Sweetie and Doll Face

disclaimer - unfortunately, i don't own newsies

Spot didn't return to the lodging house at his usual time, he was out on the docks thinking. He couldn't get his mind off of Flame. Why couldn't he act like himself around her? Why didn't she like him like the other girls? Why did he even care that she didn't like him? He was also worried, she hadn't returned to the lodging house. He figured she was staying in Manhattan for the night or something, probably too mad to be around him. With a sigh he left his perch at the docks and headed towards the lodging house, he would deal with these feelings in the morning.

As Spot closed the door to his room, he couldn't help but hear something from down the hall. It sounded like a girl giggling. Now this he was not in the mood for, this was not the first time one of his boys had tried to sneak a girl in, and they were not going to be happy when he was through with them. He stormed down the hall to the boys' room, his anger already rising.

"All right!" He yelled, turning on the lights "Which one of you is the wise guy who…" He froze. There were no girls in there, all he saw was his boys waking up and looking confused and very unhappy, they were mostly groaning about the unexpected wake-up.

"Oh sorry" he said, looking around the room "I thought that I heard…"

"Race stop that tickles!"

"Shhh be quiet, you'll wake up the guys."

The Brooklyn newsies fell silent, all eyes were on their leader. Spot's mind was racing, a knot of anger tightening in his stomach. He stormed across the hall without thinking, and threw open the door to the Flames room.

"What the hell is going on in here?" he screamed. Race immediately jumped out of Flame's bed and started adjusting his clothes. Flame, who was more irritated than embarrassed, went right up to Spot while fixing her shirt.

"What's your problem Conlon?" she spat at him

"Well Doll Face, if you're going to act like a whore, I would prefer you do it someplace other than my lodging house."

"Act like a what?"

"You heard me."

"Oh, and this is so much worse than you bringing home a different girl every week?"

"I'm in charge here, I can do whatever I want. So just…"

"Oh, so this is a pride thing isn't it? You can do whatever you want with whoever want but god forbid…"

"Will you just…"

"Well I can tell you where you can stick your dam pride!"

"Will you just SHUT UP!" Spot screamed. By this point, everyone had gathered in the hallway to watch. The two stood there, face to face, shaking with anger, glaring at each other. There was tension in the air, everyone could feel it. The Brooklyn boys looked from Flame and Spot to Race, who was slowly backing out of the room and trying to avoid involvement in the argument.

"I don't know who you think you are" Spot continued, so close to Flame that their noses were almost touching, "But I'm in charge, so don't give me your back-talk. Now if you and your Manhattan boy of the week want to get out of MY lodging house, you can do whatever the hell you want. So why don't you just get your trampy butt out of here because frankly I…"

SMACK!

Everyone froze, Flame didn't even realize what she had done until Spot had reeled back. She was shaking still, but now with fear, not anger.

"Spot…I…I'm sorry…" She stammered "I didn't mean to…I was just…you were…and then…I'm sorry."

"Get out" he said, not looking at her. There was no anger in his voice, it was just cold and empty.

"What?"

"I said get out. Goodbye. Go. Leave. Don't come back. I don't want to see you ever again. Just GET OUT!"

So she left, she ran out of that lodging house. She ran fast, and didn't stop until she reached the other side of the bridge. Running her hands through her hair she tried to process what she had done. She sat down on the ground, closed her eyes, and tried to wrap her head around what she had done, and what she could possibly do about it now

'Wow' she thought to herself 'I've really done it this time, haven't I?'