Chapter 18
Five days
had passed since Thomas' death. Spot had
stayed in
***
"That's
it. If I go on not telling him, I'll just be lying. It'll be letting him believe that I only see him as a
friend, but I see him as more. I've got
to tell him." Clover glanced around the
bunkroom (Manhattan Newgirl's Loding House) at the silent faces of Hazel,
Ebony, and Becca. "Well?"
"Well
what?" Becca replied.
"Well,
aren't you going to say something? Help
me figure out what to do?" Hazel
shrugged her shoulders,
"I'd say ya
got it pretty well figured out yourself." She turned to Ebony for approval, who agreed. Clover grumbled,
"You know,
you're really not helping."
"I don't
think you need any help. I think you
already know what to do." Clover looked
uneasy for a second, then an elated grin spread over
her features and lit her eyes. With a
near-squeal of delight, Clover rushed out of the bunkroom to the boy's lodging house.
***
"Alright,
Clover, before you say anything, I have to tell you something." Skittery took a deep, trembling breath, and
continued. "Now, don't get mad, but I
gotta get this off my chest and I can't keep not telling you, anyway. See…I
like you. The
more-than-a-friend like you. I don't know for how long, but I just really realized it right
before Mister Conlon got sick. I don't expect you to like be back or anything. I just needed to tell you that, 'cause it's something you ought to know." Skittery finished with a shaky release of
breath. He stared at the blank face
before him. He threw his hands up and turned away and gazed down off the roof to the street
below.
"I knew it,
I was right. I can't
do this. Why am I even bothering?" Dutchy strode over to Skittery's side,
"No, ya
should to this, ya have ta do this."
"Yeah, I
tried, ran through it with you, but you only stared at me."
"That's cuz
I was confused."
"You were
confused? You're the one who told me all
that stuff." Dutchy waved his hands,
trying to explain.
"Yeah, I
told ya all that, but that didn't mean you're supposed ta tell Clover all that stuff. See, ya told me ta pretend ta be Clover for
ya, right?" Skittery didn't
understand,
"Yeah…so?"
"Well, I
was pretending to be Clover. A confused Clover. Cuz ya said a lot of stuff at the beginning and that might confuse her
so ya might just wanna cut ta the chase when it's actually Clover you're
talking to." Skittery mulled this over
and was about to answer when Snoddy's head appeared at the base of the
roof. He was standing on the fire
escape.
"Hey guys,
Clover's here. She's
looking for ya, Skitts. Ya want me ta
tell her ta come up here?" Skittery was
unable to speak, due to his suddenly dry mouth. So, he nodded. "Alright." Snoddy winked at Skittery and disappeared. Dutchy clapped Skittery on the back, flashed
him a thumbs-up, and followed Snoddy off the roof.
***
Clover
climbed up the fire escape and onto the roof to see Skittery standing in the
middle. "What are you doing up here by
yourself?" she asked him. Skittery
shrugged, clearly uncomfortable.
"I was just
up here with Dutchy, talking."
"Oh,
okay." Clover closed the distance
between them and stood beside Skittery. "You feeling okay? You seem kind of…out there."
"I'm
fine." Yet, Skittery kept avoiding
Clover's eyes. Since it didn't seem like he was going to say much of anything
anytime soon, Clover decided now was the time to tell him what she came here to
tell him. But
she found that she couldn't do it, at least not yet. Her excitement from earlier had strangely
faded, and she couldn't figure out why. Instead, she asked him something that she had
been wondering about for awhile.
"Hey Skittery? Do you think you could tell me why you asked me why I helped you?" Skittery's heart leapt up in his chest,
'Oh no, here it comes,' he thought. He couldn't lie to her, he just couldn't. "Well, part of it was curiosity. But the main reason was…I wanted to know if you helped me because…because you like me. Not as a friend, but like me." A wave of many emotions swept over Clover. In a barely coherent voice, she answered,
"I do. Like you." Skittery could not believe it. Did he just here what he thought he just heard? Clover liked him? That way? The way he liked her? Was it possible? Shocked, he was unable to find his voice. Taking Skittery's silence as a bad sign, Clover hurried into an explanation. "I do like you. But it's not like that, I mean, I didn't help you so I could get close to you. I would have helped you no matter what. But I do like you." In a guilty voice, Clover went on. "I'm sorry, I just had to let you know that. I'm sorry, I'll leave now." As he saw Clover leaving, Skittery found his voice,
"No, wait! I do too!" Clover stopped, her forehead wrinkling in bewilderment.
"You do too?"
"Like you. That way." Now it was Clover's turn to be stunned. Skittery made his way over to stand in front of her. "I don't know how long I've liked you. I've know I like you for about a week now. That's why I asked you why you helped me. I wanted to know if you liked me back." Clover stared off into space,
"I was worried that you would think that I was trying to get close to you." Skittery met Clover's eyes,
"I would never think something like that of you. You would never do that." Clover couldn't tear her eyes away from Skittery's,
"So what do we do know?" she queried slowly.
"I think there's only one thing to do." Skittery leaned in towards Clover and his lips found hers. For one brief moment, life was perfect.
The End
Alright, that's it! If you want more,
go read "Forward to the Past" (please go r/r it, please!!!)
It's a sequel-of-sorts to this and Caroline Gottschalk
Jackson's Scamp, not to mention it's got much more stuff. The sequels part is actually the mini-plot,
while the main plot is very action/adventure. So please go read it! After
"Forward to the Past", (or maybe eventually during it), I'll
be writing/posting a Racetrack fic. I've got different things in mind for that too. I think you'll like
it.