Chapter 13: Club Scene
Danny continued to chat with Meagan, but he felt he wasn't getting anywhere at a certain point and time. Then he remembered that he would have to call his dad. They would have no idea of where to look for him.
"Meagan. Can I use your phone?"
"Yeah. It's in the kitchen."
Danny walked into the kitchen and searched for a telephone. There was one sitting on the table near the window. He picked it up and dialed his uncle's cell-phone.
"Hello."
"Ponyboy. It's Danny."
"Danny! Where are you? Are you two okay?"
"We're in a city hours away from Tulsa."
"I'm glad you're okay. When we got to the police station, there were millions of squad cars there. They were looking for you and Maria----and-----"
"Hello. Ponyboy. You're breaking up!"
"H---He----Hello?"
"I'm still here."
"Okay. Before the phone breaks off, we're going to need to know exactly where you are."
"Hold on. I'm at someone's house. She can give you directions."
Danny called Meagan into the kitchen and asked her to give directions to her uncle. She accepted and took the receiver and began talking. Danny didn't see any point in just standing there, so he walked back into the front of the house. Maria was standing there staring into space. He looked at her with confusion for a moment and then called out her name.
"Huh?"
"You okay?"
"I'm fine. Just thinking about stuff."
"About what?"
"Um….nothing."
Danny knew she was hiding something. She always has a long pause before she says nothing, when there was something she wanted to keep to herself. He desperately wanted to know, but didn't want to get into her business. If they had been still seeing each other, he would have made here reveal her secret. But this time, he didn't even bother. Meagan hung up the phone and walked into the front of the room.
"Did my uncle get the directions?" asked Danny immediately.
"Mm-Hm. They said they should be here by tomorrow night. Depends on your uncle's driving."
"Soda, right?"
"Yeah."
By that time, Tony had walked back into the house. He didn't have his paintball things with him and he was dressed in a green t-shirt, but still had on his jeans covered with paint.
"Done?" asked Meagan.
"Yeah. You can go ahead now."
Meagan picked up her bag filled with paintball equipment and walked outside. After she was out of sight, Maria asked,
"What were you outside doing?"
"Letting out my C02 and putting up my stuff. Meagan was going to change clothes, so I had to put up my stuff first."
"So what do y'all do around here?" asked Danny.
"Well. Sometimes at night, we go to the club. We can sneak in."
"I remember that club. Me and Maria snuck in there last night. We would have stayed, but Maria was complaining."
"I wasn't complaining. You know I didn't like those types of places."
"Are you two related?" asked Tony.
"No!" they both said at the same time, Maria a little louder than Danny.
"Sorry. So you want to go to that club tonight. Me and the other boys are meeting there anyway."
"I'll go," said Danny. "I'm a little dirty, but I think I'll manage."
"It's just your shirt," said Tony. "I've got another one just like that. C'mon upstairs."
………..
That night, Tony and Danny walked out of the house.
"Your grandmother's a heavy sleeper," mentioned Danny.
"Which is why we're good at sneaking out."
"Meagan's not coming?"
"Nah. She said she was tired."
Danny was hoping that she would come. He would have bought her a drink or something. That's only if she drank though. He hadn't been in a club in a long time. Not since he was in Atlanta. If there was a club in Tulsa, he had never heard or been to it. Jack probably knew, but neither he nor Alex ever bothered to ask.
They met up with Tony's friends and snuck into the back of the club, like they always do. As they were in the club, Danny found himself getting bored quickly. He first started looking for girls, but all of them seemed nasty or ugly.
He sat by the bar. Tony had lent him some money for the bar, so he started to think while taking shots. He was now starting to miss Maria again. There was no other girl like her. He had gone out with several girls, majority of them were rough or spoiled. But she was perfect. They had a real good relationship going on. What could have made her exaggerate about that time when a girl pushed up on him? Danny felt himself getting dizzy after he took a large gulp of Cristal. His head was starting to swivel and suddenly, people started moving around quickly and there was crowd. He felt that if he moved that his head would fall off, so he stayed put. It was obvious that people were fighting. Then a loud sound rang throughout the place. There were people running, getting trampled, and some were just getting on the floor. He realized slowly that the loud sound was a gun shot. Someone had shot up the club.
Danny knew that if he stuck around, he would take a bullet. And there was no need for that to happen again. He scooted off the chair but couldn't hold his balance and collapsed on the floor. He raised his head showing his chinky eyes.
"Danny!"
Before he could find out who called his name, he passed out.