Chapter 18
Pony's POV
"That's $20, Shepard, cough it up." I grinned as Curly slapped his money into my palm and I pocketed it.
"Rack em up, one more game double or nothing." Curly reached into each pocket to pull out the balls.
"Aren't you tired of me taking your money, or haven't you had enough yet?"
"Fuck you, Curtis." I laughed and put my cue on the table.
"I'm going to check on Sam, catch ya later." I scanned the crowds as I headed toward the bar where I'd seen her last with Two-Bit. When I got there they were nowhere in sight. As I turned I caught sight of Two-Bit at the poker tables and headed over to him.
"Seen Sam?" I asked him once I got there.
"What?"
"Have you seen Sam?!" I shouted and Two-Bit looked around.
"She was here a minute ago." he shouted back and I groaned inwardly. To Two-Bit a minute ago might as well have been an hour ago. I scanned the crowds, saw Dally and started making my way over. He saw me too and headed over.
"Hey, Dal, have you seen-"
"Your girl? Yeah I got her upstairs. She's pretty hammered so I put her in my room to keep her outta trouble, come on."
I followed him upstairs to his room, glad someone here had some sense when it came to keeping Sam safe. When Dally opened the door to his room though, instead of there being a very drunk Sam there was nothing.
"This is unexpected."
"How long ago did you see her in here?"
"Not even a half hour." I sighed and went back downstairs to the poker tables.
"Two-Bit, where's Soda?"
"Oh yeah, he wanted me to tell you that him and Stevie were leaving."
"How long ago was that?"
"Uhhhh..."
"Did Sam go with them?"
"He didn't mention her." I grabbed his jacket and pulled him to his feet. "Where we going?"
"To find Sam, she's Houdini'd on us." We made one last round of Buck's asking if anyone had seen her but no-one had. How does someone just vanish?
"Maybe she wanted some fresh air, why don't we check the park?" So we headed over to the park. We searched all over, even checking the old toilet blocks but still couldn't find her anywhere. I checked my watch.
"Shit, we should have been home over an hour ago!"
"Maybe we should just head back to yours and-"
"And what Two-Bit?! Darry told us to watch out for her and now I've gone and lost her, how am I going to explain that one?! 'Yeah Darry so remember how you told us not to take our eyes off Sam? Well I did and now she's gone' no thanks I don't fancy getting my head beat in." I ran my hands through my hair and tried to think clearly. "We'll just go back to Buck's, she has to be there somewhere."
We were about halfway back to Buck's when I saw a lone figure coming towards us. As we got closer I realised it was Aaron and he was carrying someone.
"Sam!" I shouted and took her from Aaron, cradling her against my chest. "Sam?" She didn't respond and I gave her a little shake as Two-Bit grabbed Aaron by his collar.
"What did you do to her?" he growled.
"Hey steady on!" Aaron held his hands up. "I didn't do anything to her. Went to take a piss, opened the door and there she was, passed out cold on the floor. Someone told me you were at the park so I brought her to you. A thank you might be nice." Two-Bit and I just glared at him. I couldn't voice my thoughts aloud but I didn't have to, Two-Bit did it for me.
"How do we know that's all you did with her?" Two-Bit's eyes were blazing, I'd rarely seen him this angry. Aaron pushed his hands off and pointed a finger at him.
"Fuck you! I may be a greaser but I'm not some sick rapist! She's my friends girl and I was just doing the right thing, next time I won't bother." And with that he turned and stormed off back to Buck's.
"You believe him?" Two-Bit asked me as he watched him go.
"Yeah, Aaron's many things but he's not like that. Come on we should get home."
Sam wasn't heavy but by the time we made it to the front gate my arms were really sore. Two-Bit crept up the porch steps and peered in the window.
"Darry's in his armchair, he's reading a book." he whispered.
"Damn, can't he not wait up for just one night?" I whispered back. I grunted and hoisted Sam up further as I made my way up the steps.
"Maybe I should take her, she won't take too kindly to you dropping her."
"I'm fine I've got her!" I whispered back angrily. My patience was beginning to wear thin. It had been a long night and all I wanted was to go to bed.
"Fine be that way, I got a good view of her underwear anyway, wanna know what kind she's wearing?"
"Damn it Two-Bit watch your mouth or I'll pound you!" I shouted and kicked him in the shin, the only damage I could do as my arms were otherwise occupied.
"Ow! That hurt! You little-" Suddenly the door was flung wide and we both froze. Darry looked at me, looked at Two-Bit standing on one leg and holding his other shin, looked at Sam passed out in my arms, looked back at me.
"Um." I started to try and explain but Sam chose at that moment to regain consciousness.
"I'm gonna be sick!" She struggled down from my arms and ran to the porch railing, vomiting into the bushes. Still Darry didn't say anything, not even when I had to make a quick dash to grab Sam before she flipped head first over the railing and landed in her own vomit. She finished and turned around, wiping her moth. She smiled when she saw Darry.
"Oh hey Darry! Didn't see you there, how-" I quickly put my hand over her mouth, muffling the rest of her words. Still Darry didn't say anything. Not even when Two-Bit covered his mouth and looked away to keep from laughing.
Finally he closed his eyes and took 2 deep breaths. I waited for him to explode but instead he stepped aside, pointed inside and said two words.
"Bed. Now." I hastily led Sam inside, closely followed by Two-Bit, while Darry shut the front door then went to his room, shutting his door behind him. Two-Bit and I breathed sighs of relief.
"Man I thought he was gonna go off at you" Two-Bit whispered.
"He's probably saving it for tomorrow when we all have hangovers."
"Great." Two-Bit muttered and settled himself on the couch. I turned to see Sam staring at the ceiling and sighed. "Man she is so wasted." Two-Bit chuckled.
"Tell me about it, I'm gonna put her to bed, night."
"Night kid."
I stopped in the kitchen to get Sam a glass of water then led her to her room. I'd stopped thinking of it as my room. I couldn't really picture life without Sam here so I was happy to let her have it.
"Here drink this, as much of it as you can, it'll make you feel better in the morning." I handed her the glass and she sat on the bed and drank it. Now I didn't know what to do though. The guys always took care of themselves, occasionally when Soda came home drunk I'd take his shirt and shoes off for him but I didn't really wanna undress Sam. Okay well I did but not in this situation. Before I could make a move though her eyes went wide and she ran out of the room and into the bathroom, barely making it to the toilet bowl before being violently sick.
"It's okay, I've got you." I reassured her as I grabbed her hair and gathered it at the back of her neck. I reached up for one of her hair ties from the bathroom sink and did a bad job of tying of her hair up but at least she wouldn't vomit in it.
"You should go," Sam said between gags, "You don't need to see this, I'm a mess." Her voice cracked and I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and rubbed her arm that rested on the toilet bowl.
"I'm not going anywhere. I've been where you are before trust me, I know it's not pleasant."
I grabbed a washcloth and ran it under water before folding it up and lying it across the back of her neck. After a few minutes with no more vomiting I thought we might be safe.
"Are you ready to make a try for bed yet?" When she nodded I helped her up and took most of her weight as I helped her back to the bedroom. I grabbed a bucket and refilled the water glass before going back to her room where she was lying sideways across the bed.
"Hey Sam, sit up, try and take a few sips of water before sleeping. Don't gulp it though!"
She sat up and took a few careful sips before placing the glass on the bedside table.
"Tonight was fun." I took a seat on the bed next to her.
"Do you remember any of it?"
"Some of it, tell me one thing though."
"What?" She moved closer to me.
"I don't remember kissing you tonight." I smiled.
"That's because we didn't kiss."
"I think we should fix that." she whispered then leaned in and kissed me. It was great. I forgot how good kissing her was. We were lying on her bed when I knew we were heading into dangerous waters. The alcohol was impairing my judgment and I doubt she had any sense left in her tonight. I tried to tell myself to stop but couldn't think of a good enough reason why. When her hands started sliding under my shirt I sighed and pulled away.
"We should stop."
"Do we have to?" she whined.
"I'm taking advantage of you. I won't do that!" I sat up and she sighed and sat up with me.
"I wish you wouldn't do that."
"Do what?"
"Get angry about us. About the things we do, the limits we push." I didn't say anything and she sighed. "We don't have to do anything tonight but will you stay with me?"
"Of course, why don't you put your pajamas on and get comfortable." I grabbed one of my old shirts to replace my party smelling one and Sam got up to put her pajamas on. I looked away as she got changed and when she climbed into bed I threw the sheet over us and held her tight.
"You're a special guy, Ponyboy."
"Yeah? How's that do you figure?" I chuckled.
"First you wouldn't take advantage of me."
"Most guys wouldn't."
"And you looked away when I got changed."
"That's just common decency."
"And you wanna hear the most important reason of all." She rolled over to face me, "You kissed me tonight even though I'd just thrown up." I laughed quietly.
"Well you got me there, not many guys would be willing to do that." I kissed her lightly on the nose, "Nothing could stop me from kissing you but right now we should get some sleep. Goodnight."
"Goodnight, Ponyboy." She smiled and rolled over.