cherry bomb ➵ Richie Tozier

twenty

We arrived at my house and Calum quickly hopped out of my car, ecstatic to meet Willy. I smiled at his genuine happiness towards meeting my dog.

It was kind of cute.

I reached my front door, wiggling my key into the hole to unlock it.

My parents must have gone out to dinner or something; I did tell them I was probably going to be gone all night, so I wouldn't have been surprised if they left.

As we entered the house it was obvious they had left, but I wasn't complaining.

Willy yipped loudly from his crate, desperately whining to be let out. I smiled as I approached the crate, watching as Calum's eyes lightened up and his mouth fell agape.

"OH-MY-GOSH-HE'S-SO-FUCKING-CUTE-CAN-I-PLEASE-PET-HIM?!?"

I chuckled, unhooking the latch to set Willy free. He bounded straight up to me, happily greeting me with kisses and rapid tail wagging.

He scurried over towards Cal, his tongue sticking out as if he were smiling. Calum sat down on the floor, cooing hellos to Willy in a high pitched voice.

"I don't know why Ashton would have ever mentioned you being a dog person," I stated sarcastically, poking fun at him for how much he was enjoying his time with the dog.

Calum shot me a smirk, "so Ash has been talking about me?"

I shrugged, "he didn't say much. Just that you were a dog person and we would definitely get along."

Scooping Willy's good into his dish, I placed the bowl on the ground for him to eat.

Calum watched as my dog scurried away from him happily, ecstatic to eat his dinner. His gaze shifted back to me, the two of us holding a comfortable eye contact.

He looked down at his hands in his lap, "Ash talked to me about you, too."

I raised an eyebrow, "oh? And what did he say?"

"Not much." Calum licked his lips, looking back up at me with his piercing brown eyes.

"Just that you were kind of single."

"He said I was kind of single?"

He nodded, "yeah. He said you had some weird thing with that grumpy kid, but that you - technically - didn't have a boyfriend."

I broke eye contact, blushing deeply at the thought of Ashton telling his friends over the phone about how he had made a new friend who had a serious issue with keeping her feelings straight.

Calum laughed slightly at the state his words had put me in. "So what about Richie? Are you two a thing?"

He stood up and walked over to the kitchen island I was leaning against, resting his hands on it as he gazed at me, awaiting my answer.

How I longed to be able to tell Calum that we were a thing, and that Richie loved me. That he thought of me every night while he lay awake in bed. But that simply wasn't true. My liking for Richie was completely open ended. Half of a loop, the other half non existent, leaving the semi circle open and exposed to the world.

I gulped back, shaking my head, "no," I began, disappointment ringing in my tone, "Richie and I aren't a thing."

He smirked slightly, "you sound disappointed about it."

I tried blocking off my emotions. Nothing was ever going to happen between Richie and me. Why the fuck would an angel like Richie fall for someone like me? Why the fuck did I let him contort through my heart's steel armor in the first place? All he was bound to do was hurt me, and that's exactly what would happen to me if I kept liking him. I'd just end up getting hurt when he chose a prettier, sweeter girl over me.

"No. I'm not disappointed," I stated firmly, trying to convince myself more than convince Calum.

He didn't seem very convinced.

Moving a single step towards to me, he raised his hand to push a stray piece of my hair behind my ear.

He pulled himself closer to me, my knees going weak. I was unable to move under his gorgeous stare.

I never froze up like this because of a guy. I was always the powerful one in a situation. What the fuck was so different about this asshole that I couldn't get a hold of myself?

Was it his stupid fucking smirk or his slightly messy dark hair? Or the way his fingers moved when he showed me how he played his bass? How fucking hot he sounded when he was singing?

The fact that all I wanted to do was kiss Richie, but that wasn't an option right now?

"I'm sure I can take your mind off of him." Calum cooed in a low voice, his lips next to my ear causing me to shiver.

"He's not good enough for you anyway, babygirl."

He pulled away from me slightly before placing his fingers underneath my chin and leaning into me, kissing my gently on the lips. I unfroze immediately, kissing him back.

I couldn't help but compare it to the buzz of when I kissed Richie while I was drunk. This was much softer. Much less... passionate.

I closed my eyes and imagined it was Richie placing me on the island as he kissed his was down my neck and back up again, even though Richie would have handled me so differently. I imagined it was Richie securely holding my hips, even though his hands didn't feel anything like Richie's. I imagined it was Richie's hair I had my fingers tangled in, even though Richie's hair was much softer than his.

I opened my eyes, and I didn't have to imagine him anymore. He was standing right there in my kitchen doorway, a blank stare on his face as he watched Calum kiss my neck. As he watched me let Calum kiss my neck. As his eyes turned cold and he looked as if he didn't feel any emotion at all.

As his emotionless state turned to pure rage.

Rage because Calum had been kissing me.

Rage because I had been kissing him back.

He clenched his face as Calum had realized I was looking at the doorway and stopped kissing me.

"Hey Richie," Calum said nonchalantly, as if he wasn't phased by the death stare Richie was in the process of giving him.

Richie stayed utterly silent for almost thirty seconds, hate swimming in his eyes as he looked between Calum and his hands placed on my waist.

"Get. Your fucking hands. Off. Of my girl."

♦︎

A/N:

Wow I bet you just hAte me for cutting off the chapter right there :)

Next chapter is going to be a Richie PoV,,,, so kEeP yOuR eYes pEeLeD for it!

I hope you all enjoyed the chapter.
Scratch that.
I hope you all hated the chapter and threw a fit like a little five year old bc you can't stand seeing Jessie kiss another guy. lol if that's how you felt I'm doing something right.

Anyway, you know the drill. Follow my meme page on ig @hyulloh yada yada.

Love you all! I'm sorry for making you hurt!!

-copperwise xx