Newsies everlasting

Chapter8

"Welcome to Jacobi's Deli!" Specs exclaimed, as each of the boys bounced through the door. The place was empty, except for a few other newsies who were taking a break, including Jack. Once Winnie and Jesse walked in, Jack turned to Jesse, and gave him a look - for about 20 seconds it was like they were having a conversation without any words, just staring at each other, something the other newsies had grown used to. Jack and Crutchie were basically brothers, after all.

"Hey, Albert, be a gent and show Winnie to a table will ya, I need to talk to Crutchie outside for a second." Jack said, not breaking eye contact with Jesse. Jesse seemed to know what was going on perfectly, and nodded to Winnie to follow Albert, before limping towards the door, Jack following him out.

Once they were outside, out of earshot of the others, Jack just gave Jesse a strange look, of which his best friend translated almost instantly.

"Ya can speak again now, ya know," Jesse began, "and to answer ya question, no, I didn't. She's my friend, we just met up that's all".
He was determined to keep his eye contact, as uncomfortable as he felt.
"What, at four in the mornin? Whatcha hiding from me, Crutchie? Ya know I'll find out soon enough" Jack still wasn't convinced, and studied his friend carefully. Jesse almost laughed out loud, there was so much about himself that Jack didn't know, and could ever know, let alone last nights events.
"Honestly, Jack, I'm fine. Can't a guy just meet up with his pal now and then without being interrogated?" Jesse was almost annoyed, now.
"Yeh, sure he can, at a normal hour in the day. But four in the mornin, Crutchie, what's going on?" Jack responded, crossing his arms as he lent against a lamppost. Jesse just shrugged and stared at the floor.

"If ya did love her, I don't understand why ya hiding it from me. And I know ya do. Do ya wanna know how I know?"
Jesse looked back at his friend in a state of confusion, was it that obvious?
"I dunno what ya talking about" he muttered.
"Oh please, ya look at her the same way I look at Kath. Crutchie," Jack's voice softened as he placed a hand on his friends soldier, "ya can talk to me about this kinda stuff ya know. I dunno why ya don't, but just know ya can, promise".
Jesse smiled slightly, and pulled Jack into a hug.
"Thank you, Jack" he replied.
"No problem," he responded, grateful that his friend had opened up to him a little.
When they parted, Jack gave Jesse the same strange look as he did before.
"Are you sure ya didn't, ya know..." he smirked, wiggling his eyebrows at Jesse, who had turned bright red.
"No!" Jesse shouted at he hit Jack with his crutch playfully "if ya say that one more time, I swear to God you'll be the one who needs a crutch!" he laughed.
"Hey, just checking!" Jack said, dodging the crutch several times "but you'd tell me if ya did right?" he laughed.
"Absolutely not! Not that that's gonna happen anyway, she's my friend! Ain't ya business anyway!" Jesse finally stopped hitting jack with his crutch.
"Admit it, ya probably would tell me" jack said, grinning.
"Okay fine, I probably would" Jesse admitted, "but it still ain't none of ya business. I'm not like you, ya know, not in that sense!" he scoffed, finally passing on his embarrassment to Jack.
"Hey, whatcha mean..."
"Oh Crutchie, guess what" Jesse laughed as he did a perfect impression of jack "me and Katherine finally did it! It was amazing- and then ya told me EVERYTHING in great detail! Stuff no one should ever be told! I'm scarred for life!" The pair of them were in absolute hysterics, jack red in the face with embarrassment.
"Hey I was in I good mood!" jack said defensively.
"That's for sure" Jesse smirked. He was relieved that they had gone back to their old ways again, constantly joking with each other without a care in the world.

Back in the deli, Winnie was facing an interrogation of her own from some of the other newsies, who were all suspicious regarding her friendship with Crutchie.

"Where were ya last night, if ya don't mind me askin?" Race asked, surveying her.

"At the theatre with my aunt, why?"

"We're ya alone?" Mush asked. Winnie found all of this very entertaining.

"Is that any of your business?" Winnie smiled, raising an eyebrow.

"Do ya know where Crutchie went at all? Not with you, was he?" Henry said, folding his arms.

"Okay, I get it now" Winnie responded, leaning back on her chair, "why would Je- Crutchie come and find me at four in the mornin?" Winnie cursed herself for almost slipping up, but luckily none of the other boys seemed to notice her mistake.

"Oh ya know, we has our suspicions" Jojo piped in "you two seem to be pretty close. Just how friendly are ya?"

Luckily, as Winnie struggled to think of a response, the bell on the door rang and jack and Jesse reappeared, seemingly much more relaxed than when they left.
"Hey fellas, leave the lady alone," Jacked warned as he grabbed a seat, Jesse taking a place next to Winnie and giving her a warm smile. Reluctantly, they all jumped off the table, and returned to their seats, eyeing up both Jesse and Winnie.
"Hey, Mr Jacobi, waters all round please!" Jack called, determined to draw the attention away from the pair of them. He had guessed that the others had probably been grilling Winnie while they were gone.

"How many papes ya got left boys?" Jack asked, trying to distract them all. They all grumbled in response, but there attention was still fixed upon Winnie and Jesse, the pair of them gradually becoming more and more uncomfortable, staring down at the table in order to avoid any eye contact. It was only when Race and Albert began whispering to each other when Jesse finally lost it.

"Look, will you guys just give us a break already! We're just friends! Winnie's new here and you've been treating her like dirt all day!"

Every single boy was taken by surprise at his outburst- not once had any of them ever heard Crutchie raise his voice. No one spoke for a whole minute, as if everyone was paralysed in shock. Jesse just rolled his eyes.
"Look, there's no point shouting. Can we just all go back to normal? Please?"
To that, the newsies all mumbled an apology, and began talking to each other a little more. Winnie was relieved that she was no longer being stared at, but she still felt bad that she was the root of the problem. Why couldn't they just believe them? Didn't they trust her?

As everyone began to leave around an hour later, she pulled Race aside, and nodded for Jesse to wait outside. He did as he was told, but still looked a little confused.

"Hey, I just want to know, why does everyone seem so mad at the idea of me and Crutchie? I mean, nothing is going on, obviously, but even if it was, why is it such a big deal?" She asked, making Race seem a little ashamed of himself.

"I'm sorry, please don't think we hate ya, cos we don't. It's just..." he paused for a second while he thought about what he was going to say "when jack and Katherine got together, we didn't see as much of jack no more. Sure, he still lives with us, but it just ain't the same. I guess we is just worried that the sames gonna happen to Crutchie. We love him, s'all."

Winnie was taken back by this. She instantly felt guilty, even though it wasn't her fault about Jack.

"Look, I'm sorry. I never wanted, and will never want, to take Crutchie away from you guys. And trust me, if he does stop talking to you guys, I'll bust his other leg up." Winnie promised, allowing Race to finally smile.

"Okay. I trust ya. And hey, winnie," he called as he made his way out of the door, "Look after him will ya? He's a good kid."

"Will do." She smiled, until she was the only one left in the deli.