Just a Newsboy

Chapter 1

And at any rate, I had somewhere to be.

Downtown Los Angeles can be heavily congested with people and vehicle traffic, both of which I was never a fan of, but I was never a fan of people in general.
They block shopfronts, bump into you without apologizing, neglect to use turn signals, and they're notoriously skilled at finding hundreds of ways to make ten minute trips take twenty minutes.
And even though my demeanor tended to give off a "don't bother me" message, I still had the brave ones to deal with.
As implausible as it may sound for someone to come up and try to engage in conversation with you before it's even possible to register their presence, I've run into a few of them and just barely lived to tell about it.

Luckily for me, most of the brave ones hung around my sister's end of the street, and I was going the opposite direction—towards the more 'tourist-y' area of L.A.

I was supposed to meet a friend of mine for her lunch break at a little cafe, called the 'Pie Hole', that resided across from the Pantages Theater.
She'd been on tour with a musical for a while, before she came back, packed up her belongings and moved to New York. About a month after she'd gotten settled into her new apartment, she rejoined the tour, and had been continuing to travel around for the past six months.

She was already seated at a table when I got to the cafe, her insanely curly hair pulled back and her fierce blue eyes alight.
She caught sight of me and waved me over.

"Hi, Cricket!" Aiden greeted cheerfully as I sat down across from her.

I gave her a nod in response, setting Siegfried atop the table.

She raised an eyebrow. "A simple 'hello' would suffice."

"Hello." I said, mocking her tone. "Good to see you again. It's been a few months."

"That's better." She crossed her arms. "It's good to see you, too."

"How's tour with that musical treating you?"

She smiled. "Good. I really enjoy it."

"Fun." I nodded. "And how's...what's his name, Stan?"

"Sky." She corrected, rolling her eyes.

"Right. How's that kid?"

"He's doing pretty well. He and a couple of the boys went to the Museum of Death this afternoon."

"Good museum." I said in an approving tone.

She nodded. "It's got some interesting exhibits, but I just know it'll give him nightmares for the next two weeks."

I raised my eyebrows. "A softy?"

"A bit, yes."

We continued to make small talk for a couple more minutes, and though I'd never admit it out loud, it was good to be able to catch up with Aiden after her being gone for so long. The last time I'd seen her had been right before she moved to New York and left me with no one to rant to, other than my sister.

After we'd ordered, and Aiden had officially run out of stories about the boys that she traveled with on tour, she cleared her throat and gave me a smirk.

"So, how have you and Natalie been doing?"

"Nat's still a ray of sunshine." I shook my head. "Sometimes I wonder if she and I are even related."

"You could be a ray of sunshine if you wanted to." Aiden chided. "You don't have to be a bundle of sarcasm and sadness."

I rolled my eyes. "We both know I'd be bored out of my mind if I was happy all the time. It's much more fun to hate everybody."