A week has gone by and me and Race have been pretty discreet in front of Jack. We wouldn't even go near each other when Jack was in the room. We would only catch up either when we were selling or late at night on the rooftop. It's been going better than I thought. I was sellin my papes on a normal day. I only had one paper left before I was done for the day. I was sitting in my normal alley way waiting for the people to walk by. I was freezing though. It was really windy, and it sucks when you have a shorter skirt in the fall. I see a shadow of a newsie walking into the alley way. Assuming it's Race I stand up, but as the shadow moved forward it revealed who it was.
"Sly?" I ask in shock. A smile grew on Sly's face.
"I thought you said we's would see each other again." He protest.
"Well I don't think you are very aware of the fact that i'm technically on house arrest until i'm 16." I say walking over to Sly as I put my last paper in my bag.
"Awww, wittle Kenny isn't allowed to leave Manhattan?" He sarcastically pouts. I punch his shoulder as he let's out a laugh. "Ow." he says.
"How old are you any ways?" He ask rubbing his shoulder.
"I'm 15, and it's only a few months until i'm 16." I say sitting back down and holding the bottom of the bench and gluing my legs together to keep me warm. It was really windy at this hour.
"Really? I thought you was at least 16 in a half." He says.
"16 in a half? What does that even mean?" I ask as we laugh.
"Well it's just, you seem so independent and brave. You wouldn't think you're that young ya know?" He says sitting next to me.
"Good point." I say looking at the building in front of us.
"How old's your boyfriend?" Sly ask. I turn my head at him. Why is he asking questions about my boyfriend?
"Race?" I ask unsure.
"Yea. Unless you have multiple then..." Sly says sarcastically. I slap his arm with the back of my hand as he snickers.
"He's 17."
"Ooooo, Kenny likes older guys?" Sly teases.
"How many times do I have to slap you today?" I ask. Sly laughs as puts one arm on top of the back rest of the bench and the other resting on the arm rest.
"So I'm guessing your brother didn't take the whole running away situation so well?" Sly ask getting serious.
"Nope." I sigh. "He won't even let me see Race anymore." I say. Sly's face went red.
"Wait- You's and Race is over?" He stutters
"No!" I quickly answer. "We's is just secretly dating now."
"How's that been goin?" he ask concerned. It seemed like Sly actually cared for me. Even though we barely knew each other.
"Good surprisingly." I say slowly nodding my head.
"Hey uh... can we talk about that uh... kiss." Sly says. My head shoots up at him.
"What kiss?" I asked freaking out. If i remember correctly I didn't kiss him.
"Not a kiss, but that... almost kiss... remember?" Sly says trying to prevent me from freaking out.
"Oh... yea. Well, Sly, I'm sorry but... you know that didn't mean anything to me... right?" I ask gently.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, you know... I have a boyfriend. I only see you as a... friend." I say awkwardly. I felt a little sorry for him. Did Sly like me like that?
"I'm sorry Sly I didn't know that-"
"No no, I undastand. I guess I was just confused." Sly shakes his head looking down.
"Don't worry about it. So how's Katie? Is she still out to eat me?" I nudge Sly with a smirk on my face trying to change the subject. He laughs.
"She has talked about you. She keeps saying how you are the only person who's ever stood up to her like that."
"Wait... really?" I ask shocked.
"Yea, all the Queens newsies talk about you now. They've seen ya face in that pape you were in during the strike but they wanna see you in the flesh." Sly smiles. I laugh and open my mouth to answer. But just as I was about to...
"Who wants to see you in the flesh?" A voice from behind ask. My head shoots back to show Race walking towards us. Uh oh.
"Oh, the Queens newsies think i'm the greatest newsie to walk the Earth." I smirk getting up from the bench as Sly gets up too.
"I don't know about the greatest newsie part." Race smirks putting his hands on my cheeks. Race pulls me in for a kiss. If you were wondering, Race is jealous right now. When Race is jealous, he will show off that i'm his no matter who i'm talking to that bothers him. Except Jack of course. I pull away cause I felt awkward knowing Sly was watching us the whole time.
"Uh Race, this is Sly." I say gesturing to Sly as Race puts an arm around me and looks Sly up and down. "I met him when I was in Queens." I say trying not to make it sound like I had a thing for him. The last thing I wanted was for Race to get upset right now.
"Me and Sly knew each other." Race says putting his other hand that was holding his cigar half way in his pocket.
"Really?" I ask shocked. "Oh." I say relieved.
"It's good to see you again Higgins." Sly says holding out his hand. Race and Sly shake hands and pat each others back with smiles on their faces. I smile as i am relived that they're friends.
"I'm assuming you guys know each other through Katie?" I ask looking up at Race who's arm is off me now. I kept my arms crossed to keep me warm through the wind. He stood by Sly with his cigar in his mouth and his hands in his pockets.
"Unfortunately." Sly sighs. "Speaking of, that monster's probably lookin for me. And the suns settin so I should get home before it's dark. It was good catchin up with you two." Sly says with a smile as he tilts his hat down and walks off.
"See ya Sly!" I yell. Race looks away from me watching Sly leave. All of a sudden a huge chill runs through my body. I rub my hands up and down my arm and take a deep breath trying not to be dramatic. Race looks back at me and his eyes go wide.
"My god Kenny ya lips are blue! I know it's October but it's not that cold yet." Race says looking me up and down as he removes the cigar from his mouth. He pulls me in his chest and wraps his arms around me immediately making me warm. I look up at him with my hands resting on his chest.
"I think my lips are still blue." I say. At first he was confused, but then a smirk grew on his face.
"I see what your tryin to do. But uh..." Race starts scratching the back of his head. "Didn't you say we can't just kiss out in public anymore? What if Jack catches us?" Race ask trying not to sound like he didn't wanna kiss me.
"Oh, yea... I forgot about that." I say quietly. I take my hands off of Race as I remember the whole Jack thing. It's hard to remember that me and Race are secret now.
"Kenny I know, this sucks but, it's better than not bein together at all." Race says holding my hand. I had nothing to say. I just looked down at Race rubbing his thumb against my hand. Race tilts my head up with his free hand. He looks in my eyes as he tugs on my arm snapping me out of my thoughts.
"Let's go somewhere private." Race says pulling me closer to him.
"Can we go somewhere warm too?" I ask linking my arm with Race's as we start walking.
"Sure we can." he laughs. By now it was dark, and I had no clue where the hell Race was taking me.
"Race where are you taking me?" I ask looking around at where we are.
"Don't worry I'm not takin you to a shady spot. I have a surprise for you." Race smiles. Just looking at his cute ass smile made me feel warmer inside, which was good cause I was freezing my ass off. He ended up taking me to this abandoned building. Usually abandoned buildings are shady and not safe places to go, but his one was different. It had a door and a roof, but it had nothing in it. He pulls his arm away and runs to get the door.
"After you." Race smiles leaning on the door as he holds it open.
"I hope you aren't tryin to kill me." I joke as I walk in the building. I wait for Race to come inside so he can show me where to go in this building. He comes inside and locks the door.
"It's right up the stairs." Race says pulling me up these wooden stairs. We reach the second floor to reveal an empty room with only a vacant king sized bed with 3, one person quilt blankets. In front of the bed was a fire place with a blanket and pillows. It was the most coziest place I've ever seen.
"Race! It's amazing!" I say as I can't help but laugh with excitement. I really needed that fire place right now. I turn back to Race with a smile.
"I love it." I say. His eyes light up and a smile grew on his face.
"If you were wonderin what this is for... it's for our three month." Race smiles.
"Oh my god Race i'm so sorry I didn't know-" I say worried.
"Don't freak out doll face I ain't mad. But the only way you're gonna make it up to me is enjoyin this date." Race says walking over to the fire place and sitting on a pillow by the fire place and resting his back on the bed. I run over and plop right in front of the fire place and warm my hands. Heat hasn't felt this good in months. Race laughs as I desperately try to get warm by the fire.
Once i'm warm I sit next to Race and cuddle with him with my head buried in his chest. We had a blanket wrapped around us and talked by the fire all night long. For the first time in a while I didn't think about Jack, or Katie. I just had my mind on Race. And I was happy that's how it was. Me and Race eventually climbed on the bed and just talked there. As we were talking and laughing with each other Race got serious.
"So uh, you know a lot about my past now. Can I know about yours?" Race says.
"You mean what was life like in the orphanage?"
"That, and... what was it like to know your parents?" Race says quietly. I knew my parents all the way up to 3, but Race hasn't met his at all. I think he's been a news boy all his life.
"Well," I start as I cross my legs. "I knew them from 1 years old to 3. And a few months after I turned 3, my mom got sick. We couldn't afford medicine so, my dad tried stealing money from all over the place. And then one day he got caught and they found out how much he stole... and he was put in jail for 10 years. So my mom was still sick, but still had me and Jack to take care of. Then a month later... she passed away. So me and Jack were put in foster homes for years and years."
"Were your parents good people?"
"The best. As far as I could remember, my mother was the sweetest person ever. She cared for everyone. And my dad would take a bullet for my mom... they really loved each other." I say looking town at my hands and playing with my fingers.
"Wow, your dad was a good man." Race says trying not to make me feel bad.
"Yea." I say with sadness in my voice.
"I'm sorry if that was hard for you's to talk about." Race apologizes.
"Don't worry about it. You told me your pass." I say referring to that talk we had where he confessed everything to me.
"Yea. Speaking of... has there been any boys before me?" Race ask in a curious tone. I laugh at him.
"Whats so funny?" He ask smiling at me.
"I've lived with all girls for half of my life." I say in a duh tone.
"Well you do live with all boys now. Have you had ya eyes on other boys in the lodging house before me?" He ask as he lays down on the bed and putting a hand on my thigh.
"Don't worry Race, I've always had a thing for you if that's what you wanna hear." I smirk as I move closer to him. I sat by him running my fingers through his hair. Race loves it when I play with his hair.
"Good." He smirks as he closes his eyes with pleasure. I laugh as I shake my head at him.
"What about Sly? You guys seem close." Race says looking at the ceiling. We all saw this comin, right?
"Oh please. I barely know that guy. He just helped me in Queens. If anything you should be thanking him
"Ya know I do find it cute when you wanna make sure I only have eyes on you. It shows you care." I joke as I rest my hand on Race's forehead and my other over my heart. Race glares at my sarcasm with a small smile.
"I do care doll face." He smiles as he kisses my hand. I look around in the room and spot a bottle of wine in the corner of the empty room. What's that doing here? I climb off the bed and walk over to the bottle.
"Hey where ya goin? I was comfortable." Race wines. I pick up the bottle and smile at it. Race sits up and his eyes o wide.
"Kenny if you drink that you know how much trouble i'm gonna be in?" Race says walking over to me and staring at the bottle with me.
"C'mon." I groan pushing him. "Don't ya wanna have a little fun?" I wave the bottle around as Race walks closer to me. He puts both hand on the bottle trying to get me to stop waving it around.
"You know we can have fun with out alcohol, right doll face?" Race says seductively as his hands trail down to my waist.
I gaze in his blue eyes with the bottle still in my hand. Race leans in and starts kissing me. As I get lost in the kiss I reach to put the bottle on the fire place with my hand as the other wrapped around his neck. Race's hand began to wonder and began un-tucking my shirt from my skirt. I pull away once I realize what he's doing.
"Are you ok with this doll face?" He asked. I pause for a moment and think... is this a good idea?
"...I'm perfectly fine with it." I smile as I start kissing him again. And then... well i think you know what happens next.
_____
*WINK WINK*