hot to go • richie jermivich

Racing

Carmy had given Richie and Claudia the job to fix and organize that stupid basement. Listen, Richie liked how Claudia was during these past few weeks, he hasn't delt with her since he had Fak and Marcus. Shes too busy trying to figure out the kitchen and hiring chefs with Sydney.

But now with this task, he knew she will be her bossy self. Richie didn't like how loud and obnoxious she was. She was so fucking bossy. He hated to hear that 'Richie!' tone from her. Richie this, Richie that. The way she rolled her R's, it was engraved in his head. He was starting to hate his name.

"Richie!" She yells. He groans as he hears her coming down the stairs. He gets up from the floor and heads to the table in the middle of the room.

"Yes?" He tries to keep his cool.

"Carmy said to throw away the extra hot dog inflatables." Richie closes his eyes. Not worth fighting he keeps repeating. The two stayed in silence as the music on Richies phone played. Surprisingly Claudia had said nothing about his taste in music.

They threw away many boxes, gave the crew their Berf shirts, there was a lot of shit down there. Claudia sat on the floor as she scans through the old papers as Richie broke down some more boxes.

"Fuck!" Claudia screams at the top of her lungs, pouncing on Richie as she sat a rat. "Thats fucking! Thats a rat!" Richie grabs her as she wraps herself around him. She clings onto him like a koala. Richie walks to set her down on the table and looks at it.

"Its dead." He picks it up with old rag he found.

"Still!" He waves the dead rat at her.

"Richie! Get that away from me!" She screams. He laughs as she stands on the top of the table and smacks his arm with a broom.

"Alright, alright." He heads up and throws it away. He returned with washed hands. Claudia watches him in case he returns with it again. He didn't. She hops down the table and clears her throat. "You should've seen your face!" He continued to laugh.

"Fuck you." She goes back to looking at the papers.

"Hey hey." He stands behind her. "Im sorry." She didn't turn to look at him. Just another unapologetic lie. Richie keeps standing behind her, looking down at her. "Listen, about the other night, with your ex or whatever he is, im sorry. I didn't mean to ruin whatever you guys were talking about, ruin any chance of getting together. I just thought-" Claudia turns around, looks up at him. Richie stops for a moment as she looks so innocent. Those damn eyes. "Thought that he was being disrespectful." Claudia slowly gets up, standing in front of him. Theyre close, close enough to see the stains on their clothes, Claudias frown lines, Richies freckles.

"Youre fine." She crosses her arms. "Kent, hes a dick. He thought we were seeing each other when i was with him. That night at the bar where you meet him, he left me. I should've known there." Richie almost felt bad for her.

"Sorry." she shrugs.

"Whatever." She goes back to her chore. Richie looks over the papers she found and then his head perks up as she got a phone call. "Hello?" she frowns as she answers the unknown number.

"Dia?" Her heart started to race. Thats name. She hasn't heard that name in years.

"Luc?" She tucks her hair between her ear. "Is that you?" She hears a laugh on the other end.

"Yeah its me." He smiles as he was getting ready for bed. "Marcus gave me your number, if thats okay?"

"No, i mean yes, yes its fine." Richie stares at her. He had never seen her so smiley. That laugh, where did that come from?