Title: Cuts Like A Knife
Author: Stress
First written: May 12, 2002
Edited and replaced: January 21, 2005
Summary: Part I of the Soul Mates Series; She thought that life couldn't get any better. She had friends and a family that loved her – she was taken care of and had no complaints. But that was before he came into her life. And, no matter how hard she tries to escape his grasp, he'll never let her go.
Two weeks later
It had gotten to the point that the only person that heard Jess speak was Rip, and that was when she was pretending to moan and groan to keep him happy. And of course when he would say "I love you" she would have to reciprocate the feelings otherwise Rip would get angry. Jess didn't like to make Rip angry because the consequences were ugly. It had taken Jess two days to explain to the O'Connor's that she had gotten her black eye from walking into a wall the first time she ignored Rip's proclamations of love. She tried her hardest to keep Rip as happy as possible though it made her worse than miserable.
At the DistributionCenter
Then, one morning, Spindle strolled up to the distribution center, her eyes searching for a girl who might have some useful information for her about the "mystery girl". Her eyes landed on a girl with chin length brown hair with unusual hazel eyes. "Naw, I talked to Corner the other day and she didn't know nothing about Rip." Again she scanned the crowd, this time looking at a girl with glasses, brown hair and shiny braces. "Nope, talked to Braces already, too." She looked over at the group of three girls closest to her. "Let me see, naw, Grace, Moneybags and Tunes were about as clueless as Jess was." Right next to those three were a pair of girls gossiping merrily back and forth. "Psyche and Spadey, naw, they already told me all they knew, damn." Then she turned to face another clique, four girls this time, at the far end of the line. "Snow Drop, Yanchi, Quipster and Mimic are some of me best girls, they would have told me right away." Spindle said, trying to convince herself that all of her newsgirls were still extremely loyal to her.
Getting aggravated at the lack of newsies to question, Spindle rested her eyes on another pair of girls, over at the edge of the distribution center's gate. "Well, I talked to Dice yesterday," she said to herself as she stopped to look at the first girl, the one with shoulder length brown hair, that was showing the second girl a trick with playing dice, "but I don't think I've spent a selling day talking to Iris yet," she smiled as she looked at the girl with braided hair who was laughing while watching her best friend show her the new tricks she had just learned.
Whether by accident or just pure luck, Iris had evaded having to sell the morning papers with Spindle ever since the night that she had witnessed Jess and Rip's "cozy" moment. But she could hide no longer when Spindle pointed regally at her and asked, "Iris, would you like to sell papes with me today?"
Iris could tell by the tone of her voice that it was an order and not a request, so she reluctantly nodded. "Dice, I guess I'll see you later," she told her friend, her voice quivering slightly.
Dice squeezed her arm for moral support. "Don't worry, you'll be fine. Just tell her that you don't know nothing and you'll be fine. Promise," she whispered back, trying to avoid looking at Spindle.
Iris nodded weakly as she got in line to buy her papers. "If only I didn't know nothing," she said wistfully as she sneaked a look over at Jess. She was standing all the way at the edge of the crowd, all by herself, nervously looking over her shoulder ever few seconds. Iris could only wonder who or what she was looking out for.
"Could it be Rip?" Iris asked herself before shaking her head. "Naw, those two looked so happy that other day." Besides, Iris hadn't seen Jess and Rip together at all since that night. Maybe it was just a one time thing that Iris had spied. And, Iris told herself for the twentieth time since that night, she was on the opposite side of the street when she saw them. For all she knew, it could have been two different people entirely. "I probably just had seen two other people, not even them. Yup, that's what I seen."
Anyway, no matter who it was out there that she had seen, Iris knew that Spindle had spread the warning out to all the girls that when Rip arrived, he was hands-off or else. Nobody could be that stupid to go after Spindle's guy for they all knew that Spindle meant business when she said she would kill anyone that went after her boyfriend. Sighing to herself, Iris paid for her stack of papers and went off to sell with Spindle, dreading the moment when Spindle would mention her boyfriend.
After about two hours of heavy duty paper selling, Spindle decided it would be the perfect opportunity to pump Iris for information on Rip.
"So, Iris. I haven't really had a chance to talk to you in awhile. I just have been so busy with Rip and all." Spindle tried to introduce his name slyly into the conversation, seeing what Iris' initial reaction would be.
Though her stomach plummeted at the mention of his name, Iris tried to keep her expression the same. "Oh, is that so? How is he? Does he like Queens?"
Spindle's eyes lit up when she saw Iris flinch at the mention of Rip's name. "She might just be the one girl who knows something," she thought to herself, trying to plan a strategy that would get Iris to tell her exactly what she wanted to know.
"Well, I know for sure that he likes one thing in Queens. Or should I say, one girl. And ya know what, Iris, I don't think that's me any more." Not being one for subtlety, Spindle decided to just come right out and tell Iris what information she was looking for.
Iris gulped. "What do ya mean, Spindle?"
Spindle gave her an eerie smile. "Oh, I think you know what I mean, me friend."
Not meeting her eyes, Iris tried to hide her knowledge from Spindle. "I don't know you're talking about. Honest."
Spindle, tired of playing games when all she wanted was a straight answer, reached in her shirt pocket and grabbed her knife. Instead of putting it close to Iris's throat as a direct threat like she had done to Danger, she proceeded to toss it from hand to hand, making sure that Iris could see what she was doing. "Ya know, I really think you do."
Iris's knees buckled when she saw Spindle take out her knife, but her resolve stayed in tact. "I can't rat out me pal. But what can I do?" In a flash of brilliance, the kind that always comes under immense pressure, Iris knew what she could do. "O.K., O.K., you got me. I really didn't want to tell you this, because mind you, I ain't too sure, but I think I saw Rip with another girl," she blurted out, quickly covering her head with her arms so she wouldn't be hurt in Spindle anger fall out.
Surprisingly, Spindle said nothing at first, though she still continued to finger her blade. "That's nice to know, Iris. Why didn't you tell me before?" she said way too sweetly for someone who just received word that their boyfriend might be cheating on them.
Iris cowered under the sweetness; Spindle's phoniness was worse than the anger that Iris had expected. "Well, ya see, I ain't sure that was Rip. And I didn't want to worry you 'til I was sure."
Still speaking with a sugar-coated tone of voice, Spindle stopped walking and faced Iris. "Are you sure now?"
"Naw, I just think that it was him. But I don't know for certain," Iris said, trying to take a breath, but finding that her throat had seemed to close up.
Spindle decided that was enough of being Miss Nice Guy. Taking a step right into Iris's face, Spindle placed her knife against Iris's throat, gently so not to cut her, but putting a drop of pressure on it so that Iris knew it was there. "O.K., well, what I need you to tell me is -- who was the tramp he was with then?" she hissed, her emerald eyes flashing.
Highly aware that Spindle had her faithful knife against her throat, Iris continued to keep her silence. There was no way she could turn Jess in when she didn't know any of the details of what had happened. "I honestly don't know Spindle. All I saw was a tall guy with black hair holding a girl with brown hair in his arms. I only saw a glimpse of his face and I think it was Rip. I never even saw the face of the girl at all. I swear..." she finished, her voice barely audible. Silent tears began to stream down her face but she nevertheless kept her eyes on the knife in Spindle's hand.
Satisfied that was all that Iris knew, Spindle nodded and neatly folded her pocketknife back up. "Thanks Iris, I owe you one for the heads up. See you later." After placing her knife back in her shirt pocket, Spindle started to walk towards the boys' lodging house, leaving Iris behind.
Iris, still crying, sat down and tried to calm herself down. Though she was scared out of her mind, she congratulated herself for not breaking down and telling Spindle the entire truth. She had no doubt in her mind ,that if Spindle found out that it was Jess who was locked in an embrace with Rip, that Spindle's knife wouldn't just be placed upon Jess's throat. It would be slitting it open.