True to his word, Dr. Bryant greeted me the next morning with the good news that I was going home. I was torn; more than anything I wanted to be back home, sleeping in my own bed, listening to the familiar noise of too many boys in too small a space, but Pony was staying in the hospital and I felt bad leaving him there alone, especially as confused as he was. He still was talking as though all the people we had lost were still with us. He had been crying a little, too, the previous night, and I was glad that I had been close enough to hold his hand and whisper to him.
Darry and Soda had stopped spending entire days in the hospital- between that and all the work they had missed while Pony and I were gone, they couldn't afford to be taking any more time off. They didn't want to leave us, I could tell, but the doctors told them there was no reason for them to have to be there, and that all they were doing was keeping me up when I should be sleeping anyway. They would check in at the hospital with the doctors in the morning, head off to work and check back in again around dinnertime.
This morning, since I was going home, we had the added company of Two-Bit, who had volunteered to skip school so he could babysit me. He was extraordinarily pleased to have a good reason, which was funny because I never thought he cared about having a reason at all.
Before I left, I leaned over Pony's bed and whispered in his ear. "Bye, Pony. Come home soon, OK?" He didn't answer; he just shifted in his sleep. I hoped he wouldn't cry again, there would be nobody there for him now.
"Let's go, Scooter." Two-Bit couldn't wait to get out of there. He tolerated the hospital, when necessary, but everything about the place- the seriousness, the quiet, the sadness - was contrary to his nature. He wheeled me down the corridor in that wheelchair so fast that I had to close my eyes and hold on for dear life. Several people cautioned him to slow down, and he clipped at least two supply carts along the way.
"Two-Bit, you're not helping my chances of actually getting out of here if you involve me in a wheelchair crash," I said.
"Don't worry kid," he said. "You know I'm a great driver."
Two-Bit picked me up off the chair and plopped me into the front seat. "Are the brakes fixed?" I figured I shouldn't just assume.
"Of course. I'm gonna drive, okay? You've got a bad ankle."
I played along. "Okay, but just because of the ankle."
When we got to the house I hobbled up the walkway and felt a feeling of relief flood over me as I walked into the living room. It felt like I had been gone for a year, rather than just over a week. I realized how much I had missed home, and for the first time since my parents were gone, it truly felt like home in the way that it always had before they died.
"Home sweet home," Two-Bit said, and I remembered Pony's words when we had stood before the abandoned church. I thought of Johnny and was surprised that I didn't cry at the thought. I wanted to ask Two-Bit about Johnny and Dally, when they would be buried, but I looked at him, already settled in front of the TV with a beer, and decided to save those questions for Darry rather than upsetting Two-Bit. If I was going to be spending the day with him, I didn't want to ruin his mood. I'm sure he was thinking about Dallas and Johnny too, but at least he was managing to put those thoughts to the back of his mind.
"C'mon, Scooter, come sit." He patted the couch cushion next to him. I thought about it.
"Actually, I'm just going to lie down for a while," I said. I just wanted to be alone. I hadn't been alone, really alone, since I was lost in the woods. I had a lot to think about.
"You've been layin' down for a week! Ain't you sick of it yet?"
"I guess not," I said. I went into my room and sat on the bed. Nothing had changed in there, yet it felt to me like everything had changed. Johnny and Dallas were gone, Pony and I were getting along better, Darry was talking to me like I wasn't a little kid anymore… I lay back on my bed and stared at the ceiling. I had forgotten how comfortable my bed was. I heard a train whistle and wondered if that train would pass the area where the church had been… where I had last seen Johnny. I was thinking about that when I must have dozed off.
"Scooter, you okay? You're supposed to be all done with bein' sick." Two-Bit was leaning over my bed, his hand on my forehead.
"I'm not sick, Two-Bit," I said. "I just really missed my bed." I sat up and slid to the floor, wincing slightly as my ankle hit the ground.
"So, what's for lunch?" I asked. Two-Bit just laughed.
"Whatever you make," he said. "No room service at this place. You've been spoiled bein' in that hospital."
"Two-Bit, seriously? Spoiled? Did you see the food in that place?" I punched him good-naturedly in the stomach as I headed into the kitchen. It was pretty pathetic, since I am a lefty and that hand was in the cast, so I had to use my right.
I heated up some soup and made us sandwiches with some turkey I found in the refrigerator. There wasn't much else in there, and I realized that Soda and Darry had been with me at the hospital for just about every meal. I was a little concerned about the money situation, even though Darry had told me not to worry about it.
We sat around the living room for the rest of the afternoon, Two-Bit going on and on about things that had happened while I was gone, being careful to avoid any talk of Dally or Johnny. I was relieved to see Ben appear at the door after school; Two-Bit was overcompensating for my lack of anything to say by talking my ear off.
"Benjamin!" Two-Bit greeted him. "Come in, join us," he said. Ben came in, hesitantly.
"Don't worry, Ben," I said. "He's just bored out of his mind."
"Can you come out?" Ben asked.
"I don't see why not," I said, looking at Two-Bit, who had lost interest in Ben and was now fascinated by something on TV. I have never met anyone with a shorter attention span. Even Soda can focus on something longer than Two-Bit.
"I'll be in the yard," I said as I followed Ben out.
"No monkey business, Benjamin," Two-Bit called after us.
We sat down in the back yard in silence for a few minutes. I felt like so much had changed since the last time I sat there with him. I almost felt like a different person. When I looked up at him he looked different too. Older.
"I missed you," he said, finally. "I was really worried when you just disappeared like that."
"I'm sorry. I never meant to scare anyone," I said. "I never planned on going anywhere. I just went after Ponyboy."
"I know," he said. "I'm glad you're okay. You shoulda seen Darry that night. He thought you were at my house."
"He did?" Nobody had really told me how or when Darry had discovered I was gone.
"Yeah, he came bursting into my bedroom at three in the morning."
"What? What, he thought I was in your bed?" I started laughing.
"I guess all Two-Bit's nonsense started getting to him," Ben said, giggling. He and I lay on each other's beds all the time, but it was a little funny that Darry thought I was over there in the middle of the night.
I looked over at him and was surprised to find myself thinking of the last time we had lay next to each other. I felt something I hadn't felt toward him before. I liked Ben – I loved him, we had been friends since before I could remember, but whatever had changed in me while I had been gone had changed how I felt about him, too. I was shocked to think that I was, for the first time, seeing him as a member of the opposite sex.
He caught me staring at him, and I looked away, though I saw something like surprise in his eyes before our gazes shifted.
"Wanna play catch?" he asked, breaking the spell.
I just held up my cast.
"Oh yeah," he said. "Does it still hurt?"
"No," I said. "But the bone's not healed yet. Two more weeks."
"Oh. That's not too bad. When Kevin broke his ankle he had to have a cast for six weeks." Again I was thankful that my ankle injury had just been a sprain. I was already wondering how the wrist would impact my shooting in basketball. If I couldn't shoot, I would be useless to the team. I was too short to be much of a threat in any other way.
As we sat there I heard Darry's truck pull in and figured I'd better go see what the plan was, whether we were going to eat dinner at home and then go visit Ponyboy, or go see him first.
"I have to go check in with Darry and Soda," I said. "We have to go visit Pony."
"OK," Ben said. I got up and turned to leave.
"Hey Scout," he called as I was about to turn the corner.
"What?" I turned to see him staring after me, sitting where I had left him. Something tugged at my heart.
"It's nice to have you home."
A/N: I think I am going to take Reality to 40 chapters, then start the next one, Complexity. I think I see a logical breaking point coming up. As always, thanks for reviewing! I try to reply to everyone who does, but when you don't log in it doesn't let me reply. Just so you don't think I'm ignoring you!