The Aftermath (Reddie)

17

Richie's POV

I was at school. I didn't want to be, but I had to. I couldn't miss more classes.

Even if some stupid jock kills me for 'threatening his masculinity.'

At least my friends, the ones that knew about me, didn't hate me. And I would have gone straight to Bill or Stan to try and hide myself. But for one, I hate pussies. And two, I didn't want to see Eddie.

I didn't want to see how bouncy and happy he was despite the trauma. I didn't want to hear his insanely fast rants that I could hardly keep up with.

And there was a high possibility that Eddie would find out from the stupid gossipers at our school. He would be horrified, disgusted for sure.

Gay men had a stigma of being unclean and more common to get AIDs and Eddie was obsessed with cleanliness.

Of course I would be fated to crush on him.

Fuck me.

I got to school a minute before first period. Usually all of the stupid jocks were already in class because they moved so slow they couldn't wait til the last minute.

I ran into my first period as the bell rang. I was out of breath and red faced and everyone turned to look at me. This plan definitely backfired.

Why was I such a dumbass?

I got good grades? But zero common sense was going on up there.

Everyone seemed to have the same disgusted look. Mixed with some smirks here and there.

Some guys were sticking fingers in their mouths and pretending to gag at me.

The red on my face didn't calm down when my breathing returned to normal.

I took a seat in the back and the one kid who was sitting directly next to me switched to the seat over. I was officially a plague.

Ms. Howe didn't notice the force field around me. Or maybe she had heard the rumors and didn't care.

I sighed and put my head down on my desk. At least no one was physically assaulting me.

A hand touched me shoulder and I jumped.

Looks like I spoke to soon.

I popped my head up.

Some senior girl had her hand on my shoulder. She was pretty, I admit, but not me type. Her hair was dark and her face freckled.

"What do you want?" I asked miserably.

She took her hand off of my shoulder, "are you gonna stop pouting?" she asked, "it's kind of interrupting my daydreaming.

I gave a confused look.

"Look," she said, "I get that you gay and hopelessly in love with your best friend-"

My eyes widened.

"but can you be too gay to function a little bit less disruptively?" she turned back around in her seat like she hadn't just blown my mind.

"Wait, what?!" I whisper yelled and tapped her shoulder furiously.

She turned around with annoyance, "what?"

"How do you know-"

"-that you're in love with your best friend?" she cut me off.

I just nodded, I was too shocked to speak.

"First of all," she started, "I'm gay. The name's Mary Ann," she took out a hand to shake and I did loosely.

She pushed back some of her hair from her face then continued, "so trust me, I know the look of 'gay desperation towards your best friend.' I see you staring at Eddie all the time during lunch." She shrugged.

I was still shocked. I didn't expect her to be gay too, she was so pretty and I thought she didn't have a boyfriend because she was nerdy and into books. I'm shocked she didn't have a girlfriend yet, she was definitely hot enough to turn a girl gay.

Not hot enough to make me wanna date her though, or maybe it was just because I was so infatuated with Eddie.

Then something struck me as odd, "wait, you know Eddie?" I asked.

"No duh, I sit with him at lunch, you are just too focused on Eddie to notice the pretty lady sitting across from him," she was smiling playfully. One of those quirky lesbians I guess.

"Sorry," I shrugged, "I'm gay."

Joking was easy to turn to even though I was knees deep in a puddle of confusion.

"So are you and Eddie...?" I asked her suddenly.

"I literally just told you I was gay, why would I be-" she stopped mid sentence.

I was waiting for her to go on but she stayed silent for over ten seconds. And I am not patient.

"You could be bi," I shrugged, "I don't know, people use terms pretty lightly."

She looked up and me and muttered something, I'm guessing it was a swear.

"Yes."

"What?" I asked

"Me and Eddie are dating actually," she confirmed.

I was shocked. I was just joking around, I didn't think she was serious.

"Then why were you going on about my crush on Eddie?!" I asked.

She was silent again and then her face turned into a scowl, "because I want you to stop."

"What?"

"I'm dating Eddie," she was more commanding, "so back off." Then she turned back around.

What the fuck was that?

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That was a roller coaster.

I have to leave to go to a play and then I'm watching a scary movie so I don't think I'll update again tonight.