cliché || reddie ✔️

thirty four

This mistake is on the both of them.

It's Richie fault he didn't remember alarm clocks won't wake him up and it's Eddie's fault his thoughts aren't all there when he first wakes up.

How could they be so foolish?

Neither one of them could pinpoint exactly when they fell asleep, legs tangled and arms thrown over the other's waist, but it was late enough to easily sleep through the alarm.

The sun is still asleep when Eddie blinks out of his own slumber. He feels the heat radiating off his lamp that's been on for a bit too long and his mind focuses directly on turning it off. Before he could slowly and gently slide out from Richie's sleepy grasp, his eyes jump over to his doorway.

"Mom," Eddie says. The tight fear in his voice is evident and he shoots up into a sitting position.

Sonia has one hand on the doorknob and the other plastered to her chest. Her burning gaze stays stuck onto Richie as she raises her head and says, "Eddie.. I don't know what to say.. I thought I.." She looks over to her son, more of a saddened than angry look falling over her face. "Where did my sweet baby boy go?"

Eddie looks down at Richie, a shaky hand jumping over to grab the boys shoulder. "This isn't- It's not what it looks like," Eddie tries. His eyes slowly start to gloss over and his chin wobbles, but with Richie right there next to him he seems to be able to get his emotions under control. "Richie had no where else to go last night," he lies.

"I can tell when you're lying, Eddie," Sonia snaps at him. "I've met Wentworth Tozier and he and Maggie are nice, loving parents, just like I am to you. Have I not done enough? Why would you betray me like this, Eddie?"

"I never betrayed you!"

Just then, Richie hikes up a knee and breaths in deeply, beginning to wake up. Sonia raises her chin and Eddie sits up farther, both hands grasping onto Richie as he blinks awake.

"Eds," he says, lifting his head to lay in Eddie's lap, his eyes still fluttered closed. "You wouldn't believe the dream I had-"

"Richie," Eddie sharply spits out. "Richie get up."

The tenseness in the room seems to easily slip past Richie, the boy not noticing one thing as he sits up and grasps around for his glasses.

"What's wrong?" He asks, just as he's pushing the frames onto his nose. Sonia standing in the doorway seems to answer his question. "Fuck," he whispers.

"Richie, do your parents know you're here?"

The boy in question still has his terrified eyes plastered onto Eddie, who's staring hard at the bedsheets. A blind person could see they're caught, there's no getting out of this situation easily. Both of them were doomed from the start.

"Well.. no," Richie says. "They don't know I'm here."

Talking up to authority has always been a strong suit for Richie, his trick is to talk to them as if they're one of his own classmates. But when the authority is your friend's mom catching you in bed with him in the middle of the night, it's a bit more difficult.

"Maybe I should give them a call," Sonia says, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. "Tell them what their son is up to late at night."

"Don't!" Eddie warns. "Don't do that. I invited Richie over myself, so if anyone should be getting into trouble, it's me, mom."

Sonia looks at her son and shakes her head. "We'll talk about this later," she tells him, then darts her eyes over to Richie. "You on the other hand, should leave. I've been seeing you pop up too many times around my house, and I want you out, Mr. Tozier."

Instinctively, Eddie's hand shoots out and grabs onto Richie's arm, the two boys looking at each other with eyes sparked with fear. "Go," Eddie whispers, his words tugging at Richie's heart. "You shouldn't deal with this mess. Go."

"No, I'm not leaving you," he says, keeping his voice just as low. It's not worth it, as Sonia could still easily hear them, but it gives the two a sense of security.

"I don't care, Richie. You don't know how to deal with her," Eddie says, squeezing Richie's arm. His eyes dart to both of Richie's, searching for compliance in this inescapable situation. "Please."

With the pressure being put onto Richie from two different people, he knows he has no choice. No choice but to leave Eddie at the hands of his mother; no choice but to go home.

"..Fine," Richie reluctantly says. "Okay, fine."

From under the burning stare of Sonia, Richie throws back the comforter and gets out of bed. He gathers up his shoes and car keys, not bothering to waste time putting them on.

He can't leave back out the window, so the only other option is to slide past Sonia. His heart jumps up into his throat at the thought of it, but he breaths in deeply and casts one last glance at Eddie.

The boy looks down at his lap, his hands empty in front of him. Richie wants to crack a joke to lighten up the mood. He wants to say "Thanks for the sleepover, Eds. I'll see you later, Ms. K," but deep down he knows his words would be better off silent. Nothing he could do could make this any better.

"I'll see you at school Monday, Rich," Eddie's voice comes from behind him.

He turns around and catches Eddie's eyes. "Alright?" Eddie finishes. A beat of silence passes before Richie slowly nods his head, echoing Eddie's words.

"Alright."