𝐆𝐎𝐍𝐄, 𝐆𝐎𝐍𝐄 / 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐊 𝐘𝐎𝐔

ᴅɪᴇᴢ

Friday passes by in a blur.

Bev demands to know what's going on in first period, whispering to Richie in the back of the classroom that Eddie looked awful in the morning, like Richie doesn't already know that. He doesn't tell her anything, and has to endure a round of questioning from Stan next that goes on straight through till lunch.

Eddie is quiet as he tears his sandwich apart, picking at his crackers and keeping his head down. Stan and Mike exchange worried looks, glancing at Richie with raised brows as Bev tries to get Eddie to talk about what movies they should watch on Halloween. Richie doesn't want to lie to them, hates feeling like he's keeping shit from them, but it's not his place to tell them anything. They don't even know about Sam's handsy tutoring sessions, and Richie isn't going to disrespect Eddie's privacy by blabbing about everything to them now.

At the end of the day when Richie has Eddie alone in the car, driving him home, he says, "I think you should tell them."

Eddie doesn't reply for a few minutes, looking out the window with a blank expression. "Yeah," he agrees, but he doesn't sound too sure.

"They're worried," Richie tells him, braking at a stop sign and waiting for a woman to cross in front of the car, clutching a little boy's hand down at her side. "If it was one of them, I would wanna know."

"Okay." Eddie shifts around uneasily. "Tonight, then. We can... meet up somewhere."

They go to Mike's house in the evening and stand out by the fenced-off area Mike and Stan built for strays. Stan and Mike feed an old, black mutt with white socks, and a rambunctious brown Labrador that takes to Richie instantly.

"We found them by the Standpipe," Mike explains, petting the Lab as he noses at his fingers. "I wish I could bring them in when it gets colder, but my grandpa won't let them in the house."

"I'll take this girl," Bev says, sitting in the grass with her legs crossed and the mutt sniffing her hair. "My aunt loves dogs. She'd probably take both."

Richie watches as Eddie sits down next to Bev and pats the top of the mutt's head, scratching her floppy ears and smiling when the mutt turns her attention to him and starts to smell his ear. Richie sits down next, then Stan and Mike, and suddenly Eddie is telling them all everything Sam has done. His voice trembles when he talks about the tutoring sessions, and the staring and the touching and the note, and more notes, which Richie didn't even know about. The mutt plops down beside Eddie and rests her head on his thigh as he gets choked up, and he goes on while stroking her belly.

After, everyone is quiet, and Bev is the first to move. She wraps an arm around Eddie's waist and combs her fingers through his hair, and Richie turns away when he hears her say, "I understand. It's okay," low in Eddie's ear.

Richie can tell Stan wants to say something, but Eddie gets up and wanders away, and that ends the conversation. Mike is livid, turning to Richie and demanding to know where the hell Sam lives.

"Like I fucking know." Richie watches Eddie hover near the edge of the fence, his arms wrapped around himself. "You think I'd be here if I knew?"

The tension sticks around for most of the evening, only breaking when the Lab (who Richie starts calling Dr. Frank-N-Furter) steals Richie's pack of cigarettes and runs off with them. Richie chases him around, tripping over his untied laces and crashing to the ground several times. It makes Eddie laugh, so Richie doesn't really care that his jeans are all dirty and he's covered in slobber from Dr. Frank-N-Furter licking his face every time he skids in the grass.

He doesn't want to leave Eddie's side that night when he drops him off at home, but Eddie assures him that he'll be fine and tells him to stop worrying. Richie reminds Eddie to call him if he needs anything- anything- and drives away reluctantly.