Author's Note: A little bit over the word limit again, but at least it's in the 1,000 word range, no? And, again, thank you for all the wonderful reviews. Fluff is fun. I love having an excuse to write some.
This next drabble was written for Cheatah (of the NML). She wanted a romantic/dramatic/angsty drabble featuring Spot Conlon and an OC of her own design; for the challenge, she chose "challenging", providing me with a few lines of dialogue to incorporate in the piece.
Enjoy.
---
Title: So There
Featuring: Jack Kelly, Cheatah & Spot Conlon/Cheatah
Challenge: a dialogue challenge :
"Jack, he's back"
"Who?"
"Patrick. My brother."
"Does Spot know?"
"No...Spot doesn't exactly..."
"Doesn't what?"
"He doesn't know I have a brother."
Word Count: 1,078
Written For: Cheatah
.
.
SO THERE
.
.
"Jack, he's back"
"Who?"
"Patrick. My brother."
"Does Spot know?"
"No...Spot doesn't exactly..."
"Doesn't what?"
"He doesn't know I have a brother."
Jack Kelly eyed the girl in front of him warily. She was nervously twirling a piece of her long, red hair around her fingers. Her green eyes, darker than normal due to her evident anxiety, avoided meeting his gaze. "Damn it, Cheatah. Are you tellin' me that you never told Spot about your brother?"
She shrugged and leaned up against the old Horace Greeley statue. "Of course, Cowboy. What do you expect me to do? Walk up to Spot Conlon and tell him that he's dating the sister of the Bronx leader? Right…"
Using his hands, he rubbed his face. "Well, ya gotta tell him now."
A short laugh erupted from her thin frame and her eyes lit up. "Yeah, sure," she replied, positive that Jack was joking. But, when he didn't laugh with her, she straightened up. "C'mon, Jack. You know I can't do that. Spot'll kill me."
It was Jack's turn to shrug. Cheatah gets into way too much trouble and I just don't know how she does it, he thought and shook his head. "What will he do if he finds out from your brother?"
Slowly she nodded. Jack's right, damn it, she swore inwardly. She would have to tell Spot. If Patrick made good on his promise – and he would – he was coming around to see her. How quickly would information like that take to get to the Brooklyn newsie? "I'll head over to Brooklyn today. I better see Spot before Patrick sees him."
Jack removed a cigarette from his vest pocket and stuck it in his mouth. As he reached for his match, he looked over at her. "Say, Cheatah, do you want me to come with you? Make sure Spot takes the news well and all?"
She shook her head. "That's alright, Jack. I think I can handle Spot myself," she added, with a small smirk. She'd been Spot Conlon's girl for awhile now; if there was anyone who knew how to handle the famed Conlon, it was Cheatah.
He struck the match but, before lighting the tip of the cigarette, looked slyly back at Cheatah. "You ain't gonna tell him that I knew about Patrick, right?"
"Of course not," she snorted. "You want him to be after both our heads?"
With a small smile, Jack lit the cigarette and brought the burning match to his mouth. "Not at all," he replied and blew the flickering flame out. "Not at all."
---
Cheatah took the long way back to Brooklyn that night; while the journey across the two boroughs took half a day when one was hurrying, She didn't arrive until it was just about lights out. She slowly approached the Brooklyn Lodging House.
Spot was standing up at the edge of a circle, watching an on-going poker game while nodding approvingly. Cheatah slipped in quietly and wrapped her arms around his tiny waist. "Guess who?"
Spot froze and placed his hands on her hers. "Mary?" he asked with a smile, his cyan eyes lighting up. Cheatah hated to be baited like that.
She quickly pulled her hands out from under his and moved away. "Mary!"
He laughed and turned around to face her. "Cheatah, even better," he replied, his smile growing wider. He leaned in an planted a kiss on her cheek. Of course, he had been aiming for her lips, but she made a great show of turning away from him. She knew from his grin that he was kidding; she hated it when he joked with her like that.
"Ah, c'mon, I was kidding." He adopted a more sincere expression and reached for her hand. She sighed and gave it to him. The other boys in the room, used to their strange behavior, remained focused on their poker game.
Spot pulled on her hand until he had wrapped her up in an embrace. "So, what do I owe for this pleasant surprise? I thought you weren't gonna be able to come back to Brooklyn until this weekend."
Under the intense scrutiny of his beautiful eyes, Cheatah grew uncomfortable. It wasn't that she was that afraid of what he might do if she told him that she was related to Patrick; she was more nervous at how he would deal with the fact that she kept that information from him for so long. "Well, ya see, I was talking to Jack today and—"
"Cowboy?" he interrupted. He loosened his hold on her and stepped away so that he could look at her in the face. "What were you and him talking about?"
"Nothing," she said hurriedly. Spot always seemed to think that she was flirting with Jack; she had given up on trying to convince him that she and Jack were just friends. "But—"
"But? I don't want to hear a 'but'. What were you flirtin' with him about this time?"
She looked at him and, in his face, saw the beginning of a long fight. Whenever she saw that same jealous expression, she knew one of them was going to end up hurt. She threw her hands up. It wasn't wroth it today. "Forget it, Spot."
Spot grabbed one of her hands. "No, Cheatah. I ain't gonna forget nothin—"
But he had taken a step to far. She wrenched her hand back and whirled around, hurrying out of the lodging house. She couldn't stand to be around Spot when he was in a mood like this.
"Cheatah, get back here. You know it ain't smart for a girl to walk around Brooklyn at night," Spot said, appearing in the doorway but, stubbornly, not hurrying after her.
She spun around and glared at him, her eyes indiscernible in the dark of night. "Bully on you, Conlon. Don't you dare try to tell me what to do," she hollered back. She glared at him for a moment before turning away. That stupid Spot Conlon, she fumed, I come all the way here to see him and what does he do? Accuse me of flirting with Jack Kelly! She stared ahead and stomped away. She didn't know where she was going but she knew she wasn't going to see Spot Conlon again until he apologized. So there…
It wasn't until she had gotten a mile away that she realized that she had never told Spot about Patrick.
