The door of the Brooklyn Newsboys Lodging House swung open and in sauntered Jack Kelly with a cocky smile on his face. It was spring of 1899 and Marta Gatcyk looked up from the bookkeeping and smirked, resting her elbow on the desk top and her cheek on her hand as he approached. Her cheeks hurt from how hard she was biting them to keep from grinning. Back when she was herself, when she could let go enough to flirt and mingle with the boys and have a type she was drawn to, Jack Kelly would have been exactly that type. Cocky, charismatic, bold and carefree, he would have given her beau, Scatter, a run for his money. "I swear it Marta, you's the prettiest thing in Brooklyn, and you keep gettin' prettier."
Her type or no, he was about a decade too late, but that didn't stop him from having a horribly obvious crush on the Brooklyn House Manager, nor her from enjoying the attention. She smiled at him, batting her eyelashes. "Jacky, how do you always know exactly when I need a pick me up?" she crooned.
He shrugged, in a poor attempt at modesty. "It's a gift. A talent that I am happy to soivice you with, Miss Marta," he answered, leaning up against her desk, grinning. The kid oozed charm out of his very pores as his smile turned long and lazy, seeming to hang on his face by its corners. "Any othah soivices I can do ya foah while I'm in the neighborhood?" He waggled his eyebrows at her. "Nevah could understand why there ain't men fighting tooth and nail to get a piece of that."
"And yet here I sit, surrounded by boys but not a beau in sight," she answered him with a sad smile before an idea bloomed in her head and the sadness was replaced by a wicked smirk. "What kind of services do you have in mind Jacky?"
His body jolted upright from the relaxed slouch he was so good at and his deep hazel eyes searched her face. Marta was known for not pulling punches or hiding her feelings, but when she wanted to she had a poker face like no other and she made sure, at that moment, that her face gave away nothing. "Huh?" His voice cracked like a younger teenager and he had to clear his throat before he went on. "What..uh…I dunno…anything you want?"
Gotcha! She thought, and slowly pulled herself up to standing and moving out from behind the desk. He watched her every move as she smoothed down her blouse, letting her hands, and therefore his eyes linger just under her breasts. Holding back her giggles as he stammered and nearly drooled was getting more and more difficult by the moment. Her hands kept moving slowly down her body, pausing and lingering again at her hips and his tongue was practically hanging out of his mouth like a dog's. As comical as his abject adoration was, she couldn't deny how good it felt to have a man…well a male at least…give her more than a passing glance. At twenty-five, she had accepted that she would likely forever be a spinster. All the men her age were either already married or were confirmed permanent bachelors for good reason. Besides, she was too busy with the motherless boys of Brooklyn to go looking. At least, that's what she told herself. "Anything I want, huh?" she mused quietly, slinking closer to him and behind him. He was one of the few boys who she wasn't taller than, which made the illusion easier to play up as she circled behind him. "You mean that? Anything?"
He shifted uneasily as she draped her arms over his shoulders, putting her mouth next to his ear. "What…uh…what do you got in mind?"
She grinned wickedly and let her breath spread over his ear, feeling the goosebumps pop up on his skin. "First, we'd need to get you outta those clothes," she answered, pulling the cowboy hat over his head and placing it on her own, "and then I'll show you how a cowgirl tames a stallion. We'll need some ropes…some whips, and I think I have some spurs in my room. It will be the ride of my life."
His face was white with panic and he kept glancing at he as best he could out of the corner of his eye. Suddenly, he pulled away, "I..uh..forgot something on the docks, but we'll get right back to that…cowgirl…thing…when I get back?"
She slid her fingers across the brim of the hat and winked at him, sashaying towards her rooms. "I'll be waiting, Cowboy." He groaned and relaxed for just a moment and she worried that she was going to have to get more graphic, but he seemed to remember the spurs at the last moment and took off running, leaving her to break down into giggles, flicking the hat back further on her head.
Footsteps approached out of the shadows and Spot's surly voice called out, "Glad that's over, I might not eat for a week with them pictures running through my head." He shuddered, and Marta laughed even harder. Tears ran down her face as Spot and Trout drew closer. "Really? You hadda ruin cowboys foah us? I ain't nevah gonna be able to look at that stupid hat again without feeling sick."
Trout smiled his wary smile, but his bright eyes twinkled with amusement as he made a few simple gestures. She grinned at the boy, "I know, I never saw him run so fast either!"
Spot scowled and grimaced with disgust. "Where the hell do you come up with this shit anyway? Every time he comes to flirt with you, I think you can't possibly outdo the last time…and then you do."
She grinned, "You hear lots of interesting things when you're friends with a nun who keeps herself humble by listening in on confession day. Constance saves the good stories for me to use on Jacky Boy."
He rolled his silver blue eyes and smirked, "And you wonder why the fellahs don't come a running."
She straightened up, all of the laughter disappearing like smoke in the wind. Trout shoved him, glaring at him for making such a crass comment. They both knew she gave up, that she had decided at some point that Scatter was the only man she would ever love and usually tried to keep her from dwelling on him, but sometimes Spot was too blunt for his own or anyone else's good. She turned back to them, her hazel eyes sad. "I don't wonder, not at all, Spot. You two and your boys are the only men in my life, all the company I'm supposed to have." She slapped the brim of his cap down like she did when he was a little kid and tried to smile, "You two are all I got and all I need. Now, beat it so I can get my work done." They turned and left, leaving her alone in the lobby again. She gave a heavy sigh for a moment, knowing she was supposed to be alone, that it was better that she was alone, until the thought of Jack's face as he ran out the door brought that wicked smile back to her face. "Spurs," she chuckled to herself. "That was great. 'How a cowgirl breaks a stallion!"' She cackled and kept herself amused through the rest of her day, wearing Jack's hat the whole time. She sent Haystack back to Manhattan with it the next day, because what is a cowboy without his hat?
Dedicated to Joker. She knows why. Love ya, Coconut.