Chapter Text
So much for sleeping, Richie mused, slipping carefully out of Eddie's bed when the glowing green numbers finally read three-oh-oh on the clock across the pillow. The room was cold, at least compared to the sheets he had just inched his way out of, and the pliant body still tucked between them.
Richie reclaimed his bag, packed lightly with everything he had needed for what his boyfriend didn't know was their last night. After what happened at the smoke and choke campfire, even the insensitive trashmouth couldn't really justify making Eddie say goodbye, again.
A sheet of his mom's floral-print shopping list note paper was just long enough to tuck snugly around the single Polaroid that he was willing to part with, of his own forehead and bangs taken from the angle of a sharp collarbone, and Richie set it on the bedside table, weighing down the corner with the alarm clock.
By the time he hit the New Hampshire border, the sun was rising, and he couldn't quite stop himself from imagining Eddie's face when he found it, read it. Maybe crumpled it up to throw at his trash can or set on fire. Maybe he cried hard enough to wake up Sonia. Richie didn’t know which hurt less.
Don't forget this face. You'll be seeing it again. Yours, R