𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒏 • 𝒓𝒆𝒅𝒅𝒊𝒆

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟏

Does she not realize how much she's messed up? She made a mistake, and Jake was going to have to teach her a lesson. He knows this; she should know it, too.

"Mr. Cooper was doing detention today," she says, looking out the window. "What an absolute fucking nightmare."

Jake hums. He speeds all the way to his house.

When he pulls up, he's glad to see that the driveway is empty - his parents are out.

"No, but really," Heidi is saying, kicking her shoes off at the door. "It was me and that weird Mike kids - the emo one, you know?" Jake nods. "Okay, well, I was sitting on the opposite side of the room, and I could still hear him complaining under his breath. It was crazy. Also, Mr. Cooper kept like, asking me about my family and all this other random shit." She shakes her head and giggles. "I hate talking to people. Stresses me out, you know?"

She pushes her glasses up her nose and looks at him when he stays quiet. "Jake? You okay?"

Jake turns to look at her and raises his eyebrows. "You made a mistake," he says, Heidi looks amused before something dawns on her.

"This isn't about your parents, is it?" Her voice is soft suddenly, and she reaches out to touch his arm. He tugs it away from her.

"I - I have to teach you a lesson," he says, his voice shaking as he looks at her with wide eyes. "You messed up. "

"Jake," she whispers, her eyes pleading with him. "Please, just... can we talk about this?"

He slaps her across the face, and she takes a few steps back. She looks up at him. Jake's grown a lot since their freshman year,  now standing at 6 foot, muscular from playing on the football team. He towers over her. They're both crying now, Heidi more than Jake, and he grabs her wrist forcefully.

When it's all over, Jake sits next to her on the bed and holds her hand. "I love you," he tells her.

She nods, sighs. "Love you, too," she says softly.

Heidi spends the next year of her life trying to get Jake to go to therapy - each time, he teaches her a lesson. She leaves him eventually, crying and saying she can't do it anymore. Jake doesn't know how to handle himself, so he stays home for a month.

When Jake first sees Eddie, he stares at him for nearly a full hour. He knew he was into guys, he always has been. But this boy behind the counter of the restaurant - he's easily the most beautiful person Jake has ever seen.

He's small, not weirdly small but short enough to be cute. He's skinny, too, making him appear even smaller as he smiles sweetly at the woman seated at the table he's serving. His eyes are wide, a dark brown, and even from here he can see the freckles dusted across his tan cheeks.

Jake knows right away that he has to have him.

The next time he goes there to eat, he makes sure he's sitting in the boy's area.

Eddie isn't nearly as perfect as he looks to be on the outside. He has to teach Eddie many more lessons than he ever had to teach Heidi, but he knows it's worth it every time he has Eddie arching up underneath him in their bed. Or every time he finally gets something to click in Eddie's brain.

He loves Eddie, he really does. Which is why he hates that fucking Tozier boy so much.

Richie Tozier reminds Jake of Heidi in so many ways he can hardly count. Her glasses weren't needed as much as Richie's, but they framed both of their faces in the same way. They both had awful tastes in music, and clothes, and word choices. And they both had fallen in love with their best friend.

Yeah. That's right - Jake sees the way Richie looks at Eddie, and he can recognize it as the same way Heidi looked at him for years. It's so painfully obvious. He's just afraid that maybe Eddie will love him back at some point. It had happened to Jake, so why wouldn't it happen to Eddie as well?

So when Jake got the job offer to work in Texas, he took it without second thought. Eddie would come with him, he didn't have a choice, and they would live together for the rest of their lives. Maybe one day, Eddie would finally have learned all of his lessons and they can live a life where lessons aren't needed.

He loved Eddie, he really did. He wanted to have him all to himself. He wanted a perfect Eddie, in a perfect world, where the two of them could be happily in love.