𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘭𝘶𝘤𝘬 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘮 ~ 𝐛𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐬𝐡

Chapter Eight

AFTERMATH

Maya sighed as she pulled another ice pack out of the freezer, slowly, as she was still a tiny bit drowsy from the day's events. She managed to convince Josh to stitch her up himself, rather than take her to the hospital.

Much to her relief, she also managed to convince him not to tell their dad. Sure, there might have been a few white lies thrown in there, but he agreed.

Richie sat on the chair he had pulled up as he turned around and walked over to him. She gently took his glasses off and pushed his head back. She applied the ice pack with a sigh, causing him to wince.

"Are you okay?" She whispered, examining his face. Richie had been unusually quiet since the fight with Bill. There wasn't even a comment when she had to take her shirt off for Josh to stitch the wound up. She wanted him in there, much to Josh's dismay, but he proved to be very helpful. By being a clutch for Maya to lean on when he started the process.

Josh wanted to take her to the hospital, he argued with her for a good five minutes before Richie snapped at him with an anger neither of them had heard from him before.

"I'm fine.." He muttered, closing his eyes and taking in a shaky breath. Maya frowned as his dark eyes opened. They were watery. Maya sighed and put her hand on his cheek and turning his head towards hers.

"Richie? Be honest, please. What's wrong?" She whispered, her eyebrows furrowing in concern. He took a deep breath and stood up. "Is it the fight with Bill?"

"It's just.. at the Niebolt house.. when I saw you and you were.. you were bleeding. I thought I was gonna lose you." He started, closing her eyes as a tear rolled down his cheek. "And, I was so worried because.. you could have actually died! Maya, you could have died! And I can't lose you!"

"Rich, " Maya started, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I wouldn't have died. There wasn't enough blood loss for that."

"Still! I can't lose you, Maya. There was a lot of blood! I-I knew the moment that the door shut behind me.. I should have tried to get back out! I should have protected you! Maybe if I had, it would be me bleeding.. and you'd be okay." He said, louder this time, causing his voice to crack. "You're like my sister and-"

"Richie, Richie, hey, hey, it's okay" Maya said gently, turning the boy towards her. "It isn't your fault. I'm okay, I'm alive. Josh got me all fixed up, okay? I'm fine. And I will be fine. I won't die, promise."

Richie lifted his head to look at her, before quickly pulling her into his arms.

"I hate that fucking clown." Richie whispered, pulling her tighter but being sure to watch the stitches.

"Me too" She whispered, with a shaky laugh. She slowly pulled away and moved her hands to wipe the tears away. "No tears, okay? I'm fine."

"Okay, no tears." He repeated, with a short nod. A final stray tear fell from his eye as her hands fell to her sides.

"Do you act like that with your friends?" Josh asked from the doorway, causing Maya to jump and turn to him.

"Uh- not all of them.. Why?" Maya whispered, going over to the fridge and pulling out three popsicles. She handed one to Richie and one to Josh before leaning against the counter.

"And you really expect people to think you aren't together?" Josh rose an eyebrow "Really? You act like a couple."

"We do not!" Maya protested, taking a bite of her popsicle.

"You do too!" Josh huffed, with a shake of his head. "Sometimes I still think you're together. He's always her."

"So?" Maya scoffed. "I'm gay, anyways, we've been over this."

"I know! I'm just sayin' that you act like a couple. Anyways, be careful with that arm, or I'm tellin' dad and takin' you to the hospital." Maya nodded as he walked over towards the front door.

"Well.. now what?" Maya asked, turning towards Richie. He shrugged in reply, and walked towards the living room.

"I dunno." He replied, plopping onto the couch. "What does one even do after that?"

****

"Dork!" She huffed, rolling her eyes as Richie caught the candy perfectly in his mouth. Maya smiled, it had been two days since the incident.

She managed to keep the stitches together, she had to tell her dad. She didn't tell him how, because Richie covered for her. He told him it was a bike accident and Josh stitched her up. Fortunately, he believed her.

She kept her internal promise and walked to Beverly's house that night. She apologized to her and the two girls talked the night away.

"You're just mad I'm better at this than you!" Richie boasted, with a teasing smile. Maya scoffed, standing up slowly.

"Whatever, floats your boat Richiroonie." Maya said, standing up. "Let's go raid my fridge."

Richie shot up with a grin, and before Maya could register what was happening she could hear his footsteps pounding down her stairs. She laughed lightly to herself before following him.

When she made it into the kitchen she saw Josh with an annoyed expression on his face and Richie with his head in the fridge.

"When did he even get here?" Josh huffed "Wait, nevermind. He never left, did he?"

"He did! For a few hours.." Maya protested, throwing her arm up for emphasis.

"How can you stand to be around each other for so long?" Josh sighed at the sound of Richie's triumphant yell.

"I dunno, how can you stand to be around that asshole.. what's his face.. for so long?"

"Hm. Touche. Whatever. I'm goin' to Jennifer's." He announced, walking out of the kitchen.

"Jennifer?" Richie asked, well, as best as he could. His mouth was filled with food.

"Jennifer's his girlfriend, they started dating a few days ago." Maya explained, getting a bag of chips from the cabinet. "She seems nice, I guess."

He nodded, and began aimlessly walking around the kitchen. Then the living room. Then back in the kitchen. Then back into the living room

"I'm bored." Richie complained, falling back onto the couch.

"Me too!" Maya agreed "There's nothing to do!"

"We could go to the arcade?" Richie suggested, shoving more candy into his mouth.

"Sure! Sounds good!" Maya nodded, there wasn't much of anything to do. She missed her friends, she did, but after Bill hit Richie she didn't want to see him. The two friends made their way to the front door.

"I don't want you riding your bike yet." Richie said, picking his up. "Your stitches have only been in for, like.. two days."

"Since when did you have a medical degree?" Maya joked, though she still agreed. She didn't want to tear her stitches either. She climbed onto the back of his bike and they were off to the arcade.

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{ Word Count: 1190 }

{ A/n: None }

{ Edited [ ✔ ] 8-20-19 }