Mixtape

12

12

Beverly Marsh is the one person in the entire world that will not take any of Richie's Tozier's bullshit. Richie thought that she was the only one, and for the longest time he had assumed she was the only person with the patience to handle him, but he is proven wrong by a boy shorter than most girls their age.
That doesn't stop Bev from being the first to slap Richie upside the head anytime that he does something stupid.
Richie is brushing his teeth when he hears her voice, calling to him like an angry mob, loud footsteps stomping up the stairs as if she's wearing the combat boots she will one day kick his ass in. He's peeled all of the bandaids off because he refuses to go to school plastered in teddy bears and flowers, much to Eddie's displeasure.
Richie feels his blood run cold, and then immediately panics when he realizes the scene that Beverly is about to walk in on.
"Rich? I know you're fucking home, stop ignoring me!" Her voice comes from down the hall. Judging by the distance, she must have checked his room first and found it empty. Richie listens for a moment, but then hears her boots walking down the hall towards the bathroom him and Eddie are in.
"Fuck," Richie whispers, spitting toothpaste out and reaching for the doorknob. Before he can lock it, Beverly is barging in and nearly colliding with Richie's chin.
"There you are," she frowns, pulling him in for a brief hug. It doesn't last long, she quickly pushes back and slaps Richie upside the head. "What is your problem? Getting into fights again? Are you serious?"
Richie looks down in shame as if he's been scolded by his mother. He doesn't know what to say, but then again, he doesn't think anything could be said to justify his actions. Bev hates when he fights, he knows better than to start them. He should have just walked away.
"Is..." Bev trails off, her tone quiet and curious. "Is... someone... in here?"
Richie looks over his shoulder, praying to god that Eddie can stay quiet until Beverly is gone. "No, I just got out, guess I forgot to turn the water off."
"Your hair is dry," Bev narrows her eyes.
"Did I say get out? I meant I was about to hop in," Richie shakes his head, putting both hands on her shoulders and trying to push the teenage girl back.
As if he has only just heard the voices for the first time, Eddie pokes his head out from behind the curtain, his hair flattened and a bit of soap foaming up on his cheek. "Richie? Who is it? Is someone there?"
"N-Nobody!" Richie calls back, giving Beverly one last shove before shutting the door behind them.
Richie looks at Bev, internally cringing at her agape mouth and amused eyes.
"Eddie?" She asks, her voice holding more than a hint of humor. "Eddie Kaspbrak is showering? Did he spend the night? Were you... were you going to join him?"
"What? No! Don't be fucking sick," Richie scoffs, pushing her back with no real force. "The kid crashed here last night and then insisted on taking a shower, whatever. It's not a big deal."
In reality, Eddie had shuffled in very quietly while Richie was combing his hair, and with his puppy dog eyes, he asked if he could shower. Richie figured it was a germaphobe thing, so he agreed, but he told Eddie that he still needed to get ready for school in the bathroom. Eddie nodded, and Richie did everything he could to avoid watching the boy's reflection in the bathroom mirror as he stripped the clothes from his body. Richie and Eddie both know that there is a fully functioning bathroom downstairs, but neither of the two mentioned it.
"Why are you here anyway?" Richie asks, desperate to change the subject.
Bev reaches out and touches Richie's cheek, her fingers brushing against the black eye that seems to be improving. "Bill told me that you got into a fight and your parents weren't home. I wanted to stop by before school to make sure you were doing okay."
Richie forgets why he's mad at her or what it was about in the first place. All he knows in this moment is that he absolutely loves Beverly Marsh and her beautiful sun kissed skin, but he doesn't necessarily have time to be appreciating her at this time.
Richie leads her away from the bathroom, returning to his room and going to his closet to get dressed. Bev doesn't bat an eye when Richie discards his shirt, it's as if Richie is a sexless alien that has absolutely no appealing factors in her eyes.
"I'm- I'm fine, as you can see," Richie pulls a clean shirt over his head. "Got patched up and everything."
"Eddie?" She repeats in disbelief, still completely stunned that Eddie Kaspbrak is taking a morning shower at Richie's. She watches the late night television, she knows what that means. It implies that shenanigans ensued the night before, and her mind whirls with the idea of Eddie and Richie getting into those shenanigans together.
"Eddie," Richie shrugs. The word itself doesn't mean anything to him, but the name attached to a smiling face makes his heart beat twice as fast. "Since you weren't around to be so overbearing, Eds filled in quite nicely."
"Eds?" Beverly smiles. "You know, Bill told me that you're starting to hang out with them."
"Mhm," Richie buckles his belt, then kicks his leg up to roll the cuffs of his jeans. "I mean, I wouldn't call it hanging out. They offer something, I would be rude to turn it down. Doesn't mean we're all buddy buddy."
"Bill said you guys had a sleepover," Beverly grins in triumph. Richie knows he won't win this argument, not against Bev. The firecracker girl is practically a forest fire when it comes to being stubborn.
Fucking Bill. You'd think for a kid who stutters he would learn to keep his mouth shut.
"Needed some help with math homework so him and Stan came over, not a big deal," Richie pushes everything in his closet aside to find the clothes he wore when he was 12. These will fit Eddie, won't they?
"You're taking AP geometry, Rich. Bill can barely add 2+2," Bev laughs so fondly that Richie can't help but wonder what's so funny. Is that how fond she is of her friends? Does she find the joy in life in everything that she does? Richie can't imagine what it would be like to wake up and just feel a natural relaxed state of happiness.
Richie shrugs, then says "Is it a crime to have friends now, Bev?"
"No, not at all," she shakes her head, sitting down in the chair and pawing through the stacks of tapes that Stan handed down to Richie. "I've just been trying to get you to hang out with them for so long, you know, it's weird that you're suddenly best friends with them."
"It's not strange at all-" Richie says, and then stops in his tracks when he hears a voice calling down the hall.
"Richie? Can you, um, come here?" Eddie calls for him like a lighthouse attracting ships late at night. Bev stares at him, her eyes resembling the rocky waves that S.S. TOZIER sails on, but still, the lighthouse persists.
So Richie grabs the clothes he's set aside, excuses himself from an amused Bev, and moves down the hall to where his heart is pulling him to.
Eddie's little head pokes out from the door, wide brown eyes hidden behind damp hair, water droplets dripping down his caramel skin like tears from angels. He smiles bashfully at Richie, the question he was going to initially ask dying down when he sees the folded clothes Richie is holding.
"Will they fit?" Eddie asks.
"We can try," Richie shrugs. "Listen, uh, kid. Bev is... Bev is here, so, um-"
"I got it, Richie," Eddie smiles. He looks so perfect in that moment; freshly renewed and so understanding that Richie doesn't even need to speak a word. Eddie gets him, reads his mind, connects on a wavelength that Richie didn't know existed. "Don't say a word to her about last night, right?"
Richie smiles, reaching out to move some of the hair out of Eddie's eyes. A bit of water clings to his hand, and Richie takes it as a part of Eddie lingering on his skin. "Yeah, something like that."
Eddie smiles sweetly, taking the clothes from Richie through the small opening and then closing the door behind him. It's not as if they did anything wrong, they didn't, it's just... it's an intimacy that Richie doesn't want Beverly to hear about. Nobody deserves to know of Richie and Eddie's late night hand holding except for the two boys involved.
When Richie renters his room, Bev is on her feet and digging through Richie's pile of cigarette boxes.
"All out, Marsh," Richie tells her, tucking his Walkman into his backpack after Eddie spent the night using it. "Don't you have somewhere to be?"
"Ben can survive me being a few minutes late," she says, but still heads towards the door. Ben and Beverly always meet up outside the candy shop every morning to eat a quick breakfast before walking to school hand-in-hand. It's a ritual that Richie understands, one that is sacred and he will never break. "Is there anything you want to tell me, Rich?"
Richie feels guilty but he doesn't know why. There's nothing to be guilty about, why does he feel so terrible?
"You hopin' for a love confession? Sorry, Marsh, I can't do that to Big Ben. Love the kid too much to steal his girl," Richie shakes his head, sliding his jean jacket on and searching around for his converse.
"Who said I would leave Ben for you?" She laughs brighter than the sun.
"Are you kidding? Nobody can resist Richard's richard," Richie scoffs. He watches the door, waiting patiently for little brown eyes to make their arrival.
"Clearly not even Eddie Kaspbrak," Bev sneers, not mocking, but more of a friendly fire tone. "Although, maybe you're the one who can't resist."
"Get on your way, Beverly," Richie rolls his eyes in annoyance as he ties his shoes. "Ben will be waiting."
She smiles at Richie, one where her eyes sparkle keenly in ways that he hates. That's the smile she always does whenever she sees through Richie's facade. Her snake-like expression reminds Richie that he will always be the prey and she will hunt him like a wolf. Without another word, Beverly slips out of the door and Richie returns to stuffing his bag full.
"Hi, Eddie. Sleep well? Cute shirt," Beverly's voice carries down the hall, entering Richie's room as if she spoke into a megaphone.
"T-Thanks Bev. See you around," Eddie's nervous voice replies, and then the bedroom door quickly opens up and Richie is met with flushed cheeks. He raises his eyebrows, but Eddie merely shakes his head and says "Man, that girl is intimidating. Why'd you get her a knife for her birthday? Now she's twice as scary!"
Richie laughs, but he doesn't tell Eddie that Beverly needs it for self defense. Instead, he lets his eyes fall down to the shirt adorning Eddie's body, filled with a pair of shorts that are much bigger than his usual attire. Even though Richie hasn't been able to fit into that particular shirt since he was twelve, it still manages to hang off of Eddie's collarbones and showcase such pretty freckles that most people never see.
"You're afraid of Beverly?" Richie asks.
"Rich, I'm the size of a pigeon, I'm scared of anybody that is taller than me," Eddie responds, putting his shoes on and trying to ignore the way Richie is staring at him.
"You shouldn't be, kid," Richie says, throwing his bag over his shoulder and standing in the doorway. "You're the toughest guy I know."
Eddie rolls his eyes and assumes that Richie is joking (he's not), heading over to the door after he declares himself officially ready for school. Richie hums, leading the smaller boy downstairs and out the front door.
"You don't eat breakfast?" Eddie asks.
"Nope," Richie responds, down the sidewalk.
"Why not? It's the most important meal of the day!" Eddie leans down and props his bike up, running with it to catch up with Richie. "You don't ride your bike to school?"
"Because I'm not hungry when I wake up, Eds," Richie lies. "And no. Too many people try to steal it, it's easier to walk."
Eddie wants to push more on the subject of breakfast, but Richie clearly doesn't want to talk about it. Instead of mounting his bike, Eddie keeps rolling it alongside them so that he can stay at the same pace as Richie.
"Hey, Richie? About last night," Eddie breathes out.
"Thought we agreed not to talk about it?" Richie's hands tighten into fists.
"But there's nobody around us!" Eddie argues, then says "So you've never had a crush on a girl? Ever?"
"No. Does it matter?" Richie scoffs, his voice sounding so much lower in the morning. Eddie notices this, but he also notices the way that the early sun laces it's way into Richie's pale complexion, the way the flowers bloom when they walk by, and the way that the hummingbirds sing their mornings songs.
"Don't you at least want a girlfriend? You listen to all these love songs and you've never once craved for what they have?" Eddie asks with desperation in his voice.
Richie looks at the boy next to him in confusion, trying to figure out exactly which angle is being worked at and what Eddie wants from him. Not everybody is trying to humiliate you, dumbass.
"I don't know, I've never thought about it much," Richie shrugs. "Is that what you want? A girlfriend?"
"Something like that," Eddie's face falls, but he keeps speaking anyway. "I want to... I want to be in love. I do. I think it's amazing, no, beautiful. How great must the human race be? We are designed to reproduce, and yet we came up with this silly concept of dating and marriage just to explain our feelings? We love so much and that's just... I want to experience that. Just once. Even if it doesn't end in marriage, I will be happy knowing that I was even lucky enough to feel it. I mean; there's a reason why people write songs about it, right?"
Richie is astonished by the clever honesty that pours out of the boy next to him. This is what Eddie Kaspbrak thinks about? Little Eddie Kaspbrak, an asthmatic hypochondriac, daydreams about having a lover? Richie didn't think the kid had it in him.
"That's... I like that, yeah," Richie nods. "I think you're onto something there, Eds."
"Don't call me that," Eddie responds habitually. Then, as if the words didn't leave his mouth at all, he continues with his previous subject. "I just think it's hard to imagine myself with any of the girls at our school. Maybe it's because we're all still too young... or maybe they're not matured yet... but I have all this love in my heart and I just know I don't want to give it to any of the girls at our school."
"Yeah, I gotta agree," Richie says, "That's why I've been giving my love to your mom every night."
"God, Richie," Eddie scoffs, pulling away in disgust. Richie watches as Eddie moves around his bike so that there's a barrier between them, and he feels rejection hit him like a tidal wave. "I was trying to have a nice conversation. Can't you go a second without making some stupid fucking joke? Jeez. Are you really that shallow? Is shitty jokes the only thing there is to you?"
Richie recoils harshly from the words as if they've burned his skin like boiling chemicals. He begins the parade of self loathing and internal disgust, his mind running loops around insults.
"Sorry," Richie says quietly, and the two remain silent for the rest of the walk to school.