Eddie's perspective
One thing that was not on my 1995 bingo card was Richie Tozier telling me he liked guys.
I must emphasise, he likes GUYS.
I'm a guy.
*
"I like dudes, Eddie."
As his sentence met my ears, all of the impatience and anger I beheld turned into utter shock.
Was I hearing this Right? Richie 'your mom' Tozier likes dudes? WHAT?
"Uh, pardon?" I swallowed my panic, asking him to repeat.
"Eddie, you heard me. I'm a faggot. I can't possibly spell it out any clearer."
With the clarification, I met his eyes.
Richie Tozier, gay?
I opened my mouth a few times as if to speak, but nothing would come out. What was I supposed to say? Richie was putting on a nonchalant act, but I could tell by the way he picked at his nailbeds and refused to keep his eyes fixed on me that his nerves were present. I hated that he felt like this. I hated how he thought there was anything to be afraid of, especially with me.
I had to say something. Anything.
"Cool, I think?"
embarrassment level status: soaring.
Who the fuck replies with 'cool' to 'I'm gay?'
That was not the right response. God, if anything, that probably made things twice as bad
To my surprise, Richie didn't seem too fussed. I watched as he looked back at Bill and Stan, a grin playing at the corners of his mouth.
Neither of them returned it.
"Great sob story. Just kiss already." Stan snapped, eyes darting between me and Richie.
My face dropped almost automatically at the horrible suggestion. Must everyone be like this? Just because Richie was gay didn't mean I was. Well, not to their knowledge.
"First Bev, now Stan? C'mon Eddie! It's meant to be!"
I knew Richie was joking, but the blush that crept its way across my face decided to arrive anyway. I attempted to mask it with a scowl, taking turns to individually glare at each and every other person in the room.
"Just stop! Stop all this! I'm not gay, not like you guys!"
That's what I tell them. That's what I tell myself.
Before Richie could make fun of me even more, Bill decided to finally make an input.
"B-Bev?"
Was Bill stuttering again? I assumed it was a figment of my imagination, seeing his stutter only ever really returned when something was truly bothering him. We were bothering him, yeah, but it was definitely something else.
I was looking too much into things, as always.
"Oh, didn't we mention? Me and Eddie met her yesterday." Richie beamed, as if flexing to the other two, slinging an arm over my shoulder.
I wriggled my way away from him and sat up properly. The allegations were already bad, and Richie wasn't fighting for my case in the slightest.
"You duh-did...? And she's d-doing okay?"
This was, to the least exaggeration, odd. It was shared information that Bill and Beverly used to date, but he didn't like her anymore. Everyone knew that. What could possibly be getting him so worked up?
