CHAPTER 7:

Medda's place looked amazing. All the tables were set up for everyone to sit and the stage was ready for an evening show. They got there and Jack and Spot immediately went to a table and started some drinks. Spot gave her one last look before he took off with Jack.

Mush was great. He walked around with Alyssa, and showed her around the place until they found a table with Kid Blink and a few more of the boys far away from Spot. He even set it up so he would sit next to her, and Blink sat across from her, in case Spot looked over to see who she was with. It was so nice of them to do all that, but all she could think about was:

Why does Spot care so much?

For the first hour or so of the evening, Medda came out and said hello to everyone, especially her good friend Jack. The show began with her and some of her best girls singing and dancing. Everyone drank and sang along and it was really a great time. Mush stayed looking out for Alyssa, while she walked around talking to Blink. He was such a gentleman: he bought her a drink, opened doors for her, pulled her chair out, and held her arm like she was a fancy lady, and not just a runaway-turned-newsie. They talked about her old life, as a waitress, and how she was settling into the newsie business. She asked him about his life, and they had a very fun conversation. Everything was going great.

Until around 9 o'clock.

While Medda was singing, and everyone was joining in and drinking, the front doors silently opened, and a group of the working girls entered.

"Ahh, newsies, a little gift from me to you!" said Medda. She had invited them to be dance partners with the boys, and possibly start a little romantic fun. The girls spread out across the room and immediately began chatting and flirting with the boys. Kid Blink pulled Alyssa close for a moment, to show that he was with her and had no intention of changing that. Alyssa didn't mind the girls at first. She knew this was just a one-night party and everyone could have a little fun. Whatever happened here would stay here right?

Her eyes scanned the room, as she amused herself watching some of the boys make fools of themselves trying to attract the girls. She laughed a bit to herself, but then her gaze landed on the table with Jack and Spot. While Jack was talking with some of the boys there, and passing around more drinks, Spot was very busy on his own.

Normally, this would make her relieved, since she didn't want him to see her with Blink at all. But this particular time he was too occupied.

With 4 girls.

Next to him, holding his arm, behind him, and on his lap.

He didn't look like he was in love, just like he was flirting and preparing to break hearts. For the strangest reason, something changed in Alyssa at that moment. A new feeling took her over, and made her so confused. She knew she hated him, and didn't care what he did; he could die and she wouldn't notice…right? Then why was a feeling of jealousy crawling into her? The girls were all over him, but suddenly Spot's eyes locked into hers. He saw her and three things happened.

1. Alyssa saw the eyes look weak for a second, and the face they belonged to lose a bit of color.

2. The eyes changed…not to being mean, but laughing a bit. He started to flirt even more now with the girls, teasing her. Like he knew what she was feeling. He kept looking at her, but began to pull one of the girls closer, his arm on her waist his face close to hers. The eyes stayed locked.

3. Alyssa broke the gaze. In one swift move she pulled Blink closer and gave him a big kiss. Right on the lips. He didn't see it coming. Neither did Spot. Blink put his arms around her and held her tightly to keep it going. She didn't stop him. A few of the guys whistled and yelled,

"Get it Blink!" and "Yeah man!" His kisses were filled with his crush on her. Hers were filled with her crush on him, but had some revenge in them too. She hoped he wouldn't notice. They continued to kiss until a loud noise of a glass breaking ended it. They turned around quickly, only to see a waiter running to clean up a glass that had fallen out of someone's hand.

Spot's hand. He had stood up, and the girls backed away when the glass fell. She met his gaze again, and it looked furious. Cold and mean couldn't even begin to describe them. He sat down again and looked away, before anyone could tell he was looking at her. Alyssa turned back to Blink, who laughed, awkwardly and put his arm around her. Neither of them cared if anyone saw them anymore.

The room returned to bustling again, and everything went back to normal. Almost.

For a little while, Alyssa and Blink went around together, saying hi to some people. Blink introduced her to some of his friends: Racetrack, Skittery, David, and Boots. They were all really nice to her. At some point, she pulled Blink over for a second and said,

"I have to go find one of my friends for a minute, I'll be back soon. Okay?" she gave him a smile, and he nodded.

She found Handsome over with a few of the boys from Brooklyn, talking to 2 of the girls.

"Hey, can I talk to you for a second?" she asked him.

"Yeah, sure. Heya, boys, I'll be back in a little." She took his hand and led him into one of the rooms on the side of the main room. The room had a card table and some chairs in it. They closed the door behind them and he pulled over two chairs for them.

"What's goin' on?" he asked her.

"Remember how you were telling me that Spot was in Brooklyn 5 nights ago, and he was shook up about something there?"

"Yeah."

"Well you never told me what he said about it."

"Oh, right! Do you want the whole story?"

"If you can, that would be great."

"Well, when he came back that night, he didn't talk to anyone and went right to his room. That was really strange, since he would have told us boys what took him so long that night. So, I went to his room to see if everything was okay, or if there was a problem. When I knocked on the door, he didn't answer right away, and when he did he looked really confused about something. He let me in and I asked him what happened that night. He didn't want to tell me at first, but then he said that if he did, he didn't want me telling anyone, or I'd pay big time." He paused. "Hey, isn't Blink gonna be looking for you?"

"No, I told him I was going to talk to you. Just keep going." She said.

"Okay, if you say so. Anyway, he told me that he went to Manhattan to ask Jack for a favor. He didn't go into that very much. Then he said he was about to come home, when he saw someone in the window of a restaurant. Spot doesn't do much more than business, so it must have been a girl to make him stop and stay longer. He said he couldn't tell me why, but he had to wait for this person. Around this point, he stopped talking and thought for about a minute. I think he was debating whether to tell me the whole story or not. He finally said that not much happened during the day, because the person disappeared for a while."

Alyssa thought to herself:

Maybe he's talking about when I went in the back to dry off from that rain storm.

"Spot said that after a little he got bored waiting for this person. That was weird too, since normally if Spot wants to do something, he'll do it and he won't wait. But he said he started to go home. It was pretty late by now, and he didn't want us boys to piss our pants waiting for him"

That's Spot.

"Right when he started to leave, he saw someone in the middle of the street. He said it looked like they were stuck or something, and a carriage was coming towards them. So, he did the only thing he could think of: he ran over and pulled the person over to the side of the road. He said it like saving a person's life was no big deal. Anyway, he told me that after he did this, he saw that the person he saved was the same one he saw in the window earlier. He told me that he was furious that he had saved the same person that made him stay in Manhattan for so long, when he had better things to do. So instead of waiting even more for the asshole to thank him, and talk with him, he just took off and came home. He said that he was just really pissed off."

Liar. I saw his eyes. He must have forgotten the first time I saw his eyes. They weren't angry.

"I think he lied to me." Handsome ended her thoughts and his story.

They were both quiet for a moment, as Handsome watched Alyssa process this story. She thought it was strange that he didn't ask her why she was so interested in it. After a second, she sighed and looked at him.

"Thanks for telling me, Handsome."

"No problem. Hey, I should get back to the party. Are you coming?"

"No, I'm gonna stay in here for a minute, I think."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I just need a minute."

"Do you want me to tell Blink where you are?"

"Yeah, that would be great. He'll get worried, otherwise."

"Okay, I'll see you later tonight, then."

"Sure. Thanks again." He left her there and she turned her chair around to think for a minute.

What could all this mean? Now I know for sure Spot had saved my life, and that he did follow me for a while that day. But he won't admit to any of it, or explain any of it, and that doesn't make any sense. If only he'd just be nice to me again, maybe I can get it out of him. Maybe not even nice. Just calm for a little while. Or drunk…

The door opened, but she didn't turn around.

It's Blink. Good. I need to get my mind off of all this craziness.

Whoever it was closed the door, and she got up and turned around with a smile on, thinking to see Kid Blink. Instead, she found herself staring into 2 familiar blue-grey eyes.

"Spot…" she began. He looked angry, and drunk. He stepped towards her, shaking his head.

"What did I tell you, DeCardo? I thought you learned that you gotta listen to me, or you'll be in big trouble. And what do you do? You lie to me and then disobey me."

"You know what, Mr. Conlon? You don't have any right to tell me what to do or who I can be with. I tried to make things cool between us, and I thought that day you taught me how to be a newsie that maybe we were cool. But then you turned around and acted like an asshole again. But none of that even matters because the point is that you do not own me."

"That's where you're wrong. I think you need me more than you want to admit, DeCardo. I saw you looking at me across the room tonight."

"I don't know what you are talking about."

He pushed her against the wall and move in close to her.

"I think you do. It was right before you decided to kiss Kid Blink right in front of everyone. I know you well enough to know that isn't something you would do on the first date, since you're no whore. Or are you DeCardo? Are you a whore? Is that why Jack needed you to stay with me, since he had to pay you back for a one-night stand?"

"I am not a whore and you can't talk about Jack like that!" She gave him a smack across the face. He didn't move away.

"There." She said. "We're even." He shook his head. He still had her cornered against the wall.

"I don't think so, DeCardo. Like I said, you disobeyed me. Ask any of my boys, and they'll tell you what happens to people who don't do what I say."

"Well I'm not one of you're boys." She raised a hand to smack him again. He caught it and put it on his neck.

"You're right." He said closing more space between them. "You're not."

She could feel his breath on her face. His lips were almost touching hers. His eyes were staring straight into hers, and they looked completely unpredictable. But for some reason, she didn't move. Somewhere in the back of her mind, some little voice was telling her that she wanted something to happen between them right now. He inched toward her even more.

Before anything could happen, the door opened and Blink came in. Alyssa stomped on Spot's foot and he grabbed it in shock. She moved away from him, and ran over to Blink, who didn't look hurt or angry at her. Instead he looked at her and said,

"I can't believe Spot would be this angry at you for being with me. I'm just glad I got here in time before he could hurt you or anything." He said.

How oblivious he was.

He put his arm around her and started to pull her back to the party. She turned around to see Spot staring at them. At first, he was glaring at the back of Blink's head. But then he looked at Alyssa and his eyes looked a little disappointed and hurt. But since Spot was Spot, he quickly changed to a glare at her too. She put her arm around Blink and returned to the party.

This is going to make for a long walk back to Brooklyn.

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Please give me feedback on this chapter...I was a little unsure about it.

Thanks for reading guys, and the great reviews make me smile :]

-Spunkyy7