"hello?" eddie said into his phone.
"eds. where are you?" henry's voice boomed through the phone
"i'm uh, i'm studying."
"by yourself?"
"no, i'm with-um- i'm with beverly."
"marsh?"
"yeah."
"at your house?"
"uh- no. hers."
"oh, okay. are you free later?"
"no, mom wants me to go to my aunts house and babysit her kids while they go out to dinner. sorry."
"it's fine. call me later?"
"sure!"
"okay, i love you."
"i love you too, henry."
the line went dead and eddie tossed his phone to the side.
"god he talks a lot" richie said, jumping onto the bed.
"yeah," eddie laughed.
"studying at bevs house?"
"he'd kill the both of us if he knew that i was here."
"he'd probably kill us if you breathed the same air as i did for too long."
"probably,"
"how's his group been?"
"they've noticed that i've stopped hanging out around them recently."
"oh really?"
"yeah, vic came up to me and asked if we were having issues."
"oh damn."
"yeah, he said henry's been kind of off."
"weird."
eddie fell back on richie bed.
"why don't you just break up with him?"
"it's not that simple, richie."
"why not?" richie asked, still sitting next to eddie.
"i don't not want to be with him. we don't have that much longer before we go to college, so i'd like to stay with him for as long as i can." richie felt his heart crumble.
"henry isn't going to college with you?"
"nah, his dad is paying for him to go here."
"oh."
"yeah, and he is terrified of his dad so he does whatever he says to do."
"right, yeah."
eddies phone started ringing, and the smaller boy sighed. eddie picked the phone up and answered it, holding it up to his ear.
"hello?"
"hey, eddie? where are you?" vic said, loud enough for richie to hear it through the phone.
"i'm at richies house, why?"
"henry just called me, and he isn't happy."
"what? why?"
"he went to bevs house and you weren't there.
he's pissed."
"oh shit."
"he said that he's on his way to your house right now, so i'd book it."
"fuck, uh. okay."
"good luck man."
"thanks vic."
eddie jumped off of the bed and grabbed his stuff.
"can you give me a ride back to my house? you can hang out there if you want i just-"
"it's no problem, c'mon."
