8/21

[the_trashmouth]

Everything is so stupid now.

Richie's been vaguely annoyed for weeks, trying to distract himself with his dumb job, with hanging out with Regan and Stan and Bev, but the truth is, things are about to change and he hates it. Jamie's moving out of the Home and then Eddie's going too.

It feels like they're all growing apart, going their separate ways and it sucks. As much as the summer before he ended up in Darrow is mostly a blur, the one thing he does remember is how they said they'd always stick together. Somehow everything that's happening now feels like the opposite of that.

It's stupid, Richie knows, which is why he's trying to take his mind off of it.

Sitting on the floor at Regan's house, he's trying to pay attention to the movie they have on, but when he reaches for the popcorn bowl next to him, he misses, his hand banging against the floor.

"Fuck!" Richie says, shaking his hand and wincing.

Comments

[negative_feedback]

Regan's sitting beside him, the popcorn bowl nestled sort of between their legs. It's about the only distance between them, actually, and half of her leg is under the bowl, itself, lifting it slightly in his direction. She feels the impact of his hand on the floor; pulling her eyes away from the TV, she looks over at him. She catches him shaking his hand, and frowns.

"You okay?"

[the_trashmouth]

There's another few seconds of wincing and shaking his hand before it stops stinging enough for Richie to sign anything.

"Missed the bowl," he says, "It must be too small."

Regan might give him shit for it, but he can't think of an excuse at the moment.

[negative_feedback]

She looks at him thoughtfully. "Well," she says, "you never have trouble finding your dick, right? So put the bowl in your lap, and you won't miss." She grins at him, a shit-eating grin.

[the_trashmouth]

Regan giving him shit like that is so new that it still takes Richie by surprise. Any other time, he'd have a joke to throw back at her, but his heart's not in it at the moment.

"Ha. ha," he signs, then reaches into the bowl for real this time, grabbing a handful of popcorn and stuffing it into his mouth.

[negative_feedback]

That's not the reaction she'd hoped for, and she watches him for a few seconds. She gently touches her fingers to his forearm until he's looking at her.

"What's wrong?" she asks.