*three days later

There's a Danny Phantom reference in this chapter. Yall should comment when you see it.

I had gotten him by himself, the three of us: him, me, and the thought running circles through his ears.

It was a cold December day, snow falling softly and the bitter wind blew which made me ears feel as if knives gently scratched at them. The night was old and slowly began to die. It all happens so fast yet I could picture the scenes of the previous day as if they were slow-motion movie scenes. Richie was upset, I can hardly remember what about, and I couldn't care for it. That got him even more upset. We were arguing as we walked down the street, all of us, the Losers. No one knew what to do, but someone said something. Eddie.

His words escalated from a 'don't talk to her like that' to a 'you don't deserve her.' That was the last of Edward Kaspbrak for the day— until nightfall.

He left and didn't talk to any of us for awhile, until it was time for me to take out the trash. That was when I caught him walking towards me which a harsh look on his face. I should've known, why did I know? He was angry, you could see it from his messy, untucked shirt to his hair that went astray from itself.

He looked sad, angry, lost. He'd asked me if we could talk, of course I agreed. That brings us to now, on the rocks at the Quarry, soaking in the aftermath of the truth bomb he'd just dropped into my soul as if it were a battle field. It wasn't too bad, I was at peace, I was relieved with myself, maybe this wasn't such a bad thing?

"You like me," I stated, the secret that he spilled into the air and corrupted me like some airborne virus, all he did was nod with his head low, "That's why you've been acting different— that's why you're acting like-"

"Richie." He cut me off.

I smiled at him softly, "That's okay, you can't help how you feel, Eds. So what you like me, that doesn't have to change anything." I put my hand on his shoulder. I looked at my gel nails against his black jacket, they looked even more blue in this light. They were grey but it depends on the the light, I guess.

"But I want it to." He looked at me, he looked heartbroken, I wanted to not exist, I wanted him to be okay again. He wanted me with him instead of Richie. That explained the attitude, the clothes, especially the cigarettes; I guess he couldn't bring himself to smoke them.

"I know you do." I smiled softly, I need to cry, badly.

"Does this make me a bad person, do you hate me, should I hate myself?" The question he asked was genuine, was he really having this inner battle? That's the thing, I guess he finally realized, something in his head clicked and told him he couldn't be Richie, no one else could see it, and we couldn't see it nor help him.

"No, because somewhere— maybe in an alternate reality that's so similar to ours— you're the love of my life. But for now...can I be you're Arrietty?" A confused look was written on his face then turned into one of joy. I grabbed his hand and laced our fingers. His breath hitched and he stared down at our hands.

"Can I be your Eddie?" I chuckled, my breath visible as it looked like the snow was resting on clouds.

"Forever?" I asked.

"Always." He confirmed.

Then came Monday. I told Richie about my talk with Eddie.

        "So Eddie has a thing for you?" He asked as Bill, Stan, and I listened to his external thoughts. I nodded as I grinned at myself, was I really all that? I'm flattered.

       "W-Well, makes sense, Rich, she is smart, p-p-pretty, funny," Bill looked about all of the peculiar glances that were being served to him, " why am I s-still talking? I-I-I am such a spaz."

        "Anyways," Stan dismisses his friend's comment, "What are you guys going to do about it?" He asked, looking between the two of us.

       I looked at Richie and he looked at me, we shrugged and looked back at the two boys. Stan's hair has grown a lot. Back to our Eddie situation, we didn't really know what to do about it, I mean, what could we? It's not like it was such a horrible thing, it was just a thing. We grow up and our feelings change for one another.

         Just then a tall, lean figure entered the library. He was so far away that I had to squint a bit to see him. He was gorgeous, blue eyes, structured face, too bad he was older. Words around school has been goin on about him.

       "He's a teacher's aide," Richie spoke, "Mr. Skarsgård, he's still in college." I raised my eyebrow and looked at the boy— man I should say.

        "Damn." I whispered then felt a hard smack on the back of my head along with the hair of my ponytail flip in my eyes.

         "Accept my love and appreciation for you." Richie said as he grabbed my face and turned it to look at his. I smiled and laughed at my boyfriend.

       I grabbed him by his face and gave him a long slow kiss until, "do you have to do that here?" I could sense Stan's eye roll from a mile away.

       "Fine, we'll be in the fantasy section, don't bother us." Richie said as he grabbed my hand to stand me up and then let me jump onto his back before heading off to the fantasy section of the library. I took one last look towards the front seat of the library to see the handsome man looking back at me. He smiled. Why did he smile?

Finished: Tuesday, March 20, 2018. 5:51 pm

Published: Tuesday, March 20, 2018. 5:52 pm.