37.
The sky was soaked in colors; inky blues and rich, fruity pinks that played across the clouds as if an artist had squeezed sloppy globs of paint across the horizon- God perhaps? Someone's God, at least. In a few minutes the sun would poke out from between Tulsa's few skyscrapers and usher in the new morning. Johnny was beginning to understand why Ponyboy was so mesmerized by these moments. It wasn't just the sky. From his perch on the bedroom window sill- one foot dangling in the air and the other levered against the side of the porch roof- he could soak everything in without interruption. A fat raccoon's lonely trek back to the safety of it's home. The icy gusts of wind that set Johnny's hairs on end and warned of upcoming snow- less than an inch and too wet to stick, according to the forecast. The night's gentle static interrupted by the first early-morning workers; one being Darry, who didn't notice his young friend hanging out of the window on his sleepy walk to the truck. Johnny wondered if Ponyboy was also awake, watching the same sunrise. He had been there for about six hours now, and not for the first night either. In between reading Dracula or goofing around with his switchblade, sunset had turned into night and night had turned into sunrise. Ever since his bruised rib had allowed it, Johnny began to avoid his bed. Sleeping had become... difficult. Not so much because of nightmares- though he had plenty of those. It was simply the inability to shut his mind up enough to relax. His soft bed had become rock, his pillows lumpy, Lady's body-heat unbearable. Worst of all he kept seeing things. Every glint in the moonlight were rings, every shadow a figure. Even the air sometimes smelled of expensive cologne and blood. It wasn't real. It was just his mind playing tricks.
Just Johnny going crazy.
More likely he had gone crazy a long time ago- somewhere between self-awareness and the start of his father's abuse. There wasn't an exact moment when things had become too far out of his control, but there he was. He could feel intoxicatingly high one moment, and then unbearably low. A permanent anxiousness had settled in him like a hornet's nest. Every stranger gave him the creeps and all the girls looked too fragile to look at. Then there were the thoughts that crept up when he was alone in his head late at night. He had tried to tell someone- Ponyboy and Ellie being his first choices- but there was no easy way to explain.
"I want to sleep." Johnny told the sunrise. "I'm so tired. I just want to sleep for a very very long time and when I wake up I want to be normal again."
Even if he did tell them, what could they do? There was nothing in his life they could fix. He hadn't seen his parents in months, he ate regularly, he had a warm bed and a roof over his head. It was just Johnny.
He felt something cold and wet nudge his back, just under the hem of his shirt. He looked over his shoulder at Lady, who was whining low and staring back up with pleading puppy-dog eyes.
"Hungry?" He questioned, swinging his legs back inside. It was well into the morning now, no better time to start cooking up breakfast. The kitchen was lit with a pinkish-gold hue, bright enough to guide him over to the fridge. He unwrapped a cheap, fatty steak and tossed it through the window onto the porch, then went back into the hall to let Lady out for her breakfast. Smelling the juicy raw meat, Lord came loping from his hiding spot in the den. Lady let out a warning growl as her male counterpart began to sniff around her food, so Johnny tossed another steak onto the porch for the dog, who took it in his maw and disappeared into the yard.
His stomach growling, Johnny positioned their only frying pan onto the burner closest to him and turned the stove on. While it heated, he began pulling food from the fridge. He might as well cook for the rest of the house- Ellie was bound to wake up in the next half an hour for school... if she wasn't distracted, of course.
Outside, Lady let out an excited yelp.
"Quit fighting!" Johnny called out to her, figuring Lord had come back to steal her scraps. It wouldn't have been the first time they had torn into each other. Lady had an infinite amount of energy and was a few pounds larger than Lord, but he had experience. It took ages to pull them apart once they got going.
There was a clicking sound on the porch, too distinct to be a dog's claws. Johnny was torn between avoiding burnt eggs or trying to find out the source of the commotion. Not even Soda came by this early, and his footsteps sure didn't make that noise. Was it Sylvia? That she-beast was always in heels.
The front door-knob rattled. Johnny pushed the frying pan onto an unlit burner and wiped his buttery hands on his pajama pants. By the time he got to the front of the hall, someone was inserting keys into the lock- the wrong ones, judging by the lock's unforgiving hold. He ran a hand through his bed-head hair and swung the door open.
A woman was on the other side. She couldn't have been a day older than forty, with blindly blonde hair and thinly pressed lips.
He was taken aback. "Who are you?"
"Who are you?" She repeated snippily. She appeared to be just as shocked to see him as he was to see her.
"I live here...?" Johnny managed to answer as she shoved her way into the hall. "Hey, lady! You can't just come into my house-"
The woman paid him no attention as she stopped in front of the kitchen entrance, scanning inside before moving on to the living room.
"Elizabeth!" She called in a sharp tone, "Elizabeth!"
He moved to stop her, but a hand came up from behind and clamped onto his shoulder. Johnny shuddered violently at the sudden contact, slamming his shoulder into the wall in a desperate attempt to get away. When he turned around, heart pounding in his ears, Danny Carter was staring wearily back at him.
"Shit, sorry kid." He muttered, adjusting the toddler that sat on his hip. "We ain't here to kill you."
Johnny swallowed thickly, clutching the fabric of his t-shirt at his stomach. There was a thin sheen of cold sweat forming under his arms and on his back. For the briefest of moments he had been back on the field, dirt in his mouth and an italian leather boot biting into his spine.
"Elizabeth!" The woman snapped, capturing their attention once more. She was halfway up the staircase and gaining ground quickly.
"Our mother." Danny explained.
A sudden realization came over him and Johnny sprung into action, leaping up the stairs.
"Just leave it!" Ellie's brother groaned after him.
"Hey, lady- Mrs. Carter!" Johnny yelled after the woman, but by the time he got to the top landing she was already standing in Ellie's doorframe.
"Jesus Christ, Elizabeth." Mrs. Carter expressed with what could only be described as utter disappointment. She put a kid-gloved hand against her chest for a moment, shutting her eyes, took a deep breath, and then reopened them as if she expected what she saw to be only an illusion. Her hand went to her mouth just as Johnny got to the door behind her.
"Mom?" Ellie sputtered, sitting up in bed with the covers thrown to the side as if she was just about to rise. Dally's t-shirt, draped across her frame, was the only thing that kept her from total nudity. The blood was drained from her face as her mother came further into the room. "Ma, I- I swear, this isn't as bad as-"
The woman's hand shot up so quickly Johnny jumped, believing she was going to strike her. There was tangible fury there, barely restrained by a sense of dignity. Instead she held her hand rigidly in the air to silence her daughter. "Enough, Elizabeth. There are no excuses for this. Do you have any idea what you've done to yourself? To your future?"
"This your mother?" Dallas interrupted. He was leaning up on his elbow to examine the intruders, one hand snaking behind Ellie to grab the carton of cigarettes on the bedside table. He was completely unfazed by the disgusted glare he received from the woman, and if Johnny didn't know any better he'd say the blond J.D. was almost amused. "I'm seeing the resemblance."
Ellie jabbed him with her elbow, nearly knocking the cigarette he stuck between his lips. She had been interviewed by police and had plenty of conversations with her strict, authoritative father, but Johnny hadn't ever seen her so terrified of someone before now.
Mrs. Carter didn't dignify Dallas with a response. Instead she turned to the open closet by the foot of the bed and pulled out one of Ellie's older dresses; long sleeved and cut at a respectable length by the knees. The red capri pants draped over one of the hangers (that Ellie had never worn before) didn't escape her notice, however, and neither did the variety of skimpier dresses and skirts the young girl had dared to wear over the last few months. They were still extremely modest compared to what most girls wore, but Mrs. Carter gave them the same disgusted scowl she had offered Dally.
"Put something decent on." She commanded, throwing the clothing at Ellie. "I want you downstairs in five minutes."
Johnny leapt out of the way as the woman charged back into the hall. The door gave a clipped bang as she shut it behind her.
"She seems nice." Dallas supplied sarcastically, puffing on his first cigarette of the day. "I think she likes me."
Ellie let out a strangled moan and burrowed her face in her hands just as the first signs of tears began to appear on her face. "Oh God."
"She could have been angrier." Johnny supplied, leaned back against the back of the door. He didn't know what was worse: hanging up here with his two very naked best friends or going downstairs to join in on what was likely the worst family reunion ever.
Ellie moaned again.
"Grab me those, will you, Johnnycake?" Dallas asked in good spirits, pointing to the mess of clothes on the floor. Johnny grabbed the bundle and deposited it by his friend's legs. The blonde pulled his jeans underneath the covers and managed to slip them on without revealing himself. Then he gestured to the drawers. "Second one down. Grab me a shirt."
Again, Johnny did was he was told. The drawer was sloppily filled with a few clean t-shirts and a couple pairs of underwear. He wasn't surprised; Dallas was here so often that it was a wonder why he hadn't just commited to move in. It'd certainly help with the bills.
While his back was turned, Ellie had shed her shirt and replaced it with the dress her mother had picked out. She slid out of bed and turned her back to Dallas with the open zipper facing him.
"Why is she even here?" She asked out loud, "She hasn't spoken to me in weeks. I thought she was more interested in her new family in Washington than to bother with me anymore."
"You're underestimating the power of Soc parents." Dallas explained in a cigarette-induced mumble, zipping her up. "Mothers like your's live off pride. She wouldn't dare let people think she abandoned her precious babies."
Ellie chewed anxiously on her lip, combing her hair out with her fingers while her mind wandered down to the woman waiting downstairs.
Johnny offered her a meek smile. "Your brothers are here as well. Maybe Danny had something to do with it?"
"God," Ellie dropped her head back in anguish. "Of course he does. I should have known he'd rat me out."
Dallas grabbed the sides of her face and straightened her. He caught her gaze, hoping the collected calm he projected would seep into her. "Relax, princess. She's just going to yell a bit and then it'll be over. What can she possibly do now, anyway? She can't un-"
"Please, shut the hell up." Johnny cut in, giving into the urge to cover is ears. It was bad enough that Dallas had finally managed to taint their pure, precious Ellie. He didn't need a verbal reminder as well. "You're going to make me puke."
The blonde smirked, but refrained from adding any lude remarks- much to everyone's surprise. Instead he rose and stretched. "Johnny, go down and distract them while I sneak out the back-"
"Oh, no you're not." Ellie chuckled darkly, catching him by the back of his shirt. "You got us into this mess, you pervert. You're not backing out now. Anyway, I'm sure my mother would love to meet her future son-in-law."
There wasn't much he could say to that. Grumpily resigning to his fate, Dallas allowed Ellie to lead both boys down the stairs and into the kitchen. The air was heavy with the smell of breakfast. Danny must have spotted the eggs Johnny had started, because when they arrived he was stationed in front of the stove cooking enough for all of them. Mrs. Carter was sitting at the kitchen table, a toddler bouncing on her lap while he ardently clutched a little toy robot to his chest.
"Sam!" Ellie exclaimed, scooping her baby brother into an embrace. The toddler giggled, stumbling on a noise that sounded vaguely like her name as his chubby arms wrapped around her neck.
"You're still around?" Danny snorted as Dallas came into view. "I would have thought you'd beat it by now."
"In your dreams." Dallas shot back easily, moving to the fridge. Johnny caught him reach instinctively for the case of beers at the bottom shelf before rethinking his decision. He pulled out the orange juice instead, setting it on the counter. Closest to the cups, Johnny reached into the cupboard over his head and pulled out six classes, passing the first to Dally.
"Are you telling me you were aware of this?" Mrs. Carter interjected from her seat. "And you said nothing?"
"Our father knows." Danny shrugged without turning away from the frying pan. "That seemed to be enough at the time."
"He does?" Ellie asked, petting Sam's mop of curly brown hair. Her brows furrowed in worry. "What- what did he say?"
Danny shot her a grin. "Oh, he's definitely pissed."
"Nevermind about your father!" Mrs. Carter gestured jerkily to the seat opposite. "Elizabeth, sit down. We need to have a talk."
Ellie sat with Sam held protectively in front of her. The little boy positioned his toy robot on the table and let it wobble in circles, oblivious to the tension settling around the room.
"You sit down as well." Danny commanded, gesturing with his spatula at Dallas and then to the empty chair by Ellie. Then he pointed to Johnny. "Got any bacon? Or even better, start mixing up some pancake batter."
Dally wavered by the counter for a moment but sat down when Ellie shot him a pleading look. He was being as complaint as he could force himself to be, but it was obvious he wanted nothing more than to split. He wasn't the kind of guy that girls brought home to the parents. That fact was obvious to everyone in the room, and he had never bothered to pretend otherwise before. But if Ellie wanted to play this game, there was nothing to do but suffer through it.
"First off, who are you?" Mrs. Carter asked, and they were surprised to find her addressing Johnny.
He turned, a package of bacon in one hand and a knife to cut the wrapping in the other. "Uh... Johnny Cade? I live here." He glanced uncertainly at Ellie.
"We're roommates." Ellie elaborated. "Johnny's my best friend. He looks out for me."
Mrs. Carter turned back to her daughter. "Regardless, it's improper for a young lady to be boarding with a male, Elizabeth. Why didn't you tell someone when your grandmother passed away?"
"Are you kidding me?" The young girl exclaimed, then took a deep, calming breath and started again under her mother's disapproving gaze. "I tried, but no one answered my calls."
"You could have sent a letter." The woman rebuttled, clasping her hands together on the table. "You could have made an attempt to come home, or stay with a family friend. There are dozens of family friends in Chicago that would have taken care of you!"
Ellie glanced down at her baby brother, her lips a thin line to stop herself from talking back.
"Now look at you!" Mrs. Carter went on when she was sure she wouldn't get a reply. She gestured around the house. "Look how you live! Where is the furniture, Ellie? Why are there beer cans and garbage all over the dining room? I didn't raise you like this!"
"The gang came over last night-" Ellie hurried to correct her mistake, "I mean, the boys- just a few friends. Father met them when he came to to visit!"
Johnny handed Danny the bacon strip by strip. They exchanged exhausted looks.
"Let me make this clear." Ellie's mother said slowly, "I don't care what your father does or did, Elizabeth. Right now you are answering to me, and I want to know why you would behave so irresponsibly. You were such a sweet, pure girl when you left home! What have you become now?"
Dallas couldn't hold back a scoff. He was slouched in his seat, another cigarette burning in his mouth. Judging by the chain-smoking, his mood was rapidly turning from slightly annoyed to utterly sour.
Ellie reached under the table and grasped his hand to both comfort and warn him.
"Mom, don't you think you're-" She paused to re-phrase her sentence, "You're making too much out of nothing."
"Nothing?" Her mother spat, "Nothing? You live alone with a strange man, you're house is a pig's sty, God know's how you got the money to pay bills! And worst of all, I just caught you in bed with a- a-"
She gestured at vaguely at Dallas, repulsed.
"Well, fuck you too, lady!" Dallas started up from his seat, scowling back at the woman.
Ellie turned even paler, clutching the toddler closer in fright. "Dally, please!"
"No," He snapped, unaffected. He waved his cigarette-wielding hand at Mrs. Carter. "We get it, you think your kind is too high-class for us greasers. But where do you come off, talking like we ruined your daughter? She's perfectly fucking fine, no thanks to you. She ain't livin' with a creep-" He pointed to Johnny, who suddenly felt the urge to duck and hide. "-That's her best friend, and if it wasn't for him your daughter woulda' gotten jumped. He works his ass off at the DX to pay for half the fucking mountain of bills this old-ass house racks up, and your daughter works as a waitress when she isn't frying her brain in school. They ain't robbing banks or selling drugs, which is more than I can say about the rest of your family."
Mrs. Carter couldn't have possibly looked more aghast at his outburst. "Excuse me?"
"Christ, give it up, will you?" Dallas collapsed back into his seat, taking a drag of his smoke and rolling his eyes. "We all know you weren't born with that silver spoon shoved up your ass."
"That's enough." Danny interjected, turning away from the stove. His knuckles were white around his spatula. "You don't talk to my mother like that, got it?"
Ellie didn't look happy either. She released his hand and refused to lift her gaze from the table top. "Dally, maybe you should go."
"Go?" Dallas scoffed, "Right in the middle of all this fun? No way. It's not like you're going to stand up for yourself, so someone might as well."
"Elizabeth doesn't need you to make excuses for her." Said Mrs. Carter, "She's smart enough to admit when she's in the wrong."
Dallas looked as if he didn't know whether to laugh or break something. "In the wrong for what?"
"For disobeying every rule we've set for her!" The woman snapped with venom. "For ruining any chance she had at finding a husband- at creating a safe, reliable future for herself! All the time and money we spent moulding her into a proper young lady, only to be tossed away for some teenage fling!"
"I didn't!" Elle cried out, startling the baby in her lap. She was beginning to cry, and Sam followed in quick succession. She pressed his face into her chest to comfort him, speaking in a softer tone now that she had everyone's attention. "I didn't toss anything away, and I didn't disobey you- not really..."
"What could you possibly mean by that?" Mrs. Carter questioned her daughter tiredly.
Ellie turned back to the table. Beside her, Dallas sighed.
"We're... well, sort-of..." Her face was turning from ashen to crimson. "He..."
Dallas snubbed his cigarette in his glass of juice and ran a hand through his hair. "She's trying to tell you that I asked her to marry me and she figured that would be good enough of an excuse to jump in the sack."
"Dallas!" Ellie squeezed her eyes shut, mortified.
Danny took a step towards the table. "I think we've all heard enough from you, Winston. Why don't you just beat it?"
"...Winston?" Mrs. Carter said, all the disgust and horror in her expression suddenly disappeared behind a wall of ice. "A Winston?"
Ellie's hand shot out, seeking to grasp her's. "Mom, I-"
She pulled her hands into her lap, out of reach. Their gazes locked.
"Elizabeth, go up to your room right now and start packing."
Her mother's words took a moment to register in Ellie's mind. She stared at her, confused. "Pack? No, I'm not leaving..."
Mrs. Carter sat straighter in her seat. "You have no choice. I'm going to do what we should have done in the first place."
"And what's that?" Danny asked hastily, much to everyone's surprise. He didn't look pleased with the turn in events, though Johnny couldn't fathom why.
"She'll come to Washington for a few weeks until I can find a proper school to take her in."
"Take me in?" Ellie repeated, "Like... like a boarding school?"
"Precisely."
She looked wildly across the room, silently pleading with someone- anyone to object. Dallas was clamped up like a vice, and before Ellie could speak again he had kicked back his chair and stormed through the kitchen to the hall. The front door could be heard slamming, and then a stampede of heavy steps rushing down the porch.
Ellie let out a shaky breath and looked to Johnny, as if he and only he had the power to save her.
"You can't." She repeated, seemingly to everyone in the room. "You can't."
Mrs. Carter let out a sudden snort, a cruel grin spreading across her face. "Can't? Do you really think I'd let you stay here after everything? I married your father and stayed with him for over twenty years just so I could escape this cesspit- so I could be something more than some white-trash, deadbeat's wife. I worked hard for that. I really, really did. I even sacrificed my first-born son to a life of drugs and guns and prison. Thank God, my consolation was to have a beautiful baby daughter. I spent fifteen years creating the kind of young lady that a nice, wholesome man would want to marry. So that you'd never have to know what it was like to starve for a week; to have to steal to live; to face your friends with bruises that one man or another inflicted." She leaned in close across the table, forcing Ellie to look at her. "Do you really think I would let you destroy everything I built for a Winston?"
Went through an emergency (still currently going on) this past few days, so this is all that I ended up writing. I figured it was enough to post so here ya'll go. I'll either expand on this chapter later or the rest of it will be posted in a new chap.
Thanks for understanding, and thank you for the lovely reviews! I was super scared about your reactions to the sex scene, and if you didn't like it please, for the love of god, let me know!