A Girl Newsie

What to Do

In one of the many parks in the city Mush was sitting under a tree while trying to figure out what to do. He likes Lacey, a lot, but not in the way he likes Feister. He wasn't sure what he was going to do, all he knew was that there were two girls and one would end up with a broken heart.

"Why does dating hafta be so complicated?!" Mush yelled in his head. He knew a choice had to be made. He hated seeing Feister sad, but he didn't want to hurt Lacey's feelings.

But the thing was that he'd known Feister much longer than Lacey, and that no one has or ever will take Feister's spot away in his life. After all Mush had been friends with Feister his whole life, they went through a lot together, and he didn't want to end that now.

"Friends don't hurt friends, especially best friends," he thought. Mush made up his mind, he'd rather spend time with Feister than hurt her. Besides, now that he really thinks about it, Lacey wasn't the nicest girl out there.

"There you are, I've been meaning to talk to you," a voice said. Mush looked up and saw Lacey walking up to the tree and then she sat down next to him.

"Heya Lacey," Mush said trying to put some happiness into his voice. He had to try hard not to call her 'Lace', which she hated. That was another thing. Lacey couldn't take a simple nickname. While Feister was called 'Feisty' pretty much every day.

Along with 'Lovebird' and 'My goil' which she hates, but at least she can take a joke. There was also another thing, Feister was someone who didn't care what she looked like, or how dirty she got, or smelly, or messy, or how early she had to wake up. Ok, the last one wasn't all true. But once she's out of bed she's good to go.

While Lacey always made sure she looked nice, and always made sure she was clean as a shiny new nickel and she was always neat as a pin. Seriously, how did this girl not get dirty when she lives in New York?!

Also Lacey didn't smell like the stinky streets, which Mush had to admit that was a nice change from the bunk room that always had a weird smell to it. Which made him wonder if something died in the walls.

Or maybe it was because the boys rarely took a bath. Heck, the only time they'd get fully cleaned was when it was raining. Yup, even in the rain they had to get up and sell the papers while every smart person in New York was inside and dry as Santa Fe.

But that wasn't the point at the moment, the point was that it was time to make things right and get everything back on track. There was a small chance none of it was going to be easy but, it's worth it if it meant that Feister would go back to his fiery, loudmouth, smart Aleck, stubborn and feisty best friend that he's known for seven years.

"So, what did you wanna tawk about?" Mush asked. "Cause I's have somethin' ta tawk you'se bout. But you'se can go first."

"Ok," Lacey breathed. "You see the past two months have been amazing, but I kinda feel like you're not fully committing to the relationship. I'm pretty sure that your mind is on that other girl Fire."

"Feister," Mush corrected. But in all truths Feister is like fire, and he loves that about her. He never knew what was going to happen with her around, but all he knew was that whatever Feister was going to do it wouldn't be boring.

While Lacey was the definition of boring. Lacey never wanted to do fun stuff while Feister was always up for something crazy.

Lacey rolled her eyes. "That's what I mean. You're always talking about her, and then get sad before talking about when you two were younger, and did this or did that. So, that's why I'm breaking up with you. It's a shame too, I really like you, but I just can't be in a relationship where the guy has feelings for another girl. I hope you understand."

"Um...yeah, yeah, I's understand a lot," Mush quickly replied. At least he doesn't have to worry about breaking Lacey's heart, so that has to count for something, right? But, did he really talk about Feister that much? Looks like he did if that was the reason why Lacey was breaking up with him. But why did she say he has feelings for Feister?

While Feister is an amazing girl and sure, the other boys tease him for having a crush on her; but, Feister is his little sister/best friend. And who dates their sister? Ok, so they may not be related but still.

Mush has known Feister since he was seven, which is pretty much his whole life. Well actually it's half, but that's not the point, the point is that Mush cares about Feister, a lot, maybe more than he lets on, and he didn't like seeing her the way she was now. He never meant to hurt her that badly. Heck, he didn't think it would get that far.

"Good." Lacey nodded. "The past two months have been amazing. So thank you for everything." she then quickly kissed his cheek before getting up. "Maybe I'll see you around." with that she walked off.

Mush waited till Lacey left then sighed in relief. That was way easier than he thought it would be. Heck, he didn't even have to do the breaking up. On the up side he didn't have to worry about hurting Lacey, but on the down side there was no way Feister was going to forgive him any time soon.

Heck, she still has it out for one of the Brooklyn boys back when she was six after her first fourth of July with the newsies. Long story short after what happened she almost caused a turf war. Key word almost.

But what got him thinking was that if Feister can hold a grudge for seven years then that only proves that she wouldn't let this go that easily. Heck, chances were higher that she'd make up with the Brooklyn boy then make up with him.

Why did he have to be so stupid?! Mush couldn't believe he let some random girl he met not too long ago get in the way of a seven year friendship he had with Feister. He still couldn't get how dead and lifeless her eyes were out of his mind. Like all the light had been blown out. He had never seen her like that before, and it hurt him to know that he was the reason it happened.

When Mush first met Feister the first thing he noticed about her was how fiery her eyes were, and how they were full of life and had some sort of spark that drew him in. But now? Now her eyes were dead, and lifeless.

All Mush wanted at the moment was to have the feisty girl with the fire in her eyes back. But there was a chance that he wouldn't see the fire in her eyes ever again, and it hurt him to think that because that's one of the things he loves most about his best friend.

He knew that Feister was probably never going to talk to him again. And that wasn't the saddest part. The saddest part was he lost someone he cared about more than anything.