She's A Handsome Woman Ch.7

A/N: The next chapter will be quite shocking, and probably published tonight.

Tonight, Johnny has decided that this isn't going to happen anymore.

He begins to feel jittery around eleven o'clock, when Darry and Ponyboy decide to turn in. Soda and Steve are still sitting on either side of him like bookends. Johnny wonders how they can manage to stay up until three and have the will to go to work at seven.

About twelve-thirty Steve yawns, looks at his watch and says, "Man, I gotta get some sleep! Catch you later, Sodapop."

He must have been out late again last night, Johnny thinks. Sometimes Steve takes the money his old man gives him after one of their fights and gambles over at Buck's. Johnny doesn't think that's the best idea; Steve's family is as bad off as his, and he has a worse poker-face than Ponyboy.

Fifteen minutes later Soda stands up and stretches. He bids Johnny goodnight, and heads down the hall to his bedroom, switching off lights as he does so. Johnny is grateful for this; anyone else (besides maybe Pony or Darry) would've carelessly kept them on, not even thinking about Johnny wanting to sleep. But Soda's different than everyone else.

Johnny sits up after he hears the click of Soda shutting the door. He pulls a blanket around himself and waits.

Right on cue, he hears a bedroom door opening and shutting. A shadow crawls across the wall, and the bathroom door opens.

Johnny takes this opportunity to pull himself into the wheelchair. He's already getting better, it should only be another week and a half until he gets out of the damn thing.

He wheels himself to the front door, and the light on the bathroom goes off. He sits still, and it's so dark he doubts that she can see.

Her silhouette becomes apparent against the dark room, and she is only a few feet from him. He could reach out and touch her...

"Johnny?" she yelps in disbelief. Her face is shocked. Her eyes take in his position in front of the door, his arms crossed.

"Wh-what are you doing up?" she stutters. He rolls his eyes.

"The real question is what are you doing up, ready to go?" he asks quietly, looking her in the eye. She looks absolutely stunned, at a loss for words. Then her expression goes hard.

"What's it to ya?" she asks. "It's not any of your business." She tries to get by him, but his wheelchair is against the door.

"But, Grace," he says, "why can't you just tell me?"

"Because it is none of your business," she hisses. Her voice is full of venom, and her expression surprises Johnny.

"Grace-"

"Get the hell out of my way!" she explodes, and pushes him out of her path. She uses enough force that he rolls and hits his knees against the wall. Hard.

The recoil from the impact makes his chair tip. He teeters dangerously on the edge, and as soon as he thinks he's out of the woods, he falls to the floor with a crash.

He immediately has one of those instant headaches that almost always comes after a fall like that. His back protests a bit, but it doesn't matter.

His face burns in shame; if he hadn't been in a wheelchair, he could've stopped her. If he hadn't been in a wheelchair, he could've followed her. But most importantly, if he hadn't been in a wheelchair, he wouldn't be lying on the ground like a worthless cripple.

He hears sleepy voices in the short hallway as a tear slips out of his eye. His quick resolution is that it is the only one he will allow: that single, terrible droplet that makes him all the more ashamed.

"-where is Grace?" he hears someone ask. Ponyboy.

"Johnny!" a voice that he recognizes as Soda exclaims, but Johnny can't see him; he is facing the wall.

He feels himself being picked up, put on the couch. He tries to help as much as he can, but overexertion just bothers his back too much.

He finally sees that all three Curtis boys are asking him questions. They all talk at once, and Johnny shouts at them to shut up.

"Where's Grace?" Darry demands.

There isn't any other explanation for this, Johnny thinks, and sighs with resignation. He begins to tell the story: how long it's been going on, how she pushed him. He blushes at the latter part, but again, there is no plausible explanation.

"Come on," Ponyboy says darkly when Johnny is done explaining. "I think I know where she is."

Where is she? Will they find her? Is the sky orange?

Tune in next time for, "She's A Handsome Woman", part 8.