.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

SHE'S TALKING AGAIN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

XVII. bedside notes

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HE JOLTS UP FROM BED, tears streaming down the side of his face. His body covered in sweat, breathing heavy.

Richie couldn't comprehend the horrific dream. His mind spinning and wondering whether or not that was real.

Turning to his side, he sees her. Eyes closed with hair spread across the pillow she laid on. She was breathing. She's alive.

He breathes a shaky sigh of relief, putting a hand on her face and brushing out loose hairs. Her body stirs and she opens her eyes at the sudden contact. Veronica has always been a light sleeper.

"R-Rich?" She whispers through the dark room, eyes squinting.

Richie blinks a few times, unable to speak for a moment. He couldn't believe the dream he had. It seemed so real. So vivid. His mind kept flashing back to the feelings he had and watching as the life drained from her body.

"Hey," He mumbles, playing with the hem of the shirt Veronica wore.

She sits up, leaning over to click the light on her lamp. The yellow light fills the room, she turns to look at him. Her eyes widen at sight of Richie's glossy ones.

"What's wrong?" She asks while pulling him into her arms. Her hands on the back of his head, playing with his hair.

He breathes into her shoulder gently before he sighs shakily.

"Nightmare," He says simply, taking a strand of her hair and twisting it around his finger loosely.

Shaking her head, she presses a kiss on his forehead. They were just best friends, right? Just best friends.

"About?" Veronica presses.

Richie grumbles while feeling a lump form in his throat.

"Hm?" She hums. It was a rule, they talked about their nightmares every single time they had one. It was their way of making each other feel less alone.

"I-I... I lost... Y-You" He manages to choke out. Veronica seemed to get the message as he could feel her embrace tighten around him.

"Never," She whispers into his ear. Her heart ached for how broken his voice sounded.

"You promise?" Richie asks, voice small and full over shame.

"I promise, Rich," Veronica reassures him, her hands playing with his hair.

"I'm not going anywhere," She adds.

There, Richie Tozier vowed to himself that he would never ever let anything happen to Veronica Mills. He was her protector and she was his.

♧

The next day, Richie awoke at nine despite the late night he had. Veronica laid on her stomach, cheek squished into her pillow. He smiles at the sight of her, the window spilling sunlight into the room.

Getting up from her bed, he presses a kiss to her forehead before going to desk and scrawling out a note on a notepad in black pen.

'Went home to change. I'll be back at noon? Let's go to the arcade, yeah?
-R.T'

Ripping the paper off the notepad and puts it on the nightstand before heading to his window and climbing out.

♧

Veronica awoke only a half hour after Richie, rolled onto her side and rubbing her eyes. Sitting up front bed, she flips her hair onto another side. Richie was no longer in bed with her.

She sighs, was it just a dream? Was their makeup a dream? It had seemed so real! Leaning to her nightstand to check the time she sees a note scrawled in Richie's familiar writing. She smiles to herself, picking up the note she reads through it, biting her thumb.

Well, today would surely be an adventure. A small one, if you must. But an adventure, none the less.

♧

Richie came to her house as promised, at noon. Veronica smiling as she bound down the stairs in her house and walked past Bryce, beaming.

"Bryce! I'm going to the arcade with Richie!" She says to him, passing by the couch he sat watching the television on.

"Since when - ah, never mind. Tell me later," Bryce laughs, turning is head to where his sister sat on the ground tying her laces.

"Will do!" She giggles before walking out the door, hopping down the front steps and onto her bike.