The next day Richie walked to school alone because Eddie was sick. He was thinking about what happened with Patrick yesterday. He still felt bad because of what he said. Richie wasn't exactly sure why because he and Patrick were enemies, but he still felt like he shouldn't have said anything. As he walked towards the front of the school, he saw Patrick near the tree smoking a cigarette. Richie decided he should try to make things right between them. He thought that maybe Patrick would keep Bowers off his back if he helped him get through this math class.

"Hey..." Richie said when he came face to face with Patrick.

"What do you want?"

"Let's try to work on more math after school. We can go to my house." Richie offered.

"Fine." Patrick said stomping out his cigarette and walking past Richie to go into the school.

Richie wasn't sure why he offered to study at his house but he figured they would have more time and he hoped that being at home would make him say fewer stupid things. He thought that being comfortable would help him just relax and hopefully help Patrick learn something.

The rest of the day passed by pretty quickly. When Richie walked out front with the rest of the losers, he saw Patrick standing next to the same tree but he was not alone. Vic Criss was with him. The only good thing was that Henry Bowers was nowhere to be found. Vic never really bothered with them as long as Henry wasn't around. He was the least imposing of the group, and Richie credited that to the fact that he had a brain.

He had told the other losers about his deal with Sims, just in case they saw him around Patrick. He didn't want them asking questions or wondering why he couldn't hang out. He made his way over to where Vic and Patrick were standing.

"Ready?" Richie asked.

"No. I have to wait for one more thing." Patrick smiled.

"Oh...ok." Richie stated wondering what he could possibly need to wait for.

"Hey loser..." Bowers' said from behind him.

Richie turned around quickly expecting the worst. Patrick and Vic laughed.

"Relax Trashy, just giving Patrick a book." Bowers said pushing him out of the way.

"Fuck off asshole."

Patrick looked over at Vic no longer laughing. Richie was in for it now and they all knew it.

"What the fuck did you say?" Henry yelled.

Patrick put his hand on Henry's shoulder stopping him where he stood.

"I'll catch you guys later. I need to study." Patrick sighed pushing Richie towards the parking lot, "Let's go before that mouth of yours gets you in anymore trouble."

Richie walked silently towards his house. He wondered if Patrick knew exactly where he lived. He always figured the Bowers' gang knew only because they did live in a small town after all. Richie even knew that Patrick lived just off the railroad tracks near the woods. He also knew where the others lived as well, it wasn't that hard to find out. Richie was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't realize he was walking past his house until Patrick spoke up.

"Yo, asshole...isn't this your house?" Patrick asked.

"Shit. Yeah." Richie said looking up.

He walked up the drive with Patrick following shortly behind. As he walked through the front door, he was greeted with the smell of chocolate chip cookies, his mom must have been baking.

"Hi honey, oh who's your friend?"

"Hey, uh this is Patrick. We are gonna study." Richie stated calmly walking to the kitchen to grab some cookies and sodas from the fridge.

"Oh, nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too, ma'am." Patrick said.

Richie almost choked hearing him call his mother ma'am. He had never heard him talk politely to anyone, not even the teachers at school. He grabbed Patrick's hand and headed upstairs yelling bye to his mom. Once they were upstairs Richie gave him the soda and some cookies.

"I almost shit myself. I don't think I have ever heard you be nice to anyone before, let alone call them ma'am." Richie laughed taking a bite of his cookie.

"Fuck you." Patrick laughed, "I can be a nice person."

"To who?" Richie looked shocked.

"Whatever Tozier, let's get this over with."

They studied for about an hour or so before his mom asked if Patrick was going to stay for dinner. It seemed very strange having Patrick in his house being nice to his mom. When his dad got home, he and Patrick even talked about sports. Richie was highly surprised that Patrick was actually being nice to them. Once back upstairs after a twenty-minute break Richie sighed.

"Ok who are you and what have you done with Hockstetter?"

"Funny." Patrick started, "Ya know you're a real comedian."

Patrick pushed him and Richie reciprocated. Both boys were pushing and shoving each other. They both laughed until they couldn't any longer. Before they knew it, they were wrestling and they landed on Richie's bed. Richie laughed a little more and looked up at Patrick who was now on top of him. Patrick seemed uncomfortable, but he didn't pull away. He looked at Richie really looked at him and what surprised him more than anything was that he was actually pretty cute. Patrick looked past the nerd glasses and really saw him. Wrapped up in the moment Patrick took off his glasses and stared.

"Uh...I can't see." Richie said breaking the silence.

"You don't need to." Patrick stated breathlessly.

Patrick looked at all of Richie's features. He stared shamelessly like he has never stared at anyone before. Patrick was memorizing ever feature of Richie's face when they heard his dad yell that it was dinner time. Patrick removed himself from Richie blushing a little as he did so. He handed Richie his glasses and cleared his throat.

"Let's go." Richie stated walking past him towards the door.

After dinner Patrick went to grab his stuff from Richie's room. Neither boy spoke of what had happened between them.

"So, when do you wanna study again?" Patrick stated, "Tomorrow?"

"Uh, no I have plans." Richie stated which was a lie. Richie wasn't sure studying tomorrow was a good idea. He needed to put distance between him and Patrick. That weird moment between them had Richie worried. They were enemies and it's not like Richie is even into boys.

"Oh, ok." Patrick sighed, "Well, what about the weekend...maybe Saturday?"

"Sure...yeah."

"Here... call me and let me know what time on Saturday." Patrick handed him a piece of paper.

Patrick walked out after that without so much as a goodbye. Richie wasn't sure what any of this meant or why he even had that moment with Patrick. He chalked it up to him being nice to him and his family. Little did he know this was only the beginning.

The next day at school Richie was hanging out with the losers during lunch when he felt eyes on him. Patrick was staring at him from a few tables away, but he never approached him or said anything. Richie had forgotten it by the end of the day,

"You're coming over right?" Eddie asked him while they were at their lockers packing their stuff.

"Yeah Eds." Richie replied look up to see Patrick standing behind Eddie, "Can I help you?"

Eddie turned around quickly expecting to see Bowers.

"Plans, huh?" Patrick asked.

"Yeah..." Richie stated.

"What time do you wanna study on Saturday?" Patrick asked.

"I don't know. I have to figure it out."

"Well...call me when you do." Patrick sighed, "See ya losers."

As Patrick walked away, he slapped the books out of Eddie's hands smiling.

"Asshole." Eddie sighed.

Richie watched him pick up his books.

"I'll be back."

"Chee, let it go. He is an asshole, but it's fine."

"No, it's not Eds." Richie turned and walked away.

Richie followed Patrick out the front doors all the way to the Bowers' gang.

"What the fuck was that?" Richie yelled at him.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. Why did you do that to Eddie?" Richie asked.

"Because he is a loser. You are too, so I'd watch yourself."

Richie pushed Patrick. He was so mad he could punch him in the face. Patrick was acting like a jealous girlfriend, all because he wanted to hang out with Eddie today instead of tutoring him. Eddie ran up to Richie.

"Chee, stop!" Eddie cried breathlessly.

Upon hearing the nickname Richie looked at him and frowned, but the nickname had a different effect on Patrick. He seemed to become agitated really fast. He looked at them with a grimace.

"Aw, look the queers have cute nicknames for each other." Patrick said earning laughs from the other guys.

Richie looked at him and, in that moment, he knew that Patrick was just being a jealous asshole.

"What's even funnier is that Eddie isn't the one acting like a jealous prick!" Richie yelled, "You can be pissed because I don't want to tutor you today, but the fact is I don't hang out with you by choice. Eddie is my friend. I'm literally helping you because I have to. Forget studying, I've decided I don't care what Sims will do to me. You're an asshole."

Patrick was so shocked that he just stood there unable to do anything else. He knew Richie was right. He knew that he acted like an asshole and now everyone knew it. Patrick didn't know what to do to make this right. He did get jealous from hearing the nickname and if he was honest, he really was jealous of their relationship because him and Eddie were inseparable. From as far back as Patrick could remember he had always seen them together. Patrick walked away from the other guys ignore their comments, but Vic knew something was wrong.

"Is he right? Are you jealous?" he asked Patrick.

"Fuck off."

"Why can't you just talk to me?" Vic asked, "Look, if you like Richie..."

"I can't like him. It cannot happen."

"Who says?" Vic stated, "You know you can't help it right?"

"Come on Vic. You know I can't. Henry would freak out if he thought..."

"If he thought what? That you and Richie were together." Vic said, "Honestly Patrick who cares what Henry thinks. He is never getting out of this town and you're smarter than that."

"Yeah sure..."

"You are. Want some advice?"

"Sure."

"Talk to him." Vic sighed, "And fuck everyone else. Also, he and Eddie aren't together you know. They are just really close."

"Oh yeah how do you know?"

"I hear a lot." Vic smiled, "Besides I'm the smart one, remember."

He and Patrick laughed. Patrick thought that Vic was right, he should talk to Richie. He needed to, even if it was just to say he was sorry. He had no right to be jealous anyway even if he and Eddie were a couple. Patrick was a nobody in Richie's life. He knew he meant nothing to him. There were more important people in Richie's life, people who were worth it.

Patrick felt an ache in his chest that he had never felt before. He hated the feeling. The feeling of being helpless and not fully understanding his feelings.