the kissing bridge [reddie+stenbrough]

4

Eddie got on his bike. Bill climbs up the ladder.

"Eddie, W-Where are you going?"

"Home! I'll come back later!"

Bill climbed back down the ladder and Eddie left for his house.

"D-Don't worry, Rich, he said he w-w-was gonna come back l-later," Bill assures Richie.

"I don't even know what the hell I did to piss him off!" Richie lays down on the hammock. Bill and Stan sit on either side of him.

"H-He was acting w-w-weird last night, t-too," Bill looks down at his lap, "He was w-worried about you, R-Richie. He gave himself a-a-an asthma attack."

"I mean, Eddie's always worried about us getting sick. Maybe there's nothing weird going on," Stan shrugs.

///

"This is normal, right?," Eddie whispers to himself as he rides his bike home, "Why the fuck am so mad about this? I mean of course, I don't want Richie or... Stan... to get sick, they're my friends! I don't understand why Stan would let Richie sleep in the clubhouse... with him."

Wait a minute... why am I so mad at Stan?

Eddie stopped by the kissing bridge again. He stared at the 'R+E' carving. He thought about what Beverly said.

If Richie carves that, why doesn't it say 'R+S'? I knew it wasn't about me.

Eddie felt as if his heart dropped to the bottom of his stomach. He got off of his bike and sat down on the ground in front of the carving on the bridge. He felt his eyes starting to fill up with tears.

"Eddie?"

Eddie looks up and sees Bill.

Eddie starts to panic. "Wait, Bill, when did you- how long have you been here?"

"N-Not that long," Bill said. Eddie let out a sigh of relief. "A-Are you c-c-c-crying?"

"No, I just got dirt in my eyes while I was on my way home. I'm fine. Why would I be crying?"

"Okay... Are you m-mad at Richie?"

"No, why?"

"What about S-S-S-Stan? Are you mad at h-him?"

Eddie takes a deep breath. "No, I'm not mad at anyone. I just... Don't worry about me, okay? I promise I'm fine."

"Okay, d-do you w-wanna come with m-m-me to get the others?"

"Yeah, sure," Eddie gets up and gets back on his bike.