The newsies did, in fact, know what had happened the previous night, though not from hearing them. Spot had bragged about it to every one of his newsies, sparing no details, but they were all so used to it that most just ignored what he said. Though Spot’s reputation was common knowledge in the Brooklyn Lodging House, not all of the boys approved, and even more disliked Spot’s constant bragging. A few had tried to warn some of the previous girls, but they usually found themselves shunned by the rest of the boys, if not tossed out of the lodging house entirely. The Brooklyn Lodging House was a place where secrets stayed hidden.

As soon as they finished dinner, Spot and Maggie went back upstairs. The moment the door to Spot’s room was shut, Maggie found herself pressed against the wall, and it seemed like she only had time to blink before her shirt was halfway unbuttoned and Spot was moving his lips down her collarbone. She instinctively pushed him away and gasped, "what are you doing?"

"Whadda ya mean, ‘what am I doing’?’ I thought this is what you wanted to do t’night."

"Well, yeah, but not so fast," Maggie stumbled over the words.

"Oh damn, I’m sorry, doll," Spot replied, pulling her into a hug. "I guess I just got carried away." He rolled his eyes at the wall, then continued. "There’s jus’ somethin’ about you that… I dunno what it is, I jus’ forget about everything else but you."

Maggie snuggled into Spot’s shoulder and calmed her breathing. "It’s alright, you just scared me a little. I’m okay now."

"You shoa," he asked, his breath tickling her ear.

"Yeah, I’m fine." Spot resumed kissing her beck and shoulders, but going much slower than before. "Won’t t be easier in the bed," Maggie said, already breathless.

"Good idea," Spot said, hiding his disappointment. ‘I’ll just have to be creative tomorrow,’ he thought, moving slowly over to the bed and laying the two of them down.

Maggie woke up before Spot. She looked down at him, still sleeping, and ran her fingers along his muscular body. Waking up, he smiled, but kept his eyes closed.

"G’mornin," he said.

"Yes, it certainly is," she smiled. Maggie snuggled up into his arms. "So what are we going to do today?"

"Whatevah you want Maggie," he said, wrapping his arms more tightly around her.

"Can we go back to that restaurant," she asked.

"Shoa, but what’r we gonna do till then? Lunch is a few hours from now," he pointed out.

"Hmmm, an few hours till lunch and nothing to do…" She looked into his blue eyes. "Can you think of anything we could do?" she flirted.

"Oh, I can think of a few things," he answered, smirking.

"Well, why don’t you show me…"

"I think I can do that." He leaned down and kissed her, pressing his still naked body against hers. "How’s this?"

"Wonderful," she whispered, moving her arms around him.

"No, I want something a little easier to eat this time," Maggie told Spot, remembering her previous attempts with the spaghetti.

"Okay then," Spot said. "We’ll both have fettuccini," Spot ordered, looking up at Giovanni and winking.

"Is good choice," Giovanni replied, giving a slight nod to Spot.

When their meals came, Maggie looked down at the plate in front of her and scowled. "This is gonna be just as hard. You did this on purpose," she accused, but she was still smiling.

Halfway through the meal, and doing much better then the previous time, Maggie looked up and was surprised to see someone standing at their table. She turned to Spot in confusion, but he just smiled at her.

"Da usual," Spot said to the man, who pulled out an accordion and started playing. "Would you care to dance," Spot asked Maggie.

"Well, I’d like to, but I don’t know how."

"Dat’s okay," Spot said pulling her to her feet. "Don’t worry, it’s easy, I can teach ya. An’ the guy leads anyhow." He picked up Maggie’s left hand and put it on his shoulder, put his own hand her waist, and laced fingers with her other hand. He started dancing, leading her around the restaurant. "See, it isn’t dat hard."

Maggie’s eyes stayed glued to her feet. "Mmm-hmm," she replied absentmindedly.

Spot took his hand off Maggie’s waist and raised her chin up with his fingers. "Don’t look at your feet. Look at me." He stared into her green eyes and they both smiled. "There, much better. Yer a natural."

"You’re just saying that."

"Naw, you’re a natural at lots ‘a things."

Maggie blushed and Spot laughed, pulling her closer. They continued dancing after the music stopped, not even realizing the accordion player had left.

"Our food is probably cold now, huh," Maggie said after awhile.

"Probably. We could take it back and eat it for dinnah."

"Okay," Maggie said, unhappy as she pulled out of his embrace.

"So ya like swimming," Spot asked as they walked back to the lodging house.

"I’ve only done it a few times," Maggie answered. "My dad wouldn’t let me out of the house much. But yeah, I like it." She looked slyly up at Spot. "But I don’t have anything to wear."

"Well you can wear dat skirt you were wearing da foist day I found ya. I only got these two pair of pants, so they can’t both get wet… an’ after we get in the water an’ under the docks, we won’t have to worry about clothes," he added, putting his arm around Maggie and pulling her right up next to him. Maggie looked up at him, surprised, and he laughed. "Don’t worry, there won’t be anyone to see," he said, kissing her cheek. "It’ll be fine.

"Alright," Maggie said, trusting him completely.

They went back to the lodging house to drop off their things and change before heading to the docks. Spot took off his shirt and dove into the water, but Maggie, not having been swimming for several years, went slowly down the ladder.

"Oh, it’s cold," she gasped.

"Don’t worry, it won’t be cold for long," Spot replied absentmindedly. Maggie turned around and grinned at him, and he realized what he’d said. "Now, dat ain’t what I meant. I meant that after awhile, your body adjusts to the temperature…"

"… But we might be able to help it go quicker," she added for him.

"Whatevah ya want, doll," Spot said, smiling at her before dragging her all the way into the water.

Maggie gasped for air. "It’s really cold. How do you stand this?"

"Dat’s why you’re here in the water with me." He pulled her under the dock where they wouldn’t be seen and kissed her, then, keeping one arm around her, Spot reached up and started to unbutton Maggie’s shirt.

"Not now," she said softly in his ear. "Tonight."

"I know," he said. "We’ll wait… but can’t we do something now?"

Maggie reached up and finished where Spot had started, then slowly pulled the shirt off. "Does that answer your question?" she whispered, tilting her head up toward his.

Spot leaned down, and, sliding his arms around her, kissed her softly.

"So you think we should go back to the lodging house soon," Maggie asked awhile later.

"Well yeah, but we prolly have ta put our clothes back on foist," Spot answered, looking down at her.

"Yes, we probably do," she giggled.

After a few minutes of struggling in the water, Spot and Maggie finally managed to get their wet clothes back on. They climbed up the ladder to the top of the docks, then laced hands and started walking toward the lodging house.

They purposely walked slowly, but their clothes still weren’t dry when they got inside.

"So ya wanna go change before we have dinner," Spot asked.

"That’s a good idea. I don’t like wearing wet clothes," Maggie answered.

"Well I like you not wearing any clothes, but ya don’t see me complaining, do ya?" Spot said, smirking.

"Yeah?" Maggie said, pressing up against him. "…You'll have to catch me first!" She turned around quickly and dashed up the stairs.

Surprised, Spot didn’t start running after her for a few seconds, so when he got to the top of the stairs, Maggie was leaning against his door, waiting. She winked at him.

"Aren’t you gonna catch me?" she flirted. Spot walked over so he was standing in front of her. He wrapped his arms around her, but instead of kissing her, he opened the door and held onto her so she wouldn’t fall back.

"So should we go get undressed now," Spot whispered.

"Well you are naughty aren’t you," Maggie giggled. "I told you, dinner first, so we’re just putting on dry clothes mister, nothing else."

"Aww, please?" he asked. But seeing that she wouldn’t give in, he sighed and said, "okay, after dinner. But it’d better be good." They walked into his room and got changed, then headed downstairs.

‘It’s really too bad I can’t keep her longer,’ Spot thought as he ate the rest of his lunch from earlier that day. ‘I swear, that girl is gonna make every other one I sleep with from now on seem bad… I mean, she’s almost as good as I am,’ he thought conceitedly.

Meanwhile, Maggie was also thinking about the two of them, but in quite a different way. 'I love him so much. And he loves me too, so I can tell that this relationship is going to last.' Her thoughts drifted off, planning their wedding and kids, and seeing them grow old together.

"You wanna go upstairs now," Spot asked when they had both finished dinner.

"Sure," Maggie replied smiling at him.

Dice gave Spot a discreet wink as Maggie was standing up, and then mouthed, ‘have fun.’ Spot nodded, smiling in anticipation, but felt sad realizing that it would be the last night with Maggie. He pointed to the small clock on the wall, and Dice nodded.

Spot slid over and took Maggie’s hand in his. They walked out of the room and went quickly up the stairs. They got to Spot’s door and Maggie turned around and kissed him. Not even stopping the kissing, they opened the door and walked carefully into the room, Spot’s lips never leaving Maggie’s. Spot fell back onto the bed, pulling Maggie down with him.

"We just ate," Maggie said, still kissing him. "Don’t you wanna wait a little bit?"

"Not really, but since you asked, we will."

Spot took his shirt off and Maggie snuggled up against his bare chest, her imagination still running wild. She sighed in contentment as his arms slid around her and pulled her closer. "I love you," she whispered.

"Love you too, doll."

"Hey Dice," Kit whispered, trying not to wake all the boys who were already asleep. "You awake Dice?"

"How can I sleep with Spot and da girl makin’ all that noise?" Dice replied, amused. " I think Spot was right, virgins are more fun."

"Yeah," Kit said. "So how long’s he gonna keep ‘er?"

"T’night’s the last night, so we gotta get Spot up early tomorrow," Dice said.

"Well, whoevah gets up foist gets to wake ‘im up, da oddah one gets goil duty, sound good?"

"Yeah, shoa," Dice replied.

They both fell asleep, hoping that they would be the first one to wake up.

"Man, I think I got like two hours of – wait a minute." Kit looked at Dice’s bed and was relieved to see him still asleep. He jumped out of his own bunk and swaggered over to Dice’s bed. "Looks like I got up foist Dice."

"Huh… wha – aww, damn it. Fine, I get goil duty," Dice sighed.

Kit left the main bunkroom and quietly walked into Spot’s room. "Spot… hey Spot," he whispered, shaking Spot, trying to wake him up.

Spot rolled off of Maggie and slowly opened his eyes. "It’s mornin’ already?" Kit nodded. "Man, what a night," Spot said with a silly grin on his face. "So is Dice gonna take care of ‘er?" he asked, nodding at Maggie.

"Yeah," Kit answered. He walked out of Spot’s room and closed the door behind himself. Spot got up out of the bed and started to get dressed, then he suddenly looked down at Maggie.

"Man, I’m gonna miss dis one. She’s just amazin’." He sighed and finished getting dressed, then walked out of the lodging house so he could get to the distribution center before Maggie woke up.

"Hey, uh, Maggie?"

Maggie woke up and rolled over, but seeing Dice instead of Spot, she made a noise somewhere between a gasp and a scream, and pulled the covers over her naked body. "What are you… why did… where’s Spot?" she asked, finally finding the words she wanted.

"Well, he’s um, out sellin’ I guess. But anyhow, he’s done with ya, so um, your stuff is ovah there and you can leave when you’re all dressed," Dice finished in a rush, looking at everything but Maggie.

"Why am I leaving?… And what do you mean he’s done with me?" she asked, confused.

"Exactly what it sounds like, sweetie. He’s had his fun an’ now he wants you to leave."

"No, no you’re lying. That can’t be true, it can’t," she said, a note of hysteria entering her voice. "He loves me, he told me so,"

"You don’t want to know how many goils he’s said that to, doll," Dice said. "So like I said, your stuff’s in dat bag, an you better be gone soon, unless you want me ta come back an’ dress ya meself…"

"No," she whispered, hot tears falling down her face. "No…"

"I’se gonna be back ta check on ya in ten minutes, ya heah?" Dice said, finally looking down at Maggie.

The door closed behind Dice. "No, he’s wrong. They’re all wrong," she said. "I’ll just go find him and tell him what Dice said to me, and everything will be okay. It’ll be okay," Maggie repeated firmly. She reached down and pulled on the clothes she’d been wearing, and started to head toward the door. "No, what if Dice sees me. I’ll go out the window." Maggie climbed out the window and down the fire escape.

Maggie had been searching for Spot for hours and still couldn’t find him. Her hair, still braided from when she‘d left, was a mess, wisps of hair falling out of the once tight braid, and sweat ran down her back. Her face was red and she was breathing hard from running down one street after another. Finally, as she was about to give up hope and wait for Spot back at the lodging house, she saw him standing against a building. Excited, she started to walk toward him, then saw the flower in his hand and the girl in front of him.

"No, it must be his cousin or his sister or something," Maggie said, grasping at loose threads. Her heart knew the truth, but her mind wouldn’t believe it until she heard the same words Spot had uttered to her come out of his mouth again.

"See, I’m not as bad as ya thought, right?" she heard. She continued to watch in horror as he brought his hand up to the girl’s cheek and slowly kissed her.

‘But that’s how he kisses me,’ Maggie thought in despair. But she continued watching and listening, still hoping it was all a mistake.

"So, you wanna come back to the lodging house with me tonight," Spot said to the girl.

Maggie sat outside of Spot’s window on the fire escape, waiting for him to come back. She watched the sunset and remembered with sadness when she and Spot had done the same thing on the roof.

She snapped her head around as she heard the door of Spot’s room open and close. She watched as Spot did the same thing he’s done with her, kissing the girl and pulling her down onto the bed on top of himself. When he started taking the girl’s shirt off, Maggie could stand no more, and she stumbled down the fire escape. But her crying didn’t block out the sounds she now heard coming out of Spot’s room.

Maggie ran, blind from the tears sliding down her face, and didn’t stop running for awhile. When she finally calmed down enough to think rationally, she looked around her and saw only trees and grass. She didn’t think she’d run that far, but the only place she could be was Central Park in Manhattan. Walking around in anger and sadness, she gave up on finding a place to sleep, and curled up on a bench next to a pond.

"He loved me," she sobbed, lying down. "He said he loved me…" And Maggie cried herself to sleep.