After the strike, everything had gone back to normal, David and Les were still working with the Newsies, because as much as David wanted to go back to school, they still needed the money as long as their father was sick, and he also couldn´t quite imagine not spending every day by Jake´s side. Not seeing the other boy for a few days had been weird, and while there was a highly logical reason for that, something that could be explained with science and the way David´s brain and body worked, he still didn´t want to experience it again anytime soon. That was also the reason he made the decision to stay home when Denton told them that he had friends who lived a little out of the city, on a farm, and that they would be happy to have the Jacob´s family for a couple of weeks. David couldn´t even remember if they had ever been on any sort of vacation, and usually his father wouldn´t have accepted such a generous gift, but even he knew that, with getting out of the city and resting, his chances of healing quicker were a lot better than when he stayed in New York City.
His mother had been, of course, protesting that she couldn't possibly leave David alone and all by himself in their apartment, but even she had to admit that he was probably the most responsible of them all and that they do needed the money to pay for everything, especially if Sarah was going to take a few weeks off work as well. She had, polite as she was, offered to stay home too, but David knew that she was working hard as well and deserved a break. That was his official argument, anyway. He was also aware that Sarah didn´t want to stay because of her work, but because of Jack, naturally. Nothing else had happened ever since they had kissed that day at the end of the strike, at least that was what David had heard from the other boys, not that Jack talked to him about these things, but somehow David thought that it was better to keep them apart for a while. He knew that Jack was very passionate about the things that he cared about, and as much as he was feeling sorry for Sarah, he had to admit that his observations had proven that it didn´t seem like Jack was as passionate about her as he would need to be to make this work. So if they were apart for a few weeks, Jack would either realize that Sarah meant something to him, something more than a friend, or they would both realize that this relationship, if you could even call it that, wasn´t leading them anywhere.
"You still with us, David?" his father´s voice pulled him back from his thoughts and he simply nodded, directing his eyes towards Mayor.
"Yes, of course. You were saying?" he asked, trying to not look like he had just been caught not listening.
"Your mother asked you to keep an eye on those boys for us, especially on Jack, we have…" he looked over at Sarah, who seemed to be blushing as she looked away, "…grown rather fond of him,"
David simply nodded, trying to ignore the twinge in his stomach. It was probably complaining since he hadn´t eaten all morning, because they hadl been all over the place trying to get their luggage together and to not forget anything. "Of course, I´m the only sane person between all of those boys, I´ll keep them on track," he then said with a smile and Mayor returned it, patting his son on the shoulder with his good arm before he moved towards the door.
"I believe the carriage is waiting," he then announced and soon enough David was hugged and kissed goodbye by his sister and mother while Les moved in to give him the Newsies handshake, but only after their mother was out of sight.
"You´ll write me, yeah?" Sarah then asked and David nodded, knowing that she simply would want to know if Jack said something about her. David didn´t know a lot about girls and love, except for what he could observe from Sarah´s behaviour, sometimes her friend´s from when they had still been in school, and some things he had of course read about, and while that wasn´t much it really didn´t take a scientist to see what was going on here.
"I promise," David said with an honest smile and Sarah hugged him once more before she took Les by his hand, the one he hadn´t used for the handshake obviously, and lead him out of the apartment and down to the street where the carriage was waiting for them.
David stood there for a moment, turning the promise over in his head a few times. He knew that he had simply promised to write her, but with how Sarah had looked at him she had made him promise something else with it, to see what Jack was thinking about this whole thing, if he thought about Sarah, if they were a couple, all those things were things Jack and him didn´t talk about, they hadn´t really been able to talk about much ever since the strike had ended anyway, mostly because there had always been someone else around, either it had been one of the boys or journalists who had wanted to talk to them. They were well known these days, even across the borders of New York, and while David didn't mind, he still would have liked some more alone time with Jack so they could finally talk about all those questions David had. He knew that he wouldn´t push for any answers, but he wanted to know more about Jack´s past and he wanted Jack to trust him enough to share it with him. He had to admit that he wasn´t quite sure where to begin or how to bring the subject up though, but at first he would have to finally spend some time with Jack alone, and that seemed like a pretty hard task on its own these days.
Technically David had been invited over to the Lodging House to play cards with the boys today, but he wasn´t the biggest fan of their games, mostly because everyone was cheating left and right and David just wasn´t the type to do that, which meant that he was naturally losing and that didn´t really do anything for his self-confidence or his mood, so he usually stayed away. Sometimes he stayed just to watch Jack play, because somehow he still managed to win whenever he played, and David was pretty sure that he was cheating too, but he hadn´t figured out how yet, so he kept staying to watch him play and to figure him out. Today was different, though. It was his first night alone at the apartment and while he had been the one to suggest that he´d stay back alone, David felt like that, if he left to be with the boys now, he would rather stay with them than to return to the empty apartment. Of course that sounded stupid, and was probably only going on in David´s own head, but he´d rather not risk anything.
It was after 7 when he returned from buying groceries so he would have enough to eat for the next week. It wasn´t the first time he had gone on his own, his mother had sent him to help her out with those things early on and, despite his father´s slight protest, she had taught him how to cook and it had proven to be rather useful.
The soup was cooking on the stove when David heard a knock on the window and looked over, only to find Jack climbing in already. "We do have a door, you know?" David reminded him, but he couldn´t help the smile that was tugging on the corners of his lips.
"I like to make an entrance," Jake replied, a smirk on his own lips as he jumped from the window sill and into the apartment. "What´cha cooking?" The soup had begun smelling quite nicely and David was proud that it was turning out to be this good, so he just pointed over at the stove.
"Vegetable soup," he then said, smiling over at his best friend. "Why aren´t you playing card with the boys?"
"I could ask you the same," Jack moved into the room and then leaned against the table, looking back at David.
"I never play," David reminded his best friend as he reached for the spoon, stirring the soup.
"Figures," Jack then said, because he knew exactly why David didn´t play, he had told him on one of those nights out on the balcony, when they´ve still had time to sit out there, just the two of them. "Where´s everyone?" Jack eventually asked as he noticed that the apartment was completely empty except for the two boys. Meanwhile David had reached for a plate and the moved to get himself some of the soup. He looked over at his best friend after that, telling him about Denton´s friends and that they had invited his family to stay with them.
"You want some soup?" he then asked, but of course David knew the answer already, sometimes he felt like he knew Jack better than himself, but then again there was still a lot he didn´t know about his best friend and suddenly David realized that this was finally his chance to get some time with his busy best friend, because Jack would definitely stay for dinner. And there is a lot of soup, David thought, smiling into his spoon.