"You feelin okay now?" Dallas asked Johnny, plopping down onto the bed where the younger greaser laid, snuggled under the covers.
"I guess." Johnny shrugged.
"Gotta get ya in to see the Doctor, Johnny Cake." Dally replied, laying on his side and looking into Johnny's sweet face.
"I don't need a doctor, Dal." Johnny insisted. "I'm already feelin better. Just forget it. We don't have the money anyway."
"If you get sick again tomorrow I'm takin ya in, got that?" Dally told him. "But, I guess as long as your better for good now I won't make ya go."
"Good." Johnny replied, nuzzling down into his pillow.
Dallas just kind of laid there and grinned at him for awhile, looking into dark, chocolate colored eyes.
"What?" Johnny asked with a yawn.
Dallas just shrugged and leaned in for a kiss, pressing his lips against Johnny's own gently.
"Lose the pants." He told Johnny.
"Dal don't..." Johnny grinned, trying not to laugh while Dally kissed down his neck, tickling the sensitive skin.
"Come on..." Dally tempted him, picking a long, gangly dark leg up and wrapping it around his own hip. He then reached between their crotches and popped the button on Johnny's jeans.
"Be nice." Johnny told him, while Dally yanked the clothing from his body and discarded his own as well, tossing it all into the hamper in the corner of the room.
"I'm never nice." Dallas grinned mischievously and joined their mouths together once more.
Johnny should have felt better being wrapped in his lover's strong arms, but his mind was still plagued with fears and worries.
...
"Soda? I'm hungry." Pony whined through his brother's door.
"Beat it kid!" Came a snarl from inside.
"Oh...Oooh...Oh! Stevie yes..." Soda's pants came shortly after.
"Never mind. Lost my appetite." Pony sighed, walking away from the door sitting back down on the couch.
"Are we gettin' supper or not?" Two Bit asked him, swigging off his beer bottle and keeping his eyes glued to a rerun of Mickey Mouse.
"No." Pony replied, voice clearly showing how much he loved the harsh reality of it. "They're to busy humpin'."
"Well Ponyboy Curtis, that's some language." Two Bit chuckled. "Better hope Big Daddy don't find out you been sayin stuff like that."
"Quit callin' him that. It bugs me." Pony groaned, sinking back into the couch and cracking open a Pepsi.
Johnny's bedroom door creaked open slowly and the dark skinned greaser stepped out, rubbing his eyes.
"Hey there, sleepin' beauty." Two Bit greeted him with a warm smile. "Did prince charmin' have the right fix for ya?"
"I'm hungry." Johnny yawned as Dally came up behind him.
"I'll take ya to the Dingo. Come on, get a coat." He told his younger lover, pecking his cheek as he walked past him.
"Can I come too?" Pony asked hopefully. "Soda forgot to make me somethin."
"Got cash?" Dally asked, throwing on his brown leather jacket.
"Yeah a little." Pony replied.
"Fine then, come on before they close." Dallas told him, taking Johnny's hand and leading him outside.
"I'm taggin' along too." Two Bit announced, following Ponyboy out the door.
The Dingo Diner was nearly vacant by the time they got there. Only a couple of sweethearts were still hanging around. The nightly double was playing some big hit that night and everybody in town was dying to see it.
"What's the smell?" Johnny asked, crinkling his nose up in disgust when they entered the diner.
"It's coffee, Johnny." Two Bit replied. "I thought you liked it?"
"Coffee?" Johnny asked, face still scrunched into a yucky expression. "That can't be coffee. Yuck! Can we just get somethin to go? I can't stand this smell."
"Yeah, sure. Take him to the car, Two." Dallas told Two Bit. "I'll get the food."
"Come on, Kiddo." Two Bit told Johnny, putting an arm around his shoulder and walking him back outside, Johnny holding his nose the whole way.
Ponyboy made a face at them as they left. He didn't get it. What had gotten into Johnny lately.
"Johnny okay?" He asked Dallas while they scanned the menu over.
"Yeah. Why?" Dally asked him, stepping up to the counter and telling the waitress what they wanted.
"He just seems a little...I don't know...different, I guess." Pony replied with a shrug.
"He's just been a little sick." Dallas assured him, stepping back to wait after ordering. "Give it a couple days. He'll be fine."
"What if he's not?" Ponyboy asked him then.
"Hey quit buggin' me about it would ya?" Dallas told him. "I already told ya Johnny's fine."
"Sorry..." Pony apologized, quieting down and waiting for the food to be brought out so they could leave. He didn't think Dallas knew what he was talking about. Something was definitely up with Johnny.
...
"This isn't the way home." Ponyboy told Johnny as they walked down the sidewalk through town from school a few days later.
"I know." Johnny told him. "We ain't goin' home yet."
"Ain't goin' home yet?" Pony asked, confused, as he tried his hand at balancing on the edge of the sidewalk while walking along.
"Nope. We're stoppin' by the Dingo." Johnny told him. "I want a sundae."
"Johnny Darry'll get mad at us havin' ice cream before dinner. You know he don't like that." Ponyboy warned his buddy, hopping down from the ledge to walk beside him.
"I don't care." Johnny replied. "I'm hungry. I'm gonna eat."
That was definitely strange. Johnny never broke any of Darry's rules. Not even the dumb ones.
"You okay, Johnny?" Pony asked as they approached the diner.
"Fine. Why?" Johnny asked him, opening the door and walking inside to wait in line.
"Just askin." Pony shrugged. He knew Johnny was lying. As for why? That was a mystery.
...
"Johnny, what are you wearing?" Pony asked when his buddy climbed into Buck's old car for school around a week or two later.
Instead of his tight black tee, Johnny was clothes in one of Darry's white work shirts. It was baggy and hung around his petite figure like a large blanket.
"My clothes are in the laundry." Johnny told him. "Dar said I could borrow a shirt."
Dallas opened the driver's side door and climbed in behind the wheel.
"Johnny what's with the nightgown?" He asked his lover.
"Dal, come on..." Johnny muttered, looking down.
"Alright, alright, I won't ask." Dallas sighed, starting up the car and muttering something about dirty little secrets to himself and how they were nothing but trouble. Annoying trouble at that.
Pony sighed and looked over at Johnny, studying him. He'd been acting so off lately. What was his deal?
"Belly hurtin?" Pony asked, watching Johnny feel and poke at his lower abdomen.
"No. Just tryin to fix this damn tablecloth." Johnny replied, smoothing the way to big shirt down with both hands.
Pony knew he was lying. The question was why?
TBC