I came out of class that afternoon to see Jack standing with the throng of siblings, mostly older brothers, though there were parents in the mix as well. I jogged out of the building and grinned at Jack. He grinned right back at me and opened his arms. I chuckled and ran into his arms as he picked me up and twirled me around. I laughed and hugged him back.
"Jack you're causing such a scene!" I said only half caring about the middle and upper class families around us. They were staring at the two of us, some with distain others with a sense of fondness.
"Who cares, let 'em stare." Jack said as he sat me down but kept me in a hug.
"C'mon Jack, don't we have a theatre to get to?" I asked. Though it was mostly muttered into his shoulder, I felt Jack chuckle and before he let me go I took in his scent of ink, dirt, and the city around us. He let go of me and offered his arm.
"That we do, come, to Irving Hall we must go." He said. I laughed and took his arm. We walked down the street to a different part of town then where we had traveled before. I looked up to Jack who was genuinely smiling as we walked down the street.
"How'd selling go?" I asked.
"Pretty well, sold all 100," he replied. We then came in front of a building that read "IRVING HALL: STARING MEDDA LARKSON"
"You didn't tell me that you knew the star of the show." I said. Jack laughed as we walked in through the stage door.
"She's a friend of my father, you'll love her," he said. Jack tried to make himself more presentable and I chuckled at his efforts.
"Relax, you said you knew her." I said. A woman with bright red hair and a puffy purple dress came down the steps off stage.
"Kelly, what are you doing here kid?" She said with a smile as Jack walked up to meet her half way. He kissed her hand and smirked at her.
"Had someone I wanted you to meet, we didn't miss your show did we Med?" He asked.
"Sadly you did Kelly, who did you want me to meet?" She asked.
"Medda, this is Samantha Maddox; Sam, this is Ms. Medda Larkson, she owns the joint." Jack said. I smiled and offered my hand.
"A pleasure to meet you Medda, Jack's spoke highly of you. And the newsies seemed to like you." I said. Medda laughed at this and nodded as she shook my hand.
"And to you as well Samantha, and yes, the newsies do like the show." She said. "Don't be a stranger around here Kelly, alright?" Medda then disappeared into her dressing room. Jack and I both looked at each other.
"Well what now?" Jack asked. I smirked.
"What's your jacket size?" I asked.
"Umm… no clue." He said. I rolled my eyes.
"Where's Medda's costume closet?" Jack pointed down a hall and I offered my hand. "How much do you trust me?" I asked. Jack grinned.
"More than I should." He said. I laughed and took his hand; I jogged down the hall and opened the door. I went through the men's costumes and found a suit jacket that roughly matched Jack's build. I then threw it at him. I looked through the female's costumes and found a dress that roughly would match my measurements, though I hadn't been properly measured in years. "Um… Sam, when are you gonna tell me what the hell you're plannin'?" Jack asked. I turned to him with the dress in my arms. I was right, the jacket did fit. I smiled at him.
"Jack Kelly, you and I are gonna sneak into a proper show." I said. Jack's eyes widened.
"How?" He asked.
"Trust me; I mastered the art of sneaking into shows several years ago." I said. Jack shrugged. I then shoved him out of the dressing room. "Wait out here, I've gotta change." I said. I shut the door, locking it afterwards. I shrugged off my suspenders that I had borrowed from Liam and shed my shirt. I threw my dress over my top and got it to fit pretty well, accounting for the hanging suspenders on my hip and the movements of my belt loops on my pants. I shoved the shirt in a bin; I would just steal another one of Liam's old ones when I got home. Consider it a generous donation, assuming Medda wouldn't mind me and Jack making off two of her costumes. I came out of the dressing room finding Jack leaning against the opposite wall. He looked up from cleaning the ink out from under his nails and his jaw nearly dropped. "I'm not gonna bother asking how I look." I said with a laugh. Jack chuckled and offered his arm.
"In case you cared, you look beautiful Sam." Jack said with a genuine smile. I smiled at him.
"Thanks Jack, now come on, the doors open any minute now." I said as we ran down the street, trying to not cause too much of a scene. We made it to the door and I stood behind a family whose daughter looked awfully familiar. "Amelia?" I whispered. Jack looked at me oddly, but the girl in front of us whipped around to look at me and her face lit up in a smile.
"Sam? Sam Maddox?" She asked. I laughed.
"Hey A-mil, mind if I sneak in with your family like old times?" I asked. Amelia chuckled and looked to Jack.
"Yeah alright, for the sake of old times," she said. I grinned, nice to know I have friends in higher class who don't want to cause social suicide. We walked into the theatre and saw Jack look around, taking in the entire grand specter that was just the lobby.
"Wait 'til you actually see the theater." I said. Jack chuckled and we jogged up the stairs following Amelia and her family. Her parents hadn't looked back at me and Jack so we might just be in the clear. We made it to the mezzanines and we sat down ourselves on the end. I quickly turned to Amelia. "The show isn't sold out right?" I asked.
"No, you'll be fine." She said. I smiled and turned to Jack who was still taking everything in. I turned back to Amelia.
"How've you been, honestly?" I asked.
"Oh well, the usual. Dori got married off to some man in Pennsylvania." Amelia said. Dori was her older sister and was probably who the spare ticket was for. I nodded once. I was about to ask more, but the show started up and I was put into silence. The show was something of a romance, with a good douse of action. Jack was watching a bit of interest and I chuckled. He was into it more than he was playing off. All too soon the intermission came and went and the show ended. Jack and I filed out with the crowds and hit the streets below. We walked around a fair bit, not really having intent in our walk. It was late; I was most likely going to be killed by Liam when I got home. So I didn't put much purpose in my step and neither did Jack. Once we were a decent amount of blocks away from the theater, Jack started to sing a bit.
"I got no use for moonlight or sappy poetry. Love at first sights for suckers, at least it used to be." He sang spinning me around on the sidewalk. I chuckled. It was a song from the show. "Look, girls are nice,
once or twice, till I find someone new, but I never planned on someone like you." He sang. I smiled at him and sang the next part, which was really a repeat of the first.
"I got no use for moonlight or sappy poetry. Love at first sights for suckers, at least it used to be." Jack chuckled and we continued dancing. It was fun and we were covering more distance that way surprisingly.
"No, I never planned on someone like you." Jack finished off. He twirled me into him and I was looking up at him. He had a small, genuine, smile on his face and was just holding me in the middle of the street.
Sha la la la la my oh my look at the girl to shy ain't gonna kiss the boy. Some small part of my brain sang. Well, sometimes you have to act on impulses. I popped up on my tiptoes and gave Jack a quick kiss. Something about it made me nervous after I had already done it. A blush was crawling onto my cheeks and I tried to wriggle out of Jack's grasp. Jack simply held me tighter and chuckled.
"You're cute when you're flustered." He said.
"Shut up Jack." I mumbled. Jack smiled as I tried to hide my face in my hands. He tilted my chin up and pulled me into his own kiss. His lips were velvet like his voice and you could tell he had experience. Me? Not so much. It was a miracle I even had the guts to kiss him the first time. Now? Holy hell, this might complicate everything. When we broke apart, I was blushing and probably had an idiotic grin on my face that I probably caught from Jack. Who was grinning himself.
"I've kind of wanted to do that since you fell out of my bunk." He said. I chuckled.
"You could've done it earlier Cowboy." I said. He shrugged with a smirk returning.
"I was seeing how long it took you." He replied. I rolled my eyes at him and we continued walking, except my hand was now in his and Jack occasionally squeezing it, like he was afraid it was going to disappear.
"I'm not going anywhere Jack." I said.
"Thank god for that." He replied. I smiled as we reached my apartment building. Jack let go of my hand and smiled at me.
"Same time tomorrow Sam Maddox?" He asked.
"Same time tomorrow Jack Kelly." I replied. I hugged him one last time and he kissed me on the forehead. I blushed at that and ran inside, watching Jack walk away with a stupid grin on his face. I made my way quietly upstairs to the apartment where Liam was passed out on the couch and Jacob was sound asleep in his room. All was right in the world, so I took off my dress, put on a shirt and crashed in Liam's room for the night, thoughts of singing Jack Kelly swimming through my head.
No, I never planned on someone like you.