Home (Reddie fanfic)

Chapter 11

Saturday 12th September 1986 11:54am

Richie stopped just around the corner of Whitacre street, next to the little thrift shop where he said he would meet Eddie, taking his hand out of his pocket to check the time on his wristwatch, 6 more minutes to go. He tapped his foot on the pavement impatiently, not knowing what to do for another 6 minutes while he waited for Eddie to show up.

Richie thought of where he'd be taking the boy, yesterday he had said they could hang out but had assumed that he'd magically be able to think of something to do in their time together, hoping that any spontaneous actions would pay off, and they would end up having a good time.
He leaned against the outside of a small thrift shop, that had a closing down sign on the inside of the large glass panels.

The whole street was easily visible and thinking that he'd be able to spot Eddie quickly when he arrived, Richie propped his leg on the wall to get comfortable, and watched the people walk by, hoping that someone or something would spark an idea.

The day was warm with a brilliant blue sky, the kind that makes you happy just by looking at it, and the sun looked like it had decided to stay for a while, after all the strange weather changes and rain they had throughout the past week.
There was a light breeze, that didn't do much other than give rise to the occasional goosebumps. It wasn't too crowded but there were a fair amount of people walking up and down past Richie, jostling along the main street, mostly women gossiping or strolling a pram, people travelling to their weekend jobs, but also small groups of teenagers that would walk by and give Richie a judgmental look, as most teenagers did, probably wondering why he was standing all alone outside a shop like a loser.

3 more minutes went by and Richie still didn't have any ideas of where he and Eddie would be going, or of what they would be doing, and sighing, he furrowed his eyebrows, knowing he should have thought about this sooner.

What could they do? The theatre was only open Wednesday and Friday nights, and nowhere else even mildly entertaining would open before 5pm. Come on...come on....think think think.... where would a good place to hang out be?... Hold on!
The boy suddenly perked up, half smiling to himself. Yes! He could take Eddie to the arcade!

That would be the perfect place and - wait....nevermind, Richie sank back down, the smile slipping off of his face as he remembered that the arcade was closed until 3pm on Saturdays. He groaned to himself, who even came up with that rule? It didn't even make any sense, why have the arcade open on the weekdays when most kids have school and leave it closed till 3 on a Saturday? They need a new marketing plan, Richie thought, leaning back against the wall.
He gave up trying to think of places to go, and just hoped that Eddie would have something fun in mind.

Speaking of Eddie, the boy checked his wristwatch again, 12:02, Eddie's probably here. His eyes immediately looked up and over at the people surrounding him, again, he could see the ladies and their prams, the people going to work. Wait, was that him?

Richie squinted at the far end of the street, nope, just a toddler with a red balloon. After a few minutes of scouring the streets he'd spotted 4 more groups of judgy teenagers, a man handing out leaflets for a circus, even a teacher from school, but still no sign of Eddie.

He stood on his tiptoes, checking the corners of the street to see if he might have missed the small boy, in case he had been trampled or something, but no luck.
Richie pursed his lips up a bit, turning to walk down the street, maybe the boy had gotten the street wrong? He should probably check the next street, just in case, he made a move to turn and then caught sight of his reflection, in the glass of the thrift shop he had been standing in front of, stopping to look at himself.