saved by you |reddie|

8.

"and? that's not my fault!" eddie exclaimed.

"then who's fault is it?"

"boys, what are you arguing about this time?" maggie says tiredly.

the two start to talk over each other until wentworth got involved.

"okay, what's going on? one at a time."

richie went first. he always went first.

"eddies mad because in class today we said the same answer and i was the one that got credit for it."

"no, i'm mad that you didn't say that you didn't come up with the answer." eddie argued.

richie sighed and rolled his eyes.

"yeah, whatever. i'm done." he said, walking out of eddies room and into his own.

eddie interpreted that wrong. richie meant he was done with the conversation. eddie thought he meant something else.

the next day in the morning, eddie ignored richies daily "good morning eds" which confused the boy with glasses. usually, eddie would respond with a "good morning" as well.

throughout the day, eddie seemed to still ignore richie whenever he tried to talk to him, which is both embarrassing and confusing.

"and he keeps ignoring me." richie explains the conversation to mike.

"i think you nerd to clear the air. maybe eddie thinks you meant something else."

"he won't talk to me. he won't listen."

mike sighed. "here, i'll talk to him for you, okay?"

"yeah," richie smiled. "thanks mike."

mike goes and hunts down the small boy. he might like eddie, but he was talking to another person, mike didn't want to interrupt.

hours have gone by, the school day has ended, richie and eddie are at home. still not talking to each other.

well, correction, richie was talking to eddie, eddie wasn't listening.

"look, i don't know what i did. talk to me eds!"

eddie was fiddling with his walkman.

"please." richie pleaded.

it was hopeless. there was no way to fix this. eddie won't listen. not to richie, at least.

the days haven't felt real; they all felt like some manner of dream richie couldn't wake up from. it's as if the darkness engulfed him but he can't say anything about it, people would say he's overreacting because his boyfriend--or what he thinks is still his boyfriend-- won't talk to him.

the glances at eddie has become more frequent and longer, he just wants eddie to look at him. just once. but eddie doesn't.

it's obvious they need to communicate. richie's tried. maybe not hard, but he has. eddie just needs to at least acknowledge the other boy.

maybe richie just needs to give him space. yeah, that's it. space.

eddie just needs space.