The Disgraced Newsie( Tommy Boy Alternate)

CHAPTER XXI

TOMMY BOY'S POV

It had been a couple of days after that awkward interaction between Finch and me; however, sometimes, we had occasions where it was peaceful between us; most of the time, it was tense and uncomfortable because I never allowed Finch to come near me and backed away if he came too close in my personal space. Until he gave me a genuine apology and proved that he was sincere, I wouldn't trust myself ever to become close to him. It was kind of my fault for providing Finch with too much hope, as I sincerely never wanted to speak with him in the first place, and regardless of that, I still forced myself to hear him out, but it was still his fault nonetheless.

"Hey, don't stand behind me!" It wouldn't be a problem if Finch stood behind me if we weren't on top of the staircase. Everyone could call me paranoid, but I would not allow Finch to push me down the stairs a second time.

"Sorry, that won't happen again." Finch offered me a small smile, but I stared blankly at him. "Are you ready for another day of selling newspapers?" He asked almost quietly.

"Sure," I responded shortly. Finch walked next to me, which I somewhat hated, but it was preferable to him standing behind me. We went our separate ways, with me meeting up with Jack while he walked elsewhere.

"So, how are you and Finch getting along?" Jack asked as I approached him. "Are you starting to get along with each other?"

"He is getting better, but he still has a lot to do before we can even be on peaceful terms."

"Not even friends or brothers?"

"Never again." It was the blatant truth, and I don't understand how Jack couldn't see that. How could he not see that?

Jack sighed deeply and didn't ask me any more questions. "Alright, if it makes you happy."

"Thank you." After heading into the line, collecting my newspapers, and receiving some snide comments from the Delancey brothers, Jack and I headed out with his selling spot.

"Hey, Tommy. After we are done for the day, do you want to head over to Jacobi's?"

"Sure, if we can make it there in time." The sun was about to go down by the time we finished selling our newspapers. But Jack still made good on his promise to head over to Jacobi's for some unexplained reason, but it was maybe because he wanted to do something nice for me because of everything that happened. Honestly, it is moments like that where Jack acted more like my older brother than Finch. Sure, we had our moments of brotherhood, but we mostly did our own things, and it wasn't anything like my relationship with Jack. I appreciated the moment until Henry and Buttons ruined it by showing their faces around here. While both were welcome to show up wherever they wanted, they were the last people I wanted to see. What were they doing here? I ducked my head, so neither of them would see, but that didn't help when they noticed Jack and moved toward our table. What was even my life anymore?

"Hi, Jack. Tommy," Henry said.

"Buttons. Henry."

"What are you two even doing here?" Jack asked, wanting to lessen the tension in the restaurant.

"We finished selling early, so we just decided to come over to grab a bite to eat. Although we never expected you two to be here."

"I can say the same about you two. Well, since we all came here with the same goal in mind, why don't we all continue with our own business and move on with our lives?"

"Tommy- -" I didn't want to hear anything from either of them, not an apology, an explanation, or anything else from them. If there were anyone else that I didn't want to interact with who wasn't Finch, it was Buttons and Henry. After all, everyone else excused them for turning into scabs, but everyone treated me like street scum when it came to me becoming a scab. It was even worse when they shifted all of the blame to me after the strike ended, as if I didn't have feelings about it or would even care that both of them remained blameless. It was a messed up situation, and I hated them for that.

"Don't say anything to me. Just leave me alone, and then we can all deal with our own businesses and eat in peace." Henry and Buttons knew that they couldn't win with me or do anything to attempt to start a conversation with me, so they left me alone and found a table far away from me and Jack.

"Are you alright?" Jack questioned in a concerned tone.

"Yeah."

"Do you want to get out of here and head back to the lodging house?"

"Yeah, that would be nice." Jack had already covered the bill, so we merely walked out and went toward the lodging house.

"Are you sure that you are alright?"

"Yeah, I am fine. Just because I haven't spoken to them in a while doesn't mean that I have to care or that the interaction somehow affected me."

"Except that is precisely what is happening to you; you care too much."

"Whatever, I already have enough issues to worry about, and they are not one of those issues, so can we not talk about them anymore? It is bad enough that I have to deal with Finch, but I am not dealing with them now either." Jack merely raised his hands in surrender.

"Alright! Alright, don't take it out on me. Let's head home and get ready for another day."

"Something I am more than happy to do." I could handle Finch and his somewhat endless attempts at making amends with me, but I would not force myself to go through the same thing with Henry and Buttons. Maybe in time, it would change, but for now, I stand by my decision just like both of them stood by theirs to leave me in the dust.