Oh Noel | Reddie |

7. The parade

I woke up feeling hot. I tried to push the blanket off of me when I noticed extra weight. Richie was practically on top of me with his arms wrapped around me as if I was a teddy bear. I felt bad waking up Richie, so I lied there for a while and leaned against him.

I pretended to still be asleep when he woke up as not to make our position any more awkward than it was. He groaned as he woke up, then lifted one of his arms.

"Holy shit Ed's." He mumbled groggily in his deep morning voice. My face went beet red upon hearing him. "damn is that a hickey I see? I wonder who did that?" He questioned to himse quietly before laughing at himself. I realized my shirt was askew, showing everything from yesterdays seven minutes in heaven off.

Richie carefully stood up from our position and left. It felt colder without him cuddling me, warming me up. A few minutes later, I decided I waited long enough, so I got up, fixed my shirt, and headed down stairs to the kitchen where Richie was.

"G'morning eds." He smiled, sipping the coffee he made for himself.

"Don't call me that." It was sort of a habit to hate the nickname, but it was starting to become endearing in some weird way. I sat next to him at the dining table.

He placed a finger on my neck, pushing down the collar of my shirt slightly. "I can't believe we just made out yesterday." He said out of nowhere, catching me off guard. My face flushed red.

"I-i..." I fished my inhaler out of my pocket and shoved it into my mouth. Was this really happening?

"Hey calm down Ed's. Sorry if you didn't like it, but you don't have to suffocate over me!” Richie said

"I didn't mean- no i-” I heard footsteps coming down the stairs. I looked over to see Beverly. Anxiety shot through me as I basically threw myself as far as I could from Richie. He gave me a look before seeing Beverly. She grabbed a pop tart before sitting herself directly between me and Richie with a smile on her face.

"How did you sleep Richie? was the couch comfortable?" She leaned uncomfortably close to him.

"uh-uhm yeah? It was indeed a couch,” He chuckled awkwardly. We were saved by Bill and Stan walking down the stairs together.

"Good morning my dear fellows," Richie said in a posh accent, "I really must be going now. Me and Eddie-o Spaghetti-o drove here together!" He said, "pip pip and tally - ho my good fellows! see you around!" He grabbed me by the arm and practically sprinted to the front door, but before we left, Stan spoke up.

"Wait Richie, Eddie. Do you want to go to a parade with the losers later?" He asked

"That sounds wonderful Stanthony. Text me the deets!" Richie practically shouted before sprinting out the door. I think he just wanted to get some space from Bev after yesterday.

Once we got to his car, he sighed in relief. "Oh my god, why can't the others see how bad Beverly has gotten recently?" Richie groaned. "total cock blocker too, shall we continue where we left off?" Richie leaned in, smiling.

"Oh fuck off." I put my hand over his face, pushing him away. "Drive before she realizes we're not gone." I said.

"You're so mean to me spagedward” He whined.

"I will get out of this car I swear." I placed my hand on the door handle before he finally started the car and locked the doors. He began to drive.

"Wanna go to my place?" He asked, going in the direction before he even got a response.

~~~

"I'm home!" Richie yelled loudly as soon as he walked in the door. Of course he had to make himself known. That was such a Richie thing to do. But there was no reply. We walked into the house and heard faint voices, and as we got closer, we noticed they were arguing. The voices kept getting louder and louder until they were shouting. There were tears in Richie's eyes.