Summary; Written for the RBLH (RAINBOW BRIDGE LODGING HOUSE; WWW . GEOCITIES . COM / INSTITUEOFGRACE). After a disastrous fire sends Jack & Stress up to Rainbow Bridge, a cocky Canadian tries to put himself between the pair. Will it take whatever's at the end of the rainbow to keep them together? It just might.
Disclaimer; I do not own, nor stake any claim, to any of the original newsboy characters -- they are the property of Disney. The main characters Stress and Riley belong to me. Any other character, when noted, is property of their respective owner. The Rainbow Bridge Lodging House belongs to Dice & Iris.
Originally Posted: 08.01.02 – 08.05.02
Rewritten: 05.08.06
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II. NERVOUSNESS & AGITATION
"Here we are," Riley announced as he pointed to a quaint building standing next door to a small restaurant.
Excitement lit up Stress' golden eyes. "This is so great! I haven't seen Iris or Dice or any of the other fellas since that damn fire," she exclaimed before rushing forward to ring the doorbell.
As he watched her run forward, Riley let out a small whistle of appreciation.
"Excuse me?" asked Jack. Before he could realize what he was doing, he had put out his hand in order to stop Riley from following Stress up the walk.
Riley looked confused at first but traded his surprise for another of his cocky grins. "You sure got yourself a looker there, Cowboy." Riley let out another whistle. "What I wouldn't give for a girl like that."
Ignoring the fact that there was about a four inch difference between their heights, Jack stood in front of Riley and glared. "Yeah, well you can't have that one. That's my girl over there and I want you to remember that, Riley."
The other boy held up his hands and chuckled. "No problem, Cowboy. I ain't about to steal another guy's girl," he promised. But that doesn't mean that I won't say yes if she comes to me first, he thought smugly to himself.
Jack nodded. He, of course, couldn't hear Riley's thoughts; all he had was the Canadian's word. And he wasn't thick enough to fall for that. "I don't trust that kid at all" Jack muttered before leaving Riley alone by wandering over to where Stress, Iris and Dice were having a laughter-filled reunion.
"I can't believe we're all together again," cried Dice as she threw her arms around Stress.
Stress hugged her back and smiled. "I know. What's been happening since you all left? Are you and Race still together up here?"
"Of course," Dice answered, the laughter creasing her tanned face. "It's weird and all but all of the boys have been here, they have all found themselves a girl but Skittery. But you know what he's like. All glum an' dumb as usual."
"Ooh, really? Who are these lucky gals and when do I get to meet them all?" Stress' golden eyes flashed mischievously as she gossiped with Dice.
Dice held up one of her hands and began to tick off names with each finger. "Well, Mush is with one of my old pals, Candy. Blink and Lucky decided to try it again after they both arrived here and Dutchy fell for Bailey. And I know for a fact that a couple of the girls have their eyes on good old Skitts but, like I said, all glum and dumb as usual."
"As usual," laughed Stress as she followed Dice inside the door, eager to see more familiar faces.
"Iris?" called Jack to the girl with glasses that was about to follow Dice and Stress indoors.
"Jack! It's good to see you," she replied, waiting for him on the front porch of the building. "How was the train ride up here?"
He shook his hand as if to wave away her question. "Listen, Iris, can I ask you a question?"
She shrugged. "Sure, Cowboy. Ask away."
"What do ya know 'bout dis kid named Riley?" he asked, and looked nervously back to where he had last seen the boy. He was no longer standing there.
"Riley? How do you know Riley already? Didn't you two just arrive here today?" Iris sat down on the first step. She hadn't seen that he had accompanied Stress and Jack to the lodging house so she was a little bit puzzled.
Jack removed his cowboy hat from his head and tossed it onto the step next to Iris. He took a seat next to his hat. "Now, don't think that I'm all jealous or nothing, but I think he's trying to make a play for Stress. I mean, we had just left the train yards and were walking down some street. He was standing there and overheard us talking before he offered to show us to this House. But, I tell ya, he was a bit too friendly for my sake.
Playing with one of her long braids, Iris almost laughed off Jack's concerns. "I wouldn't worry about Riley Dugen if I were you, Cowboy. That boy's a lot of words but hardly any action. He'll get bored with her in a few days and I highly doubt that anything will ever happen between them. Besides, this is Stress we're talking about. That girl is crazy about you – she don't need Riley."
"Yeah, well, you may not have to worry about Riley, Jacky-Boy, but if you keep sitting next to my girl there, I'm gonna have to soak you." He recognized the voice before he saw the scrawny young man with the brilliant eyes exit from the front door. Spot Conlon. The boy stood to the other side of Iris and smiled down at Jack.
He rose to his feet, a forced smile coming to his face to mirror Spot's, as he spit in his hand and extended it. "Long time, no see, eh, Brooklyn?"
"Whatever you say, Jacky." Spot spit into his own hand and shook with Jack. "What's wrong?" he asked, noting the dazed expression on Jack's face.
Jack stopped thinking about Iris' words for a moment and forced another grin to his face. Hopefully this one would stay. "Nothing, Spot." Nothing except that there may be some new kid that's trying to hit it off with my girl, he thought to himself, not being able to shake the uneasy feeling that had overcome him since meeting Riley that morning.
Spot smirked before clapping the other boy on his back. "Good."
- - -
In a way, Iris was right. Riley did use words and he used a lot of them. All of them describing how pretty and perfect and nice and sweet and amazing Jack's girl was.
But in a way, Iris was wrong. It had been three weeks already, and, if anything, Riley was growing more fond of Stress instead of growing tired with her.
Meanwhile, Jack was battling his insecurities every day. As he watched Riley joke around with his girl in the poker room of the lodging house, a place that Riley had taken to haunting before returning to the boys' house where he bunked, Jack couldn't help but feel left out, ignored and jealous. And, no matter how many times Stress would hug him, kiss him and reassure him that she was just friends with Riley, Jack couldn't ignore his feelings. Yet, he decided to keep his mouth shut in the off-chance of offending Stress. The last thing he needed was to establish any seeds of doubt in his relationship with her.
He had already tried once to speak with her, about a week into their stay. And the outcome of that conversation was almost disastrous…
"Stress can I talk to you...alone?" Jack added pointedly, staring straight at Riley as he dealt Stress out a hand of cards. The older boy didn't even look up from his game.
"Riley, I'll be right back. No cheating, alright?" Stress got up from the poker table and walked out of the room with Jack. When she reached the front porch with him, she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him gently on the cheek.
"Jack, is something wrong?" she asked when he pulled away from her.
He sighed and looked down at her. "I'm a little nervous, Stress. Me and you have been here a week and all you've been doing is spending your days with Riley."
"Yeah, but I'm spending my nights with you now, ain't I Cowboy?" Stress said as she smiled coyly. There were many bunks in the Rainbow Bridge House but the House itself was co-ed; the pair of them had been sleeping much closer lately.
"Stress, this is serious. I wanna know what's going on between you and him." Jack placed his hand on her shoulder and looked down into her eyes.
Stress backed away from him and scowled, refusing to meet his gaze. "Jack, I thought you knew me better than that. Riley's just becoming one of my new friends up here, that's all. You're spending all your time with Spot and Race and them, so I need some company. Iris, Dice, and the others – they all got real friends here. Don't I deserve a friend, too?"
Jack looked down and felt guilty for worrying. "Of course, Stress. I trust you, and I'm sorry that I brought it up But I'll tell you now, I don't trust that Riley. He looks at you just the way that Race looks at Dice or Spot looks at Iris or—"
"Or the way that I look at you, eh, Jack?" Stress threw her arms around Jack and hugged him tight. She lifted her head back and invited him to kiss her. He did. When they broke apart, catching their breath slightly, she smiled. "I love you Jack, not Riley. I want you to remember that."
But it was kind of hard for Jack to do that when the only person he ever saw her with was Riley.
On the one month anniversary of their arriving at the Rainbow Bridge Lodging House, he decided to have a talk with her again. I just need to ask her about Riley again, one more time. You know when she's lying to you, right? And, if she is cheating on you, wouldn't you rather hear it straight instead of having to worry about it? When he finally had talked himself into confronting her, he headed straight for the girls' bunkroom on the second floor.
"Stress?" he called, gravely, as he walked through the open door. But, after entering, he saw that, while there were four girls sitting around the bunkroom, none of them were Stress. He turned his gaze on the person closest to him, a petite girl with shocking red hair and crystal blue eyes. "Puck? Have you seen Stress?"
When the girl shook her head, Jack faced the blonde sitting next to her. "How about you, Bailey?"
Another no.
"Candy? Do you know where she is?"
Nope.
"Hazel?" Jack looked at her questioningly. When the younger girl didn't answer, Jack peered straight into her namesake, her hazel eyes. "Hazel, have ya seen Stress?"
"Yeah, Cowboy."
Jack waited for a second to see if she would see anymore before asking her another question. "Would you care to tell me where?"
"Sure. I just saw her downstairs with Riley. The two of them had gone into the library, shutting the door behind them. I thought that they were going to go read some stuff so I left them alone and came upstairs instead."
He covered his face with his hands. "The library? With a shut door? You've got to be kidding me," he said, more to himself than to the girls. He shook his head and, without pausing to say goodbye, hurried out of the room before thundering down the steps. He had one destination in mind: the library.
When he arrived at the entrance to the library of the lodging house he was not surprised, only disappointed, to see that Hazel was right. The door was shut tight.
"I wonder if I should knock on the door," he murmured, hand frozen on the doorknob. But he found that he could not move his hand from the knob. Taking a second to compose himself, preparing himself for what he might find on the other side of the door, Jack quietly eased it open.
And swiftly shut it after he witnessed the scene taking place inside the bunkroom. "Goddammit," he hissed, backing away from the door as if it had burned him. He continued to walk backwards until he bumped into the front door of the house. He felt behind him for the door handle and fumbled until the door was open. Then he turned around and ran out of the House. He didn't trust himself to be in the same building as the two of them at that moment.
