For a Buck I Might
The Cigarette
Jack was a bit surprised that Skittery would even show interest in something like this. He glanced over at the angry girl sitting her bunk, "I'll pay your rent tomorrow."
Skittery followed Jack's gaze over to Olivia, was his life worth tomorrow's rent, "I dunno." He said maybe he could get the deal sweetened a bit.
"I'll buy you half yer papes tomorrow." Race was a betting man. Plus he wanted to see what would happen, "But on one condition you gotta have a full conversation with the girl."
"If you can't ya gotta buy us lunch tomorrow." Jack smirked; hey he was a hungry boy.
Skittery continued to look over at Olivia as they listed the conditions of the bet. He did not see why everyone was afraid of her. She was human like the rest of them, just a human with a really bad attitude. People respected Spot for the same type of attitude, he bossed people around and no one said anything. Skittery was sure there had to be something decent inside of that girl. Upon thinking about it further Skittery was sure he could get her to talk to him. Race had cleaned him out during the game; if he could get some one to buy him half his papers for tomorrow then he would be okay, "Alright." Skittery turned back towards the guys finally.
"Alright?" This surprised Jack even further. He spit in his hand and held it out to Skittery. Doing the same as Jack, Race and Skittery sealed the deal.
"All for a buck." Skittery whispered under his breath. Race stood up at the same time as Skittery, "Where are you going?" He questioned making a face, "Don't wanna see yourself lose this bet?"
"I'm going to get the bandages an' some ice." Race snorted as he walked over to the washroom.
Skittery frowned when Race said that, but he pushed it to the back of his mind walking over to Olivia's bunk. He was not exactly sure what he was going to say to her, but all he knew was that he just needed to talk to her, "Hey." He stood a few steps from her bunk. Hey that was all he could come up with, the best he could come up with? So it was not much of a conversation starter, but at least it was a start.
Olivia raised her head from what she was doing and looked at Skittery. What did he want? She waited for a minute for him to say something else, but there was nothing. Liv shifted on her bunk a little, her body tensed. It was not every day some one actually came over to talk to her. Obviously he had to want something; it was not like him to make small chat with her.
Jack and Race snickered in the background as they sat at the card table watching the 'conversation' between the two. Skittery shot a glance of his shoulder at the two clowns at the table telling them to shut up. He looked back over at Olivia, "I..uh…" Damn it he had nothing to say to her. She had been a newsie too long to pretend he cared where she came from, and he did not know enough about her to ask her go out with out it seeming suspicious, "was wondering if you had a cigarette I could borrow?" He cursed himself that was the best he could come up with. Skittery had seen her smoking before; that was almost the only thing he knew about her.
Without saying anything to him Olivia handed Skittery an extra cigarette. She studied the boy for a few seconds before releasing the cigarette to him. Liv had seen Skittery around before; she had probably knocked into him before, "You don't have to return it." She commented before she looked back down at what she had been doing before Skittery interrupted.
Well that was the end of that conversation, or lack of. Skittery knew he had lost the bet, and it had not even taken more than five minutes to do. Opening his mouth once more to say something, he accepted defeat, "Thanks." He tapped the cigarette against his side sliding it between his fingers. When Olivia did not look back up at him, or say anything more he finally walked away.
Jack and Race were still sitting at the table laughing their heads off. Skittery shot daggers at the two of them. He shoved Race's shoulder as he walked by knocking him out of the chair and onto the floor; the two of them instantly stop laughing. Skittery headed over to the window, he mine as well smoke the cigarette now that he had it. Skittery made plans to find Itey later and bum some money off of him to be able to buy his papers.