off script || reddie

Two

Eddie let the front door slam behind him no regard for the scolding he'd receive from his mother.
He trekked hastily up the stairs before he completely lost all sense and went mad. Eddie tore open his bedroom door and locked it behind him, crashing atop his bed.
Eddie took a deep breath and let all the his pent up frustrations spill out. His screams muffled in his heavy bedding the painful howls became all but a whisper in his silent room.

Eddie banged his fist against the mattress hearing the springs squeal back in protest. He dug his fingers into the coolness of his pillow, pulling it to his chest. Eddie bit down on the fabric as tears welled up in his eyes. They weren't the kind he had been expecting to be greeted with on account of his role but for other reasons..

For Richie Tozier.

The only person he was so foolish to give his heart away to.
He looked like the feeling Eddie got when he listened to the Beatles for the first time. Richie had treated him with gentle hands and smiles that could melt the tundra. When their eyes would meet Eddie swore his heart beat different. That was the 'Tozier Effect' he nicknamed it. But just like every reaction there was a positive and negative correlation.

And what a plot twist Richie Tozier was. Pin-balling his way through life, his feet never touching the ground. Eddie loved the carefree side of Richie, but he would soon come to hate it. Eddie thought,
'maybe I can change him.'

'Maybe he'll be different.'
It stuck with Eddie for the rest of his life.

All at once Richie broke his heart and had the audacity to try and give him the pieces back. Eddie felt like a fool.
He gave Richie every part of him, if he wasn't so blinded by love he would see the flameless flickering fake love before him. Eddie was a second choice. And that became apparent when Richie showed up to school with a lovely young lady on his arm the very next day.

Life went on, but Eddie was never the same after Richie. He learned not to love too deeply. People will hurt you.
He never gave out a piece of his heart, even when others would give them theirs whole. Then they would ask Eddie,
"Do you believe in true love?"
He'd say, "Once." Eddie pulled a convincing smile, "Once and I'll never forget." His smile would drop, venom filling his mouth.
"How stupid I was to think love was real,"

Eddie sat up rubbing the tear tracks off his warm cheeks. He felt comfortably numb, his head felt full of stuffing and his eyes clouded. Nothing felt real.
Eddie swung his feet off the side of his bed and sighed heavily.
His head shot up a burst of anger coursing through him.
There was no way in hell Richie Tozier was going to dim his spotlight. Eddie worked harder than ever for what he had and no ex lover of his was going to block his way.

Eddie slept peacefully that night knowing he was the one in control now. Not Richie Tozier bossing him around in his little Tech booth he was in Eddies territory.
Eddie showed up at practice bright and early, two styrofoam coffee cups clutched in hand and a bag of doughnuts in the other. He liked to start off a good show right by christening it with some good food for the cast. Eddie dumped the bags contents out on the table for pickings, spotting Beverly chatting up with the stage manager.

A frown tugged his lips. He felt betrayed. She was the puppet master behind all this madness and he couldn't pinpoint why. What was her motive? Did she want the play to become a disaster, Beverly was always a sweetheart and there for Eddie. He sighed shaking his head, Beverly was there for the breakup so why put him through that again.
Eddie took a sip from the scalding hot coffee the burn soothing his tired throat. He whipped on a smile and strut down the runway tapping Bev on the shoulder.

A flash of auburn hair and she was wrapping her arms around his neck in a tight hug. "Ah! Good morning, today's gonna be a wonderful day Eddie I can feel it!" She squealed pulling away from Eddie to grin up at him, her expression quickly changed to a sly look.
"Is that coffee for me?" She eyed up the extra cup, a special kind of lid on top to hold all the whipped cream.