pretend; reddie

e i g h t e e n

"so where'd you run off to last night?"

richie has his legs up on the railing in front of him, arms crossed, way too comfortable for someone sat on metal bleachers, and his phone is buzzing continuously, but he doesn't reach for it.

"someone wants to get ahold of you," eddie hums out the obvious, peering out at the almost empty football field in front of them. the girls field hockey team is practicing, but they're down at the other end, and the bleachers are vacant besides the couple. richie's phone buzzes again, and eddie laughs. "really badly, apparently."

"it's just my mom," richie shrugs, switching off the ringer and shoving the cell into his backpack, which rests at his feet, "so where did you go?"

"why don't you want to answer your mom?" eddie asks, and on one hand he's attempting to stall, but on the other hand he's also just pretty curious. richie's mom hadn't been as bad with the whole 'gay' thing lately, so he's not sure why richie is acting as if she has the plague. "did she say something? or do something?"

"not necessarily," richie rolls his eyes, standing up and throwing his arms over his head in a stretch. he adjusts his frames for the glasses that he'd settled on wearing because he'd run out of contact lenses, and then sits back down. "she's just a bitch. she keeps bringing up stuff about exes i've had. all girl exes. talking so highly of them because she just hates that i'm with a boy," richie says it so nonchalantly that eddie is a bit taken aback. he isn't actually with a boy. "she wouldn't say anything outright with my dad around. he's like my guardian angel."

"damn," eddie smiles faintly, tugging mindlessly on the strings of his hoodie. the same football hoodie he'd been convinced to borrow. richie's hoodie. "i bet she's super pleased that i'm over so often, too, huh? i'm sure she's over the moon whenever she opens the door to me."

"oh, definitely," richie snorts. then he shrugs. "i don't really give a shit what she thinks, anyway."

"well if that were true, you wouldn't have asked me to do this whole deal with you."

richie halts, and sends a death glare eddie's way. eddie just holds his hands up in surrender, an innocent smile on his mouth. "i looked for you for a good twenty minutes."

"what?"

"last night, after i got you a drink. where'd you go?"

"hey," eddie raises his eyebrows. "what did you get for question four on the bio test today-"

"eddie kaspbrak."

"yes?"

"stop avoiding the question."

"will caught up with me," eddie admits then, and he doesn't really want to elaborate. "we hung out for a bit."

"did he hold your hand?" richie questions in a question playful voice, cooing a bit. "did he kiss you?"

eddie's face goes red at the memory of the previous night. will had almost kissed him — and then eddie had admitted that his relationship with richie was fake. he broke the most important rule of the entire deal, and he feels guilt eating him up. "no. he almost kissed me."

"almost?"

"he stopped himself. said he couldn't do that to his best friend," eddie explains. he doesn't have to tell richie that he spilled the beans. what he doesn't know can't hurt him.

richie leans back a bit, folding his arms behind his head. he looks content with that answer.