"do you ever think about him?" richies voice was quiet, barely even a whisper. eddie opened his eyes and looked up to richie, who was staring straight at the ceiling.
"think of who?" eddies voice was also quiet, though he didn't exactly know why. the two were in richies room, no one else was home due to richie parents leaving for the weekend. there was no reason to be whispering as they were.
"henry." eddie let out a soft sigh.
no.
well, yes.
kind of?
what was an appropriate answer?
of course eddie though about him. not in any way particular. just about how he was doing, or if he was okay.
if he was taking care of himself.
"no, richie. of course i don't." richie tore his eyes from the ceiling, and brought them to eddies, meeting his gaze. richie face struggled to find an expression.
"eds," richie sighed, pulling eddies small form closer to his own.
"what?" eddie looked up, and waited for him to continue.
"you don't have to lie to me. whatever you have to say it's fine. i just, i just want you to talk to me. ever since you talked to him the other day, you've been weird. you won't even tell me what he said."
"richie, i won't tell you what he said because it doesn't matter. it wasn't anything of substance." though, to eddie, it did matter. as much as he hated to admit it, what henry said hurt his feelings.
it wasn't like eddie really meant to cheat, he really didn't.
eddie isn't a cheater. he just couldn't take it anymore. he wasn't in love with henry. he needed to confirm that. he needed to know if how he felt for richie was right.
not that wording it like that makes it feel any better.
sure, his way of going about it wasn't the best. it didn't take a rocket scientist to prove that, and eddie was willing to admit it. but it led to him being able to be with richie, and that's all he cared about.
"if it doesn't matter, why can't you just tell me? we aren't supposed to keep things from each other, eddie. you're supposed to tell me when something is bothering you." eddie let his head fall back onto richies inner arm. he didn't want to talk about it. eddie wanted to forget about henry bowers, he wanted to move on with his life.
"i'm not keeping anything from you, rich."
"you're being defensive. why are you so insistent on keeping it from me? should i be worried? because i'm really fucking worried." eddie sat up, confusion and sadness surrounding him. worried? for what?
"richie, you have nothing to worry about. why would you be worried?"
"wouldn't you be worried if i was on the phone with my ex in the middle of the night and when you asked about it, i stayed quiet? i'm not trying to accuse you of something but denying anything at all is making me anxious. i'd rather you just tell me what's going on than let me find out later o-"
"he knows that i slept with you the night before we broke up. he knows everything." eddie said, so fast that richie almost missed it. richie stayed silent, not really knowing what to say.
"eds," richie couldn't find the right words, but he didn't want to leave the air silent.
"please don't. i just feel awful. i don't, it's not like i regret it, because i don't. i don't regret anything that i've done with you, i don't regret leaving him. i just, i feel like shit." richie grabbed eddies hand, miming his earlier action of sitting up. eddie leaned over, resting his head onto the others shoulder.
"it's okay, eds."
"no it isn't. it never will be okay."
