It had gotten easier over the last year. The new ones were just getting younger and younger and the older ones were leaving and getting real jobs. She herself would be forced to leave in another month. There wasn't much she could do once she left besides work in a factory. The factories had killed her mother, leaving her with her father.
She was pulled from her thoughts when someone sat down across from her, something that hadn't been done in several years. "What are you doing, Pie?" she asked.
"I just wanted to talk to you," he replied.
She leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms. "No one has 'just wanted to talk' in a long time. Why the sudden interest? You lose a bet or something?"
"No…it's just…"
"Just…" she prompted.
"Well…I gotta leave the lodging house in a week…and there ain't any room for me to go stay with any of the other boys that have left already…and I can't afford the rent on a flat by myself…"
"What does this have to do with me?"
"I know you have to move out too…and I was wondering if you…"
"If I?"
"Wanted to go in to rent a flat with me…"
She looked him in the eye, another trick her father taught her. He said that you could tell a whole lot about a person just by looking at their eyes. Pie was serious about this and pretty desperate. She leaned forward, propping her elbows on the table. "You and me?"
He nodded.
"Just where did you have in mind?"
"I know of one in Brooklyn…cheap, but nice. Spot and Silk have a flat there. Skittery's got a place there too."
She leaned back. She had to think this through before she agreed to anything. She didn't trust anyone, but she knew that if she agreed to this outlandish idea of his she would have to trust him.
He sighed deeply and looked down, guessing that she wasn't going to give him an answer.
She made a face. He had to go and do that! Her father used to do that to her to get her to agree to go along with him on one of his cons. It never failed to get her to agree. She closed her eyes for a moment. She had watched all of them carefully since she had joined them six years ago, and gotten to know almost everything about all of them, just by watching. If she had to trust any of the newsies, she guessed she would trust him the most. She opened her eyes and leaned forward again. "Tell you what…you get them to rent us a flat…and I'll go for it."
His head shot up. "Really?"
"Yes. I can't wait to get out of that lodging house."
----------
"We've got a problem," Pie said, joining Ice at her selling spot later that afternoon.
She handed a paper to a customer and pocketed the coin. "What?"
"Mrs. B has a flat…but she won't let us have it…"
She had known this was coming, but she had wanted to let him figure it out on his own. "Let me guess…we aren't siblings…we aren't married…"
He shoved his hands in his pockets and kicked at the ground. "Yeah. That's what she said."
"So you have any where else in mind?"
"I checked a couple of other places. The story is the same everywhere."
There was only one possible way for them to share a flat, but was he serious about doing this? "So…"
"I've been thinking…"
She waited for him to continue.
"We can't afford separate flats…the only option is for us to get married…"
She glared at him. "Married?"
He nodded, looking at the ground. He was serious about it. She gave the idea careful thought for several long minutes. She had known that no one would rent them a flat unless they were married. The big question was could she trust him enough to marry him, just so that she would have a place to live? He thought that she wasn't going to answer at all and slowly turned to walk away.
"When do you have to be out?"
Her quiet reply stopped him. He spun on his heel. "Did you just agree to marry me?"
"When do you have to be out?" She asked again
"Friday."
"How soon can we get the flat?"
"As soon as we can move in."
"Thursday?"
He nodded. "The others will be suspicious."
"Of what?" She knew, she just wanted to hear him say it.
"You don't talk to anyone unless you have to…and we're getting married…it just won't make sense to any of the others."
She crossed her arms. "Let them think what they want to think."
"Are you sure about this Ice?"
She looked him in the eye. "Are you?"
----------
Ice stood in the doorway of the small flat and surveyed the rooms. The door to the bedroom was not on the hinges at all, but instead leaned against the wall. Through the open doorway she could see an ancient mattress on the floor. It looked no bigger than the mattresses at the lodging house. Two of the legs on the sofa were broken and it slanted toward the floor. And it looked as if a family of mice had taken up residence in the sofa. Carefully picking her way across the room, she noticed that the window in the bedroom was broken, letting the harsh November wind in.
She turned as Pie walked into the flat. "I talked to Mrs. B," he said.
"And?"
"She didn't know it was this bad. She won't make us pay rent for the first couple of months, if we agree to fix up the place."
"That's awful nice of her, but something has to be done about that window tonight," she said, pointing through the bedroom door.
"It's gonna hafta stay for tonight. I'll look around for some wood to cover it tomorrow."
She wrapped her arms around herself to ward off the chill. He took his blanket out of his knapsack and walked into the bedroom. She watched from the doorway as he draped the old blanket over the string strung across the top of the window.
"What are you going to use for a blanket?" she asked.
He shrugged. "I'll manage. Put your coat back on and wear it all night. It will help with the chill."
She nodded and grabbed her coat. "What I wouldn't give to have one of those long cloaks like Rae has," she whispered as she put the coat back on.
"It's late," he commented. "We both have to be at work early in the morning. You take the bed…I'll sleep on the floor."
"Then take my blanket."
"No. You're cold. You need it."
"But…"
"I'll be fine."
She looked at the old mattress. There would be no way they could both sleep on it without touching, but it was so cold in the flat, that she didn't like the idea of him sleeping on the floor without a blanket. Not after he used his blanket to cover the window. "We could share the bed…" Where had that come from? Surely she hadn't said that.
"Are you sure?" he asked.
She had said it! "As long as you don't try anything funny," she muttered.
"I'll be on my best behavior," he said, with his hands in the air. He pushed the mattress against the wall and out of the direct draft from the window. "Maybe this will help. You can sleep against the wall."
She nodded as her teeth started chattering.
He looked over at his new bride. "I'll be right back," he said, disappearing from the flat. He returned a few minutes later with a dark cloth draped over his arm. He wrapped the thick warm fabric around her shoulders. "Rae gave it to me. She said it's the warmest one she had."
"Thank you," she whispered, before stretching out on the bed and turning her back to him.
He lay next to her and covered them both with the thin blanket she had brought with her from the lodging house. He could feel her shivering as he lay staring at the window. "Ice..." he said after a few minutes.
"Hmmm?" she answered.
"It might be a little easier for both of us to sleep and a little warmer for you if I could roll over and put my arms around you."
"You are not touching me!"
He rolled his eyes in the darkness. "Our backs are touching, Malloy."
She growled and tried to inch closer to the wall.
"Hattie..."
"Don't call me that!"
He sighed and stood up. "This isn't going to work. We both can't sleep in that bed without touching..."
She looked up at him. "Where are you going?"
"Downstairs to see if someone will let me sleep on their couch."
"You'd leave me alone in here?"
"The only other place for me to sleep in here is on the floor..."
Ice bit her lip. "I guess it's alright if you stay...but keep your hands to yourself."
He snorted. "As you wish, your majesty."
She shot him a look and turned her back to him again. He lay back down beside her and listened until her deep even breathing told him that she was sleeping. Waiting a moment more, he carefully turned over and draped one arm across her waist. Rather than waking up, she snuggled closer to him. He chuckled softly.