a hopeless romantic | r.s

Chapter Eight

"Lane's wit Spot," Finch said, clenching his eyes shut against the light. "He... uh... he wanted ta question her, I think..."

"How's yer head?" Albert whispered, not daring to raise his voice any louder in fear that it would make things worse. The newsies respectfully kept quiet.

Finch squinted his eyes so he'd be able to see his friend somewhat. Romeo guessed Finch wanted to show that he was at least listening to the boy, despite the pain he was in. "It... um..."

"Alright," Albert muttered, before slinging one of Finch's arms around his shoulder. "Buttons, get ov-ah he-ah."

Buttons complied, and together they led Finch to the nearest bunk, while Finch argued weakly that he was fine. Race had taken the job of dramatically waving his arms back and forth ahead of them in order to make a path, with Sniper trailing in their wake, looking scared for his older friend. 

Romeo and the others could hear the group talking about Finch's condition. Apparently, he'd been feeling off the whole meeting - which Romeo had certainly not noticed - and the stress of Lane being held back had pushed him over the edge.

"I hate tha Refuge," said Mike suddenly. "Look at what it did ta Finch. He's got a deaf ear 'n a broken mind. Lane flinches every time ya touch her, Crutchie's been afraid 'a tha dark ev-ah since he came back, 'n I think we all he-ah Albert wakin' up at night. Tha oth-ah newsies who was in dere, too. Not ta mention all it did ta Jack."

Which was quite a bit, indeed.

"Ise jus glad it's shut down fa good, now," Ike said. "But dere's still everythin' dat don't even have ta do with tha Refuge. Rememb-ah Lane's speech? She brought up how a lotta us was abandoned by our parents, 'n she was right. Me 'n ya would probably be lyin' dead on tha street somewhere if it wasn't fa tha lodgin' house."

"Or wit kids like Race," added Crutchie, "whose parents was abusive. And wit Jojo... well, we all know what went on wit Jojo. Even Finch, who ran away. He don't talk 'bout it much, but somethin' horrible musta happened."

"Why does no one ev-ah mention me?" Elmer wailed dramatically. "I've had tha hiccups five times ta-day. D'ya know how hard it is ta sell-" he hiccuped- "ta sell when ya can hardly speak? I'll tell ya what's horrible. Dat's horrible!"

So then, of course, that led to the newsies attempting to get rid of Elmer's hiccups by jumping out of nowhere at him, sneaking their fingers near the back of his neck - where he was the most ticklish - and even going as far as to force a glass of water down his throat.

"What..." Kid Blink paused in the doorway, watching the scene unfold in front of him, gesturing vaguely towards Romeo. "Where's Laura?" He questioned after a moment.

"Romeo's decided he don't believe in love anymore," Race chirped up.

Romeo shrugged.

Albert intervened. "Wese tryna cure Elmer's hiccups right now, 'n we've still seen no sign 'a Jack. Finch is back, but he left Lane behind, 'n his head is killin' him."

"Killin' him?" Sniper asked in fear.

"I can taste tha blood 'a death!" Elmer exclaimed after yet another hiccup. "Someone, tell me muddah dat I love her!"

"Ya don't got a muddah," Albert commented dryly.

Henry glared at him. "Who asked you?"

"Elmer's gonna die?" Tommy Boy cried.

Kid Blink stared at him for a few moments, before shaking his head and walking back in the direction he came from.

Shrugging once more, Romeo made his way to Jojo. "Things is lookin' a little grim ta-day, ain't dey?"