Chapta Twointy-Three
Disclaimer: I don't own Newsies or the song "Blackbird."
A/N: Thanks for the reviews! WAH! In this chappie, it's back to Ali and Race, with a few of their own romantic problems, and a song towards the end! If you do not have, I suggest you download - it's really nice, the old and new versions (I perfer the new version, but I won't say who it's by - If I post any names, I get the boot.) So see my site for the music.
Has anyone seen Garen? He hasn't been reviewing or updating... I'm gonna put Whistler in again soon, so I was wondering.
Dawn's house was huge.
After a long, uninteresting ride up to Locust Point, Racetrack Higgins now found himself in a swirling crowd of guests, looking for a place to settle down. No, he had not actually met Dawn yet, and Ali had gone off somewhere to meet up with her, so he was left standing there like a tree in a river.
Which, in case you haven't seen, doesn't work.
The house was centered in the middle of the property, surrounded from all sides by acres of hills and fields, covered in trees. Race had thought it nearly impossible to have a nice house in the Bronx up until now. (Not that Natalie or Ali's homes weren't nice; he was thinking more along the lines of estate-wise.) It was very old, colonial style, with balconies and arches and gateways and a grand foyer and six bedrooms and everything.
So, frankly, he wasn't surprised when Ali said, with some remorse, "Dawn's one of the wealthiest bi– people in the Bronx."
Then the thoughts came a'creepin', and he began to wonder if Ali was jealous of her rich cousin, and if he was obligated to hate her or not.
Ali, meanwhile, was upstairs in the lounge with Dawn Redder, her 19 year old cousin and daughter of Mary and Paul Redder, wealthy business owners. Dawn had long, blonde hair that she kept in a braid and green eyes that shown in the afternoon sun. Ali approached her cousin at a small card table, playing poker with her older friends.
"I won a hand," Dawn said happily, slapping the cards down. "Pass me the— Oh, Ali!"
She turned around in her seat, and most of her friends gave her cold stares. Ali grinned forcefully. "Hello, Dawn."
Dawn chose to ignore her cousin's hostility. "How've you been?" she asked, smiling with a fake sweetness.
"Fine, just fine," Ali spat.
"Well, don't just stand there! Here, take a chair– Oh, Sarah, Daniel, this is the cousin I was telling you guys about earlier. Ali, this is Sarah Jacobs–" she pointed to a girl who looked like a brown-haired little bo peep, and whose face was having an inner conflict - She was smiling, but her eyes glowered darkly. Ali tried not to sit next to her, she was oddly familiar...
Dawn continued, listing off her friends. "...And this last bunch is Vincent Kappa, her boyfriend. Then there's Daniel Briarfield, Bridget Wright, Sally Markus, and Eric Lief." She pointed on down the table, but Ali had no clue as to why she'd need to know Dawn's friend's names.
Sitting awkwardly, she watched them start another game, and they handed her some cards, but she did not play much. Lief's eyes rested on her, before turning quickly back to his cards. Finally, after he realized she had seen him staring, he asked, "How old are you?"
"Fourteen, turning fifteen in three weeks."
Lief and Briarfield gave each other shifty glances and raised eyebrows over their cards.
"Well, that's not too bad," Lief muttered to himself, but everyone heard nonetheless, "You could've been thirteen..."
"What was that?"
"Say, Andria," he asked, ignoring her question and suddenly leaning over the table, "How would you like it if I went and got you a drink?"
"No, thanks, I don't think so," Ali said, the familiar angry feeling building up. Her stomach twisted.
Lief said nothing for a few minutes, and simply stared at his cards, before he couldn't resist and stood up. Ali watched as he went round the table, up to her left, where he bent over and stared at her cards. Ali looked at him, with something between resentment and curiosity.
"Looks like you've got some good ones there," he said, seeing her three aces and two kings. Ali slapped them down, away from his gaze.
"I know how to play cards," she said, frankly.
"Let me help you. I have a mighty good hand."
And this was pretty obvious, as his hand found it's way onto her ass.
The table fell into dead silence, and it took Ali a few seconds to realize what had just aspired. She turned slowly, not believing the nerve. She tightened up a bit, and Eric grinned, going back to his cards. No one moved.
If looks could kill.
"Don't you ever touch me again," she hissed. Then came the impulse to whap him across the face like the dirty, scum-sucking, airheaded, godforsaken, pig-faced freak of nature he was, but she was above that. There were better things to do for revenge, and bluntly, she believed only girls who wanted to seem cool did that.
Eric sat, staring straight at his cards with a smirk on his face. Dawn was horrified, and not from his behavior. She nudged Ali painfully in the side and whispered angrily, "What do you think you're doing? Eric's hot!"
Ali stared at her cousin in disbelief.
No. She did not just say that.
She glanced at Eric. Sure, to some he may be hot, but she was blinded by love for Racetrack to see anyone else. And maybe that was a good thing.
"I... excuse me," she said quietly, rising from her seat, and her chair scraped loudly against the floor as she left the room.
Closing the door and entering the massive hall, she found Racetrack covered in her little cousins, ages 2-6. They apparently found him funny, as it now was Race leaning on the wall, trying to stand up and the kids clinging. Laughing, squirming, and set on anchoring him to the floor. Race was laughing too, and having a grand old time, but when he looked up and saw Ali's grim face, it was replaced by one of concern.
"Heya, Ali," he said, shaking a few kids off his right arm. Something clicked in their little childer minds that this was serious business and they sat and left the older kids alone.
"Race, I need to–"
Race lifted a finger and said, "Oh, wait a minute, I gotta show ya dis - Ok, look what I taught 'em. Hey kiddies, whaddaya say if someone tries ta bet wit ya?"
"How much ya got?" the kids screamed, in unison.
Ali smiled and forced a laugh, and then pulled Race into and empty bedroom and sat down. Her fallace face dropped like a stone in a pond, and Racetrack eyed her. "Ali?" he asked, carefully.
"Race... Did I ever mention I hate Dawn?"
"Nah, I don think ya did... Why? Wha'd she do?"
"The reason I don't like coming is because she thinks I'm a child or something and makes it her business to get me a boyfriend."
Race froze, and his eyes narrowed.
"...What?"
Ali gulped. He was not a human made to get angry - it didn't come easily, but when he got pissed off, he was dangerous as an angry Spot Conlon with a gun.
"I was just down there, and she put me next to one of her guy friends."
Race's usually tanned face was an angry shade of scarlet. "...Wheah is he?" He seemed to be having trouble getting the words out without punching something in the process. "I have sumthin' ta give him." And he cracked his knuckles.
"He grabbed my butt."
Race did not move, except a shudder of rage. His face was now pale as death.
"He..." he began.
"Yeah."
Race was shaking in anger, but suddenly, it left him, leaving him drained. His legs feeling weak, he practically fell back, but forced himself to get up.
Ali sighed and gazed at him.
"I love you," she reminded softly, and nuzzled her head into his shoulder. He was warm, and so alive... Ali breathed in, his hair smelling like a sweet cologne and face like shaving cream. He hugged her, but she could still feel the slight contractions of his arms as the fury subsided.
"Yeah," he muttered in agreement, although it had been a while since she had spoken.
But he was not lying. He was happy, happier than he had ever been with anyone else. She was having a better influence on him than any of his other girlfriends had - he hadn't smoked for a week, and the bets he placed, if any, were smaller than what, for his, was usual. They had been together one and a half months or so... he had come to her in October and it was the best period of his life.
Times like these stirred something in him, quiet times where they hugged or kissed and didn't say anything else... As just demonstrated, even his worst tempers could be stepped on when she touched him. And he felt that agreeing when she told him she loved him would not be exaggerating in the least.
After a long time, Ali pulled herself away from him. He had calmed down enough to smile, but that ended as he checked his watch.
"Hell," he muttered, "It's time faw dinna."
And indeed it was. The two found themselves at the children's section of the table for being late. Ali noticed that one of Dawn's friends was missing, one of the girls... Sarah Jacobs. (Which, in turn, would end up being a good thing, but we'll leave it at that.)
Where had she heard that name before?
Soon, heaped upon their plates were mountains of mashed potatoes, giant slices of turkey (with no bones in them), onions, stewed carrots, steaming ham, and whatever else you could think of. The kids bounced around noisily next to them, spilling juice and throwing food. Racetrack tired to keep them under control by making funny 'knock knock' jokes that he thought off the top of his head.
"Knock knock."
"Who's there?"
Ali continued eating her peas.
"Why did the chicken cross the road?" Race asked.
Ali put down her fork and stared at him. He grinned sheepishly. "Wha?" he asked.
"Those are two different jokes, Race."
"'Course dey aren't. Ya ain't neva hoid a Anthony Racetrack Higgins joke if ya think so."
"Tell us!" cried the kids.
"Cause it's betta den crossin' a street in New Yawk!"
Ali snorted; the kids burst into laughter and started banging on the table. But as she turned to start eating again, she saw Dawn giving her a queer look.
Ah. She hadn't met Racetrack yet.
Finally, after Dawn realized Ali caught on to her dirty looks, she made a motion for her cousin to take Sarah's empty seat. Ali hesitated, then said saoftly to race, "I'll be right back." ("Okay," was the reply, with a mouthful of asparagus.) She got up, went around the crowd, and sat down, but did not touch anything.
Dawn leaned over and whispered, "Who's that hot boy right there?"
Ali froze.
Did she just call him 'hot'?
Well, yeah, he was, but he was also her boyfriend, and the name D-A-W-N did not fit in between them.
And this was a perfect opportunity for revenge.
"Oh, I forgot to introduce you!" she said, mimicking her cousin, and made sure all the teens, especially Eric, were listening, "That's Anthony Higgins, my boyfriend."
Racetrack, upon hearing his name, did not know what was going on, so he looked up and waved.
Eric dropped his fork with a clatter onto his place. As did Dawn, but she wasn't upset. Ali silently cheered.
Dawn recovered quickly, if she had even been bothered in the first place. Usually, someone would apologize for saying such a thing, but Dawn had pride and was not someone. "Oh," she said, shrugging, making Ali angry, "How old is he?"
"Umm, eighteen."
Dawn swooned. "Going for older guys, are you now?"
Ali stared at her, "No, I'm not. He just happened to be older than I am, by four years."
Dawn nodded, never taking her eyes off of him, then pushed her chair back and stood up. "I think I'm gonna go talk to him," she said slowly, and Ali's fist clenched. No. She was not going to try and make him hers. She wouldn''t dare.
'But, oh,' said a voice in her head, 'She would. You know she would.'
Dawn strutted over and smiled, ignoring the kids. "Hello," she said, smiling and showing all her straight, white teeth. Race smiled back, but Ali read his eyes, and they were cold.
"Hey," he said politely, and moved on to his chicken leg. It was obvious he would have preferred Ali's company, but it was Dawn's house, she there was no making her go away.
"Is your name Anthony?"
Race pulled the skin off the meat. "Ummhfmm, yefff," he said, chewing with his mouth open. Ali watched them, knowing he'd never really act like that unless he really didn't like someone, and began to wonder why she had been afraid he'd be bought by her bullshit act. Dawn cringed for a split second, before resuming her smile and stuck out her hand.
"My name's Dawn, but you already know that... Did Ali mention me?"
'Conceited much?' thought Race, but then shook his head and offered her a hand covered with chicken grease and food.
Dawn barely touched his hand, wincing, and then squatted down next to him. "Don't you think you're a little old for her? I mean, I can't see why someone your age even knows someone as little as her."
"I love her."
"I know, but... Well, lets keep this a secret... I think someone like you deserves better."
'And you've made that obvious,' he though, but refused to answer. He knew what she was getting at.
Finally, he swallowed.
"Yer sayin' I'm too old faw her, but yer havin' yer friends grab her? Dat isn't too nice. My mudda taught me ta be nice ta goils."
Dawn didn't say anything, taken aback. She hadn't expected Ali to tell anyone about that... But anger and impatience filled her, and in a huff, she said, "Look, I'll be frank - Just break up with her. For her best interest. You're too old and she's too young. There are better people."
And she smiled.
Racetrack couldn't believe his ears.
Boy, that was direct.
Anger welled up again, and he stood up, done with his meal. Dawn stood up after him, eagerly awaiting an answer she wouldn't get. And Ali was nearly jumping out of her seat.
Race carried his plate into the kitchen and set it on the counter, and turned to Dawn with a cold look. As she opened her mouth to say something, Race cut her off.
"Ya know," he said, "If I didn' have a goilfriend who I thought was da best, den I'd be flattad. But ya don matta ta me, an if ya touch Ali again aw try ta break us up aw have anyone touch her, den this won't be between you an me anymaw. So Happy Thanksgivin'."
Dawn's face was crushed, and it was oddly satisfying, and this was Ali's que. She got up and walked over lightly, as though she hadn't seen any of that. "Hey guys," she said cheerfully. Race wrapped and arm around her waist, but Dawn did not turn her head. Sweet revenge.
"I see you met Dawn," Ali said, kissing Race on the cheek. Dawn still did not move, her mouth hanging open.
Race smiled. "We was jus havin' a talk."
Ali nodded, looking at her cousin. "Ah..." she said, eying her narrowly. "Come on, Race, let's go do something."
Racetrack raised his eyebrows, wondering if this was part of the act or if it was real. "In da mood faw a little maw den talkin'?"
"Yeah."
And they walked into the hallway, where Ali decided to be daring and said quietly, but loudly enough for Dawn to hear, "Let's go seal the deal."
"Sure." And snickering, they ran upstairs, where they had to clamp their hands over their mouths to contain their laughter. For the look of horror on dawn's face had been so great that nothing else to get her was necessary.
After they had calmed down, Race began to notice the pictures and painting on the walls, where he stopped at one of a girl with a skinny body and big eyes.
"That one's scary," Ali commented. Race nodded. "It's called da Blue Rose. My parents had a copy. It was huge. Dey used it ta teach me ta stay in my own bed at night."
"How?"
"When I was little, I used ta run inta dere bed at night cause I'd have a nightmaeh aw' sumthin', so dey hung a giant pitcha of it in dere room. When I'd go in, I'd see it an' get even maw scared and go back inta mine."
"That's so mean!" Ali exclaimed.
"Well, it stopped my night feah."
"But, still... You were only a kid!"
"Ah, well..."
They stood in silence, looking at the picture, before it creeped them out a bit too much and started exploring the hall.
"Heya, Ali?" Race asked, absentmindedly. Ali looked up. He was peering out a window.
"Yeah?"
"I don think yer too young faw me."
Ali smiled, and a wave of relief flooded her, but she hadn't been afraid.
"Thank you," she said.
"What if she tells yer parents?"
And he turned to her, gazing with something like anxiety. Ali shrugged nonchalantly. "Then we'll tell them."
"I don wanna leave."
"I won't let them make you."
Race smiled. "I'm guessin' ya were kiddin' when ya said we could go seal the deal aw' sumthin."
Ali grinned at him. "Not just yet," she promised. "I'm gonna play hard to get."
"Yaw a poet an' ya don even know it," he quipped.
"Stop that," she laughed.
But he was already on to something else. "Ali, look in heah!" he called, opening a random door and peering in. Ali looked in.
The only lights in it were that of candles and a fie crackling merrily away in the fire place. Two comfy sofas and a squishy armchair sat on a burgundy carpet. The walls were wood, a deep, rich brown, with more paintings.
They went in, and Ali closed the door behind her. She walked over to the fire and warmed her hands.
"I like this room," she said, "It's far better than downstairs."
Race nodded his head in agreement, before a platter of cheese and crackers sitting on an end table caught his eye. He picked a cracker up daintily, took a bite, liked it, and popped it in his mouth. He sat down on the sofa, sinking into it as he did, and spotted a bowl of mints. Finishing the cracker, and picked up the bowl. There was one left.
He unwrapped it and put it in the back of his mouth, watching the fire. Ali sat down next to him, and looked at the paintings. The mint smacked against one of Race's teeth and made a clacking noise. Ali picked up the bowl.
"Aww," she said, putting it down, "I wanted one."
There was a silence, and they looked at each other, before Racetrack leaned in.
But Ali knew what he was going to do, and was ready.
They kissed, minty coolness flooding her mouth, but it was Race's turn to play hard to get - with the mint. He kept it in his mouth, until it began to dissolve, and he passed it from his tongue to hers.
Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
Ali layed back down on the couch, big enough for two, and pulled Racetrack on top of her... She swallowed the mint, but they continued to kiss.
Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to be free
Racetrack said a quick prayer in his mind that she wouldn't be mad as his hands traveled down, down...
Blackbird fly, blackbird fly,
Into the light of the dark black night
Ali was ready.
But this wasn't the right place.
It was Dawn's house. Horrible, evil Dawn. Not her own house. It was at a high risk for a walk in, by the number of guests.
Gasping, she sat up, and Race instantly was off of her.
"No," she said. "Not here."
Race nodded silently, before sighing and standing up. They were not angry at each other, but were feeling a bit awkward... Just a little.
Blackbird fly, blackbird fly,
Into the light of the dark black night
And as the end of the day came and the two found themselves back in the carriage, there was an embarrassed silence, but no one said a word.
Like it had never happened.
Blackbird singing in the dead of night,
Take these broken wings and learn to fly,
All your life,
You were only waiting for this moment to arise,
You were only waiting for this moment to arise,
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
A/N: Awww, I love them! See what I meant about the new rating? Don't worry, it gets worse. PLEASE REVIEW!