Chapter Two

Ponyboy had been on a date, and he got home at about midnight. By that point I was pretty trashed. I had drank more than half of the case of beer, and I wasn't planning on stopping until I was done. The TV had gone off the air, but I hadn't even noticed.

"Hey, Pony," I slurred. "How was your date?"

Pony gave me a confused look. "It was fine," he said.

"Glad to hear it," I replied.

"'Looks like you had fun tonight too," Pony said as he looked at all of the empty bottles of booze.

"Yeah, I guess I did," I replied.

"Well, I'm kind of tired. I guess I'll go to bed," Pony said.

"No, no, no. Come here. Come talk to me for a minute," I said.

Ponyboy sat down next to me on the couch. He looked confused.

"Pony, do you remember Shirley? Shirley McMaster?" I asked.

"Yeah. What about her?" Pony replied.

"I loved her, Ponyboy," I said. "And she just left me for dead. I don't even know for sure what happened to her. And you know what? It's not a good feeling."

"Uh huh," Pony said.

"I just don't want you to get your heart broken like I did. Maybe you shouldn't be dating. I think you should go to a…what's it called…the place where the monks live," I said.

"Monastery," Pony said.

"Yeah! Go there! That way you won't date and you won't get your heart broken," I said.

"Yeah," Pony said. "I think that you need to go to bed, Darry."

"No, that's the last thing I need," I replied.

"I don't think so. I really think that you should go to bed now," Pony said.

"Do you know what I need, Pony? I need to spread the word that women are evil, evil creatures and that everyone with half a brain needs to stay away from them," I said. I started to reach for the phone, but Pony grabbed my hand and stopped me.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"I just told you what I'm doing," I said. "I'm spreading the word that women are evil, and I'm starting with my friends. They should be the first to know!"

Pony tried to reason with me, "Darry, it's late. No one will be awake if you call them now. Why don't you wait until tomorrow?"

"I guess you're right," I sighed.

"So let's get you to bed," Pony said.

"But I've gotta finish my beer," I said.

"I think you've had enough for tonight," Ponyboy replied as he tried to lead me toward my room. But I wasn't going anywhere.

Pony and I argued about me finishing the beer for close to half an hour. I could tell that he was getting close to giving in, but then Two-Bit walked in. He seemed to be at his place a lot less lately, so he was probably looking for a place to crash for the night. He gave us a confused look.

"What are ya'll doin'?" He asked.

Pony gave him a look that said "just agree with me" before he said, "I'm trying to get Darry to go to bed, but he wants to finish drinking his beer first. But I don't think that's a good idea, don't you?" He gave Two-Bit a not-very-subtle wink.

"Yeah, maybe not," Two-Bit said. "But how about this, you go to bed, and I'll finish the beer for you. Doesn't that sound good?"

In my drunken state of mind, it actually did sound good. I stood up and started staggering to my room. I hadn't been drunk since high school, so I had forgotten how hard it was to walk. Two-Bit and Ponyboy ended up having to lead me to my room and tuck me into bed like I was a little kid, but I probably couldn't have done it by myself. Almost as soon as I got into bed, I fell into a deep, drunk sleep.

At about 3 A.M., I woke up feeling really sick. I looked around my room and noticed that Pony was sleeping next to me. I shook him awake.

"Huh?" He said. He was still half asleep.

"Pony, I'm gonna be sick," I said.

"Trashcan is on the night table," he said.

I looked over at my night table and saw that everything had been taken off of it and replaced by the plastic wastebasket that's normally in the bathroom. I grabbed it in just enough time.

After I was done throwing up, Pony was completely awake. He went into the bathroom and got a rag with cold water on it so I could clean off my face while he went to the back yard to dump out the trashcan.

"Do you need anything else?" He asked when he got back to the bedroom.

"Not yet, but I'm sure this isn't the only time that I'll be sick tonight," I replied. I knew that I would probably have a pretty bad hangover the next day too.

"We'll worry about that later," Pony said. "Just go back to sleep now, and let me know if you need anything."

I nodded, but then I realized that Pony couldn't see me in the dark. I was too tired to reply out loud. I laid awake for a while and then fell back asleep.