hope ur ok || richie angst book 👍

He Found You.

"Rich?" Beverly said, pulling him out of his day-dream. He sucked in a breath and rubbed his eyes.

"School over?" he asked. She nodded.

"Yeah. And.. the Losers wanted to meet up at the clubhouse afterwards? You think you can do that?" she asked. Richie looked down.

"Uh.. I mean.. I guess," he said, knowing it'd be better than going home. Even if he had just caused a whole scene with Eddie.

"Okay," she sighed, standing and helping him to his feet. She stared down at his arm carefully. "Can.. you tell me what actually happened to your arm?"

Richie's throat throbbed and his stomach flipped. He did not want to talk about that.

"I really don't want to."

Beverly gave him pleading eyes. "You know you can talk to me. You know you can trust me. Why are you keeping all of these secrets from me?"

"Because, Bev! I hate dumping my problems on you all! My job is to be funny and stay that way, I can't be anything but happy and that's how I was born to be," Richie ranted. Beverly furrowed her eyebrows.

"Richie that is not true. At all," she said, shaking her head and holding eye contact with him. "You're only human. You're aloud to be upset. Everyone gets upset every now and then. You've only made us laugh and you've only been happy your entire life, it's your turn to be sad."

Richie stared down at the grass, nodding and taking in everything she said. "I did it."

"What?" asked Beverly.

"I cut my arms." Her face dropped.

"Richie.." she mumbled. He kept his eyes glued to the grass beneath them. "Holy shit," she breathed, grabbing him into a hug. "Don't do that ever again! Okay?"

"I'm sorry."

Beverly sighed and pulled away. "I know how you feel. I know this process. I've been through it too, a couple years back."

He looked up at her with concern. "You have?" She nodded. "I'm so sorry."

"See? Now you know the concern I feel for you. Thank you for telling me this. I can help you get through it. The addiction won't get any easier, let me promise you that. But I will be here the whole time, okay?"

Richie smiled up at her and nodded. "Okay," he whispered. She smiled back.

"Can.. Can I see..?" she asked. He bit his lip.

"Are you sure? Wouldn't that be triggering?"

Beverly shrugged. "It's alright. What matters most is you." Richie's frown formed into a shaky grin.

"God, where did I ever find you..?" he chuckled. Richie started to remove the wrap, and Beverly watched closely, grimacing at the sight with worry painting her face.

"Gosh.. Rich.." she whispered, holding his hand to look at all of the cuts. "That's way too many."

Richie shrugged. "I couldn't stop."

Her lip quivered and she sighed. "When did you do this?"

"First period.. in the bathroom.. it's why I wasn't in there for most of the class," Richie admitted. Beverly nodded.

"We need to get these properly cleaned," she said. Richie looked down again, avoiding even glancing at his bloody arm.

"O-okay," he mumbled.

"Come on," she said, standing and helping him to his feet as well.

They walked through the forest, eventually finding their way back to the school, both grabbing their bikes and setting off to the clubhouse. They stopped to get ice cream first and got Richie's arm properly cleaned.