Back to the Past (Newsies)

4. In a Blink of an Eye

Chapter 4

"Hey Blink, where ya been? I haven't seen you'se all day?" Cowboy remarked.

"Ya know, jus' carryin' da bannah. Got caught up wid dis goil." he answered as he sat down next to Jack.

Kit looked down at her food and kept eating, trying not to make any eye contact. Damn, he has a girl, Kit thought to herself. Jack noticed the sudden quietness and looked over at Kitty, who was taking quit an interest in her food. He looked at her, puzzling over her sudden shyness. She was shy and quiet when they first arrived at Tibby's, which he expected. He was glad that she was warming up to them and that she and the other newsies were getting along so well. 

The boy, whose name was apparently Blink, then noticed the girl sitting across from him taking much interest in the sandwich she was eating.

"Who's dis?" Blink asked.

What's with everyone asking Jack about who I am? Why can't they just asked me? Kit speculated but didn't dare to say outloud. 

"Dis 'ere is me friend Kit, I'm teachin' 'er tah be a newsie. Kit dis is Kid Blink." Cowboy said. Kitty reluctantly looked up from her food and glanced at Kid Blink.

"Um, Hi, nice to meet you." She said softly, moving a stray strand of hair behind her ear, glad that she took off her newsies hat. 

"Heya Kit. Pleasah ta meet you. Any friend 'o Jack is a friend o' mine." Blink responded with a crooked smile. 

She had to admit that Blink was cute. True, she has seen cuter boys in her time, but there was just something about him that made Kit want to know everything about him. Maybe it was the eye patch, it gave him this mysterious vibe. But she knew that he was off limits since he mentioned that he had a girl. 

"So Blink how did ya sellin' go?" Cowboy asked.

"It was good. Oh man, Cowboy, you shoulda seen dis huge fight dat happened near da square. It was outta control. Let's just say dat tomorrow we gon 'ave a headline." Blink said, his words laced with energy and excitment.

"Did ya soak any bums?" Cowboy asked. Blink smiled in response.

"O' course" Blink said.

He has a nice smile,  

Eventually Kit started to warm up and paid less attention to her food. She, Jack, and Blink started talking about the most random things. Sometimes they would talk about something from their time that Kit had no idea what it was, but Jack would explain it to her. She felt embarassed about not knowing the idiosyncracies of the 1900's and hoped that Blink didn't think that she was stupid or something. She tried to keep quiet about things from her time, but once or twice she almost slipped up and almost brought up computers and iPhones. This is going to be harder than I thought.

Blink told some jokes that were pretty funny, and Jack would say some corny jokes, which were even funnier. They talked for a while and eventually they were one of the only people left at Tibby's. This became apparent when their roaring laughter after Blink told a story about a hotdog man was the only sound echoing throughout the empty restaurant. 

"It's startin' ta get late, we'se should get goin' to da lodgin' house." Jack said standing up from the table. "Wait, I got some last minute errands I'se gots to do, Blink would ya mind takin' Kit to the lodgin' house. You'se can let 'er sleep in mah bunk, but I'll most prob'ly will meet ya guys at da entrance."

"It would be my pleasah." Blink said also getting up from the table. Kit smiled, shyly looking away. 

She followed Blink outside Tibby's and said 'see ya later' to Jack. She walked next to Blink, staring at the sidewalk, watching their elongated shadows from the street lamps. There were few people walking on the sidewalk.