Road trip | | Reddie

5 - the park

Richie pedals hard thinking about what had just happened. He was about to go, his dad stopped him and called his best friend a fag, lied to his dad, then got slapped for crying. He hated him. His pedaling hard with because of pure fury. The rage he felt inside. Like a firework that has been lit and is just waiting to explode. He wanted to scream. He wanted to beat his dad, for all of the times he had beaten him. He thought of his poor mother who somehow deals with him everyday. Richie pedals as fast as he can to the park ready to rant it all out to Eddie
• • •

Eddie sits on the park bench, watching the world go by waiting for Richie to arrive. He has been waiting for about 10 minutes, sitting. Watching the birds, and letting the warm breeze brush against his skin.

He and Richie don't hang out just the two of them that often. They usually hang out with the rest of the losers club. Every so often they hang out and have sleepovers though, rarely at Richie's house. Eddie knows everything about Richie's family and his dad. During the school years whenever Richie would come to school with a bruise or a wound from his dad, after school the two boys would hang out, read comics, and dig into Sonia Kaspbrack's stash of candy that Eddie knew of, Eddie would also try his best to cure Richie's wound. And whenever Richie has to rant about his dad or mom, Eddie would and will still to this day, always be there to listen to him and hug him when he's upset

"Hey Ed's" Richie says with a wave as he pulls his bike up to the bench Eddie was sitting on

"Oh hey Richie. I didn't see you coming"

Richie grabbed the contents from his basket and sat down next to Eddie.
Eddie noticed the red bruise forming on Richie's face, and some stray tears

"Oh my god, rich, what happened" Eddie asks worried, hesitating to touch Richie's face

Richie looked surprised as if he didn't know that Eddie would ask

"Oh, that? Um I feel off of my bike" Richie lies

"Oh. Ow. Do you need some Advil or something? Does it hurt?" Eddie says unzipping his fanny pack digging through the many tubes of pills and ointment

"Nah I am fine. Wow Ed's you got a full first aid kit right there" Richie laughs

Eddie scoffs, "yeah I know right. My mom gets worried if I don't have all of it with me"

Eddie is telling him something, a story maybe, but Richie is lost in thought. He just lied to Eddie. His best friend. He always tells Eddie this kind of stuff, no matter the circumstance. Why did he lie? He thought that it might have been because he was...embarrassed? I mean maybe. It did involve Eddie anyways, his dad calling him a fag in all. Richie decides that he wouldn't tell Eddie so he didn't have to tell him why got beat.

"And then yeah, she grounded me even though she didn't really know how" Eddie finishes. Richie looks at him puzzled. He wish he would have listened to his story. Eddie could tell he hadn't listened to him.

"God damn it Richie you weren't even paying attention" Eddie exclaims slightly throwing his hand up

Richie chuckles "yeah sorry"

"Nah it's fine. Wasn't important anyways.

Richie remembers the stuff he's holding and sets it Down on the ground in front of him.

"I brought some stuff"

Eddie raises an eyebrow peering over at the small pile. Richie hands him a grape soda and the cheese-it's.

"Oh, thanks Rich" he smiles cracking open the soda "what's that?" Eddie asks gesturing to the bird book on the ground

"Oh, yeah I brought this bird book" Richie's replies picking it up and brushing the dirt off "I thought you'd want it maybe?"

"Sure! I was just looking at birds before you came" Eddie says accepting the small book. The way Eddies eyes light up when he saw the book made Richie happy. The way they sparkled.

"No prob bob, it's not like I ever use it anyway" Richie says smiling. "So what do ya think about this trip?"

"Oh that, I am planning to ask my mom later. She'll probably say no...but I do really want to. What about you? Did you ask your parents" Eddie asks "or are they even around"

Richie now wants to tell him. Tell him why he has the bruise.

"Yeah I am excited for it. Um m-my dad was around today" he gulps
"Uh I um. I didn't ask him but I don't know I can't probably still go"

Eddie looks at him confused. He knows his friend isn't telling him something.
"Rich, tell me what happened"

"What? What what happened"

"Rich"

"Fine" Richie caves in. "Fine. So my dad is home and stuff and when I went to leave he asked me where I was going. If he's home which he never really is, you know that, he never even talks to me. But this time he talked to me. So yeah he asked where I was going and I said to the park with a friend and he asked who and. Um" Richie rambles cutting himself off before he embarrassed himself

"And what did you say?"

"I-I um. I said, I said my friend-"

"Richie. It's ok. You can tell me" Eddie says sympathetically, placing his hand on Richie's. He quickly it off though and blushes.

Richie sighs

"Ok. Well I said Eddie," Richie starts. He really doesn't want to tell Eddie what his dad said about him but he couldn't lie to him. Eddie would know he was lying. And at this point he might as well continue.

"He said...he said 'Eddie Kaspbrack? The little. The little..."

A tear rolls down Richie's face. He doesn't want to continue, he doesn't want to tell Eddie the nasty thing his dad called him. Eddie looked concerned

"The little fag" Richie spat, tears now falling every where. Am I fucking crying right now? Richie thought to himself. He never cared this much about what people called his best friend. He never cried over things like this. He was never this sensitive. He looked at Eddie who seemed to have mixed emotions. He looked sad, confused, and eager to hear what's next.

"T-then I lied and said no then my was all up in m-my face then I accidentally slipped and let a tear shed then he slapped me in the face. That's why I have the bruise. Eddie, I am sorry I lied to you-"

Eddie couldn't handle Richie sitting here crying and all he could do was pull Richie into a tight hug. Both the boys felt a spark in them when Eddie has put his arms around Richie. Richie felt comforted, and didn't care that he was crying. He didn't care that he was sobbing into Eddie's red polo. Eddie didn't either. The only thing that mattered at the moment was that they had each other's backs.