Newsies One Shots

Sky Flaherty { Puppies }

for @check_meowt

~~~

As I pulled my car into the driveway after a long day at school, I could faintly hear the sound of my little sister playing piano through the cracked front door, the same as every day. The same time every day, and the same song every day - my favorite song from Newsies, Santa Fe.

She's been practicing it for months, but still isn't satisfied with it, even though it sounds amazing.

Somehow, even though I can't explain it, today felt different. I sat in my car, trying to put my finger on why today was any different, but I just couldn't.

Perplexed, I grabbed my backpack out of the back seat, and walked in the front door.

I gasped. Sitting at the piano, playing Santa Fe, was my best friend of 13 years, Sky Flaherty. My backpack dropped to the floor, echoing in the foyer.

Sky has been on tour with Newsies for over a year, and I haven't seen him in over 7 months when the tour was in the area. Of course I was beyond proud of him for his professional theatre debut, but going through senior year without him has been pretty sucky.

He finished the song, and turned around on the piano bench, so he was now facing me.

"Hi, Alexandria," he whispered, smiling, standing up.

As I began to cry, I walked towards him, giving him the biggest hug I think I've ever given someone. Damn, have I missed him.

He pulled away, and looking me in the eyes, I noticed his eyes were teary as well. 7 months is way too long to go without seeing your best friend.

Smiling, I laid my head on his shoulder, his familiar cologne comforting me.
After all the crying was out of our systems, we sat on the floor for what felt like hours.

"So when did you learn to play piano?" I asked.

He thought for a second, "Anthony Norman's been teaching me for a few months. I wanted to surprise you because I know that's your favorite song."

I sighed with immense happiness, "I've missed you so much, Sky Flaherty."

~ ~ ~

As the first activity we decided to do in his 4 days back home, we headed to our favorite restaurant. We would always come here to study for finals, which means we basically got no studying done.

We both ordered our usuals, me with a chicken salad sandwich, and Sky with his Philly cheese steak.

Again, we sat for a few hours and just talked. I could talk to Sky for weeks on end. There was honestly nothing that we couldn't talk about.

When he talks about Newsies, the excitement in his voice made me so happy, even though it made me so sad that we couldn't be together. He talked about all the new friends he was making, all the amazing cities he's visited, and I talked about my boring life back home.

After lunch, we went to the downtown area of our town that was full of unique little shops and diners.

We walked around slowly, holding hands, just like the good old days. We've been coming here together ever since our parents let us walk around by ourselves when we were 12.

Spur of the moment Sky convinced me to go to the animal shelter and look at some puppies. This has been a birthday tradition of ours for a couple years. Neither of us have ever had dogs because of our parents' allergies. Our coping mechanism was to come and pet dogs on our birthday for a few hours.

The owner smiled as the door's bell ringed, "Welcome in, guy-" she turned around, seeing Sky's familiar face, "-Sky! Darling, you're back!"

Sky went and gave the owner a hug, "It's so nice to see you, Mrs. Delgado. It's been too long."

I gave her a hug as well, and she took us to a back room where we can pet the dogs.

"So how long are you back for?" Mrs. Delgado asked Sky.

He sat down on the floor, "Just for 3 more days. I got a few days vacation so I came to surprise Alex and my family." Sky smiled at me as I sat down across from him.

"You two are adorable." She whispered, walking out of the room.

Sky started to bite his nails, something he only does when he's nervous, "I've really missed you, Alex." he said, "I hate spending this much time away from you. Truth is-"

He was cut off as Debbie came back in with our first dog; a baby black lab with the most adorable floppy ears.

"Oh. My. God." Sky and I both said at the same time.

Sky stood up, and pretended to walk out, "The cuteness. I'm done. I can't even." He closed the door behind him, but not even two seconds later, came back in, "Ok, gimme the little baby."

I handed Sky the dog and he held it up in front of him for a good 30 seconds, just staring at it.

After a few minutes, I started to get worried. Sky was hypnotized by the little cutie that we decided to name Bruno.

"Um, Sky," I started, trying to get his attention, "You good?"

Sky slowly, placed Bruno down in his lap, looked up at me, and took a deep breath, "I'm adopting this puppy." Picking up the dog, he walked back out into the store, with me not far behind.

"Sky?! Are you crazy?"

"Yup."

I laughed, "Sky, you can't adopt a dog.

"Yes I can."

~ ~ ~

Less than 15 minutes later, the little black puppy officially became Bruno Flaherty.

"I'm in love. I'm in love. I love this freaking puppy." Sky kept repeating over and over as we shopped for Bruno's supplies.

Right before we left, Sky handed me the puppy, and went back to talk to Mrs. Delgado.

"I forgot to buy something," Sky said walking to the back of the store, "Give me two minutes."

I took Bruno outside and put him on the bench next to me. A few minutes later Sky came back outside with a collar and a few tags.

"I forgot to get these engraved!" Sky said, putting them around the puppy's neck and clasping it shut, "Take a look."

I shifted the collar towards me and read the collar;

Bruno Flaherty
(773)6728264

Flipping it over, my heart sank.

Alex, will you be
my girlfriend?

I looked up at Sky, who was smiling sweetly. Nodding yes to his question, I fell into his arms, kissing him gently.

"I figured you wouldn't protest to taking care of this little nugget while I'm away for the next few months," Sky said.