Awnings (Reddie Modern AU boyxboy)

Chapter Five: Awning

Sunday 10:30 AM

Bill: Quarry at noon?

Bill: I'll bring lemonade

Ben: I'll make the sandwiches this time :)

Bev: I'm in!

Bev: I can bring a fruit platter :D

Richie: girls and their fucking fruit platters

Richie: i'm here 4 it

Mike: Anyone need a ride?

Stan: I slept over Bill's house so could you pick us up from there?

Mike: Sure thing

Bill: @eddie???

Bev: omg Richie killed Eddie

Bev: he finally snapped

Bev: Eddie did Richie kill you after anti-prom yesterday?

Richie: yes. eds is dead. we will meet at the quarry today for his memoriam

Stan: rip

Mike: f

Bill: f

Ben: f

Sunday 11:45 AM

Eddie: sorry guys, can't today, I'm video chatting with friends from back home all day

That was odd. Typically Eddie reserved his video chats with old friends during Shabbat services when he couldn't be hanging out with Richie anyway. (There were a few times when Eddie hung out with the rest of the losers when Stan and Richie were at Shabbat, but he usually tried to just organize it that way since they didn't like hanging out when the entire group couldn't be there.)

Bill: That's okay! What about at night? We can all hang at mine

Eddie: I'm hanging out with Jessica tonight

Eddie: but I'll see you all next weekend!

Richie: @mikey can you pick me up too?

The boys were outside Richie's house five minutes later, all three stuffed in the cabin.

As Richie walked outside, Stan could already see he was in a bad mood despite his grand smile and huge "Hey fuckfaces!" He knew this because Richie had a book tucked into his side. Last time Richie brought a book to a quarry hangout session was when his cat died. That was three years ago.

Richie hopped into the bed of the truck as the boys greeted him.

He pressed his back into the cabin of the truck instead of standing up and whooping as they drove. Stan leaned his face against the window in dismay already knowing what he was up against. Stan has known Richie the longest, after all. And he had a feeling he already kind of knew what Richie was upset about.

After about an hour in the water, the losers were drying off in the sun on the rocky shore.

He'd acted like his old self in the water, trying to drown Mike and starting splash battles with Bev and Bill, but when they stopped swimming to start their picnic, Stan could feel the tension smoking from Richie.

They were all sitting on logs and boulders around the pile of food they had brought, except for Richie who was behind them laying down on his towel with his head propped up by a pile of his clothes. He sipped lemonade lazily from one hand and held his book open with the other. He was rereading Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief for probably the third time since completing the entire series. (Something about young kids banding together to defeat evil forces was really keen on him.)