Hope you are happy and well! We're getting closer to the end...
____
Eddie happily sits down at the lunch table with a buzz of excitement radiating through his body. He sets a medium sized box into the middle of the table, along with the other collection of gift-bags and presents already set up.
"I can't believe that twat is eighteen today, and I had to spend my weeks savings on a gift for him." Stanley says jokingly whilst rubbing his temples. The others begin to laugh at his usual sarcasm.
"I'm sure he'll appreciate it. Plus, you didn't complain about getting Bill a present on his birthday!" Ben smiles cheerily at the curly haired boy sat opposite him. Stanley's cheeks instantly begin to glow red, a few sniggers rising quietly from amongst the group at his expense.
"I was only being nice. Also, let's not forget that Bill isn't a total fuck-brain like Richie. I think that's one thing we can all happily agree on." Stanley rolls his eyes a little.
"Hmm, I beg to differ." Beverly leans back into her seat and causally rests an arm around Eddie, the small boy automatically resting his head on the girl's shoulder. She chuckles, "I think the present you got Bill was a little more that just being nice, Stannie."
Stanley's eyes instantly narrow towards the girl.
"G-Guys, come on." Bill shakes his head at the two bickering. But it doesn't stop there.
"Wait, she's right. Didn't you get him like a trip to France or something?" Ben announces suddenly, making Stanley's eyes widen as he snaps his head towards the boy talking.
"Ben! You little–"
"Trip to France?!" Bev shoots forwards all of a sudden, cutting the embarrassed teenager off. She quickly turns to Bill. "What the fuck? He really got you that?!"
Bill shrugs casually. "I-It's a day-trip, yeah. It's b-booked for Christmas t-time."
The others all exchange shocked expressions for a few moments whilst Stanley covers his face and groans from embarrassment. Meanwhile, Eddie just lifts his head from Beverly's shoulder and smiles across at Bill.
"That sounds amazing, I hope you guys have a great trip. France is amazing at Christmas time." He smiles innocently.
Bill then cocks his head to the side like an intrigued puppy all of a sudden. "You've been?"
"Yeah, one time when I was fifteen. It was so pretty." Eddie smiles.
They all begin to fall into causal conversation about Eddie's trip and other holidays they've all been on in the past. Stanley is thankful that they've moved on from the subject of his gift to Bill, and finally eases into the conversation himself. Their chatter carries through the beginning of lunch until a sudden presence arrives at the table.
They all look up at the person to see none other than the birthday boy himself, who is staring at the table with a blank face.
His friends all suddenly jump up from their seats at his arrival, clapping their hands and beginning to sing 'happy birthday' in unison. It's safe to say the entire cafeteria draws their attention towards the table singing and Richie lets out a loud groan, slumping down beside Bill.
"Alright alright, you can stop singing now." He sighs heavily and rubs his forehead in disapproval. Thankfully, they take his advice and sit down again, all smiling brightly.
"How does it feel?" Beverly shoots a serious look across at her best friend. The boy stares back at her in confusion.
"How does what feel?" He frowns.
The girl rolls her eyes as if it's obvious. "Being eighteen? Being old? Close to crippling? On the verge of retirement?"
Richie can't help but let out a small snigger at the girl, hearing Bill gasp from the other end of the table.
"H-Hey, your f-forgetting that I'm the s-same age as h-him!" Bill announces, making the group all laugh once again.
"Alright alrighttt, enough bickering everyone. It's Richie's birthday so we're going to keep it civil!" Ben pipes up, and they all nod in agreement after calming down.
"Cheers, Benny." Richie sighs and gazes amongst the array of presents gathered in the centre of the table, all packaged nicely for the occasion. He reaches out to tamper with a few of the bags and ribbons with a smirk. "I have to guess who got me each one?" He asks.
"Yep." Beverly nods before quickly adding, "Will is doing extra lunch classes but he dropped off his present for you, the present from Mike is in there too."
"Oh, sweet." Richie nods casually. "Do I have to open them now?"
"Yes!" They all say in unison, making Richie groan loudly again.
"You guys know that I hate shit like this." He whines. "I tell you every year."
Truthfully, yes, they are aware of Richie's hatred for opening gifts and celebrating birthdays. He definitely has made it known practically every year how much he hates the attention and doesn't want anyone to buy him presents. But still, the Loser's never listen. They believe that he deserves a good birthday, especially this year after all of the shit he's been put through with his family. It's like the end to a chapter, so of course they want to celebrate.
Still, they end up spending half of lunch-time arguing about opening the presents.
"I'll do it at home." Richie protests.
"Are you kidding me?!" Stanley's voice is laced with real frustration at this point, his eyes scattering all over the place for some way to bribe his friend. Then his eyes land on Eddie, who looks a little confused and disappointed by the whole situation. Stanley takes this a good opportunity. "Come on! Do it for Eddie!"
All of their eyes then shoot towards the smallest boy, who's face reddens at the sudden attention. Richie looks across at his boyfriend for a few seconds before sighing dejectedly.
Eddie smiles wearily at them. "I-It's okay... he doesn't have to–"
He's suddenly cut off by Richie abruptly rising from his seat. Their eyes all shoot towards him this time.
He holds his hands up in surrender. "Okay okay, fine! I'll open one."
The group quickly fall silent, their eyes following Richie's hand intensely as he chooses which gift to open. Based on the packaging, it's pretty easy to guess who brought each gift, the wrapping on each present matches everyone's personalities just perfectly. In the end, Richie goes for the small yellow gift bag that was hidden somewhere in the middle of the pile. He brings it down into his lap and begins to untie the ribbon from the top.
"Fucking hell, who wrapped this one?" He mutters whilst struggling with the packaging.
"Just come on already!" Beverly whines, getting more and more impatient with her best friend.
"Ok ok!" The boy rolls his eyes and finally makes his way into the gift bag. His friends and boyfriend all watch intensely as he delves his hand inside, eventually pulling out a stack of cassette tapes tied together with a pretty red ribbon. They're eyes all widen in unison.
"You lucky sod!" Stanley gawks at the present, then gazes around the table. "Who brought him this?"
Richie is too busy analysing each tape with a wide grin to look up and see who actually brought the present at first. He slides each tape between his hands to check the tracks, nodding in approval at each one. Whoever got him this gift has definitely earned themselves some brownie points.
After a while, he finally looks up from the tapes and at the group. They all stare back at him innocently.
He tuts, "you're really going to make me guess?"
"Yeah! It's tradition!"
Richie leans back in his seat and narrows his eyes, scanning over each member as if he's a boss choosing who will get the final job. He lifts a hand to his chin and rubs it a few times to fit the character even more.
"Hmm..." He drags out the tension, before finally nodding towards his chosen culprit with confidence. "Benny boy. It was you."
Ben's eyes immediately widen.
"Oh damn! How did you know?" He gasps, causing the group to erupt into applause and laughter.
"Wow, Rich. You're surprisingly good at this!"Beverly reaches over to pat the boy's shoulder. Richie just smiles smugly from his spot, shrugging like a some kind of royal.
"What can I say? I'm just the best."
****
The school day finishes pretty quickly. Richie and Beverly leave the school as a duo and head towards the parking lot, ready to go home.
"Are you taking Eddie home tonight?" The red-head asks whilst they make their way down the crowded front steps of the school.
"Yeah, I'm meeting him by the truck." Richie responds casually, however he suddenly stops dead straight in his tracks, startling the girl beside him.
"What's up with you?" She frowns jokingly, turning to him. Richie doesn't respond at first, just grabs her arm and hurriedly leads her around the side of the school. She stumbles a little in shock, trying to keep up with him. "Hey! What the fuc–" She's cut off when Richie pushes her against the side of the building.
"Shut up." He hisses whilst looking into the distance again.
"Why? Who the fuck is it?" Beverly tries to follow his gaze, but there's so many people everywhere, it's hard to pinpoint what exactly he's staring at. "For Christ sake, Richi–"
"They're coming," the boy hushes her again, turning back to face her with dark eyes. "Just act casual, alright?"
She quickly frowns. "Who's coming?"
Richie doesn't respond, making Beverly glare at him with annoyance. Why can't he just answer one goddamn question?
A few seconds later, her attention is diverted to a pair of boys, both dressed in black head-to-toe, that approach them hastily. Their caps come low enough to cover their eyes, hands stuffed in their pockets. With just one glance Beverly feels uneasy. They look dodgy.
"You got the shit?" One asks in a gruff voice on arrival, holding a hand out towards Richie. Beverly stands silently from at the side, not quite sure where to look.
She watches as Richie stuffs a hand inside his backpack and pulls out a couple of decent sized, clear packets. Her eyes widen at the sight of what's inside each one, but she tries to hide her reaction with a blank expression.
"It's definitely forty, like I said?" The boy in black mutters.
Richie nods and continues the exchange of money and packets. Beverly shifts uncomfortably from side to side, awkwardly making eye-contact with the dealer's wingman, who smiles back at her smugly. It's safe to say it makes her skin crawl. This whole thing just screams dodgy.
"...Fifty, sixty, seventy..." The hooded person counts each slip of cash they place into Richie's palm. "...Eighty, ninety, hundred." He finishes with a pleased yet dishonest smile.
Richie takes the cash and puts it into his bag, zipping it up. They exchange a corrupted handshake, then the two hooded characters begin to walk away just as quickly as they had arrived. Beverly finally allows her jaw to fall open in shock of what she just witnessed. Richie turns to her and sighs.
"Bev–"
"Did I actually just witness you taking part in a fucking drug deal?" She gawks, then adds: "On school grounds?!"
"Shut up!" Richie hisses, moving closer to the girl. He checks the area around them before signing heavily. "I need the money." He says lowly.
Beverly stares at him incredulously. "Are you kidding me? For what?"
"It doesn't matter." The boy mutters whilst adjusting the straps on his backpack. He takes a few steps away from the girl, before noticing that she isn't following. He turns back, sighing. "Don't you want to go home today?"
"I can't believe you, Richie." Beverly just shakes her head in disbelief. She pulls her body away from the wall and begins to follow him towards the parking lot, just as they had been before.
The walk is mostly silent. It's definitely awkward too. It's not like Richie wanted Beverly to find out about this... let alone be present when it's taking place. That makes two people who now know: his twin brother and his best friend. He can only hope that it stays like that.
As they approach the truck, Beverly spots Eddie standing beside the vehicle in the distance. He's fumbling with the zipper of his jacket and smiling contently to himself. Beverly can't hold in her thoughts any longer.
"You better have a fucking good reason for needing that money." She snipes at the boy beside her.
"I do." Richie hisses back.
"I'm just saying, because shit like that will put everyone you love in danger. Just keep that in mind." The girl mutters. She looks the boy up and down once more before mumbling. "Enjoy the rest of your birthday."
Richie goes to respond, but Beverly has already broken away from him and is walking in the direction of her way home. He lets out a sigh as he watches her leave in the distance. The guilt is already filling up his mind, but he's quickly distracted by that when a pair of arms suddenly fling around his neck.
"Hey! Did you have a good day?" Eddie clings to his boyfriend and displays sparkling eyes and a bright smile. Richie moves his arms to hold onto the boys waist and smiles weakly.
"It was fine." He nods, leaning down to peck the boy's forehead.
"What's wrong?" The smaller frowns. Richie quickly curses his terrible acting skills and attempts to try a little harder and appearing happy.
"Huh? Nothing. I'm fine." He shakes his head and smiles brightly. It doesn't show in his eyes though. "You wanna stop by and get ice-cream on the way home?" He asks.
Thankfully, this distracts Eddie from his previous worry and he begins to jump up and down with excitement.
"Definitely!" Eddie giggles, and finally the smile on Richie's face reaches his eyes and becomes genuine. He pecks Eddie's lips and releases the grip on his waist, turning to open the passenger door.
He gestures for the boy to enter, "M'lady."
Eddie simply smacks his arm with a smile, getting inside the truck. Richie follows suite, climbing into the drivers side and starting up the engine swiftly.
The smaller gets comfortable in the chair and glances over his shoulder at back of the truck, where there's unopened presents scattered across the leather backseats.
"I wish you would've opened them at school. I wanted to see your reaction to them all." Eddie says softly, turning back to the front again.
Richie pulls them out of the parking lot and casually uses one hand to drive. It barely takes seconds before they're already caught by traffic lights, so he takes this as the moment to turn towards Eddie.
"I'll open them at home with Mike." He says whilst resting a hand on Eddie's thigh. "I'll let you know what I got tomorrow."
Eddie looks away shyly. "My present isn't as cool as Ben's..."
"Hey," The elder uses his hand to take hold of Eddie's chin and meet their eyes again. The smaller's eyes shine with self-doubt. "Don't say that, you didn't need to buy me anything in the first place. Just being you're boyfriend is enough for me." Richie reassures him softly.
Eddie feels his cheeks heat up and a blushing smile overtakes his previous expression. That alone is enough to make Richie smirk before he turns back to the road, where the lights are now changing.
It takes only five minutes to get to a small ice-cream parlour called 'Marties', which is pretty popular even at this time of year when the sun barely shows itself.
The two boys park up outside and enter the building, slipping down opposite one another in one of the pastel coloured booths. Eddie immediately grabs a menu and begins to excitedly scan through all of the exotic ice-cream options. Meanwhile, Richie leans back in his seat and casually gazes around the interior of the parlour.
"–don't you think?... Chee?"
"Huh?" The nickname quickly snaps Richie from his never-ending gaze. He turns his attention back to Eddie, who is looking at him expectantly. "What, baby?" He leans forwards with newly attentive eyes.
"Maybe we should just share one, that would be cheaper." Eddie repeats with a innocent smile, twiddling the promise ring which sits pretty on his left hand.
The elder's face quickly falls to a confused frown. "Why? I've got enough for two."
Eddie shifts uncomfortably in his place, feeling guilty all of a sudden.
"But they're expensive in here... I feel bad that you always pay for me–"
"It's fine, beautiful." Richie cuts him off, shaking his head. He leans back into his seat and smirks. "Plus, I like paying for you. You deserve it after the stupid shit you put up with from me."
Eddie furrows his eyebrows disapprovingly.
"Don't say that..."
Their conversation is cut short when a waitress arrives at their table, a small notebook to hand and their hair tied with ribbon into a ponytail. She smiles brightly at the two teenagers and clicks the end of her pen.
"What can I get for you boys?" She asks, her voice just as sweet as the smell inside the place.
Eddie quickly shoots his eyes towards Richie, who is already sitting up properly and grabbing the menu readily to order.
"Uhh... We'll have two chocolate sundaes. One with strawberries and one with wafers. And two medium Pepsi's."
"Is that everything?"
Richie nods. "I believe so."
The waitress scribbles for a few seconds before smiling once again and clicking her pen. She removes their menu with a nod. "That'll be right out for you."
"Thank you." Eddie finally whispers, smiling.
"Yeah, thanks."
The woman leaves the table and Richie instantly glances towards his boyfriend, who looks relieved now that they've finished ordering. It's always been one of the things he hates the most.
"I got you a sundae with strawberries, hope that's alright." Richie says.
"That sounds great, thank you." Eddie beams in return. The light blush across his freckled cheeks mixed with the golden lighting in the building makes him look completely ethereal. The taller can't help but lean forwards in his place and take hold of Eddie's hand on the table, intertwining their fingers.
"You excited for your birthday? It's coming up soon." Richie asks, eyeing at Eddie's pretty lips and eyes.
The latter shrugs with a shy smile. "A little."
Richie bites his lip to hide his smile, gently rubbing his thumb across the top of Eddie's much smaller hand. Just the thought of the surprise he's got in store for Eddie makes his entire body rush with excitement. He can only hope that the smaller will like it...
His thoughts are cut off when a waitress arrives at the table again with their drinks. The two boys break apart from one another and thank the lady, who leaves soon afterwards again.
Eddie takes a sip of his Pepsi through the straw, now taking his turn to gaze around the parlour with intrigued eyes. That's when he spots a familiar face enter the building, their eyes instantly meeting. Eddie doesn't hesitate to wave with a bright smile at the person, which grabs Richie attention in a heartbeat.
"Who are you waving at?" The taller frowns, yet he doesn't even get to turn around in his seat before a boy suddenly appears at their table. Richie audibly sighs when he realises who it is.
"Fancy seeing you two here! I thought you'd wanna go straight home and to the presents we didn't open this morning?" Mike, dressed in his lacrosse clothing, pats his brother's shoulder and slides down beside him. Eddie giggles seeing them say side-by-side, they definitely look scarily similar.
"I'm doing that after." Richie rolls his eyes, before gesturing towards Eddie. "Can't you see we're busy here?"
Mike exchanges a glance with Eddie, smiling brightly at the boy, looking back at his twin after. "Alright alright, I'll leave you two to be all lovey-dovey with each other." He sighs sarcastically and lifts himself up from the seat again.
"Much appreciated." Richie mumbles.
"Oh, I nearly forgot." Mike quickly pauses and turns back towards the two. "Are you going to Damian's on Saturday?"
Richie quickly frowns up at the boy. "You mean Damian Richards? He's having a party?"
Eddie stares blankly at the two whilst they continue their conversation, silently sipping on his Pepsi like he's watching some live reality program.
"Yeah, you going? It's open invite so anyone can show up." Mike says causally, then adds: "I thought you knew him well?"
"We practically used to live in that detention room together, but he cleaned his act up when they threatened to kick him out." Richie explains before shrugging. "I might go, I'll let you know."
Mike nods and pats his twin's shoulder, then nodding towards Eddie. "Alright, I'll leave you to it now."
"See ya."
Eddie then quickly perks up with a bright smile. "Bye, Mike. Happy birthday."
With that, the sporty teenager shoots Eddie a thanking wink and leaves the table. Once he disappears somewhere in the parlour, Richie looks back towards his boyfriend, who is already smiling back at him. This makes him grin too.
"So, Eds, you up for a party next week?"