Shout Outs: Ubber thanks to keeper-of-mauve-paradise, madmbutterfly713, elleestJenn, ChocolateCoveredJockey, and Sprints 100 for reviewing on patches! (Blushes) I am so glad you liked! You guys are such a great encouragement and were truly my driving-force for this second Fragments installment! I do hope this one also pleases even though it's fluffier than the last. As I said before, don't forget to let me know!
You guys are the greatest!
Author's Note: For the record, I wasn't planning on making this a collection of history pieces –as you will see from the following installment- but that's just how the first one turned out.
However, I did like how patches turned out so I may pen some more "histories" in the future iffen everyone wants…
Disclaimer: I don't really need to do this do I? Everyone knows I don't own… why would I be writing stuff like this iffen I did! Oi! Well, whatever… I suppose to keep from getting sued (because I am still broke) I will affirm it again: I do not own Newsies nor anything connected. I only claim the unnamed character below and the rabid,insomniac plot bunnies from which this idea came… well, them and endless hours of sappy songs! Ug... I am such a sap!
Fragments
speak
He leaned casually in the doorway, his long legs crossed, a cigarette pressed firmly between his lips. He just stood there, watching her; his eyes seeming to state an impassiveness to her actions.
She briefly surveyed him, trying to make her prayerful gaze as nonchalant as his stance. His eyes caught hers and for a moment she thought she saw something there. A small cloud of smoke poured from his mouth and nostrils then and as suddenly as that something had appeared, it was gone. A heavy weight lowered upon her heart as she placed another of her belongings into her bag.
The truth pounded painfully in her mind: He wasn't going to stop her.
All he had to do was ask her to stay and she would. Heck, all he had to do was show that he cared one way or another and that would be enough! She tossed another shirt in her aged duffle as another agonizing second of silence ticked away.
All he had to do was speak! But no, he just stood there and watched, silent; his cigarette growing shorter and shorter with each steady drag.
Suddenly she was assailed with a myriad of emotions. She wanted to cry. She wanted to scream. Thoughts of laughing hysterically and ripping every bunk from this room crossed her mind more than once. She felt anger. Hurt. Longing.
She hated him. She wanted to walk right up to his emotionless face, pulled the fading cigarette from his mouth and punch him. She had done it before; it wouldn't be hard to do again.
But she couldn't for, though she hated him, she loved him also… andhe didn't even knowit.
Again, and possibly not for the last time, tears threatened to flood her eyes. Swiftly she brushed the back of her sleeve across her face, wiping away the moisture there and regaining her firm composure.
Slowly she drew the strings on her duffle, closing the top tightly around everything she owned in the world. She prayed wistfully her deliberate actions would give fate enough time to intervene.
She reached the doorway. She slung her duffle over one shoulder and slapped her faded cap indifferently upon her head. She didn't dare look at him as she continued past him through the door but she could feel his eyes upon her. For a second she thought he might, and wished desparately that he would speak, even to say goodbye, but he remained mute.
As she passed beyond his sight, she lost the strength to hold back her tears. With a hushed sob they rolled freely down her cheeks. Fate hadn't intervened...
Suddenly a hand enclosed around her wrist, jerking her attention backward. His eyes locked on her hers, softening at the sight of her pain.
He ripped the ashy cigarette from his mouth and pulled her toward him. She looked at him, only inches from his dark face; speechless as he slipped the duffle from her shoulder and let it drop to the ground.
"What…" She began but he tapped a finger to her lips, quieting her. Then he bent and kissed her.
He was not forceful or possessing with his kiss but gentle and imploring. It seemed a thousand words and emotions dwelled within that kiss; a thousand things he had never before felt the courage to voice or do. There was urgency present as well, as though this hidden part of him needed to be free; needed her to know. And suddenly, she did know. As clear as if he has spoken it, she knew he wanted her to stay.
Lost in his passionate kiss, she wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled. A declaration of love, it seemed, needed no words after all.
A / N: Well, you asked and I wrote! Hate it... ? Love it... ? Please review and let me know! Anything I should work on... ? Should I stop writing completely... ?