A Newsie Story

Chapter 5

It's nine o' clock at night. We have eaten dinner but there is still no sign of Race. Davey has been pacing the entire time except to eat his soup and stale bread. I sat down after about an hour of pacing. I'm holding a book currently pretending to read even though I can't read a word of it. Davey hasn't looked at me since supper. He only looks at the door.

Davey finally looks over at me and he looks like he is wanting to get mad at anyone right now. He rips the book from my hands and throws it across the room. I stand up looking at him in way that would scare but he stares back at me the same way.

"What the hell was that," I ask stepping closer so we are chest to chest.

"How could ya read at a damn time like this. Race could be in da riva right now and you'se ah readin! Ah you out a your damn mind," he asks gesturing wildly with his hands.

I step up on my tip toes so our noses touch,"You think I could read a damn word. I couldn't read at all but looking at words is less painful than looking at that damn door. If he is in trouble than maybe we should go out and find him instead of sitting here on our asses."

"What do you even care about Race anyway? You screw with his mind every day and you be all flirty with him pretending you're his girl but turning around doing the same thing ta me. Today you really hurt him. He told me about everythin today and maybe he commited suicide," he says sneering, taunting me.

I throw my fist at his jaw and it connects sending him sprawling on the couch. He jumps up absolutely livid and smacks me so hard that I see stars. It isn't enough to pass out though. Tears fill my eyes as I lunge at Davey. I hit him mid section and we both go onto the floor. I sit up on top of him ready to hit him more.

He sits up,"Liv I'm so sorry.... I didn't mean to.... Liv..."

I sit on him still incase he gets the urge to hurt me again. I sit on his midsection even as he sits up.

"Liv. What if he is dead or alone in the streets? What if he is gone forever and he won't ever be here again. The last day of his life I would of been fighting with him over something we can't even control," he asks putting his hands on my thighs.

He initiates what happens next not me. Davey takes my face between his hands and pushes his lips against mine. His lips are sweeter than anything I have ever tasted before. It's a slow soft kiss with a lot of emotion behind it. He is letting everything out and I'm letting him. For once I don't want to kiss him but I can't exactly push him away.

He breaks the kiss looking at me curiously and then sternly,"No one can ever know about this especially Race. I get off of him right as the door opens up.

Race steps inside completely beaten. His face is a map of bruises and I go to him immediately touching his face lightly. Even this makes him cringe away. I bring him over to the couch and he sits down with a thud.

"Ah you'se all right,"Race asks touching my face. I must be already a bruise from Davey.

"I think you should worry more about yourself right now. What happened," I ask quietly assessing his damage with a closer look.

His cap is gone and his clothes are bloody. The place where his cheek and eye, meet has a small welt forming. His right eye is swollen shut. My eyes look to his lips but there are no damage there. I unbutton his shirt expressionless. I don't want him to think that I am doing this for anything more but assessing his wounds.

I gasp looking at his chest. There is a long gash from his right shoulder to his left hip. It's not too deep but it is oozing blood. "Davey go get me the bandages."

I'll have to wrap it around his middle to he able to cover it all. I've never done this before and I had hoped that I never would. Race lies down on the couch and I kneel in front of him.

"It was a big olda man. He came to offa me a spot in his gang. This gang is dangerous stuff and they has killed people befoah. They might be takin the goil newsies this whole time. I toined him down and all his goons attacked me. They soaked me befoah Spot came along and scared 'em off. He even scares grown men. Spot disappeared right afta he scared 'em and I had to drag meself home. They were soakin me foah a good hour. I couldn't sell many a me papes today so I was tryin to sell me last few. They caught me in an alley. I'm real sorry that I scared ya. Now what happened to yoah face,"he asks touching me cheek.

Before I can answer Davey comes back with the bandage. I make Race sit up as I clean off the cut. Without all the blood and dirt it's an angry pink line. I wrap his chest around and I also wrap his right shoulder. This should keep the bleeding at bay for now but I'll have to clean and rewrap his wound tomorrow.

Race smiles down at me as I screw with the bandages making sure they are perfect. "I only have one moah bad cut. It's on my uppa thigh," he says smirking at me.

"Take off your pants," I say grabbing the bandages again.

He makes a show of taking off his shirt. He is only in his underwear now and he has the biggest smirk on his face seeing that I am flustered. The cut on his left thigh isn't as bad as his chest but it still looks like it hurts.

I clean it off too and wrap the bandage around it carefully. This could get bad. If I wrap it too tight it might have to amputated or it will be a dead leg for his whole life. If I put it too lose then he might bleed out in his sleep. He kisses the top of my head,"I trust ya."

It seems to be wrapped correctly and I wipe my brow when I'm done. I then take the wet towel and wipe off his face. His smirk is constantly on his face as I wipe his body clean of dirt. Once he is clean I can see the bruises more clearly. He has a lot of them but nothing seems to be broken.

Davey decides to sleep in the living room. Race and I got into the bedroom. He holds me close with my back to him. He rests his chin on my head. That is the first night that I have ever had a pleasant dream.

The rest of the week is uneventful. Race starts to heal and so do Davey and I. I think Race realizes how I fought him and he slapped me but he never says a word. Saturday night both the boys sleep in the room with me. They have been alternating on and off but all three of us are in the bed Saturday night. I wake the next morning with a tapping at the window. It's Spot Conlon. Today is the day that I will spend 'a little time' with him.