Love Will Find A Way

2

Eddie is alone the next morning because Jake has work. He wakes up when Jake is leaving so he can make him breakfast while he's in the shower. Jake eats it quickly, then kisses Eddie's forehead on his way out.

As soon as he's gone, Eddie rushes up the stairs to start fixing the bed and get the laundry. He knows he has lots of chores to do today, and he hopes to get time in to ice his eye and nose before Jake gets home. So Eddie turns on the radio and gets to work. He sweeps and mops all the floors vigorously, and vaccumes the carpets. He dust every single shelf in the house and wipes down the counters in the kitchen. He cleans the dishes from this morning, then takes all the old leftovers from the fridge. He finds other things to do to keep himself busy, and his entire body aches, and Eddie thinks him and Jake must have had sex at some point last night, because a lot of the pain is around his ass. Eddie sucks it up and keeps working, because he knows it will be worse tomorrow if the house isn't spotless. He's heading into the bathroom now to clean the shower and toilet, when he catches sight of his face for the first time since last night.

He looks like shit if he's putting it nicely. The bruise on his eye is a deep purple in the middle, and lightens slowly to a gross looking yellow color. Slowly, he takes off his shirt so he can see his stomach and back - the worst of it. He gasps as he sees the bruises on his neck from the short-lived choking session. Eddie slowly runs his fingers a long the blue marks and feels like crying. His entire abdomen is covered in bruises, ranging from a deep purple to a light yellow. He shivers, and is about to put on his shirt again when he hears the phone ringing.

He begins a steady jog, as painful as it is, so he can make it before the phone stops ringing. "Hello, this is Eddie Kaspbrak speaking," he says smoothly into the line.

"Eddie, it's Bev,"

"Oh, hey Bev," he says, and can feel himself smiling. Eddie really likes Beverly. He loves all of his friends, but him and Beverly have gotten really close over the past year. "What's up?"

"So you know how Ben and I got that new jacuzzi last month?" And oh, Eddie knows this conversation will not be going in his favor. "We figured today would be the perfect day to use it! It's a little cold outside so it should feel nice. You up for it?"

"Um," he fakes a cough, feeling terrible as he did so. He left them without a goodbye last night, and now he's turning them down for a hangout? "I'm actually feeling a little under the weather, so I don't know."

"Oh," he chest aches from more than the bruises at her dissapointed tone. "Is that why you left so early yesterday?"

"Yeah," he says, feeling his bottom lip. It was scabbed over now from biting it. "Yeah, that's why. So I'll see if I'm feeling better another time, how's that? But you guys can still hang out. Don't worry about me."

At this, she laughs. "Yeah, it might be a little difficult to convince Richie not to worry, but I'll try." Eddie smiles, comforted by the fact that there are people out there like Richie, who will just care and worry about him no matter what. At the same time he feels bad. He shouldn't be making people worry about him, he's not worth that. He never has been.

"Okay, Bev," he says. "Love you."

He hangs up before she can reply.

He sighs and runs a hand through his fair, gagging at how greasy it is. He didn't have time to take a shower last because, well. Because he can't do anything right. That's why. He shakes his head and walks upstairs and into the bathroom so he can take a shower. The hot water feels good on his skin and sore body. He lathers up his hair with shampoo and scrubs for a long time, lost in his thoughts.

He knows he shouldn't have lied to Jake last night. He had already been late, so why did he feel the need to lie, as well? He knew it was just going to get him into more trouble. Another thing Eddie knows, is that he won't be going anywhere for a couple of days. He upset Jake, and now he's going to have to make it up to him. He also needs to let the bruise on his face heal, and by then hopefully the ones everywhere else will be toned down to a gross yellow color. He could probably make it look like he fell down the stairs once his black eye is gone.