Do Not Fucking Touch Me // Reddie

Twenty Six

(Richie's POV)

We were on the way home. I couldn't believe it had already been a week, but at the same time it felt like an eternity. Eddie was sick for the rest of the trip. He didn't even have any of his medicine. Even thinking about restarting taking antibiotics gave him anxiety. He was crying softly under a blanket facing his door in the backseat of his uncle's car. 

The car was silent except from the muted sobs. I didn't know what to do. I tried everything to help Eddie, to make him feel better. We went to central park, and he coughed and scared away the ducks. We went to a play and he sneezed so much, he got dirty looks from several people in the theater. I ruined his whole trip. 

What I didn't understand, though, is why I didn't get sick. We ate from the same hot dog stand. We were going as soon as we got back to Derry to a doctor to see what was wrong. I hated this. Eddie wouldn't talk to me. His throat hurt so badly he couldn't even speak. I tried to hold him, and he turned away.

"Baby..." I whispered. It hurt so much seeing him like this.

"I'm not letting you get sick too," he whispered with a raspy painful voice. That really hurt. He was sacrificing his happiness so I wouldn't have to suffer the way he was.  I really didn't care about getting sick. It didn't even cross my mind that I'd be in any pain or misery, because I just wanted to kiss and hold my boyfriend. 

He fell asleep with his head lying against the window and whenever we hit a bump, it would smack his head against the glass. I reached over after noticing this and carefully laid his body down across the backseat. It didn't leave much room for me, but it didn't matter to me. I propped his head up on my thigh as a pillow and draped my sweatshirt over him like a blanket. 

When we got home, at last, I didn't want to go back to my house. I didn't want to see my family or think about school starting back up in a few days, all that possessed my thoughts and controlled my mind was Eddie. I had to practically beg his uncle to let me go with them to the doctor's office. Eddie was wearing my sweatshirt that I put on him as a blanket and he looked adorable in a tired sort of way. I just wanted to hold him and to make him feel better. 

We sat outside in the waiting room until they called Eddie's name. A doctor opened the door holding a clipboard. 

"Edward Kapsbrack?" he read aloud. 

Eddie stood up slowly and walked forward. I got up to start to go with him, but his uncle held me back. 

"I think it's best that he does this alone," he said. 

I frowned and sat back down in my chair. The room was full of crying babies, annoyed mothers, and wild toddlers. The addition of myself and Eddie's uncle did not make things any less horrible. Toys and books were sprawled out on the rainbow colored carpet. I got lost in the pattern waiting for Eddie to return.

When he did, which felt like hours later out of pure boredom, his uncle and I both stood up. He walked to me, which came as a surprise to his uncle. He did something then that really baffled me, he hugged me. He pulled away and he had tears in his eyes. 

I was expecting him to have horrible news, like he had AIDS or Cancer or something. I felt like crying. 

"I....have the flu," he said, almost crying upon speaking those words. I looked at him with eyebrows raised. I couldn't help but laugh in relief. I hugged him again and continued to laugh. 

"What's so funny!" he demanded. 

I pulled from the embrace and kissed his forehead. "You're gonna be okay, Eddie. It's just the flu for fuck's sake!"

The statement turned a few mothers' heads as they gazed upon me with a disgusted glare. I clicked my teeth, regretful that I was so loud, with no filter whatsoever on what I say. But I couldn't help it, Eddie was okay. It was all that mattered to me. He probably didn't even catch the sickness from the hot dog, although the way he was disgusted by animals being turned into food could have had something to do with it. New York was a big and dirty city, thousands upon thousands roamed the streets every day and touched the same things he did. Yeah, he was sick, and miserable, but he wasn't going to die or anything. 

I looked at my overdramatic boyfriend and smiled. I was going to take care of him.