a hopeless romantic | r.s

Chapter Ten

We were just so close, it's tragic...

If there was one thing Amy knew how to do, it was catching up on all the latest gossip. It was similar to the way the newsies sold the papers; you had to keep it interesting. And, as far as the past few days had gone, there'd been plenty of interesting news, alright.

She just wished it didn't all have to do with Lane.

Lane, Lane, Lane. Amy couldn't count the amount of times she had heard the girl's name from common pass-byers. From claiming that she had been part of some murder crime, to whispers about how the short redhead had secretly been giving information to different theft organizations, the list was endless, as well as unbelievable.

As for the girl herself, well, no one had seen her around much. She did come out sometimes, but more often than not, even after her work, she was nowhere to be found. Amy could tell Finch was getting antsy about her lack of presence.

As for her and Romeo, things were great. Well, great in the sense that he was still treating her like a good friend. And Amy knew that she had to be grateful for what she had- after all, she had finally overcome her fear of sneaking out of her house, but she couldn't help but wish there was something more to what they had.

It was hard to watch Romeo flirt with her sister, and it never got any easier. But Amy knew better than to expect anything differently. After all, that's what being a hopeless romantic was all about. Getting into hopeless situations.

She was shocked out of her thoughts when she noticed Romeo's face mere inches away from her own, lips tilted up in a lopsided grin, causing her to jump at the sudden proximity. "Wha- Romeo!"

The grin didn't go away, even as he drew back some. Amy mourned his retreat, wishing he'd just kiss her. Just one kiss, and she'd be alright. "Gotcha."

Amy blinked, dumbfounded, as he stared at her expectantly. "What?"

They were currently on Main Street, Amy watching as Romeo sold his papers, keeping him company. She had tried to sell a few of her own, to no avail, of course, as Romeo snickered and told her that she'd have better luck striking a conversation with an animal, only to remark that that was probably what she did in her free time.

"I asked if ya would come ta Jacobi's wit me ta-night," Romeo explained, "but you was zoned out. I wanted ta see how close I could get 'fore ya noticed." He then guffawed, pointing at her and her beat red cheeks. "Ya shoulda seen yer face! Oh, it was gold, Princess. Absolutely gold."

Amy scowled at him. "Why aren't you asking Laura if she wanted to go with you? Aren't you courting her?"

Romeo's grin froze on his face, laughter quickly fading away. "No. She's, uh, busy. She's busy."

"Oh." Amy wasn't sure how much she believed that, but if it meant that Romeo wanted to hang out with her even more than with Laura, well, she wouldn't be the first to complain. "Well, you can take me, but I think you may have to fight it out with the other guys."

It was Romeo's turn to blink at her, confused. "Oth-ah guys?"

Amy shrugged. "Well, yeah. There's Fred, then there's George, of course, and Nick, and I'm quite certain Racetrack told me he wanted to-"

"Okay, I get it," Romeo said quickly, successfully cutting her off. Amy raised an eyebrow in amusement. She didn't miss how he turned his head slightly to the side, as if trying to seek out some of the boys she had mentioned. "But I owe ya fa what happened. Think 'a it like an apology."

"The sun's already setting," Amy pointed out. From just a glance, she could tell that they had been out selling for well over five hours.

"Well, we've still gotta eat."