Richie didn't feel anything as he awoke from his slumber.
No crazy thoughts telling him what to do…no joy or pain; he was just mute.
"Stan?" he called in a low voice, hoping he was still here.
"Stan already left," Mike said, staring down at the teen.
"Ooh…guess like I should leave then, too."
"If you want; I know last night didn't go exactly as planned…but—"
"Yeah, you can say that again."
As Richie folded up the sheets and sleeping bag that was loaned to him from Mike, he pondered.
'Why am I feeling this…impending dread? What happened…happened, and unfortunately, I need to get over it.'
"Okay, I'm out – thanks again for hosting."
"Hey, anytime man. See you around."
And with that, Richie exited the house and hopped onto his bike, starting the long trek home.
"Why, hello there, Richard."
Wentworth greeted his son in a downcast manner, causing the teen to panic.
"Look, Dad, if it's about last night, I can explain."
"Okay, explain to me why the Genesis record is still out on the record player."
Richie's eyes went wide, "Ooh…it slipped my mind, and it was getting rather late and I had to head out to Mike's, so I forgot. I'm sorry."
Wentworth nodded, "A likely explanation – don't let it happen again."
As Richie nodded and entered the house, he marched straight to his room. Sitting down on the bed, he allowed himself to think freely again.
'Close call, who knows how he would have dealt with me coming out…'
Probably in a similar manner that Eddie took it
Richie groaned; hearing his name…it still made him weak but in a different way.
'Yeah, and now he has all the power…who knows how school will go?'
…Probably in a similar—
'I heard you the first time, damn!'
But that did leave Richie to ponder a more sinister plot.
'Derry is not that big of a town, so if it gets around school, then it's only a matter of time it gets to my parents…and at that time, I'll probably be put in a straight jacket in some mental ward trying to be cured or some shit.'
Richie shook his head, not wanting that to be his future.
'What other options do I have?'
Before Richie could even think of an answer, he heard Wentworth knock on the door.
"You have a visitor, son."
Richie froze, knowing all too well who it was.
'Just great…he's going to march in here and let me have it.'
Thankfully, as he marched down the stairs, he spotted Stan standing outside as opposed to…well, Eddie.
The teen ushered the other one outside, towards the grass to have their conversation, which he obliged to.
"So, what's up?" Richie asked as he sat down.
"I talked to…no, tried to talk to Eddie just now."
Richie sighed, "And I'm assuming that went bad."
Stan nodded, "I'm really sorry, but it seems like he doesn't want to budge. He thinks you persisted when he wanted you to stop."
"I did no such thing! Yes, I came out to him, and yes, I…love him like that, but he was the one that initiated the fighting."
"That's what I thought."
As both boys sat in silence for a couple of seconds, allowing the morning sky to shine brightly on them, Stan finally asked, "You aren't going to do anything dumb, right?"
Richie turned away from his friend, not knowing how to answer.
"Richie…please don't do what I think you want to do."
"Nobody else knows…but come Monday, that all may change…and I don't think I have the courage to—"
"Are you kidding me!" Stan blurted out, standing up with his arms opened wide, "What you did…takes an amount of courage that is unrecognizable. You are stronger than you think, give yourself some credit."
Richie didn't want to break down again, so he breathed in and exhaled slowly, shaking his head.
"I don't feel like that – I feel like a loser who's walking towards his death."
As Richie stood up, he went over and hugged Stan.
"Thank you…for everything."
Stan returned the hug back, "Yeah, no problem."
As the boys went their separate ways, Richie went inside the house and up to his room again, closing the door behind him and lying down on his bed, allowing tears to fall freely.
'Me? Courageous? Pfft, not in the slightest…'
The morning hours turned into afternoon and Richie still laid down on his bed, not having the energy to move…or even think. The only productive thing he did was put a cassette tape into his boombox but didn't have it within him to listen to any type of music.
He laid in absolute silence for those hours, as it was his best coping mechanism he could come up with – no in-house fighting with his conscience, nor talking to his parents.
"Hey, is everything alright?"
Hearing a knock at the door and Wentworth's voice alerted Richie to rise up from his bed.
"Umm…yeah, I'm okay."
"Are you sure? Your mother and I haven't seen you all day today, and we were getting quite worried."
'Pfft, worried about little old me?'
"Yeah, I'm positive – I'm actually going to go out on a bike ride."
"Okay – please be back by supper."
As Richie went to hug his father, he found himself hugging him tighter than normal, to which his father reacted.
"Woah, you're getting a bit stronger there – I almost felt that in my core."
Richie should have smiled and laughed; instead, he remained silent, grabbing his boombox and marched down the stairs into the living room to alert his mother of his plan.
"Mom, I'm going out on a bike ride."
"Okay, honey, just be back before dinnertime."
As Richie went to hug his mother – again, a bit too tight for his liking – she recoiled as she felt the strength behind his action.
"Are you okay?"
Richie nodded solemnly before making a break for the door.
As he hopped onto his bike and started pedaling away from his house, one lone thought entered his mind.
'…Maybe they won't need to worry about me anymore…'
Eddie laid in his bed, tossing and turning during his second small nap of the day.
He couldn't win – no matter what.
This morning with Stan, during his breakfast bickering with his mother about why he came home early from the sleepover, and now trying something so simple.
Eddie hit his bed with force, sitting up and running his hands through his hair.
"Why am I like this?" Eddie whispered, pondering on his attitude.
"How are you doing?"
Hearing Sonia's voice through the closed door made Eddie sigh in exasperation.
"Napping's not working…I need to go on a bike ride to clear my head."
"Sounds good," Sonia said before retreating back downstairs.
Eddie rubbed his eyes and stifled a yawn, rising from his bed and heading downstairs towards the living room.
"See you later," he said, kissing his mother goodbye.
"Thank you, dear; have fun."
As Eddie exited and hopped on his bike, he started his journey to…well, anywhere.
'I have a full afternoon to clear my head…hopefully this will bring some good to a shit-filled day.'
Down at the quarry, one lost soul sat down next to the water's edge, watching the swishing water go back and forth on a clammy day.
'What a day…what a day indeed.'
Reaching for his boombox, Richie started to play the cassette within the player, listening to depressing songs to set the mood.
As Right Here Waiting played from the boombox – the last song he added to the mix – Richie allowed the tears to fall freely.
Grabbing a nearby rock, he felt the magnitude of it underneath the palm of his hand.
'This will be hard…but it needs to be done.'
As the song sung into its second verse, he remembered all the fun he had throughout the summertime and in years past…when he didn't have to question his sexuality.
When things were much, much simpler.
And Eddie was inseparable to him, more of a best friend than anything.
'He makes me so crazy…but I fell in love with him. Maybe it was too fast?'
As the song concluded, Richie grabbed his boombox and skipped a few songs to listen to some Elton John.
Just as the piano kicked in and the lyrics started, Richie started to banter.
'This is forever, Elton. Me being gay is here to stay…and things aren't better, that's why I want everything to end!'
He still clutched the rock in his hand, knowing what needed to be done.
As he stood up and walked towards the edge of the water, the song still playing in the background, he looked out at the open water.
He stood there, staring intensely.
It was now or never.
'I need the right song for this moment…'
Just as Elton was singing about the blues, as Richie turned around, he came face-to-face with him on his bike.
Eddie.
Standing there, looking petrified.
As the second verse commenced, Eddie parked his bike and walked right up to Richie.
"Hey, what's going on?" Eddie asked, still looking afraid at his friend.
Richie pointed to the boombox and sighed, shaking his head as the song continued.
"…Okay, why do you have a rock in your hand?"
Richie sighed again, not wanting to answer the question.
"Alright," Eddie continued, "I'm here – what do you want?"
"For you to leave."
"…Fine."
Just as Eddie turned around, he caught what Elton was singing about and froze.
"No, I'm not going anywhere until we have this talk."
"What talk?" Richie asked, "I don't need to talk to you – we did so last night, and you know how that went."
Eddie scuffled his feet, "Yeah, about that…"
"Just, please leave."
Seeing Richie beg now made Eddie more desperate to find an answer.
"What are you planning to do with the rock in your hand?"
Marching up to the boombox, he paused the music just as the harmonica was about to kick in.
"I'm going to use it to…kill myself."
Eddie's eyes went wide.
"And don't you start preaching," Richie said, pointing a stern finger towards the youngster, "I thought all of this out, and I would have gotten away with it had it not been for you."
"You were going to hit yourself with a rock to…kill yourself?"
"Yeah, I'd bash it against my head a couple of times in the middle of the quarry and allow my body to drown."
"Richie…you—"
"Don't! Don't tell me I'm crazy, because I already know that, and if I can't have you, then I can't have anyone. And knowing what you would have done at school would have—"
"I wasn't going to tell anyone else – I swear on my whole life, Richie!"
"How do you expect me to believe you?"
At that, Eddie charged Richie and planted a hug on him.
"Get the fuck off me!"
"No, not unless you promise me that you aren't going to take your life."
Richie struggled to get the youngster off of him, still holding the rock in his possession.
"Please, Eddie – you don't get the emptiness I felt throughout today."
"So, you think the only thing left is to end your life?"
Tears fell from Richie's eyes as he nodded his head.
"Richie," Eddie said, "I'm sorry for calling you sick, for saying that I would have the upper hand – basically for all of last night. Just please, don't go through with it!"
Eddie glanced up, wanting his best to help his needy friend.
'Just do it! Remember your wish about new opportunities?'
Standing on his tiptoes to become truly face-to-face with Richie, Eddie planted a small kiss on his right cheek.
Breaking apart from the hug, Eddie looked at Richie, who was blushing like mad.
"You…you missed."
Eddie sighed, "I knew you would say that."
As he approached Richie again, he stood on his tiptoes and leaned in.
Richie accepted, and the two shared a small, passionate kiss.
"There, better?" Eddie asked as he broke apart.
Richie nodded his head, fresh tears streaming down his face, "That's all I ever wanted from you."
Eddie smiled, "Good, so you aren't going to go through with the whole…well…"
Richie looked down at the still clutched rock and tossed it aside.
Eddie breathed a sigh of relief before saying, "Good! And look, we'll still continue to be best friends, but nothing outside of that. Just because I don't love you doesn't mean that there isn't someone else out there for you."
Richie solemnly nodded.
"Let's celebrate the one way we know how."
As Eddie knelt down next to the boombox, he turned it on, but instead of the cassette playing, the radio was instead playing, booming out the beginning Dancing in the Dark.
"Hey, I actually know this song!" Eddie said, beaming with pride as he started to dance.
Richie laughed, "Glad to see you have good taste in music."
As the two danced along to the song, they didn't recognize Bev watching from a distance.
"Man, some real shit goes down in the quarry," she whispered, watching the two boys dance like there was no tomorrow.
As the boys mimicked each other's moves while mouthing the words to Bruce Springsteen, they didn't want to have it any other way.
As friends.