Your dirty little secret - Reddie

-18-

Maggie lied motionless on the living room couch. She knew she should have pushed her side of the story more, but Richie wasn't the listening type. She took out a bear earlier, but had only stared at it, afraid that if she drank even a sip she couldn't stop. She had to stay sober.

Just then the door bell rang. Both Maggie and Richie's hearts dropped. Richie got up quickly and raced down the stairs, while Maggie opened the door, both hoping it wasn't Wentworth behind it.

"Oh...Hello Eddie? What's up?" Maggie pulled the door closer to her, blocking Richie from view completely. Richie froze for a moment, then hid behind the kitchen wall.

"Is Richie here?" Eddie never skipped the 'Hello' when he talked to adults. Richie's heart sunk. Shit shit shit shit Shit! Richie ran up the stairs, tripping over one and hitting his knee. He exhaled aggressively in pain.

"Nope...Just me." She smiled, holding her laughter in. Eddie shifted his weight, then put a hand on his hip, "Really?" Maggie turned to the stairs. Richie sat at the top, rocking back and forth in pain from his knee.

"Hold on a second..." She closed the door slightly, then looked at Richie. He crawled to his room wining about his knee, then stood up and cleaned his room as quickly as he could. Maggie looked back at Eddie and opened the door all the way, "In his room, hun."

Eddie ran up the stairs, his heart beating out of his chest. Maggie sat back down on the couch and turned the tv volume up high so she didn't overhear anything. It wasn't too loud upstairs. Eddie knocked on Richie's door.

Richie's heart felt like it stoped. He walked over to the door and opened it, "Hey-" Eddie pushed past Richie and walked into the room. Richie swallowed thickly, "Look, I-"

"No!" Eddie turned to Richie and poked him in the chest, "I'm gonna talk and you're gonna listen!" Richie shut the door behind him. Eddie was too short to get in Richie's face, but the message came across like so.

"Richie you didn't even answer my question! And you can't just kiss me and run away like that. I mean who does that? And didn't explain anything to me either! You Left who I was having a Fucking panic attack! Come on Richie! You better explain and I swear to God if you make a joke or so much as mention my mom I'll kill you, you got that?"

"Okay-" Richie put his hands in the air. Eddie turned around and pointed to Richie's bed, "Sit down!" Richie died as he said, sat down on his bed, and listened.

"God, you're so dumb sometimes!" Eddie began to pace back and forth as he spoke, "Do you have any idea how scary that is? You can't just kiss someone and run off! Who does that? You owe me-"
"An apology-"
"-A...What?" Eddie turned to Richie, "An explanation, Rich. You owe me an explanation..." Eddie stood facing Richie. Richie looked down at the floor, "I-"

"You what? You...like me?" Eddie's voice softened. Richie's eyes began to water. He looked at his hands, "I...Yes..." Eddies heart started to beat faster again. His hands began to shake and sweat.

"Can you say it?" Eddie stepped a bit closer. Richie looked up at him, then back down to his hands, "I...Like you..." Eddie could feel his face heating up, covering his cheeks in a crimson blush. He pulled out his inhaler, puffed it, then scoffed.

"You don't know how scary that is..." Eddie looked down at his shaking hands then put his inhaler back in his fanny pack. Richie could feel the warm tears streaming down his face, "I'm sorry..."

"No Richie, look...I'm not mad at you, okay?" Eddie walked closer. Richie looked up at Eddie's eyes, "Why? I fucked everything up! I always-"