Perfectly imperfect

evergreen

"So uh, the bowling ally?"

Richie jumps a bit when he hears a soft voice creep behind him during lunch.

"Holy shit, you scared me damn" richie breathed out clutching his chest.

Eddie giggled, and Richie's heart soared.

"Yes, after you m'lady" richie did one of his accents, hard to tell which one, maybe a mix of Portuguese or French even though he attempted British.

Eddie winked three times and snapped his fingers. Richie ignored it.

As Eddie and richie walked to the bowling alley, which was only a few minutes away since everything in Derry was so damn close, Eddie thought of school.

In science, they were learning about different trees and how they adapt. One of them being the evergreen tr—

"Evergreen!"

Eddie felt the word slip past his mouth. His face burned with embarrassment. Richie smiled at the boys weird enthusiasm for trees.

"Where?" Richie asked, trying so desperately to distract himself from the boy's beauty and tune into his interests.

"Oh.. uh I thought I saw one." Eddie muttered quietly. Sometimes everything was so damn hard, he wished he could just explain it.

Eddies face scrunched up into a look of disgust and Richie felt his heart drop.

When they walked in, eddies head jerked and Richie thought he was looking at something, something important it seemed.

"What?" He asked again quietly.

Eddie had heard him but he just was so embarrassed. Why couldn't he control himself? He ignored the question with sweat rolling on his neck.

They went to go buy their shoes and everything was looking up from there. The cashier ended up making a cheesy joke about the shoes or whatever. Eddie wasn't tuning in because he felt another tic coming.

He rolled his eyes as they walked away. Richie smiled warmly at the boy, so cute when he was annoyed.

They went to their land and grabbed the ball, Eddie decided to start some small talk.

"So did you grow up here?" Eddie asked.

Richie nodded his head, the only place he had ever known was here. His mom unable to afford vacations.

"You?" Richie asked, getting ready to bowl. Eddie shook his head.

"I used to live in California." He reminisced. Oh that place was magical, always warm, bright, sunny. The Street always packed and new strangers to tal—

"Why'd you move?" Richie had bowled, missing 3. His voice questioning Eddie. Eddie was nervous now that he could see Richie's face better, lit up by the neon signs.

"Because.. my mom thought schools here were better." Eddie stirred up a lie. They moved because he was bullied for his Tourette's. It got so bad too, he got a few death threats.

"Oh" richie breathed out as eddie jumped