The Disgraced Newsie( Tommy Boy Alternate)

CHAPTER XVII

FINCH CORTES' POV

"Finch! Let's talk for a second," Jack called out for me. What could he possibly want with me? He likely wanted to chew me out for shoving Tommy down the stairs. Why does Jack need to waste his breath on me? I had already learned my lesson and constantly regretted that decision since it happened, so what more could Jack lecture me about that I didn't already understand? I followed Jack to the rooftop, where he didn't glare at me or look at me with immense disappointment or anger as I expected. Instead, Jack had an emotionless expression, which was something I hated because it wasn't clear how he felt about me.

It has been another couple of days since Tommy returned to the lodging house, and so far, relations between him and some of the boys have improved. Around the time Tommy came back, Mike, Romeo, Kid Blink, and Skittery apologized to Tommy. Yesterday, Albert and Mush apologized to him, and then today, Elmer apologized. While remaining cautious around them, he still has a better relationship with them than others, including me. It was great to see Tommy make amends with the other boys, but at the same time, it was hard to watch it as Tommy continued to avoid me and hadn't spoken to me since that one time we accidentally ran into each other. It hurt, but now I understand how Tommy felt when we all treated him similarly.

"Look, if you want to chew me out, you are wasting your breath. I already know how badly I treated Tommy, and I don't need you to constantly remind me how much of a terrible brother I truly am."

"What makes you think I called you here to chew you out?"

"Well, I am one of the few who haven't apologized to Tommy, and I have pushed him down the stairs, so why wouldn't you want to lecture me at least?"

"Because I noticed how you look at Tommy and how he would make amends with anyone else except for you."

"So? What is the point? Why does it matter to you? It is not like either of us didn't expect it. Don't pretend as if I don't deserve it."

"Well, it matters to me because you sincerely care about it, making me care about it."

"Well, you shouldn't need to care about me. I knew it would happen anyway, and I expected that it would happen. I understood that Tommy would forgive everyone except me out of everyone in the lodging house."

"Just because you expected it doesn't mean it would hurt any less." Since when was it a huge concern for you, Jack? It is not like you were the one who was supposed to be Tommy's older brother, then hurt him in more ways than anyone ever did. I would bet all the money in my pocket that if I ever did something like that to you or even worse than how I treated Tommy, you wouldn't want anything to do with me either.  You wouldn't want to forgive me, either.

"Since when are you the one to sound wise and hand out smart advice? Isn't that supposed to be Davey's or Katherine's job?"

"Yeah, just like it is supposed to be Race's job to be the wisecracking smart mouth. Anyway, back to why I brought you up here, do you genuinely want to regain Tommy's trust?"

"Yeah, but what exactly can you do about that when I can't even do anything about it? Seeing how you noticed everything going on between Tommy and me, you should know that Tommy clearly doesn't want me around him. You have witnessed that he avoids me whenever he sees me down the hallway. So can you possibly change that? What can you possibly do to change that?"

"Well, I was planning on talking with Tommy in the living room, so I thought it would help you have an idea of Tommy feels about returning to the lodging house and, more specifically, how he feels about you if you stood outside and listened in on the conversation." Well, that didn't sound like a bad idea. As long as Tommy didn't hear or see me standing outside of the room, then it could work.