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.
Instead of the usual Hawaiian shirt over a plain tee, his mother had forced him to wear a jacket, because according to her, he had a “terrible” sense of fashion, which Richie thought was bullshit. He ducked a little bit to see his reflection a bit clearer in the dark window of the shop, catching sight of a weird stain under his collar, next to his left sleeve.
He frowned at it, and tried to rub it away, scratching at it with his fingers. As Richie worked away, staring hard at the stain in the reflection, a face appeared from behind the glass, startling the boy and making him jump away.
An old man, with a wrinkly old face and an even older baseball cap, sipping on a drink in a red soda cup, stared at Richie with a blank, yet somewhat confused expression on his face for a few seconds, before rolling his eyes and going back into the black pits of the shop.
Richie paused and looked at the now empty glass window of the shop, no longer having any interest in getting rid of stains on his jacket if creepy old men were going to pop up out of nowhere.
He shook his head slightly, mumbling "Jesus, give a boy a warning..."
Richie huffed, looking down at his shoes, maybe Eddie's mom hadn't let him come.... or maybe Eddie had just forgotten.
Just then, Richie felt a tap on his shoulder, and heard someone whisper, "What are we looking at?"
He turned to see Eddie standing next to him, looking like he'd just run a marathon and holding a small basket, also staring at Richie's shoes with a puzzled look, like the boy himself had been doing just a few seconds ago.
Richie grinned, "Eds! You made it, I was starting to think you'd never show up!" Richie paused looking at the small boy, who looked a little out of breath and red in the face, "Why do you look so...tired?"
Eddie stopped looking at Richie's shoes and glanced up at the taller boy, with a small smile on his face, "I ran here idiot, I was getting late,"
"Late?" Richie asked confused, and then checking his watch said, "I mean it's only 12:08,"
"Yes Richie, late," Eddie then looked up at the shop Richie had been standing in front of for the past 16 minutes and chuckled, "You were waiting here probably looking like a doofus standing outside a thrift shop that's about to be converted into a women's underwear store in a few days,"
Richie took a second to take in what Eddie had said, a look of horror on his face as he realized that sure enough, there was the half painted sign at the top of the store now read "Undergarments," and that this was probably the reason those teenagers were looking at him weirdly. Eddie laughed at the look on Richie's face, and the taller boy rolled his eyes whilst smiling.
"Laugh all you want to Edward," Richie said in a cockney accent as the two of them started walking down the street, "But now, I know exactly where to go to get your mother a spiffing Christmas present,"
"Don't call me that, and shut up," Eddie laughed, playfully pushing Richie's arm.
Richie laughed too, and then spotted the basket Eddie was carrying, "Why do you have a basket?" he asked, pointing at it.
"I told my mom I was going to visit my nana,"
"Oh right… I didn't know you had a nana,"
"Maybe that's because you've known me for four days,"
"Hey, I'm still learning,"
Eddie smiled and then said, "It's also because I don't actually have a nana,"
"Now that made sense," Richie stared at the small boy, "Care to elaborate Mr. I have a nana but don't have a nana,"
"So, we had this neighbour, and she lived with her son next door, and sometimes when mom was busy, she would look after me. Well, a few years ago, her son moved to New York and just... didn't come back. She was in the house all alone for 2 weeks before anyone realised, and it was hard for her, I mean she's pretty old, like eighty something, and her son randomly left. Anyways, the chief came through and moved her to a group home thing, for old people, and her son never visits her, so when I can, I go up there with some sandwiches and books to give to her. I mean, that's the least I can do, mom wouldn't let me go down there for the longest time because it’s near the barrens, but it’s hard being an old lady, she needs some company too right?"
"Damn Eds... that's really sweet of you" Richie said with a genuine smile on his face
"Yeah whatever..." Eddie said blushing a little, "She's really nice, I'm sure you'll love her,"
"I will?"
"I didn't lie to mom when I said I'd visit her," the small boy said with a pointed look on his face
"Of course you didn't" Richie said with a small sigh, he didn't particularly want to spend time visiting an old lady, but smiled, trying to look more cheerful for Eddie's sake.
"Come on Rich, it won't be that bad, I promise we'll do whatever you had planned for us after this, it won’t take too long either." Eddie tugged on Richie's sleeve, pulling the taller one forward, who gave in to the shorter boy's tugs.
"Onwards Eduardo! There's no time to lose!"
"Stop calling me that," Eddie said, nevertheless there was a smile on his face, as he lead Richie down the roads, Richie listening and poking fun at Eddie as he blabbered on about how he admired the hygiene levels in his nana's ward, the two walking down secluded paths and jumping over little streams along the way, to spend some time at an old folks home.
A/N
I FORGOT TO DL THE GRAMMAR CHRCK THING LMAO 🤠
AAAAAAA I'm sorry this is so short I've been SO BUSY LIKE VTENEJEKEMEN I'm working on animating kuroo because who doesn't love him 😩🤟 ANYWAYSSSSS IM STILL CATCHING UP WITH READING LIKE 60 FICS BAHAHAHA IM SORRY, I haven't even finished chapter 17 and it's been what two weeks?
Anyways I'm trying to get back on track because I hate the UK government ✌️
But let's forget that for now ITS RICHIES BIRTHDAY IN 9 MINUTES AND IM SO HAPPY BECAUSE HE MAKES ME SO HAPPY AND AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA I JUST LOVE THAT BOY SO MUCH
Oh and also remember to vote if you liked the chapter. 🏜️🏜️🏜️
LAST THING
THANK YOU IF YOUVE STUCK AROUND I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCHHHH, REMEMBER TO STAY HEALTHY, DRINK LOTS OF WATER, I LOVE YOU AND IM PROUD OF YOU SO KEEP GOINGGGG ❤️❤️❤️❤️