There's a Story Behind the Story || Newsies

Chapter 91 - The Prom (but not the musical)

- Chapter 91 - Ngl, my original chapter title for this was, "Prom, Drama, and One Dead Mama", which is horrible lol -
Warnings: a little bit of nervousness, a bad girlfriend, fear, anxiety, and someone avoiding someone else
Third Person POV

Gabriel sighed deeply. "He's pacing," he muttered, typing something on his phone.

Mateo sighed deeply. He hopped off of Gabriel's lap and walked over to Jesse. "Jessica." He stopped him in his tracks. "Calm your butt down."

Jesse's eyebrows furrowed. "...did you just call me-"

"Yes, deal with it."

Jesse blinked. "Okay..."

Gabriel looked up at them.

"Why are you so much more panicked than usual?" Mateo asked Jesse.

Jesse pursed his lips, debating if he should answer or not. After getting a look from Gabriel, he sighed. "Because what if she hates me?" he muttered. "What if I wore the wrong color tie? What if-"

"Jesse," Mateo sighed a bit, "you texted her last week to make sure you had the right color, then you texted yesterday, this morning, and twenty minutes ago to double check, never mind when you asked her at rehearsal," he reminded him.

Jesse fell silent. He bit his lip. He knew he was right, but it didn't stop the worry from bubbling up inside him.

"Come on, Jesse." Mateo patted his shoulder. "Jada's not going to hate you. She wouldn't have agreed to go or let you lay your head in her lap daily if she hated you," he reminded him. "Listen to logic; you know she loves you."

Jesse nodded softly. "Okay," he mumbled.

Mateo smiled. He went back over to Gabriel and sat back down with him.

Jesse sighed, looking around. He kicked a rock, bouncing impatiently. He turned back to look at Gabriel. "Is Lio okay? Have we heard anything about him?"

Mateo sighed deeply, resting his head against Gabriel. Protective brothers.

Gabriel smiled slightly. He patted Mateo's head. "Lio is fine, Jesse," he assured him. "He's hanging with Kenan, Amari, and Svein. Dad says he's having a good time and Amari even got our numbers from Dad so that we could text him to check in and he could text if they need something," he informed him.

Jesse let out the breath he had been holding. "Okay." He nodded to himself. "Okay." He ran his hand through his hair.

Mateo groaned, sitting up again. "You're messing up your hair!" he complained.

Gabriel chuckled. "This is why we didn't gel his hair," he reminded Mateo. "And also because Jada likes feeling his hair."

"She says it's soft." Jesse blushed a bit as he thought about it.

Mateo seemed to notice something. He smirked. "Well, speak of the Queen of Jesse's heart." He gestured to a group walking towards them.

Both Jesse and Gabriel looked in the direction Mateo pointed to.

Jesse's jaw dropped.

Jada smirked a bit, stopping in front of him. She rested her hand on his shoulder and used her other hand to shut his mouth. "Close your mouth; you'll catch flies."

Jesse coughed dismissively, trying to ignore the blush on his face. "Well... maybe I was hoping to catch you instead," he mumbled, wrapping arms around her waist.

Jada laughed. "That was cheesy and stupid," she told him.

Jesse shrugged. "But you liked it, right?"