Disclaimer: I don't own Jack Kelly or Spot Conlon, as well as any other newsies in the Manhattan Lodging House.
Air - Thanks so much for the review! I hope to keep you in suspense. lol
Love97 - I will try to update as soon as I can. Thanks for the review! I'm glad you enjoy it.
T-R-Us - Thanks for the cookie. You;re a very smart reader. Thanks for the review!
Sparks Kelly - Hope you enjoy this chapter. Thanks for the review!
-Chapter 2-
I awoke on the Tuesday morning, the first Tuesday of July to find myself in the Manhattan Lodging House. I woke up about an hour before all the boys did It became a habit of mine for two reasons.
For one thing it was quiet and I got the whole washroom to myself, and secondly they were all lazy jerks. And this greatly included my brother and my boyfriend.
Jack Kelly was the leader of the Manhattan Newsies and bunked with his boys. Spot Conlon had stayed the night over in Manhattan with Jack to discuss some sort of plans to have a union meeting at Irving Hall. Me, I went back and forth between Manhattan and Brooklyn, both places were now home. But being both Jack and Spot were here in Manhattan, there was no reason for me to sleep in Brooklyn that night.
After I had finished getting dressed I went over to the window to check out the day's selling conditions, only to find the foggiest day I had seen in years. It overtook the city like cap being put on life.
Fog in July was pretty rare in New York City but I didn't think anything of it. I rested my head up against the window. I could hear him coming up behind me. He rapped his arms around my waist. I took my head off the window and leaned back onto him, resting the back of my head on the front of his shoulder.
"Good morning princess," he whispered in my ear, kissing my cheek gently.
"You're up early," I remarked, picking at his habit to oversleep.
"The birds woke me up," he stated simply.
"The birds?" I questioned, doubting his answer. "I don't hear any birds. And please tell me why the birds would be singing on a day like today?" I asked him, gesturing to the to the foggy city outside of the window.
"Because they weren't outside," he told me as if he expected me to know the entire time. "The birds are in my head, they tell me things."
"Well," I said, my head still resting on his shoulder, "what kind of things do they tell you?"
"All different things," he told me, "they tell me when problems will start, they can sense it and they tell me because they know how powerful I am."
"Oh really?" I asked him, removing his arms from around my waist. "And what kind of power do you have?" I questioned him, turning around to face him.
"You don't know of my great powers?" he asked me, folding his arms across his chest.
"Please, enlighten me," I said to him. Mind you we were still whispering as not to wake anyone up. But you could tell we were both kidding around with this so called 'argument' because we both held our remarks with a big smirk across our face.
"Well," he began, "along with being the most amazing leader in the world, I'm also charming, handsome-"
"and a conceited bighead," I finished for him.
"What did you say?" he asked me with a huge grin.
"You heard me," I responded. I turned around and walked back to my bunk. I didn't turn around to see his reaction but I know he must have followed me because as soon as I laid back on my bed he sat on top of my stomach.
"Take it back," he said to me.
"Or what?" I asked him.
"Or I will never kiss you again," he said simply.
"Oh really?" I questioned him, knowing that would never happen in a million years, we were engaged to be married. So to prove to him that it would never happen I reached out, pulled his head down, and kissed him. "You never said I couldn't kiss you," I remarked.
"Smart aleck," he mumbled. With that, he finally stood up and walked into the washroom just as the rest of the lodging house was beginning to stir.
I stood up and walked back over to the window.
"Sleep well?" asked a voice directly behind me. I turned around to find my brother fastening his possession around his neck. I don't remember a day where he was without it.
"I guess," I responded, shrugging my shoulders. "Look," I said to him in the a gloomy voice, gesturing once again to the city outside the window.
"What's the problem?" he asked me.
"It's so foggy out," I said, "It's summer and everyone's going to be inside."
"And that's going to stop you?" he asked me, "You've been selling papes for fifteen years and you're going to let a little fog stop you from having a good selling day? This is coming from the girl who sells in blizzards, and hail, and-," his face looked as though his mind stopped functioning for a moment, "hold on a minute, what's the matter?" he asked.
"What makes you think something's the matter," I said, completely ignoring the fact he knew me too well."
"Something's up," he repeated again, "you are letting selling become an obstacle, you're tired, not your usual peppy self, the weather is getting to your mood again,
it's controlling you like last time. What's the matter?"
"Nothing," I stated firmly.
"Spill, now," he said in his 'big brother tone', of which, by the way, I strongly felt he took advantage of.
"Nothing, it's just, something's up with him," I said, gesturing my head towards the leader I was with earlier.
"What kind of something?"
"I dunno, something's on his mind," I told him, "there is something he's not telling me."
"How do you know?"
"I can feel it."
Review! You know you want to!!!