Steve stepped back from the blow. Any other time, his hot-headedness would be pushing him to throw a punch back, possibly start the fight into something more. That couldn't happen right now though. Not only because it was Darry, but because the reason they were here was Steve's fault. He was accepting that.
Steve brought his hand up to his face to soothe the ache. Darry may not fight as much as the rest of the gang, but he knew how to put his all in a punch when he needed to. Once he lowered his hand, there was a trickle of blood that came from his nose. "I deserved that."
"You deserve a lot more than that," Darry muttered.
"I-I know..."
"What the hell happened?" Darry barked.
Steve jumped. He had heard that tone in Darry's voice before, but not towards him. He had seen Darry angry before, but not like this. He had seen Darry wanting to strangle people, but not when he was face-to-face with them. This was a new Darry Curtis and Steve didn't blame him one bit. He just didn't know how to handle it. There was no right way to explain what happened. There was no way he could word it and reverse the rage into calm. Steve was terrified what Soda would be like.
"Tell me what happened now."
Steve wiped at his nose again, still seeing blood on his hand. "Ponyboy came by the DX. I guess he had been at the library and decided to get a Pepsi. Soda got off work early, so he wasn't there. I got the Pepsi for him and he just stayed there. He hung out in the garage with me and watched me work on some cars. He started asking me about drag races..."
"You took him to a drag race?" Darry asked.
"No, no," Steve defended himself, like it mattered. "We went to this old lot at the other side of town. No one was there, so I figured I'd take him on a joy ride. I-I-I'm usually...I've always been so good with cars. I've never had an accident before."
"What exactly did you do?"
"I was driving real fast, doing donuts, showing him other tricks. I...I lost control. We slammed right into a tree. It's never happened to me before. I've had shit happen at drag races, but not like this. I've never, ever..."
"You're not invincible, Steve! You're..." Darry couldn't find the words to say. He was too angry, but didn't want to waste all his energy on Steve. He had to get back to Ponyboy. "What were you thinking?!"
"I..."
"You weren't. And the disappointing part about that is you usually are the one who thinks and uses his head."
Steve's mouth opened, but he stayed quiet.
"I depend on you guys to help me with my brothers," Darry said with a softer tone. "After Dally helped him run away with Johnny, I thought we'd all be a little more careful."
Steve didn't even try having a tough expression on his face. The words stung too much. Steve's father could use similar words towards him, or even worse, but it wouldn't phase Steve one bit. This was different. Darry being angry and disappointed in him was stabbing him over and over again.
"You're telling Soda what you did to his little brother."
"Darry, please..." Steve trailed off. He couldn't imagine what Soda would say.
"No! Don't say anything else. You do not deserve my sympathy or mercy right now," Darry turned for the door. "You better damn pray he makes it."
Darry marched down the hall and back into Ponyboy's room. "What'd the doctor say?" Soda asked.
"Huh? Oh, yeah. He said that they have Ponyboy induced into a coma."
"What does that mean?"
"They gave him something to make him sleep. They needed to relax his body," Darry explained.
"I guess that's good?" Soda questioned. "What did they say about his leg or anything we can't see?"
Darry shrugged. "We won't know much else until he wakes up." Darry watched as Soda leaned back in his chair, biting his fingernail. He didn't like the situation he was about to put Soda in, but he needed to know the truth. By tomorrow morning, it would finally hit Soda that he saw Steve at the hospital but never found out why. It was better he found out now while his head was still all over the place for Ponyboy. "You need to go talk to Steve before he goes home."
"Huh?" Soda asked confused.
"He brought Ponyboy here and you need to go talk to him about why."
"Oh," Soda slowly stood from his seat. "Okay. I guess I've been so worried about Pony, I wasn't even trying to figure out why Steve was here." Darry's mood wasn't helping matters. He didn't say anything else to Soda, he just stared at the wall. Soda was getting the idea he wasn't going to be happy with Steve's involvement. Then again, maybe Darry was just worried sick about their youngest brother. Soda walked out of the room, finding Steve slumped in a chair, towel to his nose.
"What happened to you?" Soda asked, seeing a slight amount of blood on the towel.
"Nothing," Steve quickly answered, tossing the towel onto the chair next to him. The flow had stopped, but it was obvious where it had come from.
"Did Darry do that?" Soda quietly asked. Steve didn't answer. He just looked to the floor, foot tapping. Although he was nervous to, Soda took a seat next to his best friend. "Why did Darry do that? What happened to Ponyboy?"
Steve shook his head. "I can't..."
Soda looked away from Steve and stared straight ahead. His mood instantly switched. It didn't matter if this had been caused by a Soc, another greaser, or Steve. The situation would all be treated the same by Soda. You don't hurt his little brother. "Tell me, Steve. What did you do to my brother?"
Steve turned to Soda with a shocked expression. "I didn't do anything. It wasn't anything...on purpose. You don't think I'd ever intentionally hurt the kid."
"Don't start this defending bullshit right now. My brother is in there in a coma right now, so start talking. Tell me what happened."
Steve swallowed the lump in his throat. "Ponyboy came to the DX after you were gone. He was watching me in the garage and...I don't know, he was asking me all sorts of things about cars and races and shit. I got...I got a little excited and wanted to show him some tricks."
"Tricks? Driving tricks?"
"Yeah," Steve let out a deep breath, "he got in my car and I showed him how I handle the car in races and sharp turns and shit. Then we got out of control and crashed."
Soda was quiet for a minute. Tears started coming to his eyes. "You what?"
"Soda, I..."
Before Steve could begin his plea for forgiveness, the double doors opened. Soda and Steve turned to see who was coming in now. It wasn't another patient. It was three police officers. The two greasers didn't think much of it until they watched the officers slow their pace, approaching where they were sitting.
"Steve, we're taking you in," the first officer stated.
"What?" Steve asked, looking at Soda, but he didn't seem the least bit concerned.
"We give you warning after warning about drag racing..."
"I wasn't drag racing," Steve argued.
"No, but you were driving recklessly, crashed your car, and may have killed someone."
Soda gulped at that last part of the statement. His best friend may have killed his little brother. Even if he didn't, who knows what state Pony would be in once he woke up. If he woke up. He may not wake up.
"But I...Soda, come on," Steve begged, "Help me out please. I've been jailed once. I can't go back there."
"Stand up," the officer said, reaching back for his handcuffs.
Steve started rocking back and forth, trying to think of a way out of this. There wasn't anything he could do though. He was caught. He messed up big this time. "Damn it!" Steve yelled, hitting the chair.
"Stand up now or we'll..."
"I'm up!" Steve leaped up from his chair. He turned around and the officer yanked his hands behind him. The metal tightened against his wrists. Steve glanced down and saw Soda looking at the floor.
"Let's go." The officers began leading Steve out of the hospital. Steve continued begging for mercy from Soda.
"Soda, please come bail me out. Please! I'm so sorry! I'm worried to death about the kid too. Please, Soda please..."
Soda didn't watch. He waited until Steve's voice disappeared. Darry stood outside Ponyboy's room, having seen the police arrest Steve. "Are you okay little buddy?"
"No," Soda shook his head. "But I can't worry about that right now. Are we getting ready for bed?"
"Yeah," Darry nodded. "I know you'll say no, but you don't have to stay here. You can go sleep in your bed and come back tomorrow."
"I won't sleep well if Ponyboy's not there."
Darry nodded. "I figured."