Love me or Lose me - Richie Tozier

"Clementine like the fruit?"

"Smile at him in your math class
Strive for him to do the same
Open your eyes and realize he does not know your name
And he does not care to"
- Silly girl by Chloe Moriondo

☆☆☆

When we were there he laid me down on the hard brown bed and sat in the chair next to it.

An hour passed

"She will be fine just a sprained wrist, nothing too bad. You'll be staying with her though until it's fixed. You're dismissed. You can leave" the nurse said, walking out the room.

"I'm really sorry." He had his head down shuffling his feet.

"Why did you say that to me yesterday? Why now? I don't even know who you are?" I sat up and stared at him. Who was he?

"I- I don't know.. I guess I thought it was funny. But it wasn't." He looked up, our eyes connecting.

"I'm Richie by the way." He smiled lopsided which made me giggle slightly.

"I'm clementine." I returned the smile, hoping I didn't look weird.

"Clementine like the fruit?"
"Yeah"
"That's a pretty name"
"Thanks rich"
"Wow, a nickname already?"
"Oh sorry I didn't mean to-"
"No no, it's fine. I was joking."
"You do that a lot huh"
"It's my thing Clem"
"Touché" I giggled.
"Well we should probably go back to class." I said as we walked out into the corridor.
"No, lets just skip, cmon I owe you" he winked.
"Oh I don't know-"
"Oh you're coming with me, there's no excuse." He laughed and took my hand, running out of the front entrance down the stairs and off the school grounds, I hopped onto the handle bars of his bike facing him as I had gotten a lift that morning.
I knew he could see down my shirt but I didn't really care, I felt a rush of excitement to be ditching school. Especially with a boy like Richie.
I'd be lying if I said that I didn't know a lot about him. I didn't know his name, but I knew him from the way people described him, because I was so invisible it was easy to eavesdrop on peoples conversations, I found out a lot about him. About how girls thought he was hot but incredibly crude and gross at the same time, they told me about how he would ditch all the time and him and Beverly would smoke under the bleachers. I gathered he was a bad boy. I just didn't know his name. I didn't exactly have a crush on him, I just thought he was cool. And here I was hanging out with him ditching class, I'm sure this would be talked about everywhere and that excited me.

We stopped on a dirt track through some woods that lead to the edge of a cliff. It seemed suspicious.

"This is the type of place serial killers come to murder people" I nervously laughed.
"You're too pretty to be murdered." He winked
"Ha ha very funny" I rolled my eyes with a smile on my face.
"Come sit" he said as he perched down on the edge, his legs dangling off the edge.
I obliged and sat down, a bit too close, but it was to obvious to move.
"Wow you really need me huh" He snaked his arm around my shoulder and rested it there making me giggle.
As I looked off the cliff around, taking in the scenic views. I could feel his eyes on my skin, his stare burning into me.
"What? Is there something on my face" I asked insecurely.
"No no! You're just pretty- pretty cool!" He saved himself. But I new what he meant.
"I'm cool? You said yourself I'm a loner" I said looking off, I felt vulnerable.
"I was being a douche, I didn't really mean it" "I mean come on, you slapped me in front of everyone! No one has ever had the balls to do that! You're awesome!" He said rubbing his hand up and down my arm. I instantly felt better, reassured.
I rested my head on his shoulder and I guess I dozed off, because I woke up in some random bedroom.