soulmates~reddie

chapter eightteen

' 'Chee? Is that you?'

Richie froze up. He thought that Eddie would've gone home instead of staying here and waiting for him.

Suddenly he heard his bedroom door open and Eddie shuffled out with Richie's comforter wrapped around him like a blanket burrito. His face was red, his nose was runny and his eyes were puffy...he definitely had been crying and a pang shot through Richie's heart.

He had casually been drinking tea at Stan's house while Eddie was worried sick about him.

"Eddie, baby I-"

"Are we still together?" Eddie asked, his voice cracking and new tears welling up in his eyes.

Richie was slightly taken aback, even though he totally could have seen the question coming..Stan even warned him that Eddie could think they're broken up.

Richie took a few steps forward and tried to go in for a hug but Eddie backed away from him, "You know what? Let's just talk in the morning..I'm sleeping on the couch." Eddie said and started making his way over to the living room but Richie grabbed his arm, "Eddie, don't do this now."

The brunette looked at him with cold and stern eyes, "Let go of me, Richard." and Richie immediatly let go..Eddie never called him by his full name unless he was really serious about something. Richie sighed defeated and looked with sad eyes at the boy in front of him, "I'll sleep on the couch..you take the bed." Richie said and eddie was about to protest but Richie was already making his way over to the couch and pulling his shirt over his head.

He stepped out of his jeans and went to sit down on the couch. The ravenette pushed his glasses up his head with his fingertips and pressed his handpalms against his eyes. He sighed, took his glasses off, layed them on the coffee table and went to lay down on his back, folding his hands on his stomach and closing his eyes.

He heard shuffling from Eddie and when he opened one of his eyes slightly he saw Eddie standing next to the couch, unwrapping the comforter from his shoulders and carefully placing it on top of Richie, "Eds, I-" the taller one started but was shushed by Eddie, "goodnight Richie." he said and walked out of the living room, towards the bedroom, "Goodnight.." Richie said barely audible and it probably didn't even reach the ears of his little brunette walking away from him.

Richie kept tossing and turning but couldn't fall asleep, thoughts kept running through his head and he just wanted to lay in bed and cuddle with Eddie, not lay on the couch and keep on worrying about what Eddie was going to say in the morning.

After an hour or so of Richie not being able to fall asleep he stood up with a groan and walked over to the bathroom. He started raiding the medecine cabinet in search of his sleeping pills. Richie often had trouble with falling asleep so he has sleeping pills to help him fall asleep.

He finally found the box with the word Sonata on it in purple lettering and grabbed it. He opened the box and took one of the capsule pills. After swallowing the pill down with water he put the box back and looked at himself in the mirror. His hand traveled up to his curls and twirled the pink streak around his finger. The streak looks so pretty between Richie's dark locks and he had imagined Eddie so many times with this color..but he ended up with the same color as Henry and Richie with the same color as Connor.

He felt a tear roll down his cheek but he quickly wiped it away and started making his way back to the couch. On his way there he walked by his bedroom door which was halfway open and he had a direct view of Eddie in his bed. The boy was trashing around and looked really uncomfortable and for a moment he wanted to go over to him and calm him down with his presence but he didn't want Eddie to get mad at him so he shook that thought off and slowly walked away from the door.

When he was finally back on the couch he wrapped his comforter around him and suddenly felt very tired. His eyes closed slowly and he finally fell asleep.

~

Richie woke up the next morning by Eddie softly shaking his shoulder. He blinked up at the blurry figure and stretched himself out with a groan. He went to sit up and rubbed in his eyes with his left hand while feeling for his glasses with the other. His fingertips bumped against the cold frame so he grabbed them and pushed them up his nose.

He looked at Eddie who was sitting in the armchair and saw that Eddie was already showered and dressed while Richie was still sitting in his boxers. Eddie's hands were neatly folded in his lap and he had a kind of sad expression on his face. The ravenette was just about to ask if something was wrong when Eddie cleared his throat, "Richie..We need to talk."

Richie was fully awake now and his face quickly changed from tired to concerned, "Eddie...Don't say that you're gonna break up with me." he said with a chuckle at the end to try and lighten the mood which had become so depressing and sad in the span of not even two seconds.

He stared at the brunette who held his head down and he suddenly saw a tear running down Eddie's face and a very quiet 'I'm sorry.' came from the boy sitting in front of him.

Richie tried to process what was happening and started shaking his head, "No..nonono, Eddie, baby..we don't need to do this." he rambled and scooted closer to the edge of the sofa so he could lay a hand on Eddie's knee.

"It's for the best Richie. I need time for myself so I can think things through. I'm sorry." Eddie's voice broke. Richie also had tears streaming down his face and he looked at Eddie with a painful expression.

After a while, Eddie stood up and took a few steps forward so he stood between Richie's legs. He took the ravenette's face between his hands and leaned down to connect their lips one last time before pulling away and picking up a box next to the arm chair. Richie hadn't even noticed the box but he now saw that it contained most of Eddie's stuff.

The brunette held out his hand and around his pointer finger dangled his key to the appartment. Richie took a deep, shaky breath and slowly took it off of his finger and stood up to walk Eddie out. This is really happening, he thought to himself.

They stopped at the door and Eddie looked Richie deep in the eyes, "We'll still be friends right?" he timidly asked, to which Richie answered, "Ofcourse! Losers don't forget eachother like that." he said with a smile but Eddie could see that he was holding back tears. Eddie opened the door and stepped outside and looked over his shoulder one more time to give a polite smile to Richie. The spectacled one gave one back and when Eddie was out of sight he closed the door and slid down against it.

He started crying and wrapped his arms around his knees. His loud sobs echoed through the appartment and he felt his heart break. Richie pushed the feeling down and suddenly his mind started screaming at him to get his phone. He walked over to the living room to retrieve his phone from the coffee table and through teary eyes he pressed in a contact and put the phone up against his ear.

It rang.

It rang a second time.

It rang a third time but halfway through the phone was picked up, "Hello?" he heard from the other side of the line.

Richie tried to form coherent words while still sobbing and struggling with his breathing but the only thing that came out was a breathy, "Connor.."