a hopeless romantic | r.s

Chapter Fourteen

AbbyBrenton05 betcha thought I forgot, huh? I just put it in at the literal end of my second book while I'd been writing my first when we had this conversation-

And somehow it still ended up somewhere more towards the end of this chapter.

Song at the top: included in the chapter, but slightly modified to look a bit more readable. Your choice whether you want to listen to it during or not.

And finally, warnings: Long, long chapter ahead. I apologize in advance. Also, grab your tissues and ice cream again. There's nothing too too heavy in here, but heavy enough. Basically, Lane is just forced to feel her feelings because she has nothing better to do. So if feelings make you uncomfortable... welp.

The Lane spent in that lodging house was quite possibly the longest week of her life.

It started out alright, really. Then the five minutes of alright-ness ended, and she was presented with her first challenge.

"I ain't sleepin' he-ah if Finch is comin' in," Lane told Jack clearly. "Ain't dat why yer he-ah wit me in tha foist place? 'Cause ya wanted ta avoid puttin' us two togeth-ah?"

Jack sighed, rubbing his eyes. "Yeah, right. Fine, jus give me a minute. We'll work somethin' out."

That something turned out to be that Lane would sleep with Jack up on the roof, while Finch resumed sleeping in his nest downstairs. It worked out just fine for her. So long as she didn't have to see him.

It was hard to reason with herself as to why she couldn't just get over it and move on. Perhaps it was a way to protect herself. He had struck her right where it hurt. None of what he said had been a lie, and they'd both known it. Plus, she was only seventeen- who was she to claim she knew what love was? Finch was better than her in every way, and she knew he deserved more than whatever she could offer him.

She'd never truly known the love of a family. Was it so wrong for her to just want to disappear and allow Finch and the newsies and everyone else around them to live in peace? Her mere presence tainted them with the truth of what she'd done in the past, and yet they didn't seem to care.

Finch and all the other newsies didn't need her there. She'd caused more trouble than good. And with that fight, she knew Finch had finally realized the same thing.

Perhaps she was a burden.

"Dis is it," Jack told her. "Where even Santa Fe is visible."

"Says who?" Lane demanded.

"Says me."

Lane sighed and dropped her pillow onto the roof. Apparently Specs never slept with his, anyway, so he'd given it up to her. She reminded herself to have a nice, long, uncomfortable chat with him about how important he was to her and everyone else after his short outburst earlier that day. For surely the entire lodging house would completely fall apart if he weren't there to keep it upright.

Aside from Jack, of course.

Lane scowled, looking over at said boy.

Jack was the reason they were stuck up there in the first place. Well, technically it was all Finch and Albert's fault, but Jack didn't do much to prevent it from happening. She just hoped he didn't snore.

"Ise stuck he-ah 'cause Ise accused 'a murd-ah, 'n yer he-ah 'cause ya don't wanna be murd-ahed." Lane laughed incredulously. "Tha irony is unbelievable."

"Trust me," Jack grumbled. "I've hoid more unbelievable things in me life." He then started taking off his shirt, and Lane screeched, whipping around and slapping her hands in front of her eyes.