And so began a semi-tradition. If Annie got off of work earlier than the newsies finished selling, she would find one of them to help them sell the rest of their papers before heading home. She did manage to convince them not to insist that she take the money, as she hadn't bought the papers, only sold them. Although she enjoyed the boys' company, Annie couldn't help feeling slightly guilty about leaving her father home alone so often.
"It ain't like 'e notices, anyway," Annie muttered bitterly, waving one of Jack's papers in the air. Jack walked up to her as she sold the paper, which was her last one, to a smiling old gentleman. Jack held out his empty hands, laughing as Annie groaned, "I sold out foist!" Jack taunted.
"Yea, well, you've had a lot more practice den me," Annie responded, falling into step next to him.
They bantered all the way inside the Lodging House, where they were greeted by Mush and some girl who Annie vaguely recognized. Annie tried not to stare as Mush and Jack exchanged greetings, but, of course, the girl caught one of Annie's furtive glances and smiled. "Hi, I'm Samantha. Blink's goil," she added at the blank look on Annie's face.
Suddenly, realization dawned on Annie, "Oh, right, I met you at Irvin' Hall dat time."
"That's right," Samantha replied with another smile, before turning to face Jack, as he called a "Hey!" to her.
Annie now felt free to observe, as the girl appeared to be absorbed in laughing with Jack. Samantha was no hoity-toity, her sun-tanned skin and callused hands proved that; her eyes looked honest and eager to approve, her lips ready to smile ("she's just right for Blink, then," Annie thought with a smirk); she was pretty enough, and might have even been beautiful if not for the snarled hair, roughened skin, and hardened, slightly desperate look that seemed to come to all girls on the street.
Annie yelped as she was suddenly grabbed from behind, and a voice growled in her ear, "What're you lookin' at my goil for, huh?"
Annie whirled around to face Blink, who burst into laughter, as did everyone else, at the look on her face. Annie breathed in deeply to calm down, as her heart had jumped at Blink's mock-attack, then said, "Hey to you, too, you bummer."
"Blink, I had no idea you were so protective," Samantha drawled in a voice that seemed to only occasionally slip into the standard "New Yawk" accent.
"Well, I gotta be, wit somet'in' dis good to protect," Blink replied, slipping an arm around her.
Race leaned over to Annie and muttered in a falsely cheerful voice, "Aw, ain't dat sweet. Dey're jus' a regular pair o' loveboids."
Annie tried without success to muffle her giggles, and Blink and Samantha glanced over at her before shifting their gazes to glare at Race. "What?" he exclaimed innocently, "Annie laughed. I didn't!"
"Yeah, but you was behind it somehow," Blink said.
"Y'know what?" Samantha announced, "I think you're jealous."
"Of what," Race shot back, "Your disgusting lovey-dovey comments?" he shook his head with an emphatic, "No, thank you." Looking around, Annie decided from the casual grins on everyone's faces that this must be a fairly common topic of conversation.
"So," Jack said loudly.
"So what?" Mush interrupted.
Jack rolled his eyes, "So, whaddaya wanna do?" Everyone shrugged. "Well, we can't jus' sit 'round here all night."
"Why not?" Mush asked.
"'Cause dere's a buncha littl'uns upstairs who'd wanna come down 'ere an' play," Race replied, "an' I dunno 'bout you, but I can only handle 'em in small doses."
"Where're all da older newsies?" Annie asked.
"Out an' about," Blink grinned, his arm still around Samantha's shoulders.
Samantha sighed, "What they're not gonna tell you, jus' because they like bein' annoying, is that the newsies usually don't come back right after they finish selling papes 'less they've got nothing better to do."
"Unless it's a poker night," Race added.
"Or a bad sellin' day," said Jack.
"Right," Samantha agreed, "They're usually all in by 10:00, though, an' then they stay up for another hour at least. Morons," she rolled her eyes, "You'd think they'd realize that staying up late makes you tired the next morning." Most of this tirade seemed to be directed at Blink, and Annie watched in amusement as he determinedly stared at Race in an attempt to avoid Samantha's gaze. Eventually, she gave up trying to catch his eye and said, turning to Annie, "It took me a while to figure that out, 'specially since no one around here is very helpful." This time her glare seemed universal, and the boys all grinned.
"C'mon, Samantha, we'se always willin' to help you out," Mush protested, as Samantha raised her eyebrows.
"Humph. Seems like you had a lot of fun tormentin' me when I first showed up with Blink."
Eventually the group decided that they would just walk around until something better presented itself, and they set off. Annie spent much of the beginning of the evening trying not to resent Samantha's intrusion into what she felt was a perfect group of five, before realizing that Samantha probably had the same perspective. And, after all, Samantha had known them longer, so she had even more right to dislike Annie than Annie did to dislike her. Though a part of Annie's brain whispered that, as the more established within the group, Samantha could afford to be nice, Annie decided to judge Samantha based on her own merits. After only an hour, Annie admitted that Samantha's merits were many, decided that she added much to the group, and entered into the teasing and conversation with her usual fervor.
When Annie got home that night, rather later than usual, she found her father sitting at the table, staring straight ahead, and, to her amazement, completely sober. "Where have you been?" he asked quietly, not looking at her, as soon as she walked in the door.
"Da, are you alright?" Annie asked, "Lemme turn on a light." She began bustling around the tiny room, keeping a running commentary of what she was doing, "Have you even eaten yet? Of course not. I'll jus' fix you up somet'in' real quick. How 'bout some soup? I'll get dat on da stove, so's you can eat it an' go to bed."
"Where have you been?" her father interrupted.
Annie put down the pot that she had just picked up and turned to look at him, "I was out wit' some friends."
"I was so worried about you," he continued in that same shaky voice, as though he had been through hell and back waiting for her return.
"I'm sorry, da," Annie said, immediately contrite, "I guess I haven't been around as much as I oughta."
He finally looked over at her, and, as his eyes met hers, she caught her breath. Had he always looked so small, so helpless? She must not have been caring for him as she should. Before his next sentence was finished, Annie resolved to be home more often, so that she could take care of her father as she had promised her mother that she would.
"I need you, Annabelle," his eyes filled with tears and his hand trembled as he laid it on hers. "What would I do without you?"
Annie looked at him for a moment, then led him over to his bed. "Go to sleep, da," she crooned softly.
She walked across the room to turn out the light, and her father called, "I love you, Annabelle."
Annie stood still for a moment after blowing out the candle on the table, then said, "I love you, too, da," into the darkness.
OOOOO
For a week Annie headed straight home after work, avoiding all of her normal paths so that her friends wouldn't try to persuade her to come out with them. Whenever she wanted to see them again, to smile over one of Mush's naivetes, to laugh at Race's sarcastic comments, hear Jack talk about Santa Fe, try to understand Blink's enthusiasm for life, or even share a smile with Samantha over the antics of the boys, Annie forced herself to remember her father and the fact that he needed her, that she had promised her mother to help him.
However, once again, the newsies foiled her plans. About a week after her decision, late enough in the evening that her father had a chance to really get into the bottle, Annie's routine of ignoring him by cleaning was interrupted by a knock on the door. Upon opening it, Annie was surprised to see Jack standing there. Her first instinct was to slam the door shut and block him out – that was simpler, that was safer than letting him in. But he was a little too quick, shoving his foot in the door before Annie had quite gotten it closed.
Jack stepped inside and stared at Annie for a moment, before asking, "What's goin' on, Annie? Why haven't you been comin' 'round lately?"
"I been busy," Annie shrugged, going back to cleaning dishes to avoid meeting his eyes.
"C'mon, Annie, we both know dat's not true," Jack said gently, "you always had time for us before."
Annie slammed down a dish in response. Jack opened his mouth to say something else, but, hearing a noise from the other room, asked, "Who is dat?"
Annie looked up, panicked, then dropped the dishes and grabbed Jack's hand, "Let's go outside, Jack. We can talk 'bout it outside."
Jack looked as though he were considering it, but their conversation was interrupted by the entrance of Annie's father. One glance revealed that they were related, as the resemblance between the two was so strong, and he immediately dropped Annie's hand, saying, "I'm sorry, sir, I was jus' talkin' to Annie here..." he trailed off as he realized that the man wasn't acknowledging him. "Um, sir?"
"He won't answer," Annie said dully. "He's drunk. Thinks he's somewhere else."
As if to prove her right, her father spoke up for the first time. "Caroline. Where are you, Caroline? I need you." To Jack's surprise, his eyes passed over Jack and Annie to settle on the doorway. "Oh, there you are." He paused, then continued as though answering someone, "I haven't seen her all day. I think she's out playing with that little girl next door. Katie, you know, the Irish one." He nodded, "Yes, she and Annie have become great friends." He continued in this vein, directing his comments to the unseen person in the doorway, occasionally pausing in response, and even, one very strange time, reaching out as though touching her.
Jack was startled from his fascinated horror by the sound of a door slamming, and he looked up to see that Annie had just run out. He quickly followed her, fully expecting to have to chase her down, so he was surprised to stumble over her in the doorway to the apartment building.
He sat down next to her and, after she repulsed the protective arm he instinctively put around her, said, "Is – is dat your dad?"
"Yeah."
Jack nodded for a moment before asking, hesitantly, "Is he – does he – I mean,"
"He's like dat a lot, yeah," Annie's voice was dull and hard, unlike her normal sarcastic tones. Jack tried to get his thoughts together, tried to figure out what to say to her, but before he could think of anything, Annie said, "Jus' ask me whatever you wanna know, alright? Don't worry none 'bout protectin' me or nothin', 'cause I don't need it. I'm fine." Her voice was harsh, but at least there was some emotion in it.
"Who's Caroline?" Jack continued after a long silence.
"Me mudder," the hardness was back in her voice, "She died four years ago. I was twelve."
Jack looked at her in surprise, "Have you been takin' care o' him ever since? Since you was twelve?" he asked incredulously. "God, dat musta been awful."
Annie shrugged, and, after another long silence, said, "Anythin' else you wanna know? 'Cause I gotta get back up dere an' make sure 'e's OK."
Jack looked at her, wondering how to help her, how to show her that he and the other boys cared about her. He wanted to tell her that they had been worried about her all week, that it was only respect for her pride that had kept them from coming already. He wanted to let her know that she could tell him anything, that she could break down, that he wouldn't judge her.
All that Annie could think was "Don't cry, don't cry, don't let him see your weakness. You've gotta hold it in, don't cry, jus' be strong. Get 'im outta here an' you can go back upstairs, an' don't cry, an' you can take care o' da jus' like you promised." And, eventually, just, "Don't cry don't cry don'tcrydon'tcrydon'tcry."
Jack started to say he knew not what of friendship and the pain of independence, but Annie stood up, "I gotta get back, Jack. I'll see you around." But they way she said it let him know that she wasn't planning on it, and Jack jumped up to grab her hand, but she was already inside. Jack stared after her for a moment, then, suddenly cold, he shoved his hands in his coat pocket and started the lonely walk back to the Lodging House.
OK, I'm getting desperate for reviews, y'all. So, I'm reduced to begging. Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease...
koodles: Yay, a review! What a wonderful bday present! So, now that I'm 17, I can do all kinds of things legally that I had to do illegally when I was 16. Like drive past 11:00, get into R-rated movies, buy porn (OK, so I probably won't USE that last one, but,still, I COULD). Celebration!
I love lame jokes, too. That part with Mush was like a little scene from my life, where everybody just kind of shrugs and says, "Rachel, you're so weird."
AngryPrincess: Here's your update.