Newsies' Little Sister

Chapter 20 - Do you always have those?

A/N Sorry for the slow updates...I've had problems with my health and personal issues. Thanks for sticking with me <3

TW: Anxiety, Sensory Overload, unedited crap

Elmer's POV

"Damn it..." I took another deep breath in and let it out slowly. I nodded, stood up and wandered around the deli a bit, wanting to take my mind off what Em might say when she finds out.

I promised her we would only tell people about us when she was ready, and I always keep my promises.

Em's POV (Ginger)

The toilets were down a short, narrow corridor. Gentlemen's on one side, Ladies on the other. The corridor was cold, slightly damp and smelled a bit weird in places. Well, it smelled worse the further away from the kitchens I went!

There was a sweet smell coming from the kitchens and my stomach rumbled loudly! Then I remembered I hadn't eaten anything in a while...oh well, I can go five days, before passing out.

The heels of my boots clicked softly as I walked down the corridor and pushed the door open.

I walked into the ladies toilets and quickly scanned the room. I was alone in there. Perfect.

On one side, there was a row of three stalls and on the other side were three wash basins and a small towel on a rack on the back wall, opposite me.

I didn't actually need the toilet, I was just getting a bit overwhelmed with all the noise and new people.

I walked over to the basin in the middle of the three, I tugged off my hat and my hair fell down from the top of my head. 

I ran my hands over my face and through my hair. I took a couple of deep breaths and lowered my head. My hair fell in front of my face and I propped myself up on my elbows on the countertop. 

I stayed like that for a few minutes, just calming down and mustering the courage to go back to the main room of the café.

Elmer's POV

I kept pacing around the deli until Mush tugged on my sleeve.

"Hey El! Sit down! Jeez ya gonna wear the floor down with all that pacin'!"

"Sorry Mush..." I mumbled, not really concentratin' on what he said...

I sat there on the wooden chair, completely zoned out. Well, mostly zoned out. I could hear the boys laughin' and jokin' around, but I didn't really take anythin' in...

Suddenly, I was snapped out of my trance by a series of quick taps on my shoulder.

My head snapped around and I saw it was Mush who tapped me, of course....

"Yea?" 

"You a'right, bud?" He must've noticed I was zoned out.

"Yea I'se fine Mush." I don't think I convinced him.

"Ya sure? Ya just spent 5 minutes pacin' around the deli, then when ya sat down, ya zonked out completely!" Nope. He really didn't believe me.

"Well.....I, I just don't know what Em....what Ginger's gonna say when she finds out everyone knows about us. I told her that we'd only tell you'se guys when she was ready...and yea. I don't know..." I trailed off and rubbed my hands nervously.

"Hey Elmer! Lighten up a bit!" Of course it was Smalls yelling from the middle of the big table. "It's not the end of the world!"

".............yea..." I mumbled. "Of course not..."

Em's POV (Ginger)

I flipped my hair back and stood up straight in front of the mirror. 

"Ok. Eyes up. Shoulders back. Let's go." I gave myself a mini pep talk in the bathroom, before picking up my cap and walking back to the main room.

I pushed the door open and was almost knocked over by the noise in there. I'd somehow forgotten how loud they all were!

I started to make my way over to Nick and Elmer, when I heard my name being yelled over the room and though the noise.

"Ginger! Kno---o--ta pla----ker?" I could only make out my new name, but the rest of the sentence made no sense what-so-ever!

"What?" I yelled back. "I can't hear ya!"

I saw someone duck down and weave his way through the tables over to me. It was the boy with the cigar. Racetrack Higgins. 

He had his cigar in his right hand and had a cocky smile on his face.

"Wanna come play poker Ginger?" He signalled over to where he came over from.

"I don't know how to play....." I mumbled. "I know Blackjack though..." Don't ask how.

He looked back at the boys, then looked back at me. He nodded and went to grab my hand. I jerked it up sharply and he raised his hands in defence.

"Sorry." I started walking over to the big cluster of tables the boys had pushed together in the middle of the deli.

Then I turned back and grabbed Elmer and Nick's hands. We all made our way over to the tables and sat down in the spare seats, not that chairs really mattered, most of them were sitting on tables or on each other.

"Ok, how many people are playing?"

"Me." I said.

"Me too." Elmer called out.

"Me three." Mush grinned when he said this. I twisted around to look at him and laughed.

5 more people signalled that they wanted in and Smalls whipped out a pack of cards from her trouser pocket. Race took them and dealt to everyone.

I looked up at where Smalls was perched on the back of a chair.

"Do you always have those?"

She shrugged and smirked. "Pretty much."

"By the way, Ginger," I looked back at Race. "Blackjack and Poker are basically the same thing. You'se gonna be fine." I nodded and smiled at him.

As we played, I slowly forgot about...well everything. In all the time we were playing, I didn't think about my parents, or Snyder, or the Delanceys, or anything else. And it was amazing!

A/N Sorry that was so much shorter than all the other chapters....I hope you enjoyed it anyway and thank you all so much for not unfollowing when I didn't put out any content for ages. Crush it! <3