this has a lot of riverly in it :)
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richie could tell that his own mood has shifted randomly and he hated it. he hated when this happened. he would be fine one day and then out of nowhere he would be sad for no reason and it would last for weeks. he didn't know what this was, and it usually went away by itself after a while. he didn't know if he was bipolar or depressed or what was going on with him, maybe he was just sad; but this happened repeatedly, and he wasn't educated on whatever the hell his emotions meant.

when he gets like this, he feels exhausted and unmotivated. he struggles to get out of bed and he doesn't want to go to school or talk to anyone or be with anyone. people speaking to him just annoys him and makes him want to scream and tell them to shut up and go away. he hated feeling this way but he couldn't get over it. he just wanted to be alone- somewhere alone with peace and quiet and nobody bothering him and nobody to worry about. when he thought about it, he really felt like this all the time, this feeling was always there. however, it was usually in the back of his head where he could just ignore it and not pay attention, but now it felt like it made its way to the front and now it's the only emotion he could feel. he didn't know how to explain it, really.

so here he is, still laying in his bed, four hours after waking up. he got out of bed to wash his face and brush his teeth, since he felt gross if he didn't, but then he went back to bed. he brought the covers up to his shoulders and stared at his ceiling. his room was dark, since his curtains were closed. his curtains were dark blue, so they managed to block out a lot of light. richie hasn't left the house in four days. he hasn't really talked to the losers much either. the phone has rang a few times but he hasn't picked it up. can't he just be left alone?

it was mid june, they got out of school for the summer about two weeks ago. he's hung out with the losers a few times, but not in over a week, after his mood shifted.

he checked the clock and it was one in the afternoon, but he was so comfortable so he tried to go back to bed. about an hour later, he was only half asleep, when he heard a knock at his door. he rolled his eyes and groaned, not wanting to get up, but he did anyway.

He attempted taking his covers off, wanting to scream when they got tangled up in his legs and the process took longer than it should've. He stomped to the door, opening it with an angry face before he realized who was in front of it, beverly.

She wore a lacy maroon tank top with olive green overalls over it. Her hair was short, almost to her shoulders. It had a few curls in it.

"What?" He asked, annoyed. He looked at her bright blue eyes and felt his mood shift, but he was still pissed off.

"Are you okay?" She asked, entering his house and leaning against the door.

"Yes. Why?" He answered bluntly.

"You haven't picked up your phone and we haven't seen you in a while. Didn't know what was going on." She explained, walking to his kitchen, opening up his cabinets to find some ramen noodles and a can or two of vegetables.

"Guess I haven't heard it go off." He lied, wanting her to leave so he could be left alone. this whole conversation was already making him feel exhausted.

"Eddie's been asking about you. Constantly asking why you couldn't come with us." She said, turning around and facing Richie, still leaning against the counter.

"So?" Richie asked, but deep inside he felt his heart flutter at the announcement that his best friend/crush has been thinking about him. Beverly smirked at him but decided to change the topic.

"When did you go shopping last?" She asked, looking in his fridge and other cabinets.

"Dunno. A while ago." He was not in the mood to talk about this right now.

"What have you been eating?"

"Why does it matter, Bev? Why are you here?" He asked, she was his best friend, so it was hard to be mad at her, but he wanted to be alone.

"Alright, we're going shopping. You're a young 16 year old growing boy, come on."

"I'm older than you."

"By a month, let's go. Actually, take a shower first. Ya hair is greasy." She said, smiling at him.

He rolled his eyes and went into the shower. he always listened to her as if she was his mom- she sure acted like it. Beverly waited in his room. She picked up a journal she found, not reading it, of course, and she went to a random empty page and started drawing a random picture for him to see in the future. She finished her drawing about 15 minutes later, and soon after, richies voice came from the bathroom.

"Beverly!" She heard him scream at the top of his lungs.

"What?" She screamed back.

"I forgot my clothes! Can you grab some for me pleaseeee!" He yelled, she laughed and rolled her eyes, walking to his closet. She grabbed a pair of black ripped jeans and an olive green t-shirt.

She knocked at the bathroom door and he opened it, a towel around his waist. She stared at his stomach, taking notice of how skinny he really was. She felt sadness rush through her and eagerness to take him shopping.

"Thanks, I'll be out in a few minutes." He said, wrapping his arm around his waist to cover his stomach and closing the door behind her. She walked back to his room and began writing a list of some things they could buy that he could make himself. She wrote down soups, a few fresh vegetables and fruit, sandwich ingredients, chicken nuggets, and some type of drink besides soda. This should be good enough.

She had gotten a job a few months ago when she first turned 16 because she needed the money. She wanted to move away from her abusive father as soon as she could, but right now, her friend was more important.

"Really Bev? We're matching?" He asked, stood in the doorway, a smile on his face.

"Oh, I didn't even plan that," she laughed, standing up from his bed. "Alright, let's go."

They walked to the store, it was mainly Beverly picking things out and Richie constantly insisting that she didn't have to get it for him after seeing the price of how expensive it was.

They got back to Richie's house, putting the food away.

"Alright, we're spending the day with the rest of the losers. You're coming with whether you want to or not. You need to get out of the house." She said.

"You're acting a lot like a mother right now. Are you practicing? Are you pregnant?" He teased.

She shoved his shoulder. He was a lot taller than her, unlike three years ago when she was the taller one. She was 5'3 and he stood at 5'9

"So where are we going?" He asked as they walked along the side of the road.

"Quarry I guess, as always." She sighed.

"I'm not really in the mood for swimming honestly."

"You don't have to, we'll probably just hang out by the cliff or something." She said.

They walked side by side on the way there, a silent walk through the woods to the quarry. Richie stopped and gave her a quick appreciative hug.

"Thanks for everything." He said, letting go.

"No problem Rich." She smiled.

They reached the quarry, where all the losers agreed to meet at at 4 PM.

Richies eyes immediately landed on Eddie, who looked bored out of his mind, before he saw Richie. Then his eyes lit up and he smiled.

Richie went over and sat next to Eddie.

"Where were you dude? We hung out like three times without you and it was hella quiet and boring. We missed you." Mike said.

"I didn't." Stan said, but smirked and winked to let everyone know he was just joking.

"I was sick or somethin." Richie lies without explaining any further. They all sat on the dirt for a little while by the cliff, drawing in the dirt with sticks and talking about random things.

"It's s-so hot." Bill said.

"It's cause I'm here." Eddie said, causing Richie to smile to himself.

"You guys wanna jump and swim?" Ben asked.

"Sure." Bev said, standing up from beside Richie. Everyone else agreed, standing up and beginning to take their shirts off, except for Richie and Eddie.

"I'm not in the mood to swim today." Richie said. They all said it was fine and they'd just go without him.

"My mom will kill me. She doesn't work today and I have to be home in the next hour so I'll have no time to completely dry off and she'll lose her shit." Eddie sighed, bringing his knees up to his chest and leaning his head against them.

"We understand, it's fine." Mike said.

A few minutes later, the rest of the losers were in the water and Richie and Eddie were left behind.

"So, what's the real reason you weren't hanging out with us? I know you weren't sick in the middle of summer." Eddie said, turning to face Richie.

"Don't really wanna talk about it."

"Come on, you can tell me." Eddie said. Richie felt tears pricking at his eyes already, and he knew if he were to talk then they'd start spilling, no matter what he says. He stayed quiet for a few minutes and then began talking. There was no going back now, Eddie definitely knew something was wrong.

Richie stayed silent, avoiding eye contact with Eddie and swallowing down tears. Eddie reached his hand over to rub richies arm which caused him to crack.

"I don't even know." Richie mumbled, looking off to the side, at the woods. "I just- I just, I don't know. It just happened randomly." Richie said, his voice cracking as a tear fell down his cheek. He didn't even know why he was crying. He just rolled his eyes, annoyed with himself. He hated that he gave in so quickly. Why did he cry so easily?

"What happened randomly?" Eddie asked, moving his hand to rub his arm in a soothing manner.

"I just get into these periods of time where I'm just sad for no reason. Like nothing happens, I'm just suddenly down and don't want to do anything or talk to anyone and I have no energy or motivation. I don't know. It lasts a few weeks and then it randomly goes away."

"Maybe it's because you isolate yourself. You bottle it all up inside and after a while it gets to you and it doesn't go away until you talk to someone."

"I don't know. I don't keep track of it or when it goes away."

"Maybe you talking and getting it off your chest will make you feel better." Eddie suggested.

"Yeah but I don't even know what's wrong."

"That's fine, that's normal," Eddie said, still sitting across from him. "Just talk about whatever is on your mind."

Richie chuckled. "You should be a therapist."

Eddie smiled. "I've been told. I'm a pretty good listener but I suck at advice so I don't know about that."

"Well you're doing a pretty good job." Richie said, Eddie smiled and changed the topic.

"You look nice by the way." Eddie said. "Olive green is a nice color on you."

"You can thank Beverly for that. She basically broke into my house, forced me to shower, picked out an outfit for me and then made me go shopping." Richie said, laughing.

"Everyone needs a friend like Bev." Eddie giggled.

"Yeah, she's amazing." Richie smiled. He ran his hands through his hair. He looked back to Eddie who looked like he was contemplating something.

"You okay?" Richie asked.

"Uh, I gotta tell you something." Eddie said, which made Richie nervous. What could he possibly want to say?

"Go for it." Richie said, though he felt like he was going to throw up, but he didn't even know why. It's not like he did anything.

"Well.. uh, I kind of like you, like more than a friend. And I understand if you don't feel the same, I hope we can still be friends and stuff. It's just been bugging me for a while and I need to get it off my chest."

The first thing that could come out of Richie's mouth was, "You like me? Why?" Which made Eddie laugh.

"Your personality, actually." He said, feeling completely calm and relieved to not be holding it in anymore, and that Richie didn't really have a negative reaction that he was terrified of.

"Wait you like me? For my personality?" Richie asked again.

"I know, I was surprised too." Eddie laughed. Richie shoved Eddies arm and smiled.

"Well, I like you too, Eddie spaghetti."

"So uh, what do we do now? Never done this before."

"Neither have I. I guess we go on a date or somethin." Richie said, and they both laughed at the situation and how awkward it was.

"Alright.. wanna go out with me then? Like tonight or something?" Eddie asked.

"Of course Eds! Thought you'd never ask!" Richie smiled widly and they sat together for a little while longer.
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this is all over the place but whatever
it's 2319 words

next one will be out at like 750-800 reads ish