No One But You ✔️ Reddie

Fifteen

'God, I never come all the way Downtown,' Cal commented, settling himself down in one of the red pleather chairs. He sipped at a martini. 'Hope we get some special treatment from your new friend after the show.'

Eddie squirmed, 'He's not exactly my friend. I just bumped into him and remembered we enjoyed it last time.'

Eddie felt like he remembered so much more. In the nights following meeting Richie Tozier, he'd been plagued with nightmares of lepers, spiders and clowns, and Richie had been in almost every single one. He shuddered.

Richie came out onto the stage after he was announced and started his set. As he scanned the crowd, he spotted Eddie sat with Cal. The fluttering feeling returned, along with an uncomfortable surge of jealousy. He smirked at Eddie, then performed the rest, periodically glancing over to see if Eddie was laughing. He was.

At the end of the set, Eddie went to the bar to get himself and Cal another drink.

'What's your poison?' Richie asked, sidling up to Eddie. He grinned, feeling strangely connected to Eddie, as though he'd known him for a long time.

'Martinis tonight.' Eddie said, holding up the two drinks.

Richie leaned over the bar and hollered at the staff. 'Hey, Ralph? Put these on my tab. And can I get one too?' The man nodded, and Richie stood up. 'As a thanks for coming,' he said. 

'Thanks,' Eddie said, strangely touched. 'Great set tonight. Better than the first one, I thought.'

Richie was handed his drink. He swirled it and swore that he could smell buttery popcorn. 'Good, I'm glad. I've figured out the stage persona now; Trashmouth, I mean. Feel like I'm getting better at bridging the gap between him and me.'

Images again, flooding Eddie's brain. A bridge. A sunset. A hammock. An ice-cream cone. A photobooth. He was staggered at how quickly, how lucidly they appeared. Not only the visual clarity, but viscerally, somewhere tugging on the strings of his heart.

'Do you want to come and sit down?' Eddie offered.

Richie looked over at the tall blonde man sat at Eddie's table. He winced a little before asking, 'I'm not interrupting, am I? I mean, you two aren't,' he raised his eyebrows and waggled two of his fingers.

Eddie laughed, 'What? No! No, no, we're just friends.' He considered that this might be a good opportunity to tell Richie about Myra, but he held his tongue.

Richie was relieved, ridiculously relieved. 'Sure, I'd love to come and sit. In that order.'

Eddie screwed up his nose and snorted, 'Gross. I thought you said you and Trashmouth were different people.'

Richie smirked, 'Maybe more like two sides of the same person. Gotta come from somewhere.'

Richie found Cal easy to talk to, as did most people, but he only focused so much on Cal so that it wasn't obvious how interested he was in getting to know Eddie. It felt like a predicament he'd navigated before, but he couldn't think from when.

Eddie was happy to see his two friends getting along, but he resented every time that Richie's attention diverted to Cal. It was a familiar feeling, but he couldn't think from when.

'Oh, you'll never guess who's just around the corner.' Cal tapped Eddie's shoulder. 'Kelly Powell.'

'From college?' Eddie asked, easily placing the face. She was a nice enough girl, bubbly, fun-loving.

'Want to go and say hi?' he asked. 'It's that little club called Domino.' 

Richie nodded, 'It's a nice place. Want to go check it out, Eds?'