After everyone woke up they all decided what to do for the day. Bev wanted to go parasailing, Ben, Audra and Mike agreed to go with her. Bill and Stan were going to go hiking and convinced Eddie to join them. Richie wanted to stay in the house, he had a lot of work to catch up on. Everyone tried to cajole him into coming with them but he promised to join them for afternoon activities.

It made Richie a little sad to not join the boys hiking but part of the plan was for everyone to talk to Eddie one on one (or two on one). They hoped if he heard it from everyone at different points this week it would sink in. The group said their goodbyes and split up.

Richie cleaned up from breakfast and opened his computer, sitting down with fresh coffee to tackle emails. He really needed to hire someone to help with all this, he was tired of working on vacation.

The hiking group returned first, three or so hours later. Richie noticed that Eddie was looking sullen, he mumbled something about a nap and quickly left.

Richie raised his eyebrows questioningly at the other two. "We tried asking him about Myra and what they wanted for the future- dogs, kids, moving out of New York..." Bill started.

"It didn't go well." Stan finished.

"Didn't go well how?"

"He tried to avoid answering us at first but when we pressed him he started being a dick. He told Stan that he was in no place to question his life decisions, and that I didn't know anything since I married Audra right after college."

Ouch. Eddie usually wasn't mean, sure he was often grumpy, but rarely mean. Richie stood and threw an arm around Stan. "You okay, Stan the Man?"

Stan shrugged him off. He was always the least touchy-feely of the losers. "I'm fine. Look, I'm just going to go meditate for a while." Meditation was his way of dealing with stress, one of his replacements for the drugs. He walked off.

Richie looked at Bill, "Is he okay?"

Bill watched Stan leave. "I'm not sure. Eddie never seemed to judge him, and Stan always appreciated that. I think hearing this was hard for him. I hope Eddie apologizes, it was a dick move."

Normally Richie wanted to defend Eddie but this was bad. Eddie obviously felt like shit but he couldn't take it out on the others.

"You know he's wrong, right?" Richie said to Bill.

"Hmm?" Bill asked, drinking some water.

"You and Audra. You didn't rush into things, you two are clearly perfect together. It's a little sickening, really."

Bill smiled at Richie. "Thanks man, I wasn't taking what Eddie said to heart."

"Good. We all love Audra." Richie sighed, "I hope I find something like that one day." Richie rarely spoke about love or relationships. He was known as a perpetual bachelor in LA but that was only because the love of his life was a 5 hour plane ride away.

"Richie, you will." Bill hesitated. "Maybe if you stopped pining over Eddie you'd find someone else."

Normally Richie would be angry but hanging on to this school boy crush for over a decade had worn him down. He still loved Eddie, and he probably always would but he knew Bill was right. Annoyingly, Bill was usually right. "If this week doesn't work I'll try." He needed to try for his own sanity.

Bill gave him a small smile. "Good, you deserve someone great Richie. Someone who will love you back, Trashmouth and all."

"Stop, you're going to make me blush, you devil you." Richie laughed, putting his cup in the sink.

Bill laughed too. "Somehow I doubt anything makes you blush anymore. I'm going to go read on the beach. See you later buddy."

Richie sat down on the couch to read. He had a stack of books that had been neglected and was excited to tear into one.

The others came back another few hours later, windblown and carefree. They all had a great time and told the others about it as they scrounged for food. Eddie still hadn't come out despite all the noise so Richie went to check on him.

He found him sitting on the bed looking at his phone. "Hey Eds." He sat on the edge of the bed.

"Hey." He said quietly, not looking at Richie.

"How's it hanging?"

"Not great. I was an ass to Bill and Stan." He was still staring at his phone, refusing to look at Richie.

"All of us are asses to Stan, it's a miracle he still hangs out with us." Richie tried to joke and Eddie just threw him a not-funny look. "Seriously though. None of us have ever done anything the others wouldn't forgive. This is the same. Just apologize to them and they'll forgive you."

Eddie sat up. "Do you think so?"

"Eds, I know so. They wouldn't be friends with me if they were that thin skinned." Eddie gave Richie a small smile.

"Well, I've got to go make amends." Eddie stood and hesitated. "Look, um, I'm sorry for this morning too. I was a dick."

"A giant dick. But that's what I like about you, you're just a giant dick attached to legs."

Eddie rolled his eyes. "I was wondering where trashmouth went for a minute there."

"Well, someone should compliment that excellent between the legs feature of yours. And I don't think anyone else has seen it in action."

Eddie blushed bright red, "Beep fucking beep Richie." He walked out.

Richie smiled, Eddie may have been embarrassed but he didn't seem angry, which was a win for Richie.

He went out to join the others. "What are the afternoon plans?"

"We were thinking we'd take the pontoon out!" Bev said, excitedly. She loved being on the water. It always confused Richie that she ended up in Chicago, where you couldn't be outside nearly half the year.

Everyone nodded. Richie noticed that Eddie and Stan were missing. By the time he had changed into his swim trunks they were back and Eddie was talking quietly to Bill. They hugged. It looked like all was forgiven.

The losers loaded up a cooler for snacks and two for drinks and headed out. One of the reasons they all loved this space was that it was right on the water and the pontoon was only a 15 minute walk. Everything was close, making it easier to find your way back when drunk.

Bill volunteered to stay sober and drive, with Stan keeping him company. Everyone else settled in with a beer and started to talk. It wasn't long until they were talking about high school. Bill had found a good spot to drop anchor and was sitting with them, with Audra leaning against him.

"I think all of us were half in love with you," Eddie joked to Bev. Mike protested saying he never liked her that way but everyone else nodded in agreement.

"Ok Mike, who was your first crush then?" Bev asked.

Mike smiled. "That's easy. One of my family's friends had a girl my age. They'd come over to the farm once or twice a month for dinner. We always snuck out to see the animals and stargaze. I was half in love with her before I even knew what love was."

"Young love! That's so sweet!" Audra said. "What about everyone else?"

Stan told them about a jewish girl who went to his synagogue, he used to wait to walk her out to her parent's car. Ben talked about a girl in his original hometown, who had red hair. Everyone joke that he maybe had a thing for redheads.

Eddie and Richie stayed silent. Richie was thinking back to when he had Eddie had been together, however briefly.