𝐃𝐈𝐅𝐅𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄 ➵ 𝐑𝐄𝐃𝐃𝐈𝐄

xvii. seventeen

DIFFERENCE!

eddie kaspbrak

"so, how are you liking maine?" andrew asked.

"it's good. my friends are nice people, the school's okay and it's nice here." i smiled, leaning my head on the back of the cab seat. "how's chicago now?" i asked. i missed it there.

"really good. kristi, ally and i all miss you, it was sad to see you go really. but ally's tied down to a boyfriend, kristi has a couple flings here and there. and i'm crushing on this boy i know." he said.

"wait, a boy?!" i said, surprised.

"yeah. i'm bisexual now, i've been out for a couple of months now. and i feel so good about it too. there's the occasional bullies but everything is alright for the most part." andrew smiled, clasping his hands together.

"yeah, i got some of my own here but usually richie has me covered." i smiled, thinking about the familiar boy's smile and freckled face.

"you and richie a thing?" andrew asked.

"no, no. him and his girlfriend are having troubles right now, so it's probably best i don't mention his relationship status." i nervously fiddled with my fingers, trying to avoid eye contact.

"alright. but tell me more about richie." he asked.

"well, he's really into music and he has a band and they're really good. he drives too which is good since he takes me to school. and we're next door neighbors. we're friends with the same people, which is great since we're all getting together for a movie night. and we'll all probably stay the night there." i went on, getting slightly off topic.

"that should be fun!" he excitingly said.

"yeah, i'm super excited for it. you'll love the losers." i said. he gave me a confused expression.

"in maine, this is the losers club." i said, smiling to myself.

richie tozier

"guys, the taxi is taking longer than expected. what if they ditched us and they're sucking face somewhere!?" i said, with every ounce of paranoia built up inside of me. i might as well be rocking back and forth in a corner somewhere from the amount of anxiety i have at the moment.

"richie, it's alright. they're just running a little bit late. you don't need to worry whether or not they're making out because they're not!" stan scared me straight by shaking my shoulders and my whole body rapidly.

"you brought all these feelings on to me, jackass. now all i can think about is the negatives. what if eddie doesn't like me and likes him instead?" my anxiety was staring to kick in.

"we'll have eddie sit next to you when he gets here." ben said.

"can you please crowd andrew and not let him sit next to eddie? please, just this one time?" i begged my friends.

they begun to exchange looks before two people began to come down the stairs.

"hey guys!" eddie said, carrying down andrew's bags. "who's ready for movie night?" he asked.

"oh boy, i sure am. hey andrew, why don't you sit next to me?" mike said, going behind eddie and grabbing andrew by his shoulders and propping him down on a bean bag chair.

"let us get in on this!" beverly dragged ben down next to them. beverly cued me to go over to eddie with her head tilting at him.

"hey eds, there's some seats over here!" i smiled happily.

"alright." he said, sitting down next to me on the couch.

bill and stan spread blankets out to everyone, making everyone share but mike and andrew. they placed the movie in the player and started it up. mike flipped the lights off and the movie started.

i tried my best to keep the awkwardness down to a minimum but it was extremely hard to, since these feelings were all i could think about.

"so, what's up?" i whispered to eddie. he rolled his eyes with a smile across his face.

"rich, watch the movie." he leaned over and whispered back to me.

"not unless i can hold your hand." i said. sure, it was bold but what can you expect from a trashmouth, such as myself. i'm a major flirt.

"fine," he said, grabbing my hand. his hands were much softer than they appeared to be whenever i was first around him. he always was taking care of himself, making sure he was staying away from bacterial areas and offering hand sanitizers to the rest of the group. he really put his cleansers to use. "but only until the movie is over, chee." he said, sassily.

"aw, a new nickname, that's adorable," i said, laying my head on his shoulder. "love you the most, eddie my love." followed by a squeeze from my hand.

i caught andrew staring at me. it felt fiery, like he had laser eyes and was trying to melt the lasers through my skin. i could tell it was jealousy, it was very clear he had something happen with eddie that he was trying to redeem himself with. but, he couldn't do anything right now. he just turned and looked back towards the tv.

"that's also new, probably my one of favorites so far." he smiled from the way i felt his chin move on the edge of my head.

"which one is your favorite?" i asked.

"beep beep richie." he said.

damn it, now i have to be quiet...

time skip

everyone was laying down, winding down to sleep. this time, andrew was next to eddie. on the opposing side of him, i was there as well.

they were laughing at something, probably something stupid andrew said. why was i letting andrew get under my skin? i'm not sure and i really wish i knew because i was completely bothered by it. i pretended to be sleeping but i couldn't sleep at all from thinking about andrew trying to wrap eddie around his finger, like trying to make eddie his personal puppet.

"hopefully, we can have more time with each other tomorrow." andrew suggested. "richie was really nippy towards me." he sounded like i hurt his ego or something.

"i haven't seen richie very much this week. he just missed me, that's all." eddie softly spoke, making my stomach twist into knots.

"you haven't seen me in months, eds." andrew complained. "it's really hard to try and be near you when i can't even get a minute in from richie." he said.

"alright. i won't let it happen again." it took eddie a minute to be able to come up with proper words to speak back to him. like he was upset and would've been scared if he said the wrong thing.

"that's my eds." andrew said, happily.

"goodnight." eddie said.

"goodnight. see you bright and early tomorrow morning, eds." andrew said, tossing to the opposite way of where eddie's body was turned.

it was a cold way of ending their conversation but it was the andrew thing to do. eddie was being manipulated into not seeing me. this wasn't going to end well.