"Hey Eddie, do you think you'd like to meet my friends?" Richie looked over at Eddie from the passenger seat in his chevelle, which he learned was given the affectionate name Shelly.
"Huh? Yea sure." Eddie nodded along and snapped back into reality, not realizing what he agreed to, his mind was drifting off to that morning where Eddie had saved Richie ass.
After getting Richie into his car, Eddie drove to the school and parked outside, commanding that Richie take off his shirt. Richie did so and Eddie tried not to blush at how vulnerable Richie looked for a moment, his eyes sunken in, no sly grin on his face, he looked sad. Richie quickly put a fake grin on and quipped "Take a picture, it lasts longer." Eddie embarrassedly punched Richie in the forearm and rolled his eyes before cleaning the wound and ace bandaging Richie's torso to make sure he wouldn't bleed through his clothes. He couldn't get over what Henry was carving on his back, was he gay?
"Spaghetti, this isn't the way to the quarry." Richie pointed it out nonchalantly, not expecting Eddie to snap back into the moment and swerve a bit.
"What do you mean? Huh?" Eddie looked at him confusedly and kept himself grounded to make sure he would catch what Richie was saying.
"I mean the quarry are that way." he pointed behind himself, "we're meeting my friends there?" he questioned, not understanding why Eddie didn't seem to understand.
Eddie panicked and his eyes widened a bit, "Oh no, I don't think thats a good idea...." Eddie remembered how Greta had looked at him with a sharp glare earlier in the day and reported back how she had heard about Eddie cleaning Richie up and that he shouldn't associate with such lowlives.
Eddie didn't think Richie was a lowlife. Sure, Eddie from 2 days ago would've called Richie a lowlife and listed how horrible all the rumors about him were. And while Eddie still didn't know Richie all that well, he had completely messed up the image of him that Eddie had before.
The Richie in Eddies imagination of him wouldn't help him while he was having an asthma attack, or request that he play Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go by Wham and then sing along loudly and enthusiastically. Eddies version of Richie wouldn't lie on the ground and take Bowers knife because he felt like he couldn't do much else except let it happen.
While Eddie didn't particularly care what Greta Bowie thought about who he was hanging out with, he was scared to lose his popularity.
The people who claimed they were his "friends" didn't really care about him, and he had a lot expected of him, but he was living the teenage dream and didn't want to wake up from it. He could go to any party he wanted and get wasted instead of talk about his feelings, or go on shopping trips, or flirt with football players from the sidelines. His life was like every teenage rom-com stereotype and he didn't want to lose it.
"I don't think your friends would like me." he shook his head and laughed nervously, a bit of insecurity seeping into his voice as he did. He knew that to the misfits of the school, he was probably a conceited asshole.
"No! They would love you, trust me." Richie looked at Eddie pleadingly and Eddie sighed before turning the car around and heading towards the quarry, to which Richie cheered at.
On their way to the quarry, Richie looked through Eddie's backpack and came across his calculus test, a big red F- marked on the top. Richie looked at Eddie and then back down at the grade.
"Failing calculus I see?" he asked as he looked through more of his calculus papers, a trend in the grades. Eddie looked over and went wide eyed, grabbing the paper out of his hand and crumpling it up, an embarrassed blush crossing his face.
"No, its just one bad grade." he lied, throwing the crumpled up ball into the backseat. Richie then showed the other bad grades and raised his eyebrows, Eddie looking over and then training his eyes on the road.
"I can tutor you if you want." Richie said while cleaning under his fingernails, "I'm good at math."
Eddie glanced at him to see if he was being serious, and when he saw no joking tone on his face, he looked back at the road and thought about it.
"Maybe." he said quietly, he knew that this would mean he would be spending much more time with Richie, but he surprisingly wasn't upset by the idea, it actually sounded fun.
Eddie pulled up to the quarry and parked his car in the grass, Richie grabbed a hold of Eddie's hand and pulled him through the woods to the part of the quarry where they actually met up. Eddie ignored the bright red coloring with the heat that sprouted in his cheeks as Richie intertwined their fingers.
Eddie covered his eyes as they stepped out into a clearing, Richie dropped Eddie's hand and signaled out to 3 other figures. One with their arms crossed, another with a hand on their hip, and the last with their hands by their side. As his eyes adjusted to the light, he analyzed their features and felt his body freeze up.
In front of him stood Beverly Marsh, his heart ached at the sight of her, he hadn't even realized how much she had changed from the last time they had spoken, it felt like so long ago.
It was a warm day at the quarry in 1985, Eddie sat next to Beverly on the edge of the quarry and messed with her hair since she had her head in his lap.
"Hey Eds?" Beverly looked up at him questioningly and shielded her eyes from the sun.
"Hm?" Eddie looked down at her and admired the way the sunlight caused her freckles to become accentuated and how the sun made her hair look golden.
"I wanted to talk to you about something, it's really serious and important to me." she sat up a bit and turned to face him, blocking the sun out of his eyes and crossing her legs over her lap.
"Shoot." he kicked a rock over the edge and listened as it tumbled down the side and hit the water.
"I saw you hanging out with Greta and a few of her goons after school." Beverly looked uncomfortable and shifted a bit, her voice was strong and confident however.
"Yea? And?" Eddie furrowed his brows and sat up a bit more, He had hung out with Greta after one of his friends from cheer had introduced him.
"What do you mean 'and?' She spread a rumor about me fucking Henry Bowers!" Beverly's face turned slightly red as her voice raised in volume.
"How is that my problem? Shes always been nice to me." Eddie stood up and got defensive quickly.
"Yea! But i'm your best friend and you should be on my side of this!" she stood as well and got more angry, pushing Eddie a bit.
Eddie huffed and threw his arms up, pushing her back before letting his hands fall to his sides in fists, "Maybe Greta was right about you." Eddie clapped a hand over his mouth but it was too late, the words had done their damage.
Beverly looked shocked and hurt for a moment, tears pricking at her eyes before anger hardened in her stomach. She pulled back a fist and hit him in the cheek, hard.
Eddie fell back on his back and rubbed his cheek a bit before looking at Beverly, his mouth open in an O, Beverly kept her hands clenched at her sides.
"You've changed Kaspbrack, and not in a good way." Beverly snapped at him before walking to her bike and riding away quickly.
Eddie had cried into his pillow all night after his mom doted over him and reassured that she had 'always known that Marsh girl was no good.'
Eddie wasn't crying over the fact that Beverly had hit him, he knew even as a child that he deserved it, he was crying over the fact that he had lost his only friend. But throughout their junior high and freshman years, he had spread rumors about her to give himself a reason to hate her and stop feeling guilty about how much he had hurt her.
In recent years Eddie had come to terms with the fact that he was in the wrong, and that Beverly was right about him. But he had still never had the balls to go and confront her to apologize.
Now she was standing in front of him, a look of recognition crossing her face, she looked surprised for a moment before a hardened look of anger took its place back on her face. She crossed her arms tighter around herself in a defense mechanism and scowled at him.
"Tozier, what the fuck is little priss boy doing here?" Beverly hissed out, Stan flinched at her words, Eddie only then remembered the two other figures, Stanley Uris standing with a hand on his hip next to Beverly and Bill Denbrough standing on the other side of Beverly.
"Hey don't be rude Marsh." Richie flicked her cheek and stole the cigarette out of her mouth, taking a long puff of it before returning it.
Bill looked disgusted at Beverly and rolled his eyes, He didn't let go of her hand and pressed a kiss to her cheek regardless however, which Stan visibly flinched at the affection and looked away.
Eddie avoided Beverly's piercing glare and an awkward silence settled over the group before Stanley stepped forward and held out a hand, "Im Stanley Uris." he offered, letting a small comforting smile cover his face.
"Uh, Eddie, Eddie Kaspbrack." he took his hand and shook it gently, Stans smile grew contagiously and Eddie couldn't help but smile. Richie watched the interaction, his heart warming, over the past 2 days, he had noticed that Eddie didn't really have a lot of real friends, most of his friendships being for show. He wanted to change that, and he was glad it was changing.
"I-I'm Buh-buh-bi-bill duh-denbrough." Bill said, waving a little bit and smiling, "A-and thu-this is B-Beverly. Muh-My-" he paused for a moment and gave a longing look to Stan that no one caught before continuing "Gi-Girlfriend."
Oh if only Bill knew just how well he knew Beverly, for the second time in the night, Eddie let himself look at Beverly, she was staring at him angrily and he quickly looked away like a wounded animal.
"Sooooo." Richie said, noticing the thick tension in the air, "I say we strip and go for a swim, eh?" He smirked and pulled off his shirt, giving caution to the wound despite Eddie's protests that he was going to hurt himself.
Stan, Richie, Bill, and Beverly all started stripping off their garments until they were in their underwear, Eddie hadn't made a move to take off any of his clothes and stood there, frozen.
"Cmon Eddie spaghetti, you gotta get naked to get in." Richie elbowed him in the side and watched as Bill and Stan jumped off of the cliff together, Beverly following after them.
Eddie started to hear his mothers voice in the back of his head "You're getting chubby Eddie bear." "You need to eat more! All skin and bones." Eddie shook his head and started to say something before Richie looked at him.
"No ones gonna judge you ok? It's just me." Richie gave a reassuring smile. And Eddie couldn't help but feel weak in the knees.
Eddie pulled off his shirt and his fanny pack, then his shorts, lastly untying his shoes and putting his socks in them. He crossed his arms over his chest self consciously and avoided Richie's eyes.
"Here." Richie offered his hand to Eddie. Eddie looked at it for a moment before taking it. Richie counted down and then they both took a running leap off of the edge.
They were flying, the bright blue water under them growing closer as a joyous scream ripped out of Richie's throat and a terrified one tore out of Eddie's. Eddie didn't notice in his own joy and freedom in the feeling, but Richie watched his face in glee, time slowing down as he watched his light brown locks and brown splotched face with a large grin spread across it, he looked like something people would exemplify as an angel, pure and bright and free.
They hit the water with a loud splash, and Eddie resurfaced, giggling sweetly as he pushed his hair out of his face. "Rich! That was so great!" He swam over and wrapped his arms around Richie's neck. Richie's hands rested on his waist and a chuckle sounded.
"If I would've known that was all it took to get you back on me, I would've planned this earlier." Richie joked.
Eddie blushed and pulled away quickly, swimming around peacefully until Bill initiated a water fight with Stan, which lead to Richie getting splashed, then Eddie, and then Beverly, all of them joining in and forgetting their real lives for a while.
Forever young
I want to be forever young
Do you really want to live forever?
Forever, and ever
Forever young
I want to be forever young
Do you really want to live forever?
Forever young