"What are you smiling about?" Stanley stared at him. "She called you a dumbass."
Eddie's smile only grew bigger. "I know. Ali Sumner called me a dumbass."
***
in which ali sumner befriends a group of outcasts and finds herself harassed by ronald mcd...
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FOURTEEN: Calm
Words: 866 (including non-story related words such as these)
Author's Note: i have nothing to say, just, i tried. I really tried- ***
"WHAT THE FUCK! WHAT THE FUCK, WHAT THE FUCK, WHAT THE FUCK!"
Eddie was a fast-talker. Ali had figured that out on the first day they met. But the speed and pitch he was talking in at that moment...
Ali was convinced she was talking to a chipmunk.
A scared, pale-faced, asthmatic chipmunk.
They had run for a whole twenty minutes, in the middle of the road in a street they didn't get the chance to see the name of.
"Okay, Eddie, calm down, alright?" Ali's heart was pounding out of her chest so hard she thought she might've been having a heart attack. "Calm-"
"HOW THE SHIT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO THAT?!" Eddie practically screeched.
He was grasping his inhaler so tight, he forgot he even had it.
"Here." Ali tried to say as calmly as she could but she was shuddering uncontrollably. She pointed to his inhaler. "Just breathe first, okay? Don't die yet."
Eddie stared down at his inhaler with wide eyes as if he didn't know what it was or how to use it.
"Eddie, you put that in your mouth and you...breathe?" Ali tried to explain how to use it but she didn't know how to either. "C'mon, just breathe, Eddie. If you die of lack of oxygen, that won't make anything any easier. Y'know that, right?"
Eddie finally got two braincells together and gasped into the inhaler. Ali expected his breathing to at least calm down the slightest bit, but it didn't.
"Better?" Ali tried anyway.
"No." Eddie shook his head frantically. "Fuck, no. What the fuck- what the fuck was that, Ali? I don't...I don't...that fucking...shit piece of...fuck!"
Ali was alarmed when Eddie tried to curse but instead let out a choked sob. He was exhausted and so was Ali.
He collapsed to the ground on his knees, shivering in a heap. Ali tried to get him to stand again but when she joined him on the ground, she didn't realize how tired she really was and her legs gave way. She found herself on the ground beside Eddie, barely being able to stand back up herself.
Eddie covered his face and continued to cry. Ali hugged him, not saying a word.
A few minutes passed in silence. It was shockingly quiet around there with only Eddie's sniffles being the only things heard.
After a bit, Eddie finally calmed down, only sniffling a few times.
"Better?" Ali asked quietly.
"Yeah..." He answered weakly.
They both thought they should probably get up, but neither one's bodies moved an inch.
"What..." Ali began to ask but realized she didn't even know what she wanted to ask.
There was too much that had just happened to them. Too much to put into basic words yet too little. Eddie understood though.
"I don't know." For the first time since Ali had met him, he wasn't talking in rapid speed and he sounded calm yet weak and scared at the same time.
Eddie shivered and Ali waited for him to continue. "Was that even real, Ali? Did it actually happen or are we just insane?"
"I'll be honest, Kaspbrak." Ali shook her head. "I think I'm sorta hoping we were insane instead of all that actually happening."
Eddie was shivering and Ali realized it was turning dark and getting colder and later by the second.
With the little strength she had left in her, she stood up and helped Eddie up too.
"Are we gonna tell anyone?" Eddie asked meekly.
Ali hesitated to answer.
Telling someone might have been the logical answer, but who in Derry, no scratch that, who in the universe would ever believe such a thing happened to them?
It was the rambling tale of a lunatic. Nobody would believe them.
Ali remembered their loser friends. Maybe they would. But then again, Richie would think it was a joke like he did everything in his life, and instead of helping them, he would crack some kind of joke that would make everyone laugh and ignore Eddie and Ali's dumb story.
"No." Ali shook her head with finality. "They'd never believe us. We just...I think we just need to pretend it never happened. Or something like that..."
Eddie nodded, agreeing. He had been thinking the same way she had and knew if they told their friends, it would do nothing but convince them that they had gone insane.
Ali looked down at her watch. "I really oughtta go."
Eddie nodded. "Same. It's so late. My mom'll kill me."
They both nodded to each other and tried to walk away but couldn't. They were still too stunned.
"Or maybe just stay here until the shock wears off?" Ali suggested.
Eddie nodded, almost instantly taking a seat by the sidewalk. Ali joined him. Unaware of her actions, she lay her head on his shoulder.
Eddie thought he would start freaking out that Ali Sumner was lying her head on his shoulder. But he didn't.
All he cared about was that Ali was okay and comforted.
The butterflies had died down but a new spark shone as that was the day both, though unaware of it, officially fell for each other.
