Newsies everlasting

Chapter 14

Gradually, the sun crawled across the horizon, burning the sky with hues of deep amber. As the sky painted itself a deeper shade of red, dissolving the crisp darkness of night, Jesse lay upon the rooftop, mesmerised by the colours above him melting together. No matter how many he had seen, he would forever admire the beauty of sunrises, something he could always hold onto within the tenebrosity of the world. He glanced over at Jack across the rooftop, still lost in the world of sleep, and smiled to himself. Three months had passed since he and Katherine had announced the pregnancy, and Jesse was excited to see a new life be brought into the world, as it reminded him of his brother, and Thomas. Though he was devastated when Miles' family abandoned him, Jesse always smiled when he remembered his nephew.

"Uncle Jesse?"
Jesse smiled down at the young boy, barely four years of age, tugging on his shirt. He had light, delicate curls framing his freckled covered face, as he gazed up at his uncle with puppy dog eyes.

"Yes?" Jesse asked, though he already knew what the boy was about to ask.

"Can I have dessert before dinner again?"

"Now why on earth would I allow that?" Jesse smirked.

"Because you said I could last time. And the time before that. And the time before that. And the time before-"

"Okay okay!" He laughed "You can, but don't tell your father. You know what he's like. I'll get in trouble."

"You're the best!" Thomas beamed, running out the room towards the kitchen. Jesse smiled to himself, as he watched the child sprint around his brother's house, laughing. His favourite part of being and uncle was babysitting opportunities, as he solidified his role as the favourite family member easily in his nephews eyes. He would play with him, make dens with him, tell him stories, teach him to climb, go camping with him in the woods. The list was endless. But sadly, his relationship with Thomas was not.

"Crutchie!"

Jesse hadn't even realised he'd been daydreaming, as Jack shook his shoulder, breaking him from his thoughts.

"What, what's happened?"

"Nothing, youse were just ignoring me. Whatcha thinking 'bout?"

"Oh, nothin" Jesse sighed, deflated as he remembered that Thomas was gone forever now, probably dead. He had left Jesse behind in the cycle of ageing.

"Crutchie, I ain't stupid. Ya hurt. Just tell me what's going on?" Jack prompted, resting his hand on his friends shoulder encouragingly.

"I'm just worried 'bout my brother. They still ain't released where they is keepin' him" Jesse frowned as he thought about Miles, trapped in whatever mental hospital they saw fit, undergoing experiments that made Jesse want to vomit just at the thought of them.

"Hey, Hey. Calm down, okay, he'll be okay, I promise. Besides, if anything too bad had happened to him, we'd have seen it in the pape by now, huh."

He had a point. If others had learned about Miles' immortality, it would have surely made the front page, hence why Jesse crossed his fingers and held his breath each time they put up the headline. For once, he was grateful for the lack of interesting articles being published, despite the annoyance this caused the other boys. He and Winnie had been trying to research all they could in the last few months, reading library books to try to source out possible places that Miles could have been taken, and tying to read up on the experiments he could be facing, but they found nothing.

In the distance, they heard the sound of the morning bell, and groaned as they realised it was time to officially start the day. As usual, Jack called down to the newsies to wake them all up, buttoning up his shirt while trying to find his cap. Jesse, who had already been awake for an hour and was already dressed, made his way over to the ladder with the aid of his crutch.

"Hey, Crutchie!"

Jesse bounced back in surprise as Katherine appeared enthusiastically and the top of the ladder, closely followed by Winnie, who was also smiling.

"Katherine, um, whatcha doing up here?" Jesse asked, startled.

"Katherine!" Jack noticed the two girls climbing onto the roof top "ya shouldn't be climbing up here, youse pregnant!"

"Yeh I noticed" she said, rolling her eyes as she gestured to the bump forming on her belly. Jesse stretched out his hand to help Winnie onto the roof, still confused as to why they were there, but smiling nonetheless.

"Anyway," she began "Winnie and I just wanted to run through some of the wedding plans with you two, and we knew you'd be up here."

"Kath, we've got work soon-"

"Well you've also got a wedding soon so  I suggest you shut up" Katherine snapped, rolling out several sheets of paper as Winnie laughed. The two boys glanced at each other nervously, and, knowing they may be thrown over the side of the building if they didn't do as they were told, sat back down onto the floor.
Winnie yawned discretely, as she had become  so used to sleeping in late - Jesse noticed this and laughed quietly at her, as she lightly punched him in the arm, before resting her head in his shoulder to try and stay awake.

"Okay, so here's the plan. Winnie and I are finding our dresses today, and we've made a fitting appointment for all your suits, which will be tomorrow-"

"Wait, what? Do ya realise how many of us there are? That's a lot of suits, Kath," Jack started, "and how do ya expect the boys to act in which ever fancy store ya pick out for twenty minutes?"

"Well, for a start, the appointment is four hours, not twenty minutes-"

"What!"

"Shhhhh, just tell them that if they don't behave, I will personally kill each and everyone of them, got it?"

Jack and Jesse sank back and groaned at the idea of being trapped in a posh tailors for 4 hours after a day of work, let alone the price of each of the suits. Winnie laughed at them both, earning a glare from Jesse, though he too smiled back at her eventually.

Another hour passed of Katherine explaining each and every detail: guests, venue, cake, dresses, until there were literally minutes for the boys to get to the gate before it closed.

"Ooh, and Winnie suggested incorporating newspaper cuttings in the decor, and-"

"Kath, if we don't go now, the gate will close, and then we ain't gonna be able to eat tonight!"

Jesse and Winnie had partially dozed off, but they soon jumped awake as Jack interrupted Katherine.

"Yes you will, you haven't forgotten about tonight, have you?" Katherine's look hardened as Jack recoiled in fear, realising he had completely forgotten about their plans.

"Ummm..."

"Jack Kelly! How could you forget! You agreed to have dinner with me and my father tonight, you idiot! He wants to talk to you about the wedding!"

Jesse and Winnie burst out laughing, rocking back and forth in uncontrollable hysterics as Jack's  face turned white in horror, Katherine becoming angrier at her fiancé by the second. She turned to the pair of them, silencing their laughter quickly.

"I don't know what you guys are laughing at. He only agreed to come if he could bring you, Crutchie, for 'emotional support', and Winnie, you're definitely coming, considering you've helped plan half of it!"

Now it was Jack's turn to burst out into hysterics, as Jesse hit he friend repeatedly with his crutch for bringing him into the situation.

"Now, considering it's too late for you boys to sell papers today anyway, I suggest you spend the day scrubbing up. Here's ten dollars each, when you arrive tonight I expect to see you with a hair cut, new clothes, and most importantly, clean! We'll see you then, come on, Winnie, we've got the cake testing today."

In a matter of seconds, the two boys were once again alone on the roof top, staring at the money and then at each other, perplexed with fear.

"I hate you" Jess sighed, hitting Jack once more.

"I don't blame you," Jack sighed, "let's do this."