Chapter 10
She shifted only slightly to the right and brushed at a itch above her eyebrow. In the place her hand had been a moment earlier, remained a light smudge of charcoal but he dare not wipe it off or even motion for her to do so. He'd learned early on that moving was not an option until her sketchbook was discarded. And even then, she had the tendency to rearrange him, pick up the book for a third, fourth, or fifth time and start all over again. With no consideration of his muscles.
He couldn't help but smirk nonetheless and she noticed, raising her eyebrows and about to question when they were interrupted. "Oh! No fair. I can't run as fast in these god awful skirts."
"Then take them off. I don't mind. Do you Skitts?"
With new ambition, Anna dashed after Spot, tackling him to the ground a few yards away and running inbetween Eppie and Jack. They're abrupt trampling of the grass sent a wave of dandelion seeds into the air and Jack sneezed as they brushed past his face, rubbing frantically with his hand a moment later.
"Eppie, help!" Spot called, rolling around as Anna tugged at his limbs. Eppie looked up quickly at the sound of snapping suspenders, rolling her eyes good-naturedly at their childishness. She caught Jack's eye and it was evident by their twinkle that he'd been watching them also. She clicked her tongue quickly as if to tell him not to get any ideas. Before he could react he sneezed for a second time.
"Don't move!" Eppie commanded, finding his wrinkled nose and squinty eyes so boyishly appealing. She frantically began another sketch, unable to truly capture the moment. He sneezed three times in a row and she couldn't help but chuckle, putting down her pad. It was obvious he was growing tired of her sketching, the other newsies enjoying the unusually warm March weather in a much more active manner. He rolled to his back and she did not yell or reposition him.
Instead she picked up her book, skimming through the drawings she'd accumulated in the past couple days. He'd sat for her on numerous occasions, or at least allowed her to draw in silence as he entertained the others. Her favorite was a group picture, Tibby's storefront windows in the background, only adding to the detail. Each boy had his own distinctive stance. She'd tried to explain it to each one of them, but somehow it had escaped them
"Um, Eppie" Jack was still on his back, facing the clear sky so that little grass seedlings fanned around the stark whiteness of his shirt. He shifted and rolled to his feet, standing in front of her a moment later.
She loved that shirt on him. Something about it made him irresistible.*
"Yea, go ahead." She blushed, shooing both him and her suggestive thoughts away with a smack when he kissed her cheek quickly. She watched him head towards Spot and Anna, swooping his arms around Les' waist and hoisting the boy to his shoulders on the way. They collected some of the unripe cherries on a nearby tree and hid behind the couple, counting to each other silently before ambushing them with cherry grenades.
Anna squealed with surprise while Spot tried to launch a defense attack, her hands gripping his shoulders and making it harder for him to actually through the fruit. In the end, Les jumped on them both and the whole group tumbled to the ground, rolling down the other side of the hill and out of Eppie's sight.
She loved watching her friends, just being the observer and recording their every move to memory. Or to paper. What better way to show how much she loved them? But certain things she could never perfect on the page, or with her brush. Jack just lulling in her lap, dozing after a long day of selling while her fingers skipped between the strands of her hair. It was such an intimate moment between the two of them, hidden within the grassy slopes of Central Park where no other newsie could poke fun or jest. He'd become so relaxed, sleeping soundly while she read her latest novel out loud. When she recognized the even rhythm of his breathing she'd stop reading and just observe his calm features. Sometime he'd peak open an eye and tease her shamelessly, other times he wouldn't even stir as she moved from underneath him, settled a blanket in her laps place, and rested her own body against his, her legs not reaching nearly as far. She'd never sleep, but clear her mind and focus instead on the rise of his chest.
It was frightening sometimes, how much she loved them. How much she loved Jack. He always reminded her in big sweeping gestures and she wondered if he understood that the arduously boring afternoons of sitting were her way of whispering affection much like he did.
She shivered in remembrance of his breath on her neck.
If she asked him, Eppie would find that Jack understood perfectly the importance of their drawing sessions. And they weren't boring, as much as he played them up to be. He loved looking over the finished product as much as she did, if not more, eyeing her as she bent of her work. He'd noticed a little wrinkle form over her eyebrow when she concentrated so and it just added to list of little things he found fascinating about her. Even that afternoon, peaking at her from over the hill, he wondered if his mother was smiling at him from heaven. How else could he have been so lucky?
From only a few yards away he watched her head bent close to her sketchbook. She was leaning against a tree trunk, the brown of the bark and the green of the grass around her in stark contrast to the white of her dress. Her hair was piled messily onto her head, sweeping it off her neck, and adding to the breathlessness of her appearance. She'd worn her hair much the same way when she'd finally spoken to him only three weeks ago.
He'd been out of his mind, forcing himself back into the routine of selling but completing each task with no drive, no reason waiting for him at the end. It had gotten to the point where some of the other boys had started to finally interfere, taking the glass of whisky away from him at night, making sure he came down from the roof, got some sleep, and woke up to sell the next morning. He'd heard them even speaking, in low whispers, of buying him a train ticket to somewhere far away from the city.
But then she'd saved them all, as simply as he'd always known she could. He'd been walking away from the Distribution Office, Blink and Mush tugging him along, when she'd slipped up next to him and laced her fingers with his. He'd startled, a strange sense of déjà vu washing over him, so strong that he stopped in the streets and blinked his eyes. She said nothing, just waiting for him to react, as if this gesture were normal. And it had been, before the whole falling out and his horrible 'foot-in-mouth' routine. It was as if they're hadn't been a bet, she'd hadn't shut herself in her room for a week, and he had never waited outside of St. Mary's empty with dread.
Mush and Blink had stopped when they realized Jack hadn't been following them, ready to turn and hold his hand in a last result, they halted when they noticed Eppie with him. He'd caught their shared smile, slinking away a moment later while Eppie's eyes still fastened strongly on his face. Taking a deep breath he'd tried to speak but she beat him too it, her words setting up camp in his mind so that he'd never forget them. "Say that you're sorry." She'd whispered and he'd repeated just as quietly. "Say that you're sorry that you didn't tell me about the bet, but that you don't regret ever making it." Her arms had wrapped around him at that point, her face pressed into the muscle of his chest so that her words were mumbled and he had to bend to hear her. With his own arms now embracing her shaking shoulders, he rested his chin against his chest and noticed how tightly her eyes were shut. "That you're glad I walked in to Tibby's that day and Spot picked me because without this horrible bet we would never had met and never have" She hiccupped suddenly and he couldn't help but chuckle, resting his head on top of hers and rubbing his hands up and down her back.
He knew he didn't have to repeat her words for her to believe them.
They stayed like this for some time, the early morning foot traffic rerouting to accommodate the couple in the middle of the sidewalk. She was the first to move away, and it frightened him so, thinking that she'd leave for good. Instead she kept on hand in his and stared at him the same as she had upon first arrival. He smiled back, speaking only when the smile also appeared on her face. "Aren't you going to be late for school, young lady?"
He'd walked her to school and the past remained where it belonged, only to resurface a couple days later, late at night when he'd asked her what had made her change her mind. "I realized a few things," she'd explained, burrowing closer to him and pointing out the bright Venus planet among the nighttime stars. "I didn't regret meeting you. If I could, I wouldn't have changed anything about our relationship, because it had been so" She trailed off, searching for the right word but knowing that she'd never find it. "And one day," she shrugged in a way she often did, "I figured you felt the same way. And if so, then we could ignore the bad and continue with the good. That was as far as I could rationalize, after that, something else took over."
That had satisfied them both and they returned to searching for the stars her father had drawn for them. After locating the last of the listed constellations, she added one last thing, "Besides, they're was still some hope left in your eyes."
*Think of the shirt Jack is wearing during the Seize the Day Chorale. Yea! No you understand what I'm talkin' 'bout
AN: Ah, it's over. Another story is finished and makes me realize that I hate endings. And I hate endings because I suck at writing endings! Why can't stories just go on forever
Well, *burst of inspiration* they sort a can. By writing new stories! (everyone twists their heads in confusion and walk away thinking "Huh?") Okay, lame plug for my two upcoming stories. Well, one has already begun (Upstate Races) and another one is forming quickly in my mind.
So, my upcoming plans (in no particular order): Finish Upstate Races, start new modern day Jack fic, set up CC, graduate from high school, move to NYC and begin classes at NYU.
Yeah, you read right, this newsie lovin', Christian Bale obsessin', maniac got into NYU! Woohoo!
So, basically, look out for the latest chapter of UR and the CC for the next fic. Although I am opening it up to the NML girls first and they're a brutal bunch as far as CCs are concernedlove ya NML!
Oh! One last thingreview. Yea, I saw ya trying to sneak off.
SPOT: Ya leave wit out reviewin, and I'll soak ya.
DAVEY: Now Spotstay calm.
JACK: Let's soak 'em for Teepot!
Yea! That's me...*scampers off with Jack*
