Hey everyone: Here is the next chapter. Sorry but I don't have the comments to my reviewers at the end of the chapter this time. Because I had to post this fast because I wont be here for the next few days. I apologize for all of the spelling mistakes. I hope you enjoy it.
Chapter Fifteen
The weather was nice as we walked down the streets of Manhattan. The sun began to rise higher in the sky and the temperature grew slightly warmer. Spot and I walked most of the way in silence. But it wasn't an uncomfortable silence just time for us to think. Besides the fact that we wanted to remain aware of the people around us so that we didn't get caught.
I did have a hint of guilt wallowing in the pit of my stomach but the sheer urge to be spontaneous was overpowering it. Never in my life had I ever had the free will to go where I pleased or to be courageous and have fun. Besides the fact that I had been working to the bone since the moment I started my job at the theater and I deserved a little break.
I glanced over at Spot and smiled. It was funny to me how one person could change me in so many different ways. Before that day I had never truly had a boyfriend nor was I ever kissed like I had been back at the Lodging House. Of course I had young men who liked me before but they had never looked at me the way that Spot did. They would stare at me like I was a mere play object but they would handle me like a delicate porcelain doll. Spot had kissed me with such a passion that it made my knees weak and my heart skip a beat.
But I sighed to myself because somehow in the back of my mind I still felt that Spot was dangerous to me. He had the power to make me forget all of my morals and sneak around behind my friends back just by asking. The fact that I was so willing to follow him made me afraid. I knew Spot cared for me but I also knew that he must have cared for all of the other girls he went out with before. Was I being foolish? Was I walking into a situation where nothing awaited me at the end but heartache? Or had he really changed and finally become someone who was actually capable of a true commitment? I frowned as so many questions that I didn't know the answers to ran throughout my mind.
Suddenly I felt someone staring at me and I looked up into those familiar blue eyes. It was strange how they could seem so icy cold but yet they ignited a warmth that burned in my very skin. Spot reached out and took my hand in his own. "Are you alright? Ya look upset about sumthin." I smiled once more at his rough Brooklyn accent.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking that's all."
After I finished talking I looked quickly back down at he ground. Because when I stared at Spot I found that my barriers slowly began to crumble and I wanted nothing more than to hold him, to tell him all of my problems and concerns. But somehow I knew that they were questions only time would have the answers to. "What were ya thinkin about?" He asked curiously.
"Life," was all I replied and he nodded. To me Spot didn't look much like the type of boy who sat around thinking about his problems. He was the type to go out and fix them. But who knows… Spot seemed to surprise me more every minute that passed by. Suddenly my mind came out of its daze when we were almost to the bridge. I grew excited when we passed a plump old mad with gray hair, selling red roses.
" I love roses," I exclaimed as I bent down and smelled them. Spot just looked at me amused. I looked up at him and raised an eyebrow curiously. "What?"
"You are unlike any goil that I've ever met, do ya know dat?" Spot said as he grabbed my arm suddenly and pulled me quickly away from the roses. I wondered at his sudden strange behavior but I didn't say anything.
"Is that a bad thing?" I asked and he just laughed.
"I'm not exactly sure yet." He replied looking rather amused at the pouting expression on my face before he leaned over he kissed me.
My lips quirked into a grin before I pulled away. "I know I'm a good kisser Spot but we really have to get into Brooklyn soon." He just laughed and then held his hand up in front of him. In his fist he held a single red rose. "Oh, its beautiful!" I exclaimed. "But you stole it." My smile faded into a disapproving glare.
"Oh, well if you don't want it then," Spot made a move to toss it over the bridge but I snatched it out of his hands.
"I never said I didn't want it." I broke off the stem and put it behind my ear so that I wouldn't have to hold in the entire day.
When we finally made it across the bridge I found myself walking a little closer to Spot than I had been earlier. Even though it was still New York City, I considered Brooklyn a completely different world. In Manhattan everything is constantly moving because it's the center of all the main corporations and businesses. It was always busy and thriving with people. So everyone around you had there own thing to do and they just went about there daily routine just trying to make a living.
Brooklyn on the other hand was different. It was a dreary neighborhood where everyone you walked by was suspicious. The type of place where you should never talk to strangers. The boys who grew up on the streets of Brooklyn were bigger and broader than most. That's because mainly all of the jobs you find around there are based on intense physical labor. Either working down as the docks or in some run down factory. The Brooklyn boys were mean and trusted nobody but themselves. So if they hadn't seen you around before you were trespassing. I had learned that the hard way.
Seeing that I was nervous Spot squeezed my hand tighter and then put his arm around my shoulder. "Let's go back to da Lodging House first so we can eat some breakfast. I don't know about you but I'm starvin." I laughed and nodded my head.
It took us a few minutes to get to the Lodging House and when we walked inside there were a surprising amount of boys standing around getting ready to leave. They stared at me questioningly before they saw that I was with Spot. I heard a few whispers and I knew what some of them must have been thinking. But I tried to put that out of my mind as Spot took my hand and pulled me over to an empty table.
He left me sitting there for a few moments before he returned with two rolls for us to eat. I was amazed at how much my eating habits had changed since I started living with the newsies. The strange thing was, the smaller portions of food were not the problem. Because when your rich they teach you not to eat allot because you need to keep a nice figure and you want to look proper not like a pig. But I was having a problem going from having expensive French cuisines and fine wine, to eating bread and water every day. But at least I learned not to take small things for granted because there are some people who don't have anything at all.
Soon most of the Brooklyn newsies had left for the local distribution center and all that was left was Spot and myself. "Can I ask you something?" I said turning to Spot who had just finished eating.
"Sure Dollface," He replied nonchalantly as he stretched out in his chair.
"Can we get some ice-cream?" I asked feeling a little foolish. Spot just looked at me and smiled. "I mean I have money and everything. It's just that I never had ice-cream before."
"You never had ice-cream?" He asked in shock and I nodded my head, my cheeks turning red in embarrassment.
"My mother never aloud me to have sweets." I replied softly. He just shook his head.
"Were ya ever just free ta do what ya wanted?" Spot asked as he stood up and took my hand in his own.
"Of course!" I said but I didn't sound so convincing. "After I finished my piano lessons everyday at noon, I would have an hour to myself." I was taken aback when Spot just laughed out loud. "What is so funny?"
"Ya call dat free?" He replied still catching his breath from his sudden outburst.
"Yes," I said, my voice tinted with aggravation. I was becoming so angry that I huffed and turned around to walk out the door.
The dock was empty except for a stray dog sniffing at a stack of boxes. "And where exactly do ya think your goin, Doll?" He replied as he followed me with a smirk on his face.
"Away from here," I said and stepped off the dock. But suddenly I heard a loud noise from beside me and I screamed. The dog had knocked over a bunch of crates. This made Spot laugh even harder. I turned around and glared at him. "Your infuriating do you know that?"
"I am not!" He said affronted. "Ya just can't handle da truth."
"Of course I can!" I yelled throwing my hand in the air. I still had the misfortune of my arm being wrapped up in the sling. But the doctor said that I would have it taken off in a day or two. "You…you just don't know anything about me!"
"And who's fault is dat?" Spot said.
I yelled in aggravation and then turned my back to him. "This obviously isn't going to work. Thank you very much for the food, it was nice while it lasted. Goodbye!" With that I stormed out onto the street and headed for the Brooklyn Bridge. But to my dismay Spot was right behind me.
I walked a few blocks with him following me in silence until we finally reached the bridge. "Are ya done walking yet because I'm getting kinda tired of chasin ya." Spot said exasperatedly as he stalked behind me. I was just as tired as he was but refused to admit it. But I stopped anyway and turned around to glare at him.
"Would you please stop following me." I said. He was smirking until he saw the look on my face.
"Your not really angry at me are ya?" Spot asked sincerely. I was so upset that I just turned around and continued walking. "Wait!" He yelled as he hurried up and got in front of me, blocking my way.
"Move," I said as I quickly walked around him. I was furious and the worst part was that I didn't even know why. I mean what right did Spot have to go barging into my life, trying to tell me who I was. He didn't know anything about me. But I think the part that made me most upset was the simple fact that he was right about everything.
"Ya can't leave," Spot yelled after me as he ran up to my side and grabbed my good arm. "Would ya just stop for a minute." I could hear the desperation in his voice and finally gave into his pleads, stopping at the end of the bridge. " Why do you have to do that?" I said my voice lower and less hostile.
"Do what?" he asked confused.
Spot let go of my arm and hooked his thumbs behind his suspenders as he leaned his back up against the railing. "Why do you always have to be right?" I said as I sighed and stood beside him. Hesitantly looking down at the river below and trying with all my might not to faint from my growing fear of heights.
"I'm not always right. It's just easy ta guess." Spot replied shrugging his shoulders. "I wasn't tryin ta upset ya or anything."
I nodded my head. "I know," and he smiled. Even though I still felt a little defensive I smiled in return.
"Now let's go. We already lost a few hours out of our day." He reached over and took my arm in his own and pulled me, once again, across the bridge.
When we were walking down a deserted road somewhere in the heart of Brooklyn I stopped and looked at Spot. " How did you become a newsie?" I asked. I knew it was a personal question but he didn't seem to mind.
" I neva had parents like you did. I lived in a orphanage till I was about five years old. Den one day I ran inta a kid named Ben. He was da leada of Brooklyn at da time. But he took me to da Lodging House and I've been der' ever since." Spot said as we continued walking down the street.
I felt a hint of guilt and pity rise in my stomach but I let it pass. I knew how much I hated the pity of my friends and so I would not be the one to deal it out to others. But I did feel guilty for the fact that I had been complaining for a few weeks about my horrible life when some boys like Spot, had never known anything else. They had spent every waking hour, living the horrible nightmare that I had only known for a few days.
The conversation became lighthearted after that and we began to discuss different places around New York that we would like to visit someday. We walked by a large bookstore and Spot let me go inside, even though I knew that I didn't have enough money to buy anything. I could tell that he felt out of place and so we left, ending up in a small park by an office building at the end of the street.
We sat on a bench, underneath the shade of a large oak tree and just watched the people walking by. Occasionally making up story's about the strange characters that we happened to come across. Suddenly we realized that we had been sitting there for a couple hours when the church bells rang 4:00. Spot reached out his hand and pulled me to my feet.
"Come on we have one more place to stop." I took his hand and followed him as he lead me out of the park. We were walking for an hour before Spot finally stopped.
"Where are we?" I asked confused, looking around.
"Well ya said ya wanted ice cream," Spot replied as he pulled me into a store. I laughed when I realized it was an ice cream parlor.
I watched as Spot walked up to the older man working behind the counter. "Spot Conlon! I was wondering when I would be seeing you around here again." The man said and then he laid eyes on me. "And who is this lovely lady?"
"Dis is Hanna Grimmuald. Hanna, dis is Mr. Trickle, he owns da joint." I saw a flicker in the mans eyes as he heard my name but then his expression warmed up. He smiled at me and I kindly shook his hand.
"It is a pleasure to me you," I replied.
Spot ordered us two servings of vanilla ice cream. He said that since I had never had it before I should start off with the most bland flavor, in case I didn't like it. But when I took a spoon full and put it in my mouth. I didn't understand how anyone could hate ice cream. It was one of the most delicious things that I had ever tasted.
We decided to take the ice cream with us as we started heading back to the Brooklyn Lodging House. When we finally made it, the sun had already begun to go down over the horizon. Spot and I sat on the edge of the docks with our feet hanging off the edge. A lot of the boys had returned but they didn't say a word to us. I knew that if I was alone they would have had many things to say to me. But since I was in the company of Spot, everything was fine.
Most of the boys just looked over at us and then went back into the building, tired from a hard days work. When the sun had set completely, I took to throwing tiny stones into the water. Still thinking about how strange everything had turned out. Just the other day I had despised Spot Conlon and everything that went with him. Now I was wrapped up in his arms. I looked up at him and sighed. "I'm sorry," I said sincerely.
Spot looked down at me confused. "Sorry for what?" He asked.
"For fighting with you all the time." I replied solemnly. Even though I knew that a lot of the time he had provoked me into arguing. I had started just as much of the arguments in return.
Spot just laughed. "That's what we do. We fight about everything." He said. "But I wouldn't have it any other way."
I smiled and leaned my head against his chest. "Me either," I replied softly.
We sat there like that for a long time until I finally drifted off to sleep. But I wouldn't realize until the morning just how big of a mistake that had been.