Warning: this chapter does deal with some mature content. I don't go into much detail but tried to touch on it as lightly as could while trying not to sacrifice the importance it has on Lynn and Race.
Chapter 6: The Power of a Hug
A couple days had passed and all the newsies were at Tibby's eating their dinners. It was the first relief for them for the day because the wind was blowing strong bringing the cold with it.
"So what do you think, you think I got a shot?" Snoddy said running a hand through his hair trying to slick it back.
"With her, no." Itey said picking at his food with a fork.
"Hey I'm good looking and strong. What girl wouldn't want this." He said trying to convince everyone at the table.
"Ya but you forgot the foul the smell." Pie Eater said. "Every girl wants her guy smelling foul." Pie Eater said sarcastically.
"I don't smell." Snoddy tried to hit Pie on the head but he kept blocking all the hits.
"What's happening here?" Jack said and he and Race grabbed some chairs to sit.
"Snoddy here thinks he's got a shot with that girl Lynn." Itey said stuffing some food in his mouth.
"Ya. What do you think? She seems to only talk to you two." Snoddy said gesturing towards Jack and Race.
"It won't hurt to try." Jack said. Race and him looked at each other with a small chuckle. They both remembered the conversation they had with her yesterday.
They were walking back to the lodging house after they snuck her into her old home. She was happy to get the rest of things because it meant not wearing the same thing everyday to work.
"Have any of the newsies asked you out yet?" Jack asked. He knew the guys' interests in her were high. It didn't help that she barely spoke to any of them so it gave her that mysterious air. She would just come back to the lodge at night, go straight to the girl's room and continue working. It just perked up their interests even more. Mystery.
"No." Lynn said with a small laugh. "I hope no one does." She said with a smile.
"What not interested in any of the guys?" Race asked.
"Not right now, no. I barely know any of them. Plus I think I'm going to stay away from dating for a while." She said barely over a whispered.
"Well you know one of them is going to ask you out sooner or later." Race said as he stuck his cigar in his mouth.
"Well let's hope it later. I sure don't want to hurt anyone's feelings but I can't right now." She said.
"Ya I mean what's she going to do. Say no?" Race said. "Hey I bet you two bits she says no." he said to Snoddy.
"You're on. She won't be able to say no to this mug." Snoddy said sitting up straighter. Everyone around the table just laughed.
"Well it looks like now is your chance Snoddy." Pie said as he looked at the door. "She's coming in with Sarah right now." Everyone looked as the two entered the diner and made their way over to the table. Jack got up and Sarah gave him a kiss on the cheek. Lynn stood behind her looking everywhere but at the table full of newsies. Once again wringing her hands.
"Hey Snoddy. Don't you have something to ask Lynn." Itey said stuffing the rest of his food in his mouth. Lynn looked at the table with uncertainty and then at Race, silently asking him what was happening.
"Ya I do. Thanks Itey." Snoddy said giving the fellow newsie a small glare. He walked up to her and gestured towards table not too far from them. As they both sat the newsies kept looking at the two to see what would happen. Race noticed her twisting her hands in one another and knew how embarrassed Snoddy was going to be.
"What's happening?" Sarah asked noticing what was happening a few tables away but couldn't hear.
"Snoddy is asking Lynn out." Jack said as he pulled another chair over.
"What?" Sarah asked.
"Ya. Its quite entertaining really. Poor guy don't have a chance." Race said. He then noticed Lynn getting up and walking hastily towards them. But instead of stopping, she headed right towards the door.
"Ya entertaining for you." Sarah said as she got and followed her friend out the door.
"What's the matter Snoddy?" Pie said as he saw his friend approach them.
"She said no." he said disgruntled and handed Race two bits.
"Ah. It's pleasure doing business with ya." Race said as he pocketed the money.
"Lynn wait up." Lynn heard Sarah call after her. She stopped at the corner and waited for her friend to catch up. "Lynn what's wrong?"
"Snoddy asked me out." Lynn said not facing her friend.
"Well there's nothing wrong with that." Sarah said trying to calm her friend down. "What did you say?" Lynn gave a small snort.
"I said no of course." She said leaning against the brick building. Looking down at her feet.
"Why?" Sarah asked. "Maybe what you need is to go out with a few guys to forget about Joshua."
"No it's not that. In the past few weeks I have been able to forget about him." Lynn said taking a deep breath in. She knew it was time to tell Sarah what she had been hiding from her. "Sarah. I can barely be around a guy who I feel comfortable with. Jack and Race are the only two who I'm not scared with. I don't have to put up my guard up with them and worry about if they're going to harm me. When its any other guy I'm constantly thinking if they're going to put their hand on my shoulder or get too close into my personal space." It was silent for a few moments. "I don't know why but all of sudden these feelings are coming up."
"Lynn, is there something you're not telling me?" Sarah asked as she moved out of the way for passing traffic on the sidewalk. Lynn gave a small nod.
"Sarah. You're my best friend and you always cared about me like a sister. But I never wanted to tell this because I didn't know how you would react." Lynn said looking at her. "You know how crazy Joshua and me were about each other. Well not too long after we started dating we, well you know we did it. I didn't want to but somehow our communication got crossed he interrupted my no as a yes. So after that I figured why not keep doing it, I wasn't pure anymore and it was fun." Lynn said. She could feel the tears starting to well up in her eyes. "But after he started hanging out with his new friends he started becoming aggressive about it. Wanting to do it nearly everyday. And I told him I didn't want to and eventually I told him I wanted to stop it all together. But he didn't like that. So he decided that he was going to take me whether I wanted it to or not." Lynn could feel her throat choking up and decided to not to say anything else.
"Wait. Are you telling me he raped you?" Sarah said. She could see the tears starting to break.
"Yes. I thought I was fine after we broke up. I knew I wasn't going to date anyone for now but like I said all these feelings have started coming. Are they trying to friendly or do they have motivations. And I can't help but feel that maybe its my fault. If I had just gone a long with what he wanted I would be feeling this way. I might actually be happy." The tears started rolling down her eyes. A handkerchief appeared to her left but the hand didn't belong to Sarah. When she looked at the owner of the hand she saw Race standing next to her and Jack beside him. She knew right there that they heard everything and looked down in shame. Everyone stood there no one knew what to say.
"Hey why don't you go get something to eat. I'll take care of her." Race said lightly to Sarah and Jack. Sarah was hesitant; she didn't want to leave her friend like this. But she didn't know what else to do so she allowed Jack to lead her back to Tibby's.
"Hey come on." Race said softly as he put his hand on her shoulder. He led her back to the lodging house and brought her up to the roof. The whole time neither of them spoke. And it was good ten minutes before a single word passed between the two on the roof.
"Look I would appreciate it if you didn't tell the rest of the guys." Lynn said quietly. The last thing she wanted was people pitying her.
"I said what I meant the last time. I won't ever tell anyone." Race said. It was silent again. Race knew the same look in her eyes was for the same reason as his sister. Both were victims of abusive boyfriends and had no idea how to cope with it.
"Look, I really don't know what to say right now." Lynn finally said. She couldn't handle the silence between the two of them anymore.
"You don't have to say anything." Race said. "But I do have a question. Why didn't you tell anyone what was happening?"
"Look Race, I appreciate you trying to help but I just can't right now." Lynn said looking at him. "It just still hurts too much to talk." He could still the tear streaks running down her cheeks even though tears had stopped and he hastily got up and walked to the edge of the roof.
"Are you alright Race?" she asked getting up to walk over to him. The wind has picked up since leaving Tibby's and they could see the red and oranges streaking the sky and the sun decided it was the end of the day.
"No." she didn't know what to say. She didn't think her story would have affected him this much. "I had a sister like you. She was naïve about love. I could tell the instant I looked in your eyes what you had gone through because your eyes held the same fears and worries as my sister's when it happened to her." He said. He pushed himself off the edge and turned towards her. "Her name was Annabel but we all just called her Annie. After our folks died, I came here and she lived in one of the factory's dorms. I would see her every weekend and a couple months later she started dating a guy she met at the factory. She was 16 then and I was only 12. She didn't tell me at the time but he ended up raping her not too shortly after they started dating. After that I still saw her but not as much. But there was something different in the way she carried herself. How she acted was different and her eyes that once held this brightness to them were gone. A couple months later I got a letter from one of her friends saying she killed herself because she couldn't deal with what happening. Like me, they had no idea what happened to her until they read the note she left." Lynn could see the hurt in his eyes. She could tell that they were close.
"It makes me so angry that there are guys out there who did this kind of stuff." He said suddenly, resuming his previous position against the edge. "They make girls trust them and then do what they want. That's why I made my offer to you. I felt like if I was there for her, she could talk to me and she would still be here. Probably would have met the perfect guy for her and be married with a family. I don't want to see the same thing happen to you." Race said looking at her and then back to the departing sun.
Lynn didn't know what to do. She didn't know how to deal with her stuff and she didn't know to handle the information Race entrusted to her. She gently touched Race's shoulder and he slowly pushed himself off the edge to face her one more time. He was searching her face for something but didn't know what. She would look at him and then away, as if deciding what to do next. She suddenly stepped forward and wrapped her arms around his neck. He stumbled backwards a bit not expecting the hug and once he regained his footing he slowly wrapped his arms around her. They stood there, both accepting the comfort of the hug. It was then they both realized just how powerful a hug could be.