Newsies everlasting

Chapter 9

"You okay?" Jesse asked, as Winnie finally reappeared from the deli.
"Yeh, I'm fine." She replied. To be honest, she wasn't sure if she was fine or not. Though she felt better that the situation with the boys had be going on longer than her arrival, she still felt bad that her presence added to the drama.
"What were you talking to Jack about?" She asked, causing Jesse to instantly blush. There no way she was hearing about that conversation at all.
"He was just asking me where I was last night. I just said we were catching up, and he seemed to believe me. What were you talking to Race about?" He asked, desperate to redirect the attention to Winnie.
"I asked him why the other boys opposed our friendship..." she began, before repeating their conversation. Jesse listened carefully, and absorbed everything she was saying. When she was done explaining, he simply nodded in agreement- he too had noticed Jacks slight change in behaviour, as well as his priorities. Still, no one was willing to confront him about it, considering he was finally content in his life. Jesse vowed never to abandon the boys like that, even though he knew that he would be forced to in a few short years. Maybe he would just fake his own death this time...

"Jesse?" Winnie asked, returning his attention back to her, "what are we?"
He paused a while to think, before simply saying "I don't know". He was annoyed with himself for not fully understanding his emotions, despite having 108 years to conquer his feelings. He was scared that she wouldn't feel the same, or that if she drank the water, she would regret becoming immortal to live with him forever. But mostly, he was just confused, about everything. About Winnie. About immortality. About the boys. About Jack. About the murder. About his own family. About his feelings. About his life as Crutchie. Everything.

"What do you want us to be?" She asked, confusing him even more. What did he actually want?
"I'm not sure," he began nervously, "but all I am sure about is that, well, I love you..." it sounded more like a question than a statement, emphasising his anxiety over admitting it to her.
"I love you. And I want whatever you want. And if that means drinking the water and living with me forever, then I'll be over the moon. But, if you want to live a full life, I understand that too. But all I am sure on is that I love you."

Once he finished speaking, he finally looked up at Winnie, almost scared to see her reaction. She looked taken back, and he couldn't tell if she was angry or confused or happy. What had he done?

"Look, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

But yet again, he was cut off as Winnie kissed him before he could say anything else. His face resembled a state of shock and confusion, and it took a while for him to realise what was happening and enjoy the moment. They both ignored a cries of the other newsies who had spotted them and had instantly started cheering.

"Go on Crutchie!" Race yelled.
"Show her how it's done!" Albert shouted.
"Oh my god, Jack, take a load of this!" Romeo called.

But Winnie and Jesse just smiled and ignored them all, too in the moment to care. Jesse simply stuck his middle finger up at the boys jokingly, without breaking the kiss for a moment, which only ended up creating another uproar of applause. Even though the boys had seemed against their relationship before, it didn't stop them from cheering and clapping, before running over and jumping on Jesse when they had finally broken apart.

"Hey, guys, mind my bad leg!" Jesse laughed as he battled his way through the pile of newspaper boys that had descended upon him, each of them cheering and laughing. Winnie stood back and watched them all on the ground, smiling to herself as she looked at jesse. He had a huge grin plastered across his face as he lay on the floor, surrounded by his closest friends, all of them play fighting like brothers. She knew what Race had meant now, she couldn't imagine removing Jesse, or Crutchie, from them for a second. They were a family.

Finally, they all jumped off him, and helped him get to his feet. Davey handed him his crutch, which had been tossed aside in all the chaos.
Each of the boys patted him on the back and ruffled his hair enthusiastically before bouncing back onto the street, grinning, to finish their work for the day.

Once they had all left, Jesse took a few seconds to catch his breath after being wrestled to the floor by over ten excited kids.
"Sorry about that," he laughed, turning back to Winnie, who was leaning against a lamppost, entertained by the entire scene, "they're very, what's the word?"
"Excited? Energetic? Proud?" She smiled.
"Yeh, that," he agreed, looking over to them all jumping about the streets with twice as much energy as before.
"Next time I'll tell them all to clear off" he laughed, before quickly correcting himself, "if there is a next time, that is."
"There will be many next times" she promised, pulling him into a hug.