Eddie thanked the man working behind the counter at the pharmacy. He picked up his mother's prescription and turned away, fulling intending to leave the store and head back home. But, when he saw that bespectacled young man standing nearby looking at something on a shelf, all thought of leaving vanished. He walked over to the man, barely able to contain his excitement.
"Richie!" Eddie called as he got closer. Richie looked up and saw Eddie. He beamed.
"Eds!" Richie shouted, throwing down whatever he had been looking at and rushing to Eddie. The two hugged each other tightly. "How are you, Eddie Spaghetti?"
"I can't believe you're here!" Eddie replied as the two broke apart. "When did you get back into town?"
"Late last night. I had some extra miles to burn up, so I thought I'd come home for Christmas Break. It's so good to see you!"
"Yeah, you too! It's weird being the only one of the Losers who's still here in Derry."
"And how's my love Sonia?" Richie asked with a mischievous grin on his face. Eddie rolled his eyes.
"Same as she ever was," said Eddie, sounding annoyed. "As neurotic as ever and afraid of anything that isn't her. Honestly, if I wasn't her offspring, I'm sure she'd leave me alone."
"You OK, Eds?" Richie sounded concerned now.
"Don't call me that," Eddie replied in a joking tone. "But yeah, I'm all right. Just don't want to talk about it here. I'd rather talk when we can really talk."
"You want to have dinner? I'm here for a full two weeks. We can catch up properly over some good food."
"Yeah, I'd love that. Can you meet tonight?"
"Course, Eddie. Pick you up at 7? Dinner at the diner like we used to all the time in high school?"
"It's a date," Eddie replied happily. He pulled Richie into another hug. "You have no idea how much I needed to see you right now, Rich. I'm so glad you're in town."
"I'm glad I ran into you, Eds. Listen, I gotta run. But I'll see you tonight, all right?"
At five to 7, Eddie finally came out of his room and walked downstairs. He had showered and thrown on a nice shirt, but he wasn't sure why. It wasn't like he needed to impress Richie or anything. But, since he never got to see Richie anymore, he wanted the night to be special.
As soon as he reached the living room, there was a knock at the door. Eddie hurried to it, but stopped when he heard his mother's voice calling from her recliner.
"Where are you going, Eddie?" she demanded in her nasally voice.
"I'm going out, Mother," Eddie snapped in reply. Already, she was annoying him and she had only asked the one question. He took a couple of breaths to calm himself down.
"With whom?"
"Does it matter? You'll still try to keep me from leaving, even if I was leaving here with God himself."
"Why are you being rude, Eddie?" Sonia asked, her tone remaining as flat as ever.
"Because I'm an adult and it's high time you learned that, Mother. I can take care of myself and I don't need to check in with you all of the time. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go."
Eddie grabbed his jacket and made for the door.
"Look, I'm sorry, Mother, but you do have to admit you can let me go out on my own," he said in a softer tone.
"That doesn't mean you need to get angry with me, Eddie."
"True, but you don't have to be up all my ass all the time," Eddie retorted. "I gotta go."
Eddie quickly opened the front door and bolted outside, where Richie was waiting, smiling at him. He shut the door behind him as he turned to face Richie. Eddie was happy to see he wasn't the only one who wanted to look good.
"Hi," Eddie said, stepping forward and giving Richie a kiss on the cheek. "Wow, it feels good to do that again," he added with a grin.
"I've missed it, too," Richie replied as he kissed Eddie on the forehead. "You're looking mighty fine tonight, Eds."
"Ain't so bad yourself," said Eddie, causing Richie to giggle. "Oh I've missed that laugh."
"Well, shall we, Eddie, my sweet?" Richie held out his arm. "Or should I go in and say hello to Sonia?"
"Only if you want to delay our date by about six years."
Richie laughed again. "Well then let's get to it!"
Once their food was ordered, Richie and Eddie turned to face one another. Their table was far enough away from all of the other patrons in the diner that they were able to hide their hand holding. They had also locked their legs under the table, an old habit.
"So, how's New York?" asked Eddie, looking at Richie hard.
"I love it, but I hate it."
"How the hell can you hate it, Rich?"
"Well, I love college, and getting to see Bill, Stan and Bev all the time, and I enjoy my job at the bookstore. All of that is great, but I hate that you're not there, Eds."
Eddie blushed as he gave Richie's hand a squeeze.
"I wish I could be there," he replied in a small voice. "But you know how my dear Mother is. She'll barely let me out of her sight and I'm an adult."
"Are you happy, though, Eddie?" Richie asked. "I mean, can you truly say you're happy?"
Eddie stared back into Richie's eyes. He knew that he couldn't lie to Richie, no matter how much easier it was to pretend everything was all right. Slowly, Eddie shook his head.
"No," he said. "My life is a mess. I let her control me and I can feel myself suffocating. I get angry at her all of the time. I know she can't help it, but I can't help but get angry with her when she butts in on every little thing that I do. I swear to god she's going to drive me to an early grave, Rich."
"Now, Eddie Spaghetti, don't you go saying things like that," Richie chastised. "You'll make old Richie's heart break.
Eddie rolled his eyes again and lightly slapped Richie's hand. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the waiter returning, and the two quickly stopped holding hands and waited for their food to be set in front of them. Eddie had ordered a simple cesar salad, while Richie went all out with a chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, green beans and two large rolls. Once the waiter had set everything down and walked away, Eddie glanced at Richie's plate.
"Hungry, are you?" Eddie asked with a smirk.
Richie shrugged. "Can't help it," he said, picking up his fork and knife and starting to cut up the meat. "College food fucking sucks, Eddie, so I gotta treat myself when I'm away from all that shit."
Richie parked his dad's borrowed truck outside Eddie's house. He was excited that Eddie had not let go of his hand yet, but had taken his seat belt off.
"Thanks for a great date," Eddie said happily. "We'll have to go on a few more before you go back to college."
"Hey, listen, Eds," said Richie. "Are you sure you want to stay here with your Mom? I mean, from what you said in the diner, it sounds like you two could really use a break from each other? And isn't it time you moved out and went on your own way?"
Eddie sighed.
"Yeah, I hear you, Rich. But where would I go?"
"How about New York?"
Eddie glanced up at Richie, who had a hopeful expression on his face.
"That's a little insane, Richie," Eddie said.
Richie nodded. "Yeah, I know, but think about it: we'd be together all the time again. Bill, Bev and Stan will be around, and we can make it just like old times. You can get a degree and get started on a career of your choosing."
"What if Mom doesn't want me to go?"
"Edward Kaspbrak," Richie said in a more serious tone that almost made Eddie laugh. "You don't need to worry about what she wants. You need to think about what you want, Eds. You have to do what's right for you, not her."
Eddie paused for a moment, thinking heavily about what to do. Yes, the idea sounded crazy to him, but the prospect of being around the great love of his life all of the time was difficult to resist. As if reading his mind, Richie spoke.
"And we can live together, Eds. We won't ever have to be apart."
Eddie didn't respond, but kept thinking for a few moments. Finally, he looked at Richie and nodded. Richie's face lit up.
"Really? You'll go?"
"I must be insane, but I'll do it. I can't stand not being with you, Richie. I need to be with you. I love you, Richie!" Eddie exclaimed, leaning forward and taking Richie's head gently and pressing his lips to Richie's. The two kissed passionately for several seconds, the first time in the two years since Richie had left for college they had been able to express their love for one another.
"I love you, too, Eddie," Richie replied when they finally broke apart. "You've made me the happiest man on the planet!"
"Oh, no, I think that's me," said Eddie. "You helped show me how much I need this, Richie. My life is about to get a whole lot better."
"Hell yeah it is."
Eddie giggled. "I should probably get inside," he said. "Break the news to Mother. She'll probably flip when I tell her I'm moving to New York, but it's what I need."
"It's what you deserve," Richie corrected. "You deserve to be happy."
"I will be," Eddie said, opening the door as Richie did the same and walked around the front of the truck.
The two young men grabbed hands as they walked toward Eddie's house. It was a foggy night with a little breeze in the air. The temperature was bearable for late December; they were lucky there was no precipitation, which would have made their walk miserable. They walked up the stairs before turning to one another outside the front door and held each other close.
"So I guess I'm really doing this, moving to New York," Eddie said.
"Yeah," Richie replied. It was all he could muster to say; his excitement and jubilation were too high for much of anything else. "Is it the craziest thing you've ever done?" he managed to ask.
"Oh, no question, it's insane. But it's what I want and it's what I need." At that Eddie pulled Richie close and the two kissed again as they held onto each other. After several seconds they broke apart and Eddie stuck his key in the lock.
"Let me know what she says," Richie said, grinning as he started to walk back down the stairs and toward the truck.
"Oh, I will. I'll call you tomorrow."
"Love you, Eddie Spaghetti."
"Love you, too, Rich."
With that, Eddie opened the door and stepped inside as Richie turned and walked toward the truck. The two turned and waved to each other before Eddie shut the door and locked it.
"Mother!" he called out to the living room. "I'm home! And I've got some news."
He got no response, but he wasn't too surprised. He rolled his eyes and started walking toward his mother's recliner, which was seated in front of the fireplace."
"Look, I'm sorry for snapping earlier," Eddie said as he approached the recliner. "I just need to be able to do stuff without you getting worked up about what I'm doing, Mother. I am an adult, after all."
Still, Eddie got no response. Frowning, Eddie walked up to the recliner and stepped around to look at his mother. She had her eyes closing and Eddie simply assumed she was asleep.
"Mother," he said, putting a hand on her arm. Ordinarily, this would have caused Sonia to wake up instantly, demanding to know why Eddie had interrupted her rest. But she didn't respond at all. Eddie simply spoke a little louder, but in a more annoyed tone.
"Mother," he repeated, lifting his hand from her arm, which fell off the arm of the recliner, limp. Eddie hesitated when he saw this. He looked up at his mother's face and saw that her mouth was open slightly, but he couldn't hear any oxygen flowing through her. Eddie looked at Sonia's chest and saw that it wasn't moving.
"Mother!?" Eddie exclaimed as a sudden realization came over him. He picked up Sonia's limp arm and reached for the wrist. He placed two fingers on one side of her wrist, but he felt no pulse.
"Oh my god!" Eddie screamed as he ran from the recliner, hurried to the phone and fumbled to dial 911.