teenage dirtbag

VI: richie

"You HAVE to ask him out, Richie." Stan insisted, whispering.
"That is not true. What if he says no?" Richie asked, clearly insecure about it.
"What if he says yes?"

"I can't just... Invite him, Bevs." Said Richie, not paying attention at all to the chemistry teacher.

"Yes you can, he's one of your friends now," Beverly elbowed him.

"Yeah, but friends don't make out, go on dates, have amazing sex, get married, cherish each other's careers, have a dog, name them Freddie, and get old together..."

"And that's too much information..." Murmured Mike, who was trying to take notes, which was impossible with his mates talking like no one else was in the room.

"Listen. You WILL invite him, okay?" Beverly sentenced, turning to Bill and Mike. "You both better tell Stan and Ben that they will NOT accept a ride from Richie, okay? We're going with Mike today."

"Yeah, sure, why would you ask kindly? Just abuse the good ol' Mike's kindness," he said sarcastically.

"I don't even know if I'm going to ask him. I-It's too soon." Richie looked down and started doodling on his notebook.

"S-Since w-when does that c-concern you?" Bill said.

"Yeah, you tell him, Big Bill!" Beverly backed him up, getting a 'shh!' from Mike.

Richie decided to stop the conversation right there, he just... Couldn't. The conversations under the bleachers were all he and Eddie had and mostly, all he needed for now.

Richie used to be very straightforward when he liked a girl, he invited them to the backseat of his car, and if they rejected him, he'd just move on and forget about it. But with guys... It was a bit harder. He remembered that summer at the arcade, he couldn't even bother to remember the guy's name, but it was Henry's cousin. Richie and the guy were playing Street Fighter together, it was fun, they even did a handshake and played like five matches... Richie thought the guy liked him back, I mean... That handshake lasted longer than usual and his touch felt warm. At the time of the sixth match, Bowser came to ruin everything as always.

Richie lost an opportunity that day, and even if he already was looking at Eddie with hearty eyes, he really had more chances with this new guy. Kaspbrak didn't even look at him back then, or so he thought, everything seemed blurry now with Eddie.

Richie liked him, really, and he'd kill someone to get to spend an evening alone with him, but he, for once, felt too shy to ask. Trashmouth Tozier, the guy that joked and asked his friends' moms for a kiss goodbye was too scared to ask a dude 'Hey, wanna come to my house and listen to good music? My mom made brownies' Fucking. Ridiculous.

The bell freed him from his own thoughts, he basically begged Bevs to go with the rest of the gang anywhere, but she just told him to stop acting like a pussy and go ask the guy out.

Everything was even more ridiculous if you considered that Eddie has a girlfriend, the scariest girl in school. Eddie didn't seem to care much about her, or like her in the slightest, and wasn't afraid to say it, but still... It felt a bit embarrassing being the mistress... What the fuck was he thinking? He's not even the mistress yet.

At the end of the day, all his friends left in Mike's pickup, leaving him to drive home alone. Bill told Beverly it was useless since Mike lived on the opposite side and Richie didn't ask Eddie out, but she insisted.

So there he was, looking for his keys in his pockets, taking as long as usual, since his pockets were something near a magician's top hat, full of the weirdest stuff. Once he found them, before getting to actually open the car, someone ran into him, holding his Hawaiian shirt sleeve to catch his attention.