Teenage Blue|| Reddie

Chapter Thirty Four- The Truth

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The morning light shined in Richies eyes. It burned his dry eyes and made him sit up instantly.

He looked around the room. Trophies sat on shelf's and it had a red theme. There was one window by the bed and out of it, you could see a tall oak tree with a tire swing and a big red barn.

"You feeling okay?" Mike asked from the corner of the room

"Where am I?" Richie asked as he rubbed his temple

"My room. You passed out at the party." Mike explained, "Beverly and Ben are downstairs getting breakfast."

Richie grunted and held his head. It pounded against his skull like a hammer. Mike took notice and handed him two ibuprofens.

"Did I do anything insanely stupid?" Richie questioned as he leaned against the beds headboard.

Mike pursed his lips, "Well.... we'll talk about that later. I'm sure Bev will want to be the one asking questions."

Richie shrugged and kicked the blanket off his body. It was Sunday so he had no where to be that day. The bedroom door opened and Ben walked in with two plates of scrambled eggs. He handed one to each of them, "your mom made it"

Bev walked in moments later with a box of juice. She glared at Richie and sat down on the edge of the bed next to Ben.

"What I do?" Richie asked while shoveling eggs into his mouth

"Do you remember anything?" Bev snapped at him.

"Not a damn thing."

"I'll fill you in. We get to the party, you instantly ditch us for the Bowers gang and start drinking like an idiot. Then we see our old pals, Bill, Stan and-"

"Please tell me Eddie wasn't there!" Richie cut her off.

"Oh he was there...." Ben cut in

"Mike, you finish. I can't even look at you Tozier." Bev crossed her arms and turned to face the wall. Richie rolled his eyes and looked to mike for answers.

" Eddie was there. He was in the back yard and you stumbled back there. We don't know what happened in the beginning, but we all walked in on you telling him that you had to 'protect him' and that you wanted to
'save him'. You said something else but I don't think you want to hear it. But right now. We need to know what you meant by 'protect him'. Is he in danger?"

Everyone looked at Richie for an answer. He huffed and pulled his knees to his chest.

"You can't tell anyone. Everyone promise that it won't leave this room."

Everyone nodded in agreement

"I officially became part of the Vice Kings. Meaning, I'm helping my dad with jobs and he's letting me in on secrets. He told me.... he told me that the reason my mom left was because she found out he was doing dirty work. I didn't want that with me and Eddie. I wanted him to remember me for what we had before the gang. I want to protect him from the things my dad did and the things I might have to do." Richie felt like crying. Felt like running and hiding from the silence in the room.

Ben spoke first, "what did your dad do...?"

"Can't say." Richie managed to say with his eyes watering and voice wavering.

Bev argued, "so this is the gangs fault? The reason you broke up with Eddie?"

"It was my choice—"

"But they told you that story about your mom so you would break up with him. Because they don't want him to know about the gangs work." Bev was practically yelling. She's never been a fan of her dads work. She knows exactly what goes on.

"No! They didn't make me Bev!" Richie all but yelled back. He stood up and paced the room. "I just wanted Eddie to be safe!"

Mike sadly shook his head and stood up to stop Richie in his pace.

"I don't think you know what your doing to him Rich.... we saw... we heard, what you said. Even if you don't remember. But I will tell you that when we found you guys he was practically begging you to stop talking and crying his eyes out."

That certainly made Richie stop in his tracks. He was crying now, even though he hated to cry in front of people. "What did I say"

"We agreed not to say. It'll only hurt worse-"

Richie grabbed onto mikes shoulders and looked him square in the eyes, "Mike. What did I say."

Mike looked at Ben and Bev who pretended to zip their lips shit.

"No." Mike flatly said.

Richie rolled his eyes and stormed out of the room, grabbing his shoes from the bed side. He heard the others call for him but he just kept walking.

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Eddie woke up the next morning alone.

He had locked Bill and Stan out of his room and heard his mom tell them to go home. Eddie didn't want to get up. He didn't want to face the world and he didn't want to see his friends.

He kept replaying Richies words in his head. It was an awful, drunk, lie and it was crushing his heart. He wondered for a moment if Richie was feeling the same but pushed that thought away when he remembered just how mean Richie was about the break up and with the poem in the news paper.

A knock echoed in his room from his door and his mom walked in.

"Eddie bear, Janes here" she smiled at her son and Eddie internally rolled his eyes.

"I'll be down in a second" he said with a fake grin. She left him and he changed into clothes that didn't smell like alcohol and teenage tears.

Eddie slumped down the stairs and saw Jane all dressed up and sitting on his couch next to Chief Hopper.

"Hey El, what's up?" Eddie sat on the chair across from them.

Before Jane could speak Sonia cut in, "she wants to go to a matinee with you! As a date!"

Jane shrugged and Eddie sighed, "Okay"

The two friends and fake lovers stood up and held hands. Nothing special with intertwined fingers, just palms against palms. Jim drove them to the Aladdin in his police car and dropped them off with money for snacks.

Jane picked them a seat in the audience and Eddie went to the concession stand for popcorn and candy. As he waited in line he noticed a group of boys in leather jackets huddled in the corner. They glanced at him every once in awhile and snickered. Eddie recognized the jackets, it was the same one Richie wore all the time. The boys didn't look too familiar, but around his age.
He moved up in line and got his snacks.

The boys eyes followed him all the way to his seat.

♡
chris