Everlasting Love

Newsies

Eliza POV:

"I'm nervous." I said grabbing Ben's hand in mine.

"Why?" Ben laughed.

"I've never met the newsies cast before." I said.

"You'll be fine. They are great guys, I promise you will like them." He said and kissed my cheek.

"But what if they don't like me." I said stopping in my tracks.

"Then we must have met the wrong people because these guys are so sweet." Ben laughed.

"Just remember how against this I am." I said. We walked into the theatre and sat down in our seats for the show.

"This dress is itchy." Carrie whined.

"Shut up you look cute in it." I said. "So who were you in this show?"

"The guy with the cigar in his mouth." Ben said.

"They let you smoke a cigar at 16?" I laughed.

"I never smoked a cigar in the show, it just chills in my mouth." Ben said.

"You are so weird." I laughed.

"Yeah but you love it." He smirked squeezing my hand. The lights dimmed and the overture music started to play. It wasn't that I didn't want to meet everybody, it was just that I was nervous. These people mean everything to Ben, what if they don't like me? Before I knew it the show was over and Ben was dragging us backstage.

"Ben!" I heard a voice about and somebody ran up and grabbed him in a hug.

"Eliza, this is Josh!" Ben laughed as he continued to hug him.

"Oh so you're the one whose room we stole." I laughed.

"I HEAR BENJAMIN" a guy with red hair screamed as he sprinted down the hallway. There was so many people in such a tiny space, I grabbed Carrie and held her hand so I didn't lose her. I stood back and watched everybody hanging around him, it was honestly pretty cute. I really am over the moon in love with this boy.

"Ok everybody everybody listen up! This, is my girlfriend Eliza and her little sister Carrie." Ben announced to the whole room and motioned towards us.

"I like your show!" Carrie smiled waving at everybody.

"El this is...well...the touring cast of Newsies!" Ben laughed. We said a quick hello to everybody and then we headed back out the door. As soon as we left a bunch of people recognized Ben.

"I'm gonna go over there and wait on that bench for you." I said as he got ready to meet everybody.

"Ok, I love you." He smiled and kissed my cheek. We ran over to the bench where Carrie instantly started doing cartwheels around the grass. This is so surreal to me still, people fawning all over him. Just then, my phone buzzed from a number I didn't recognize.

Unknown number: Elizabeth, it's dad. We need to talk.

What the actual fuck.

"Eliza, watch this!" Carrie laughed and did two cartwheels in a row.

"Wow, we should put you in gymnastics classes!" I smiled. We had all decided we needed a little getaway so we flew down to Florida which just also happened to be where the Newsies cast was performing this week. I thought by coming here it would get my dad out of my head, and it had worked up until now. I knew that was him I saw on the street that day! But how is he out of jail?

"Hey! So Ben said to ask you if you wanted to go grab dinner with us? It's just gonna me, Sky, and you guys." Josh smiled walking up to me.

"Yeah, that would be great actually!" I smiled.

"So you're the girl Ben finally settled down with, I can't believe my little Ben finally has a girlfriend." Josh laughed as he sat down next to me.

"It's more of a shock that Eliza has a boyfriend, trust me." Carrie said sitting on the other side of him. I leaned over and smacked her on the head.

"It's really great to meet you guys though, Ben always talks about you guys. He really misses you all and being on tour." I replied. "Question though, has it always been like this with tons of girls just gawking over him?"

"Since the first day of the tour." Josh laughed.

"I'm ready to go." Sky said running over.

"Shocker, we are just waiting for Ben." Josh laughed.

"He's not even in the show!" Carrie said. Finally he ran over and Carrie instantly jumped on his back. "About time you showed up!"

"Oh hush short stack!" Ben laughed. We walked down the street to a cute little diner and made ourselves comfy in a booth.

"So Mr. Broadway star, what are you gonna do now that Tucks been closed?" Sky asked.

"I should be more worried about you guys, what with only 2 weeks left of the tour!" Ben laughed.

"Why would they close your show if everybody seems to love it so much?" Carrie asked.

"Good question." Josh said.

"This kid right here though auditioned for Matilda the other day though, so keep your fingers crossed!" Ben smiled squeezing her shoulders.

"That's awesome! Who do you want to get cast as?" Sky asked.

"Matilda! Duh!" Carrie laughed.

"She's been listening to the soundtrack on repeat for months!" Ben smiled. I tried so hard to stay engaged in the conversation but it was just so hard thinking about my dad. It felt like my phone was burning a hole in my pocket with that text message just sitting there... waiting for an answer. Why did it come from an unknown number? And what do we need to talk about? I want to tell Ben, but I don't want to ruin this trip. We are only here two more days and he is having so much fun with his friends.

"El, you good?" Ben asked reaching over Carrie and placing his hand on my shoulder.

"Yeah!" I smiled snapping back to reality. "Just trying to decide what to order."

"I want pancakes and bacon!" Carrie smiled.

"I'll take the same as her." Josh laughed. Ben took my hand in his and squeezed it three times, meaning I love you. I squeezed it back and smiled at him. I can't let dad ruin this, he's ruined enough of my life. But not this trip.