Just friends // Reddie

16

One month later

Richie was having a very hard time accepting the fact that Eddie was dating someone. He just couldn't wrap his around it. Eddie didn't even introduce Carter to the losers as a friend at first. Just boom, here's my boyfriend. It was a lot for Richie to take in.

Plus, he had feelings for Eddie.

He had started to admit he had them about a week before Carter was painted into the picture. But now he really knew he had them. He could feel it in his chest every time he saw Eddie and Carter together.

Which was all the time now.

Carter was now a member of the losers club, to Richie's dismay, and was apart of everything they did.

Richie wouldn't have cared to have Carter be apart of the losers club, he was a very nice, funny, and smart guy, him joining would've been like when Ben, Bev, and Mike joined, but he was dating Eddie. That's why he hates him, and he felt guilty since he was such a great guy.

Ugh!

He just wanted to hole up in his room and never come out, maybe his dad could help with that.

But he couldn't, because he promised Mike he'd at least try to get along with the boyfriend snatcher. But it was hard, really hard.

Right now they were all supposed to be at Bills, having their monthly sleepover, but Richie was late, which seemed to be his new thing. He was only about twenty minutes late when he arrived. He walked straight down to Bills basement and raised an eyebrow as he heard someone yelling they didn't want to go to jail.

He walked into the room with a smile. "Hey gays!" He said and bit his lip as he noticed they had started monopoly already.

Richie got a chorus of hellos and 'finally, you're here', but they mostly stayed focus on the game in front of them.

"You guys started without me?" The ravenette asked, hurt inside but did his best to mask it. They always waited for him.

Eddie glanced from the board and raised an eyebrow at the taller male. "Carter can only stay for a couple hours and you were late so yeah, we started without you."

Richie bit the inside of his cheek as his face flushed a little in embarrassment. "Oh- but you guys always wait for me when I'm late. I just figured-"

He was cut off by the smallest loser. "The world doesn't revolve around you Richie. We're not always gonna wait just for you when everyone else is here. Maybe show up on time."

Richies eyes widened slightly at hearing eddie and his face turned completely red. Eddie had never spoken to him that way before. "Oh uh yeah sorry. My bad." He said quietly as he rubbed the back of his neck.

He was really looking forward to this weekend. He had a rough night with his dad yesterday, so he was glad he was able to get out and be with his friends. He was happy that he wouldn't have to fear the sound of footsteps approaching where he was sleeping because he was safe here.

Carter looked at Richie before looking at his boyfriends. "That was a little harsh eddie. Everyone's late sometimes, we could've waited. Sorry Richie." He said and have the male an apologetic smile.

Eddie sighed a little and nodded. "Right, sorry Richie." He said and smiled softly.

Richie shrugged a little and forced a smile. "It's alright no worries. Totally understand."

He didn't understand. They always waited for him and now because Carter couldn't stay that long, they started the game without him? He didn't get it. They were his friends first.

Mike looked at his best friend and waved him over. "You can play with me, we can be a team." He said and scooted over a little so Richie would fit in next to him. He seemed to be the only one who could see how much Richie was truly hurting.

Richie smiled at him and nodded. "Thanks Mikey! We're totally gonna dominate now." He said, putting up a front. He sat down next to him and sighed softly.

~~
Carter left around ten that night, his family was going down to visit his grandparents the next day and they had to leave early, otherwise he would've slept over.

Richie was glad when he left because Eddie started to pay attention to him. Everyone seemed to forget what happened when Richie first arrived, everyone except the ravenette and of course the one who noticed and remembered everything, Mike.

"Here you go Ed's, your favorite." Richie said, holding out a can of root beer for the smaller of the two to take.

Eddie rolled his eyes playfully and huffed. "Don't call me that- and I'll have a sprite actually."

Richie raised an eyebrow and looked at eddie confused. "What? Since when- you always said sprite was too boring."

Eddie shrugged a little and smiled. "Carter's not supposed to have a lot of drinks with caffeine, so the only pop he drinks is sprite. I just got used to having that a lot so I'd like a sprite please."

Richie furrowed his eyebrows but nodded slowly. "Right yeah okay. Sorry." He said and exchanged the root beer for a sprite.

"It's okay, you didn't know Rich." Eddie said as he took his new favorite drink from him.

Another reason Richie hated Carter, he changed Eddie's favorite drink to his own. Root beer was his and Eddie's drink, they'd get it whenever they went. Eddie even called it their best friends drink once.

The change of drink was something small to everyone else, but it wasn't to Richie. Was he slowly losing his best friend?

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