greetings from stardust

chapter 9

The first thing Eddie feels in the morning is a splitting headache. The next thing he feels is Richie slumped over him, still in his jeans and shirt. He opens his eyes, hand moving up to shield them from the blinding sun coming through the curtains, and groans.

"I know," Richie says, sounding far away. "I did the same thing."

"Fuck, what time is it?" Eddie blinks, trying to focus in on the clock on the bedside table, but turning his neck hurts so he gives up.

Richie grumbles. "All I know is that the sun has been up for a long time," he says. "And it won't go away no matter how much I plead."

Eddie massages his temple. "Did we even eat dinner last night? I don't think we did."

"Nope," Richie rolls over to stretch. "We did not."

Eddie is going to say something else about how stupid that was and how they didn't even brush their teeth or pull back the covers, but a sudden lurching in his stomach has him jumping out of bed abruptly and running to the bathroom.

He hears Richie say from the bed, "Yup, did that too."

They lay in bed for a little while longer, but soon the gnawing of hunger is too much to bear. They both take quick showers — too awful feeling to take one together — and pack their things. Richie fills the empty bottles with tap water while Eddie gives Dot some attention, scratching her belly and behind her ears, promising to get her some food too and apologising over her missed dinner.

After checking out, they head across the street to McDonalds. Nothing like a greasy burger at 11am when you're hungover — besides, it's probably all they can afford now. They get two for Dot as well, splitting a fry and tossing a few to her under the outside table they're sat at.

They're quiet as they eat. It could be blamed on the headaches and exhaustion, but Eddie knows it's more than that. Today is the last day. The last day of this little bubble, the road trip life they got comfortable with, and tomorrow will start their new lives. It was fun to daydream and talk about before, but now with it so close...

Eddie watches Richie toss down another fry. Is he nervous too? Not just about school, and a new town, but about what it will mean for them? Or is that the last thing on his mind, not even something to worry about? Maybe he knew all along that it was temporary. Eddie knew too — at least, he thought he did. Now, the idea that last night may have been their last night of sleeping tangled up together; it makes him want to throw up again.

"Hey," Eddie says, remembering something. "Um, last night... Well, you said you wanted to tell me something. But you fell asleep."

Richie looks up, expression unreadable. He's quiet a minute, Eddie assumes he'll say it now, whatever it was. But instead he just says, "I don't remember. Probably that I was tired, or something. I dunno."

"Oh," Eddie nods. He tries not to feel disappointed.

"So," Richie says, clearing his throat. "Eight hours left. Are you ready to be a California dude?" He uses a ridiculous accent that Eddie is sure no one in California actually has.

Eddie laughs. "I am excited to see the ocean," he says. "There's a lot more waves on the Pacific side, we might see some surfers."

Richie grins. "Yeah, bet you wanna see some surfers, in their tight wetsuits." he says.

It's not... not true. But Eddie rolls his eyes anyway. "You're so obnoxious," he says.

"Yeah," Richie starts to clean up their trash. "I am. I'm excited to get there though, and to see Aunt Bea."