Chapter Text
". . .happy birthday" cherri mumbled, holding newsie's hand. her breath got caught in her throat for a moment but she nodded, focused on staring out the window of the top deck of the ferry the two were on heading for the island. "i know everyone's gonna be saying but. . .happy birthday."
"its not my birthday" newsie pulled away from him, putting her hands in her pockets "never is."
"well, you get presents early. thats something."
"everyone forgets my actual birthday- i have to share mine with a fucking bald eagle-" newsie ran a hand through her hair, her eyes shut tight "god- just one fucking year could we not have to do this? im tired of being fucking grateful for less than the bare fucking minimum-"
"we get a shit ton of candy this weekend at least. then after we can sneak out, have a real birthday party for you." cherri told her, but there wasnt much motivation behind his voice.
"getting grounded for sneaking out after a weekend like this? gonna have to pass on that one" newsie was going for a joking tone, but she knew cherri was just as scared as her of getting grounded. normal teens got grounded from their phones. she and cherri got locked, quite literally locked, in their room and grounded from any outside interaction. that wasnt an option after this in any definition of the word.
"it was just an option, gogo." cherri put his hands up in defense.
newsie sighed and continued to stare out the window, watching all of the waves.
neither newsie or cherri were excited to get back into the car when the ferry came to a stop but they did, already feeling the tension grow between their two parents. the wait to get off the ferry took forever which made their father angry which made their mother stressed. for once it was almost a relief to pull up to the cabin on drummond island they would be staying at for the weekend.
the two of them were surprised to see that neither nancy or their grandfather were at the house, not an unwelcome surprise. they were told to go to the room they always stayed in, and they did as fast as they could. it wasnt like newsie or cherri wanted to stay in the living room and look at snow globes or whatever new duck/hunting blanket nancy had bought to put on her horrible velvet couch.
the room newsie knew all too well was similarly themed, an embroidered duck blanket on the bed newsie and cherri had to either share or one was going to end up on the floor. it wasnt like they werent used to this at home, but there was actual carpet here and the two of them had dust mite allergies so sleeping on the floor wasnt going to happen.
cherri had gone in before her, tossing his back pack on the bed while trying to ignore the incredibly creepy cabbage patch kid that sat on one of the cabinets in the room. two summers before cherri had decided that the cabbage kid was going to be named harris and the name had stuck. harris always seemed to be watching the two. newsie was going to have a great time trying to sleep with that thing watching from the shadows.
"okay, so this isnt too different from last time." cherri commented, looking around "oh- we got two pillows this time! thats good!"
newsie snorted "three cheers for the bare minimum."
"well its a start."
newsie just nodded, rubbing at her eyes.