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Post by Lacey on Feb 25, 2019 17:12:01 GMT -5
Lacey didn't know what to do anymore. She didn't know why she always seemed to come to the park to cry, but she figured that it was just because she could be on her own and hide herself amongst all of the trees. People would pass by, yes, but not nearly as many people as in the streets, and crying in the lodging house just meant that all of the girls would be gossiping about it while it was happening. Plus, Lacey had a bottom bunk, so it wouldn't be easy for her to hide the fact that she was breaking down.
Everything was so different now. Things were changing, and she absolutely hated it. But what could she do? All that she could do for now was cry.
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Post by Cloud on Feb 26, 2019 17:40:42 GMT -5
Cloud was walking through the park, slightly distracted as usual. He was in deep thought thanks to the changes that were happening in Brooklyn. It seemed a bit sudden. Spot stepping down. It was bound to happen eventually, but no one had really expected it to happen now. After all, there still was a lot of tension hanging around the boroughs lately. Stepping down now wasn't exactly the best of plans? However, Cloud was a bit relieved by this news. At least Spot hadn't chosen him as next leader. The thought of that happening had been hovering over him the past couple of months. Spot was getting older... and Cloud had seemed like a candidate for future leader. How the weight was lifted off is shoulders when Spot had announced Bridges--not Cloud--as leader!
As distracted as he was, something caught Cloud's attention. Was that... crying he was hearing?
All his thoughts were pushed back as he hurried to find the source of the crying. His brows were furrowed with worry. Had someone gotten hurt?
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Post by Lacey on Feb 26, 2019 17:43:22 GMT -5
Lacey felt awful for crying. She knew that she didn't really have the right to be breaking down as much as she had been lately, but things had been changing so quickly in all of the worst possible ways, and she didn't know what to do.
When she heard rapid footsteps approaching, her gaze lifted from her knees, eyes red and bloodshot from the crying. Upon spotting Cloud, she wiped her eyes haphazardly with her sleeves and sniffled a bit. "Hey, Cloud."
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Post by Cloud on Feb 26, 2019 17:45:48 GMT -5
"Hey, Cloud."
Cloud blinked in surprise. While he had expected to find someone crying... he had not expected to see that it was someone he knew. "Lacey?"
He approached her cautiously, unsure how to progress even though he had come specifically to help. "Are... you okay?"
It was a dumb question, but the only one he could think of. She was obviously very upset over something.
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Post by Lacey on Feb 26, 2019 17:48:24 GMT -5
"Lacey?"
This wasn't a position that she wanted to be in. She hadn't wanted people to notice her crying, as stupid as that might have seemed since she was still crying in public. It seemed as though luck wasn't on her side, and she was being left to be found by not just someone, but someone she knew.
"Are... you okay?"
Lacey really did her best to flash him a small smile, but the corners of her mouth wavered with the effort. "I don't know."
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Post by Cloud on Feb 26, 2019 17:52:02 GMT -5
"I don't know."
Cloud wasn't sure what to do. He certainly couldn't leave her in this state, but how could he help? He hesitantly sat down beside her and offered her a handkerchief. It was all he could do right now.
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Post by Lacey on Feb 26, 2019 17:54:16 GMT -5
Lacey slowly took the handkerchief from Cloud, thanking him with a small nod and blowing her nose. The silence wasn't uncomfortable, and she didn't fully know what she was supposed to say in a situation like this. There was too much to explain.
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Post by Cloud on Feb 26, 2019 18:00:20 GMT -5
Cloud let her quietly blow her nose and calm down a bit before trying to break the silence.
"Feelin' a little better?" He gave her a small smile.
It wasn't much, but it was a start for now. He would help her to the best of his ability.
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Post by Lacey on Feb 26, 2019 18:02:10 GMT -5
"Feelin' a little better?"
Lacey managed a small smile for him, nodding and wiping her eyes once again. For now, the crying had stopped... and it was nice having someone who wasn't going to sit there and treat her as though she had no right to be crying for whatever reason.
"Yeah... thanks for staying for a minute." She murmured.
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Post by Cloud on Feb 26, 2019 18:22:19 GMT -5
"Yeah... thanks for staying for a minute."
He shook his head. "It's no problem really." Cloud gave her a concerned expression. "But really... are you okay?"
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Post by Lacey on Feb 26, 2019 18:29:21 GMT -5
"It's no problem really."
Lacey flashed him another grateful smile. Cloud had always been a good friend... she wasn't sure that she had ever told him how much she had appreciated it.
"But really... are you okay?"
She sighed. "Everything is fallin' apart all at once... I don't know what ta do."
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Post by Cloud on Feb 26, 2019 18:37:59 GMT -5
"Everything is fallin' apart all at once... I don't know what ta do"
Cloud furrowed his brows some. Things were falling a part? Was she speaking about the borough? No... that wouldn't be something to cry over, would it? "What do you mean?" he asked gently. "Somethin' going on at the lodge?"
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Post by Lacey on Feb 26, 2019 18:40:44 GMT -5
"What do you mean?"
Lacey sighed. It seemed as though she might have to do her best to explain things after all.
"Somethin' going on at the lodge?"
She shook her head. "With Spot... everythin' just feels different now. And it ain't a good change, we're driftin' apart and I'm really scared..." She trailed off for a moment, taking another deep and shaky breath. "I'm really scared that things are gonna end and he's gonna just leave my life. I don't know what ta do because I always make things worse."
Lacey had found that she always struggled in the relationship just because there was so much that she wanted to do and she never really did any of it. She was trapped, and it was awful.
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Post by Cloud on Feb 26, 2019 18:52:00 GMT -5
"With Spot..."
Cloud blinked in surprise. "With Spot?" He hadn't meant to say that out loud... but he couldn't help it. Something had happened between them? He couldn't wrap his mind around that. They had seemed to be getting along so well. What had changed?
"Everythin' just feels different now. And it ain't a good change, we're driftin' apart and I'm really scared..."
His brows furrowed in worry. That... did not sound good. What on earth had Spot done? "What did Spot do?"
If it came down to it, Cloud would confront the Brooklyn leader. A guy should never make a girl feel scared.
"I'm really scared that things are gonna end and he's gonna just leave my life. I don't know what ta do because I always make things worse."
It seemed like things were more complicated than he had imagined. This was really serious... Lacey seemed really scared.
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Post by Lacey on Feb 26, 2019 18:55:57 GMT -5
"With Spot?"
Lacey nodded a bit with another small huff. The worst part was perhaps knowing that neither one of them had really done anything to get to the point that they had dropped to. Life was going on, and there were new challenges coming along with that. It wasn't anyone's fault, even though Lacey wanted so badly to be able to find a cause that she could fix.
"What did Spot do?"
She sighed again. "He didn't do anythin' wrong, it's just... he's steppin' down, we're gettin' older, and things just... changed. I can't stop thinking about Rip and when h-he..." She trailed off once more. There was still a faint bruise on her wrist from Rip's grip that day, dragging her back to Brooklyn. The fear that she had felt in that moment was indescribable.
"We talked about it and he agreed that things just don't feel the same," Lacey mumbled, "But what can I do? How can I fix it? I-I'm not ready ta move on, Cloud, I'm not ready ta lose him."
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Post by Cloud on Feb 26, 2019 19:14:13 GMT -5
"He didn't do anythin' wrong."
Cloud frowned. He wasn't sure if he agreed with that. If Lacey was upset and scared, it seemed like Spot had done something.
"It's just... he's steppin' down, we're gettin' older, and things just... changed."
He titled his head to the side. "That might just be because Spot has always been a bit too tied to his spot as leader." At least, he hoped that was the case. It would be awful if the relationship between Spot and Lacey was actually changing because of all that was going on in Brooklyn.
"I can't stop thinking about Rip and when h-he..."
Cloud winced. He didn't like thinking about the Queens' leader. While he never met the guy, he had seen him several times when he was scoping out for Spot. The guy was absolutely terrifying...
"We talked about it and he agreed that things just don't feel the same."
"What exactly... did you talk about?" If he knew that, maybe he could figure things out. He knew Spot well enough.
"But what can I do? How can I fix it? I-I'm not ready ta move on, Cloud, I'm not ready ta lose him."
Cloud pursed his lips and shrugs. "I can't really say... what all happened right before Spot seemed to change?"
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Post by Lacey on Feb 26, 2019 19:21:07 GMT -5
"That might just be because Spot has always been a bit too tied to his spot as leader."
Lacey sighed softly. "Yeah... Brooklyn's his goil." She had heard it plenty of times before, and it seemed to be the truth. Even when things had been going well between them, Brooklyn was always Spot's first priority. That was what made him such a wonderful leader... and why it was so hard watching him losing that.
"What exactly... did you talk about?"
She bit her lip, thinking back for a moment. "I just said that things ain't the same lately. We aren't doin' things tagether for Brooklyn like we used ta. He used ta talk ta me about stuff that was goin' on."
Again, Lacey figured that most of it had to do with the sudden change with him stepping down as leader. Maybe he was getting depressed or something, but even then, she would have hoped that he would tell her if that was the case. What was she there for if not to comfort him?
"I can't really say... what all happened right before Spot seemed to change?"
"Rip dragged me back here." She murmured, fidgeting with some of the grass on the ground beneath her. "I was tryin' ta help, but I made things worse. I made Rip angry and he brought me back ta tell Spot not ta get other people involved."
Of course, that seemed pretty open and shut, but at the same time, things hadn't changed right after that. She didn't know what had happened directly before things changed. "Things were fine for a bit, but then things just changed one night."
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Post by Cloud on Feb 26, 2019 19:34:40 GMT -5
"Yeah... Brooklyn's his goil."
Cloud gave her a gentle nudge. "Not anymore... your his now," he said softly.
"I just said that things ain't the same lately. We aren't doin' things tagether for Brooklyn like we used ta. He used ta talk ta me about stuff that was goin' on."
He pursed his lips but didn't press her.
"Rip dragged me back here."
Cloud's eyes widened. "Rip?" How Lacey had gotten in contact with that guy was beyond him... but here? "He dragged you here? Like into Brooklyn?"
That might have explained why several of the boys had mentioned avoiding the border even before Spot had mentioned staying away. He didn't know if something had happened or not, so he had pushed it aside. Now, he was slowly understanding what was up.
"I was tryin' ta help, but I made things worse. I made Rip angry and he brought me back ta tell Spot not ta get other people involved."
He winced. He had heard Rip had been very picky about other people getting involved with his and Spot's fight. This wasn't exactly the first time something like this had happened...
"Things were fine for a bit, but then things just changed one night."
Cloud was frowning again. This didn't make sense. People didn't just change overnight like that. Something had to have happened or triggered it. Perhaps it was the Rip issue? He wasn't sure.
"Was it right after Rip?"
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Post by Lacey on Feb 26, 2019 19:38:54 GMT -5
"Not anymore... you're his now,"
Lacey smiled weakly. "I can only hope."
"Rip? He dragged you here? Like into Brooklyn?"
She rolled up her sleeve a bit, showing him the fading bruise where Rip had been dragging her a few days prior. "Yeah... ta the docks."
"Was it right after Rip?"
Lacey really didn't remember too much about what had happened. She knew that some time had passed in the middle, and things had seemed fine, but the Rip thing had definitely been the beginning of the end. "Yeah... a day or two after."
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Post by Cloud on Feb 26, 2019 19:42:59 GMT -5
"I can only hope."
Cloud raised an eyebrow. "But you are... Spot's said so, you know. That ain't something he'd say if he didn't mean it."
"Yeah... ta the docks."
His eyes somehow widened even more. For Rip to come all that way, he must have been fuming. The docks were on the other side of Brooklyn...
"Yeah... a day or two after."
Cloud nodded, starting to piece things together. "When he went to Manhattan and Staten..."
Spot had gone there to talk to Jack and then visit his brothers. Whatever they had told him might be why there was a sudden change. And well, there was also Rip. He probably had a lot to do with this mess.
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Post by Lacey on Feb 26, 2019 19:57:09 GMT -5
"But you are... Spot's said so, you know. That ain't something he'd say if he didn't mean it."
Lacey sighed softly. That much might be true, but why was she having such a hard time believing that it would last long with the way that things felt lately?
"When he went to Manhattan and Staten..."
She looked down and nodded again. "Yeah... he walked me back ta the lodge and disappeared. I guess... ya saw the state I was in the next day."
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Post by Cloud on Feb 26, 2019 21:56:02 GMT -5
"Yeah... he walked me back ta the lodge and disappeared. I guess... ya saw the state I was in the next day."
Cloud furrowed his brows and nodded. He remembered that day. Lacey had found him hiding at the distribution center. Come to think of it, both Spot and Lacey had looked pretty bad that day. Perhaps the whole Rip thing had impacted them more than they thought.
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Post by Lacey on Feb 26, 2019 21:58:21 GMT -5
Lacey let out a soft sigh, running her fingers through her hair. "I don't know what ta do anymore. He's focusin' on Bridges and he needs ta be, but... but what if he doesn't want me when he's done?" Her voice grew quieter at the thought, legs pulling themselves closer to her chest.
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Post by Cloud on Feb 26, 2019 22:03:01 GMT -5
"I don't know what ta do anymore."
He nodded in understanding. He didn't blame her... this whole situation was confusing.
"He's focusin' on Bridges and he needs ta be, but... but what if he doesn't want me when he's done?"
Cloud inhaled sharply. "You think he'd just toss you aside after stepping down?"
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Post by Lacey on Feb 26, 2019 22:04:53 GMT -5
"You think he'd just toss you aside after stepping down?"
Lacey bit her lip. "It's not like that, I just think... maybe he wants ta start a new life away from newsies."
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