Chapter 21: Closing Distances
In the end, despite Johnny disagreeing with being escorted, the truth was that he had sprained his back and wasn't at all that sure if he could ride his bicycle. So, to excuse himself he had decided that to avoid looking like dogs who ran away with their tail between their legs, the greasers would casually walk their bicycles out of Blue Skies with or without escorts. Very few actually had cared about appearances at that point, but the rest of the greasers had gone with it regardless. Nobody felt like arguing with Johnny.
As the greaser pack walked towards the trailer park with the two townies following closely behind, Duncan found that there was something about what he saw that was a bit … off. Larry had gone to talk with Norton and things had been normal, up until Johnny had exchanged a few words with him. The big black greaser had squirmed his out of the discussion and, for some reason, every other greaser started to distance themselves from the two. There was something about their stern inhibition, stifled whispers, and cautious, expectant glances at Johnny and Larry that was awfully familiar to Duncan.
"How's your sister?" Johnny harrumphed, breaking the silence between him and his escort, who had suddenly gone quiet with the absence of Norton.
"She got engaged recently", the ex-greaser responded somewhat absent-mindedly.
"Really?"
"Uh-huh", Larry said, his expression turning awfully worried for some reason.
"... What, is the guy a douche or somethin'?" Johnny asked.
Larry looked at him and knit his brow, wondering why he was suddenly insisting on having a conversation with him. Not that it was a bad thing, it was just a strange contrast to how he had been at the chem plant. He hadn't seemed to want to breathe the same air as he did, much less casually discuss anything with him.
"Naw. Just that she's lookin' for a new place now, to move in with his fiancée and stuff. That means I gotta save money for a place of my own", he muttered, swiping his nose with his hand.
"Oh" Johnny said plainly.
The silence returned. Larry had no qualms about it, but apparently Johnny did.
"So. What're you doin', hangin' around with dropout scum?" he asked, almost succeeding at sounding nonchalant.
Larry rolled his eyes. Typical Johnny subtlety right there.
"I'm here because of my job, man", he snorted, "Besides, what does it matter who I hang around with?"
"Not cool man. They're all crazies and junkies. The worst of the worst", Johnny said, bitterly.
"What're you, my mother? They ain't that bad. And even if they were I'm not turnin' into one of 'em just by bein' around 'em", Larry grumbled. Johnny cocked his brow and looked at his orange coat and punk-ish jeans suspiciously.
"Have some fuckin' class man", Johnny hemmed, although he had to admit that Larry's current attire suited him relatively well.
"Tsch. You have no idea how privileged you are, bein' able to say that. You can afford bein' picky", Larry retorted, but not too meanly.
"Well, so can you, apparently", Johnny said darkly.
Larry was about to make a counterargument, but he halted. On the other hand, his avoidance of his old friends had reasons that had relatively little to do with him simply not wanting to be with them, but... Touché?
"... Whatever man. You gotta do what you gotta do to get by, and here that means bein' buddies with Edgar. Turnin' 18 means no more child support from my old man and step-dad is gonna pull the plug too. I'll be lucky to get an embarrassing sweater from my mom once every few years when that happens. I need this job", Larry muttered.
He really wanted to change the subject. When you want to do that with Johnny, there was only one sure-fire way of doing it, although Larry didn't want to use it.
"How's Lola?" he asked, reluctantly.
"Haven'tcha heard the rumors?" Johnny asked with an almost scolding tone.
"Johnny, rumors are just that: rumors. I don't care about 'em."
That was a lie, sort of. He did enjoy hearing rumors and even eavesdropping for some juicy ones, but he had an aversion towards certain kinds of rumors. Like, rumors that had anything to do with Lola.
"Well, there's one thing that's true. She won't speak to me, at all. She hardly comes outta the girls' dorm anymore unless it's for classes", Johnny told.
Larry almost froze. He had heard something to that effect, but he had made a conscious effort not to think about it. Furthermore, he simply had written the rumor off as untrue.
"That... That sounds pretty serious, Johnny", he said. He didn't want to admit it, but he was getting worried about Lola. Staying inside four walls all day was very unlike her.
"I know, right? I've thought about breakin' into the girls' dorm just to see if she's okay", Johnny mused.
Larry opened his mouth to say something, but suddenly his words stuck to his throat. He realized that, just then, he had thought about suggesting that he himself should try to talk to her. He was falling back to his old habit of taking all of Johnny's and Lola's problems upon himself despite having sworn not to ever do it again. He shuddered; he couldn't let that happen, not now. Not ever.
"Uhm... Oh hey, wonder why all the other guys are so far away?" Larry suddenly prattled and stopped, looking at the greasers over the gap that they had created between them.
"Hey, guys! Pick up the pace, will ya!" he yelled with a disgruntled voice.
Johnny stopped too, and looked at Larry. He could tell that the he had just made an escape from an uncomfortable subject. He hadn't ever managed to get Lola to talk sincerely about what exactly had happened between Larry and her: she knew that Johnny didn't buy the explanation that it was all just a prank gone wrong and despite knowing that not even Johnny would let something like that slide, she had refused to tell him. "Figure it out by yourself" had been all she had said, even after he had gotten her very drunk. What on earth was he supposed to gather from any of this?
The rest of the walk went on with the greasers going together in a solid line and Larry and the two townies following closely behind. After crossing the bridge leading to New Coventry, all the greasers that were able mounted their bicycles and pedaled away, leaving Johnny to walk to his home, which was nearby. Leon, Duncan, and Larry were left by themselves.
"I guess I'll just go to my sister's place", Larry muttered idly. As he mounted his bicycle, Leon nodded and turned around, leaving. Duncan, however, had other thoughts.
"Hey, uh. Larry. I'm still kinda fired up and could use a walk to cool myself down. Can I come with you?" he carefully asked.
Larry looked at him inquisitively. Duncan was one of those guys that didn't care for Larry's company because they had a major grudge against Bullworth students, especially greasers, so his request was sort of surprising.
"Uh, sure. Why not?" he responded and dismounted his bicycle.
As he was bound to find out very soon, he and Duncan had a lot of things in common.