Two-Bit POV

I could've swore I heard Darry say something like, "it's the good kind of special." Before I finally dozed off into an undisturbed sleep for what felt like hours. And it damn felt good.

oOoOoOo

I woke up slowly in pain and agony. My throat felt worse and I was trying for all of my life to hold back the urge of being sick right in the middle of the floor, again. I groaned and slowly sat up, propping myself up with my sore and stiff hand. I squinted and looked around the room I was in and remembered I was at the Curtis'. Darry is so kind, I thought.

I licked my super dry lips and smacked them once or twice before I swung my legs over the side of the bed (couch) and wrapped the blanket I was using over me like a burrito; head, body, everything. I slowing and painfully made my way to where I heard Darry making breakfast. I walked into the dining room and saw Ponyboy reading a book and… Sodapop! He was back.

"Hey Two-Bit!" Soda gleamed happy as he could be. Pony looked up and smiled, to which I smiled and nodded. I couldn't really move my hands unless I wanted to unwrap myself from my big blanket of warmth; which I didn't really want to.

"Hey Sodapop…" Soda stared at me as did Pony and I stood in surprise at the sound of my voice. It was officially gone. I tried to clear my throat but that didn't do anything.

"Ya know Two, just try not to talk…" Pony suggested. I nodded in agreement and fumbled into the kitchen. It was pretty bright and shtuff when I saw Darry by the stove making eggs.

"Hey, hey, hey Two-Bit! How ya doin?" He yelled as he walked over to me and slung his arms around my shoulders. Just then, I heard the sound of something crunching on the floor and I turned around to see Sodapop leaning on two crutches with a white cast on his leg. I had forgotten that he broke his leg.

"I wouldn't bother having him talk today Dar. He's completely lost his voice. It sound horrible." Soda implied with a little too much emphasis on his sentence.

I stared at the cast and said in my hoarse and completely "horrible" dried up voice, "Why'd you get a white cast? And where's Steve?" Darry puckered his lips and pouted.

"You'll see why I got a white cast, and Steve said he was gonna go hang out by the lot and come back here for the night. I haven't seen him since he dropped me off last night."

"He didn't spend the night?" I asked, my throat beginning to hurt.

"Wow, you do sound bad," He put his hand on my forehead and kept it there for a second. Then he ran it through my hair that needed brushing badly. "And you're still hot… you wanna take a cool bath?"

I shook my head no. "Can I have something to drink?" I asked.

"Sure, just try not to strain your voice too much," I looked at Darry as if he was a Harvard Geek. "Don't talk, kay?" He said as he put an arm around me. I looked up at him and smiled and nodded like I've been doing for the past day or two. "Let's go back to the living room."

I followed Darry out of the kitchen, still snuggled in my burrito blanket. When we got to the kitchen, Pony was still at the dining table reading his book. I took one look at him and thought everything was okay, until I studied him more closely. He was in sweatpants and a hoodie with socks… the same ones he was wearing yesterday. His face, his eyes were all watery and he had bags under his eyes. His nose was a cherry red and he was constantly sniffing. His lips looked very dry; like mine. Me and Pony were just about the same when it came to appearances at that point in time.

I slipped out from Darry's arm and walked to the table and sat down in one of the chair. "Hey Pony," I said barely which made him look up. He looked worse face to face. "You okay?"

He seemed to tense up a little, like he was trying to hide something. "I'm fine why?" He sounded okay to me. Looking okay? That's a different story.

Darry stood behind me and bent down to Pony's level and stared at him. "You do look kinda pale Pony… did you get enough sleep last night?"

Pony and Darry were not face to face, like they were having a staring contest. Pony shrugged. "I guess, I don't know. I had the whole bed to myself, which made me kind of uncomfortable, but whatever…" Pony tried to look back down at his book and ignore Darry, but Darry snapped his fingers in his face.

"I'm not done Pone. Do you feel okay? You look awful…" Pony scoffed, closed his book and got up. Soda was occupying the couch that was now folded back into the couch as the chair was occupied by pillows and blankets.

"Soda, did you fold the couch up yourself?" I asked quietly.

He strained to hear me, then nodded. "Yeah, why did you wanna get back in bed?" I shook my head.

"Nah, it's okay." Pony tried to walk away, but Darry snapped again.

"Now hold on a minute pretty boy, get back here."

"Why? I'm perfectly fine! Darry, you need to stop worrying about me so much!" Soda cleared his throat.

"Pony, listen to Darry. He knows what he's doing." He butted in. Pony turned around and faced Darry who put his hand on his cheek.

"Wow Pone, you're kinda warm. Why don't you take off the hoodie?" Pony refused and shook his head.

"Hot?! It's freezing in here! At least Two-Bit can agree with me! Right?"

I stared at Pony, barely hearing him since my ears were clogged. Everyone stared back at me and I sniffed. "What? I'm sick!" I said, which hurt my throat.

Before anyone else could answer, the front door was swung open, and Steve came stumbling in; reeking of alcohol (which a craved so much) and a goofy grin on his face.

I then noticed something… Darry never got me anything to drink!