FAMILIAR | Spot Conlon

Chp. 8: Lunch Date

"Hey Nick" Nick looks at me and smiles. He runs over to me and pulls me into a hug. Then he turns back to the girl.

"Uh, I'll talk ta ya later I guess"

"I hope so" Holly winks at him and walks away. Nick turns to us and gives a disgusted look and fakes a gag. Me and Jess chuckle.

"Thanks for gettin her away from me"

"No problem"

"Who's the goil" Nick looks Jess up and down.

"My best friend"

"My name's Jess. I'm a Brooklyn newsie too" Nick spits in his hand and Jess does the same. They shake hands. I shudder.

"That's disgusting" They both roll their eyes.

"Whatcha doin ere?"

Jess looks at me hoping I have a good lie. I just smirk at her.

"Uh, yeah. We wanted to go eat someplace and I said we should ask you for some good places in Queens" I have always been a great liar. That might actually come in handy here.

"Well there's a really good cafe around ere" I look at Jess and she nods her head.

"That sounds good, right Camryn?"

"Whos Camryn" Nick asks. I don't say anything. Jess elbows me in the armz

"Ow! Look, I go by Camryn. Your the only 2 who know otherwise and you can't tell anyone anything" I say in a much more serious tone than usual. They look at each other and nod.

"Hey, you wanna come eat with us?" Jess widens her eyes and she gives me an "are you crazy" look. I just smile at her and she rolls her eyes and looks at Nick.

"Yeah, I've got nothin else ta do"

"Great let's go" I start walking down the street. I turn around and they're still standing there.

"I'm going the wrong way aren't I"

"Yeah" Jess and Nick say simultaneously. They look at each other and Jess quickly looks away.

"You know Queens?" Nick says to Jess. She looks up and nods.

"I've been a few times"

"I've neva seen ya before" I walk a bit farther behind them but just enough to hear their conversation.

"Yous probably have and just don't remember"

"I's would neva forget someone as pretty as you" Jess blushes and turns away. She looks back at me and I give her a thumbs up. I've made it my goal to be her personal wingwoman.

We walk inside the cafe and it's filled with people. We struggle to find a spot for 3 but eventually we do. We sit down and order our food.

I finish my food early which means it's time to put my plan into action.

"I'm gonna go get some fresh air for a bit" I walk out of the cafe and sit on a bench outside.

Queens is pretty beautiful. It has a beautiful fountain and lots of cool shops. After a few minutes I stand up to go back inside but I stand up a little too quickly. I fall to the ground and hit my head on the edge of the bench. I feel someone pull me up and sit my back on the bench.

"I can handle myself thanks" I pull myself away from the person but they pull me back to them. I see their face and it's Spot. Surprise surprise.

"Spot what are you doing here?" I start panicking.

"Told ya I had some business"

"Wait why are you here. I left you with Jess at the square." I chuckle nervously. I decide not to tell him about Jess being here because that's just make everything worse

"Well I went to go have some food with Nick and~"

"Nick again? Of course. What is up with you two?" More like what's up with him.

"We can leave if you want I just wanna go tell him something" Spot pushes me towards the entrance of the cafe pretty harshly.

I walk back in and Jess and Nick both acknowledge me. It looks like they're getting along. I think. I hope.

I go over to Jess and whisper "Spots here, tell me everything later"

"Bye Nick" I wave goodbye and go back to Brooklyn with Spot.

*Jess perspective*

Camryn walks out the door leaving just me and Nick. We sit there in silence for a little bit.

"So's uh, how long you been a newsie" I am mentally pounding myself on the inside for saying that. What was I thinking that's such a stupid thing to say.

"Since I was 10" To my surprise he actually talks back to me.

"Pretty impressive"

"Yeah, what bout you"

"Since I was 11"

"Hmm. I feel like I definitely should have seen yous before. Specially since yous been ere so long" He leans back in the booth. Damn he's so attractive.

"Yeah well we're in different burroughs"

"I guess so " He shakes it off. I haven't necessarily been avoiding him seeing me but I've just never really made my presence known.

"Well we've met now so..."

"That's true"

"Is should probably go check on Camryn" I start to get up but he grabs my wrist.

"She'll be fine. Oh sorry" He lets go of my hand and motions for me to sit back down.

"It's okay"