Do Not Fucking Touch Me // Reddie

Sixty Two

(Richie's POV)

(AUTHOR'S NOTE: HAPPY MOTHERFUCKING THANKSGIVING IM THANKFUL FOR YOU ALL I LOVE YOU ALL YOU MAKE MY DAYS WORTH WAKING UP FOR)

I was filled with rage and love. Those emotions pumped through my blood and made my heart ache in all the right ways. Running away from trouble was easy. It came naturally. Finding more trouble to get into was the hard part that neither Eddie nor I was used to. We wanted to have a good time. It was freshman year homecoming, and we were going off on every tradition there ever were.

Eddie and I were far from the normal or traditional couple. To start it off, we were gay, something that everyone reminded us every twenty minutes was obscene and something to be ashamed of. I didn't care as long as I had him. He was everything to me. I was pretty protective over him, but I tried not to be possessive. He was going to make friends. He was going to make guy friends that I might once in a while get a little jealous of. I just needed to remember all that Eds and I had been through. We defeated an evil clown. I snapped his arm back into place. We kissed and came out to our families, and then our peers. We were strong individually, but nothing could be stronger than the bond we shared together.

So we sat there, in our fancy clothing we spent way too much on, broken and bruised, in the corner booth at the local diner. We were sharing a tall glass of cold and creamy strawberry milkshake. We each held straws between our lips and sucked the delicious drink through them. With pursed lips mimicking how we so often shared kisses, we stared at each other with bright and shiny eyes, eyebrows raised, foreheads crinkled, and smiles begging to show.

"Can I get you boys anything else?" a sweet-talking southern accent slinging girl in a waitress uniform waltzed up to the table and said.

She flashed us a hundred dollar smile and clicked her pen melodically. I pushed the glass towards my boyfriend and continued to scoot back into my seat. I looked down at the menu just for a second, just enough to pick apart some letters in the alphabet and piece them together in my mind.

"Can I have the single stack of pancakes," I faced her and said loudly. Eddie dropped the straw from his lips and stared at me. I could feel it. I felt his loving gaze warm my cheeks and surround me like a hug as I watched the waitress scribble down my words. "The same," Eddie said, still staring at me. She walked away with our orders and I rolled my eyes while turning my head to face him.

"Geez, Eds. I know ya love me, but can you give the girl some attention when she's taking your order?"

He blushed. "No," he said with a smirk, "not when you're in front of me."

I took an extra straw from the center of the table and ripped off one edge. I stuck it in my mouth and blew hard, the paper casing hitting Eddie in the face. I crossed my arms and stuck my nose up in the air.

He gasped audibly and did the same. We laughed and laughed and acted like little kids again. He slowly turned his giggles into sighs. I stopped laughing.

"What?" I asked, pushing the paper pieces aside and paying full attention to my boyfriend.

He sighed again. "It's just-" he paused, "I don't know how long this happiness is going to last."

He slowly sunk in his seat and stared blankly at the table. I reached out my arm and placed my hand softly on top of his. I stroked his hand with my thumb and cocked my head to the side when he looked up.

"If it were up to me," I started, "I would make sure you were happy forever."

He gave a soft smile and grabbed my hand back across the table. We both just looked at each other. The other people in the diner did not bother us. We drowned out the noises of the jukebox humming and plates crashing. The diner was gone, even. All that remained was Eddie and I at the corner booth with our strawberry milkshake between us. We could just barely see each other over the tall glass, but we both struggled on because neither of us could bear to go a second without looking at each other.

Time stood still. Nothing mattered but Eddie and I and the moment we shared still lives on in my head. I wish I could have given him what I said I wanted to. He surely deserved to live a long life full of happiness. And I would give it to him a thousand times over no matter what it took out of me.