I woke up the next morning in the vacant lot. I had gone there after an attempt to go home, only to hear my folks screaming at each other. I could have stayed with Dally. He would have found a place for us to stay, but I chose to go home instead. An image of Dally's face flashed across my mind as I remembered how he told me that I was stupid to want to go back to my house. I wondered if he ever wanted to go back to his house or if he just liked to sleep wherever he could. I didn't even know that much about his folks. Just that Dally claims that his father doesn't care about what he does. I wondered if that was true.
"Hey, Johnny."
I looked up only to find Steve sitting down next to me. He was wearing his DX shirt and holding the hat in his hand.
"Hey," I replied.
"Did you sleep out here?" He asked. "Glory Johnny, it's got to be getting cold out at night."
"I manage," I said with a shrug. "I was going to try to sleep at home in my own bed, but I heard my folks fighting before I even reached the house."
"You know you don't have to stay out here," Steve told me. "You can stay with any of us. There's no reason for you to sleep outside in the cold."
It had occurred to me that I could go to the Curtis's, but it was late when I had tried to go home. I wasn't going to invite myself over in the middle of the night.
"Sometimes, I wish I could give your folks a piece of my mind," Steve said. "Just once, I'd like to tell them what I think. Don't you ever get mad at them, Johnny? Even just a little?"
"I get mad at them," I answered. "All the time. It isn't fair that they drink and fight all the time, but there's not much I can do about it."
"I was talking about how they treat you," Steve replied. "Surely, you can't go through that and not be a little angry."
"If I allowed myself to always be mad at them, I wouldn't be any better than they are," I said. "And I wouldn't be any better than Dally either. It can't be that much fun to be mad at the world."
Steve glanced at me in surprise. "I thought you admired, Dally."
"I do, but that doesn't mean I have to be like him. It's not my idea of a good time to break laws and end up in the cooler. To be honest, I hope I never have to see the inside of the cooler."
"I hope you never have to see it either," Steve told me. "It's not a great place to be."
I remembered that Steve had spent the night in the cooler not too long ago. I wasn't sure why he had been brought to the station, and he didn't talk about it. All I knew was that he wasn't proud of getting locked up like Dally usually is.
We arrived at the DX and the only worker there waved at us. "Hey Steve, ready for another fun day?"
"Hey George," Steve said. He turned to me. "I should go clock in. Do you want a soda?"
"Nah, I'll let you go to work," I replied.
Steve nodded. "Well, I'll see you later. Thanks for walking with me. It gets boring walking by myself."
I grinned. It was nice spending some time with Steve, even if it was for a few minutes. Usually when we were together, someone else from the gang was there too.