- How's your mom doing, Eds? - He asked, laughing and trying to get away as quickly as possible, so that the old and completely unnecessary feeling would die before it could be resurrected.
Eddie changed his face, relaxed his arms and stayed stunned when Ritchie left him quickly to greet everyone else. Ben, who walked up to Eddie from behind, awkwardly took hold of his shoulders, said: "good old Ritchie" than he had taken out of his stupor.
- Yes," Casprack said, and retreated, thoughtfully shaking his head.
Ritchie, lost in the middle of the crowd, exhaled and sat down at the table, trying to be as far away from Eddie as possible. He tried to make it look like everything was okay, so he was joking and interrupting, and laughed louder than anyone else when he felt it was necessary. The tension that kept him from meeting Eddie was slowly releasing him, so Ritchie let himself relax.
- Hey, Ritchie, did you make someone else, Mrs. Tosier? - Eddie asked suddenly, drinking out of his glass.
And Ritchie made a stitch. The cold sweat came out on his back, and his hands got cold. Eyes behind the thick frame of glasses became even bigger.
- Are you hinting at your mommy? - He tried to joke about it by smiling nervously.
- I'm serious. - Eddie gazed into it and everyone followed his example.
Ritchie wanted to run away.
- Yes, yes," he said, "I have a wife. So, we got married recently.
- We're not talking about your hand, Ritchie," said Bill, and everyone laughed.
Everyone except Eddie, who was still looking at Ritchie's panicked face.
- I'm not lying," he tried to lie, giving his words more confidence. - We'd been dating for three years, back and forth, and here and there, ringed. Count the slave for the rest of your life.
Bill nodded understandingly, silently agreeing, and Bev took pity on something, becoming very small and hurt. Ben instinctively reached out to her, but immediately pulled himself away. Bill, who was sitting closer to her, gently lowered his arm on her shaken shoulder.
The subject was stuck, and Ritchie managed to breathe out in peace.
Marriage...
Once upon a time, maybe ten years ago, he tried to get along with a nice girl, a fan. At that time, he hadn't been rattling all over the country, giving concerts and gathering big halls. So, he sometimes performed in pubs, having fun drunk people, getting the miserable for it. She came up to him first: he sat behind the bar, lowering most of the money for a good bourbon. She sat down next to him, shaking her long, black hair, and said, smiling: "Hello". Ritchie almost fell off the chair then. She was too much like...
He gave himself a chance to try. He called for a walk, tried to show signs of attention, tried to make himself at least feel something. She was worthy of it, but... time passed. His career was going up the hill thanks to her support, she was protecting him and taking care of him. She gave her love and Ritchie got sick of herself every day. He took all her love without giving anything in return. All attempts to create something were in vain.
One day, when he was drunk, he said so:
- In vain.
And she understood him. That evening, she packed her things, hugged her to say goodbye and said: "You can always call me. The soul of tears, she said very quietly. And she left. And he never called her.
The next morning, after extending his eyes and taking the hangover pill she left with him yesterday, he said to himself quietly:
- I was normal.
And that was his daily curse.
Richie Tosier was normal, she was just not the person he needed. He needed a different one, he kept repeating to himself, every time he was afraid of a quiet whispering, repeating a different one.
Normal.
He shuddered when someone's hand fell on his shoulder.
- What are you doing? - Eddie asked, clutching tight.
His hand was white, smooth, and Ritchie was willing to swear, soft. Just like when he was a kid...
- Normally," he said, shaking his hand off his shoulder. - So what were you saying there?
He fell in love with Eddie spontaneously. He didn't even like him at first sight - not his type. He always liked blonde boys with innocent curls. And if they were taller than him - even better. They immediately wanted to make friends with them, hang out all the time, and also talk and talk endlessly. Eddie wanted to make fun of it all the time. The sneaker and the coward, always clinginging to his mother - or the mother, always clinginging to him - he was more annoying and caused a natural desire to joke without stopping. Joking about him, his pills, his inhaler and his mommy. The first time Ritchie made a joke about his mother, Eddie couldn't stand it and rushed at him with his fists, which scared the hell out of him. Ritchie couldn't even defend himself from the unexpected. His glasses fell off his face, and Eddie pulled away from him, turning into a blurry and smeared stain in different directions.
to be continued...