And here as promised is the second new chapter! I also almost forgot to thank the wonderful reviewer I got for my story. I am so glad you like it and I promise I will try to upload more so you can keep reading! Anyways enjoy!
It turned out that the good news was both of them were ready to be released from the hospital. Of course they couldn't leave without Eddie asking a million questions first. Once Richie finally convinced him they would be fine they were greeted by their friends at the entrance.
"You both survived!" Ben greeted.
"Barely, Eds here wouldn't stop asking questions" Richie said, throwing his good arm around the other's shoulders.
"Well one of us has to be responsible one and don't call me that" Eddie grumbled, but allowed Richie's arm to stay where it was.
"So you two are free to go at last huh?"
The group turned to see Jamie in his car with another male sat in the passenger seat. His black hair was long enough to partly cover his left eye. His blue eyes were emphasized by the black eyeliner circling them. He wore a light grey shirt and a dark grey scarf tied in a square knot.
"Hey Jamie, thought the doctor said you had the day off" Richie greeted.
"I did, but I had to come say goodbye at least. You two were some of my best patients after all. By the way, this is my husband Dee" Jamie said, motioning to the other male.
"Nice to meet you Dee, your husband has told us so much" Richie said, walking over to extend his hand.
"And it's all true" Dee said with a chuckle as he shook Richie's hand, "it's a pleasure to meet you as well."
"I was actually hoping to run into you Jamie, I wanted to give you something" Richie said as he pulled two pieces of paper from his pocket and handed them to the brunette, "the first one is my email address and the other one-"
"A check for…" Jamie trailed off, his and Dee's eyes going wide when they saw the number, "w-what? Richie, we can't accept this."
"Yes you can, in fact there is a no return policy on all my checks."
"Why are you giving us this much?"
"You two have been married for seven years with a kid and are living in a fucked up small thinking town with a high death rate for children. If you had the means to leave, I'm sure you would have already. This will help you get that start."
"Thank you Richie, that means a lot to us" Dee said, smiling brightly.
"Yes thank you so much, we will never forget this" Jamie added.
With a final farewell Jamie drove off. Richie was still smiling when he turned to his friends. He noticed they were all smiling at him.
"What?"
"Aw, that's our Richie" Beverly said.
"An asshole with a heart of gold" Mike finished.
"Come on, lets go get some ice cream, it's the best medicine after all" Beverly said.
~~~**~~~**~~~**~IT~**~~~**~~~**~~~
With Derry being such a small town there was only one good ice cream place, it was somewhere they would spend a lot of time during the summer, when they had the money. Mike ordered mint chocolate chip, Ben got butterscotch ripple, Beverly picked cookies and cream with sprinkles, and Bill chose butter pecan. Eddie and Richie were last to pick. With Eddie's soy allergy he decided to select strawberry frozen yogurt. And Richie, being the extra person he was, got a sherbet ice cream with sprinkles, whipped cream, and a cherry.
Eddie wrinkled his nose slightly as Richie slid into the booth next to him and Bill, "you are still eating all that sugary shit?"
"Of course I am, you can't get a body like this eating that healthy crap" Richie joked, pointing to the slight belly he had.
Laughter echoed amongst the group before they started to dig into their ice cream. It might seem odd to others that this was how they celebrated defeating a world eating clown, but to them it was perfect. It brought them right back to the beginning. They all felt at peace for the first time in their lives.
But of course it couldn't last long.
Eddie's cellphone suddenly rang and he had to shift slightly to retrieve it from being squished in his pocket between him and Richie. When he saw the caller ID he let out a heavy sigh.
Myra
"You don't have to answer it" Richie said, hating how tense Eddie had become within seconds.
"She'll just keep calling if I don't" Eddie replied as Bill moved so he could get out. Richie glanced over to Eddie as he got up, but a strong, 'stay there' glare from him kept Richie from following.
Eddie stepped outside, taking a deep breath to steady himself. It wouldn't help for both of them to be angry. He could sense the tension rising in his body and he felt for his backup inhaler in his pocket even though he hadn't needed it since defeating Pennywise.
Finally he hit accept and cautiously placed it up to his ear, but before he could say anything he was met with an aggressive and shrill voice, "Edward Kaspbrak do you have any idea how worried I've been! You don't respond to me for days and now you pick up! What have you been doing?!"
Eddie allowed her to yell, keeping himself as calm as he could. He wasn't going to be pulled into her manipulation this time.
Once she finally fell silent he spoke, "Myra I-"
"It's another woman isn't it?! I'm not good enough so you made an excuse to go see her!"
"Myra there isn't another woman. I explained the reason I had to leave-"
"Because you made a promise to old friends, it sounds like an excuse to me-"
"You can believe me or not, but that's the truth."
"So then when are you planning to come home?"
And there it was, that begging tone. Whenever her anger didn't work it would melt into sadness and pleading. It would always make him cave because it was the same technic his mother had used. But this time was different. This time the fear of being left alone wasn't a main focus. This time he was strong enough.
"I'm not coming back."
"What do you mean you're not coming back?"
"Myra…this isn't working."
"Eddie-"
"I want a divorce."
"But you can't mean that. We can work through this we can-"
"No we can't Myra. Things haven't been fine for a long time. We need to end this."
"No, I'm not going to let this go! I refuse to accept a divorce! I'm not going to let you go so you can run off to that other woman!"
"There is no other woman!" Eddie snapped, his calm voice finally breaking from his irritation.
"I'm not letting you throw this marriage away. When you come home we will go to a therapist and get this sorted."
"Myra-" but she had already hung up before he could say another word.
Eddie lowered his phone, letting out a yell of frustration. He was so close to being free from a toxic relationship and she wouldn't let him go. He suddenly heard the door behind him and he turned to see Richie looking at him.
"I wasn't listening if that's what you were wondering" Richie said.
"No, it's not… I just…" Eddie sighed as he felt his anger rising again, "I mean we just beat a fucking killer clown from outer space and lived and how many people can say that? And shouldn't that mean we get to have better lives now that Pennywise isn't fucking with it?"
"She's not going to let you go."
"No, she thinks she can fix this with counseling. And I can't do that. I can't go back to New York. I can't just leave after all that we've been through" Eddie searched his pockets for his inhaler, his breathing becoming more labored.
"Hey give me that. You don't need it, just breath with me" Richie said, grabbing at the inhaler.
Eddie fought for it at first, but eventually he gave in and followed Richie's breathing. He could feel the warmth from Richie's hand sinking into his skin, providing him with a relaxing comfort.
As Eddie was calming down Richie suddenly got a crazy idea, "so don't go back then."
Eddie's head snapped up to look at Richie, "What?"
"Come with me to California. Show her that you're serious about getting a divorce and that you aren't going back to get it fixed. And no amount of bitching from her will bring you back unless it's to sign those divorce papers."
Eddie studied Richie's face for a moment. He wasn't used to seeing this more serious side of his friend. He expected a joke, but when Richie didn't say anything else he finally replied, "you're serious."
A small laugh left Richie before he responded, "I know I can be an obnoxious asshole and joke around a lot, but I'm not this time. I mean it."
"You really want me to come to California with you?"
"Yeah…cause I feel the same. Just thinking about going back to my old life and pretending like none of this shit happened… I can't, not if it means leaving you."
Silence fell on them as Eddie thought it over. But it only took him a few moments to realize what he wanted, "ok, I'll do it."
"You will?"
"I will" Eddie confirmed before Richie pulled him into a hug. He could sense Richie's happiness and he briefly wondered if that was part of their newly discovered powers, but he put that aside as he spoke, "you know you really have given me a lot of courage."
"What do you mean?" Richie asked as he pulled back from the hug.
"I mean I wouldn't have even had the courage to bring up a divorce with Myra if I hadn't been thinking of you."
"That's where you're wrong Eds. I haven't done anything. You have that courage already, I just helped remind you."
Richie smiled and it reflected onto Eddie as they once again fell silent for a moment. Eddie truly did feel uplifted because of the new life he had waiting for him in California. Now he just had to shake the old one.
"So then maybe I have the courage to do this too" Eddie said as he slipped the golden wedding band from his finger.
He took a deep breath and launched the ring as far as he could. The ring briefly caught the sunlight before it disappeared from sight. Eddie felt as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. It didn't completely fix the Myra issue, but it was a start.
"Shit, that was an impressive throw. Also you realize Myra is going to kill you" Richie said.
Eddie couldn't help laughing, "you know, after facing off with Pennywise, she really doesn't scare me anymore. But are you really sure about all this?"
"Am I sure about wanting to be with you, is that really the question you want to ask?"
"You know what I mean smartass" Eddie said, playfully shoving him, "Myra's not going to give up, she's made that crystal clear. Are you sure you're willing to be here through all of that?"
"Eddie" Richie said, locking eyes with the other, "I spent nearly 30 years being too afraid to tell the truth to you. If you think I'm going to let you go after I just got you then you've got another thing coming."
Eddie let out a small puff of air that seemed to be a mix of a laugh and a sigh of relief, "good, I don't want to let you go either."
"Besides if Myra is anything like your mom I should be able to handle her just fine, your mom never could scare me."
"Of course she didn't. You were always too busy making jokes about her."
That made both of them laugh before Richie spoke, "now come on, we were in the middle of a celebration, lets get back to that."
Of course I couldn't just let them have their happy ending right now. There is still so much left to the story before I move on to the sequels. And yes I said sequels. Lets just say I have an idea for two different sequels that I am very excited for. Now if only I could get my Richie muse to finish this first story so we can do the sequels. But like I said there is plenty more to come before we get to all that. Let me know what you guys thought of the new chapters!
