion. "In all his psychotic glory."

Eddie picked at his fingers again. He kept glancing between the blood stains in my hair, and the deep cut that was pressed on my lip. "You might want to see a doctor about this."

Bill stole some of Eddie's fries and decided to join the conversation. "S-seriously, a c-cut on the h-head like that c-cannot be good."

I took a bite of celery. "Keep your clothes on, Big Bill, it looks worse than it feels."

Bill tilted his head and Ben sat with his head down, and it was clear he was feeling guilty. "I should've stayed with you, buddy," Ben looked up, and his eyes were somewhat glossed over. "I'm sorry."

I slowly pressed my pointer finger around my eye area, feeling a soft burn. I suspected a bruise. "Nah, don't worry about it, Haystack. It's good that Henry only got one of us and not both of us, yeah?"

Ben looked unsure but stared at the three cookies he had on his plate. "Yeah."

I reached my hand back up to my hair, letting my fingers gently ride to the top of the wound, where the blood was mostly dried. I winced.

Eddie pushed my arm away instinctively. "Stop touching it, goddammit. You're gonna get an infection or something," he glanced around uneasily. "When was the last time you washed your hands?"

My cheeks flushed at the feeling of Eddie being so protective, but I didn't want to jump the gun as I usually did. He was protective of injuries to everybody. "Hey, don't get your pubes in a knot, I'm not dying."

Stan took another bite of his salad, getting some ranch dressing stuck on the side of his lip. "You might as well be."

"Oh, good one, real mature."

Eddie stood up, putting his lunch back into his backpack and swinging it over his shoulder. "Come on, Rich, I got a first aid kit in here somewhere. We need to make sure you're all fixed up before you do any stupid shit that'll make it worse."

"Ay, ay, captain," I said in another failed attempt at a "Colonel Sanders" impression, throwing my legs over the side of the bench and standing up. I put one hand to my forehead, as if I was ready to salute.

"You look so stupid when you do that."

Even though Eddie had said this in an annoyed manner, I noticed a small, amused smile on his lips. I noticed that a lot, actually; Eddie told me he thought something was dumb and immature, even though he was just laughing his ass off about it less than a second ago.