Hello! Thanks SO much for the reviews, I really appreciate it! I'm glad you guys are liking the story so far :) I was kind of aiming to show a weaker side of Darry in this story since through most of the Outsiders he's strong and he doesn't really get hurt much haha So I decided to try this :) Nice reviews are very much appreciated :) Thanks for reading! More chapters in the future :) Enjoy!
When Darry did pull into the station, he did such a bad parking job that Sodapop had to look closely at the driver to make sure that it was his brother. Darry always parked perfectly and when someone else didn't, he grumbled to whoever was listening about how the person needed to redo their driving test or whatever his spiel was about…Everyone was so used to it by now that no one bothered to listen anymore. But the driver of the truck was Darry. Soda watched as his big brother leaned forward and rested his head on the steering wheel.
"What's up with Darry?" He wondered aloud.
He and Steve walked over to the truck. Sodapop opened the drivers' door to talk to Darry.
"Darry?" He asked.
Darry didn't answer.
"Dar, you okay?"
Still no answer from his brother.
"He's asleep, dufus," Steve told him.
Sodapop made a face at him and shook Darry's shoulder, "Darry, wake up."
Slowly, Darry stirred and looked up at Soda.
"You alright?" Soda asked with a concerned expression on his face.
Darry sighed sleepily, "Yeah. Rough day at work is all. Look, you'd better drive, I don't want us in an accident."
Sodapop nodded and helped his older brother out of the truck and into the passenger's seat. He looked terrible. Soda was curious about what had happened at work that day, but he knew that now wasn't the time to ask; Darry was too exhausted to answer right that minute.
Right as Darry sat down in the passenger's seat, he went to sleep. Steve sat in the back and Sodapop drove.
On the car ride, Darry coughed and shivered a lot. Soda laid his jacket on him when they stopped at the light.
He dropped off Steve at his place, and then drove home where Ponyboy was waiting for the two of them to return home.
When Soda and Darry finally got home from work, Ponyboy could immediately tell something was wrong. First of all, Soda was driving. Darry always drove but now he was in the passenger's seat. Was he passed out? It was hard to tell. Ponyboy ran outside to make sure everything was okay.
"Soda!" Ponyboy called to his brother.
"Hey, Ponyboy," Soda replied getting out of the truck.
"What's up with Darry? Is he alright? What happened?"
"Slow down, kid. He said he had a rough day at work today and that's all I got outta him before he went to sleep. He's not unconscious if that's what you mean," Sodapop replied walking over to Darry's side of the truck. He said a couple things to Darry, who replied but kept his eyes shut. Then, Darry slowly stepped out of the car and leaned heavily on Sodapop. Ponyboy ran over and lifted Darry's other arm onto his shoulder to support some of Darry's weight so that Soda wouldn't have to (Darry's 6 feet of muscle after all.).
"You okay Darry? You look terrible!" Ponyboy commented.
"Mmm…Not feeling so hot," Darry mumbled back.
Ponyboy and Sodapop helped him to his room where he flopped down onto his bed and was immediately asleep.
They gently removed his shirt and shoes. On his back there were many bruises and a few scrapes that were bleeding. Soda sent Ponyboy to get a wet cloth to clean up the scrapes with. Every few minutes, Darry would give a series of coughs and he was always shivering like he had a fever. When Sodapop checked his forehead, Darry did have a fever.
Since Soda was the more hospitable one, he took care of Darry while Pony made dinner. It was nearly impossible to wake Darry to see if he wanted anything to eat, so they decided to just let him sleep peacefully.