Life With the Newsies- One Shots- OPEN to OCs

Elley Sells Papes

Post-Strike AU peeps.  I apologize for the terrible chapter title. The OCs that are not mine in this story are, Falcon with Musical_Theater_Nerd, Katie with BeckyMerari1808, and Pups with 23gatkins.

Elley Kelly jumps out of her bed. It had started raining last night and hadn't really stopped since then. Elley is beyond frustrated. She is all ready to sell her papers but, the rain causes her to slam her head into her pillow in frustration. Elley hears her brother come in and she ventures out into the lobby of the Lodging House to see Jack and Crutchie soaking wet.

"Well look what the cat dragged in," Race shouts loudly waking up the whole Lodging House. Patches, the kitten walks up to Race, rubs against his leg, and lets out a small meow. Race picks up Patches and gives her some good morning pets. Elley peeks back into the area where she had come from to see the other four girls all still sleeping. She carefully steps over her friends and hurries up into one of the washroom stalls to change into her clothes for the day. Mush is just clambering out of bed and Elley's eyes flick to his strong abdominal muscles. The smallest trace of a smile appears on her face at seeing him shirtless. Mush is ignorant of her staring and walks over to her.

"Good morning, Elley Kelly," Mush says, enjoying the way her name rolls off of his tongue.

"Morning, Mush Myers," she responds and the two pull apart so they can finish getting ready. She slips into a stall to change.She finishes and reemerges. Being very careful to keep her feminine looks hidden, Elley hurries into the washroom and carefully starts to tie up her hair. Jack walks over next to his younger sister and says,

"Good morning, Elley. Sleep okay?"

"Yeah. I'm not ready for my first day on the job though."

"Ahhh. Don't worry about it. Being a Newsie runs in your blood. You'll be an expert before you know it." Jack gently socks her in the shoulder and walks his way through the washroom, swapping jokes with different Newsies as he goes. Elley finishes up with her hair and plops her hat on her head. She follows the rest of the boys down the stairs and sees the rest of the girls starting to get ready for the day. Jack is waiting down at the bottom of the stairs just for his younger sister. Davey and Les are there as well, standing next to Jack.

"Morning, Elley!" Les chirps excitedly and surprises Elley by running over to her and throwing his small arms around her waist. Elley looks to Jack and Jack just nods at her encouragingly. She shyly leans down and hugs Les back.

"Good morning, Les. You ready to sell some newspapers?" she asks and Les shakes his head.

"I'm ready to sell some papes!!" he exclaims. The other Newsies in the room all begin to laugh and Elley chuckles lightly.

Jack steps out of the Lodging House and leads the way to the Distribution Center through something that has become a very slight mist. Mush comes up behind Elley.

"It's your first day sellin papes, huh?" Mush asks. Elley nods her head quickly.

"I'se a little nervous," she says. Mush gently slings an arm over her shoulder and Elley stiffens just in the slightest. People don't typically touch her and when they do, it usually means she is going to get hurt. Somehow, Elley knows that Mush isn't touching her to hurt her. To be quite honest, she sort of enjoys his kind and gentle hand against her shoulder. Mush just wants to help her and Elley is thankful for his friendship. The two of them are walking down the street when suddenly, Mush gets side hugged by a girl so fast that Elley almost falls over. Mush grabs her hand and pulls her to her feet before she completely lands on her rear while greeting the other girl at the same time. Elley glares at the other girl and continues holding Mush's hand long after she has stood up. The other girl chatters on with Mush when suddenly, her eyes flick to Mush and Elley's joined hands.