Note: I do not own The Outsiders
Chapter 6
Crammed between Two-Bit and Darry in the front seat of his brother's pick-up truck, Ponyboy couldn't get his leg to stop shaking. His fingers were tapping a frantic beat on the books he held in his lap. Heart racing, shallow breathing - at this rate I'm gonna die of a heart attack before we even get to the hospital, he thought morosely.
"Glory, Pony. Will you quit it, you're makin' me nervous," Darry said in exasperation.
"What exactly did the hospital say?" Ponyboy asked.
"I've already told you."
"I know …"
"Three times."
"Humor me."
"Fine - they called and said Johnny's awake and he's askin' for you."
"And that's all they said? You're sure?"
Darry slowed the truck to a stop at a red light.
"Pony …" Darry sighed, resting his forehead against the steering wheel. "We have twenty more minutes before we reach the hospital. Please -"
"I know. I know. I'm sorry. It's just, well, it's been two months, ya know?"
Darry raised his head and reached over, placing a comforting hand on his brother's shoulder. "I know, kiddo."
Pony wanted to explain, but he couldn't put it into words. He was actually afraid to see his best friend. It felt like he was letting Johnny down somehow.
"I don't know what to say. How will he be? I mean, what if -"
Two-Bit interrupted his disjointed ramblings. "Don't ya think it's better to get there first before you start worryin'. Then you can worry all you want if there's anything worth worryin' about. Ya dig?"
They both stared at him in silence - Pony in confusion and Darry in stunned disbelief because it actually, somehow, made sense. The light changed. Darry didn't notice and a horn sounded behind them.
Two-Bit gestured toward the windshield and grinned. "Light's green. Time's a wastin'."
A few miles later, Two-Bit started looking around the truck as though he misplaced something.
"So, Darry, did Soda and Steve not warrant an invitation, or what?" he asked.
"Soda's at work," Darry explained, "and Steve didn't go to school and he won't be able to make it today."
"What do you mean by that? Did you ground him or something?" Pony asked, momentarily distracted from his thoughts about Johnny.
Darry ignored the second part of Pony's question. "I stopped home first before I came to get you guys. I found Steve passed out on our couch. Looked like he'd been there most of the day."
"Passed out?"
"Yeah, he had a run-in with his old man this morning. He didn't handle it real well." Darry told them, feeling a bit uncomfortable, like he was passing along gossip. But they all knew what Steve's relationship with his dad was like - they were always at each others' throats.
The tension between them was constant, arguments springing out of the stupidest things. It didn't help that they both had hair-trigger tempers. Pony didn't think Steve's dad hit him - it wasn't like what Johnny lived with. Sometimes, though, words can hurt just as much as fists.
"So, how did he handle it?" Ponyboy asked, feeling like he needed a crowbar to pry the details from Darry.
"Well, let me put it this way - Two-Bit, I'm afraid you're gonna have to restock the fridge."
"No …" Two-Bit looked stricken.
"'Fraid so."
"Don't worry," Pony said with a huge grin, "we've always got plenty of chocolate milk."
"Kid, that's just about the cruelest thing anyone's ever said to me."
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A/N: Well, at least it's not a cliffhanger :). I promise, I'll get to Johnny in the next chapter.
I just wanted to thank everyone again for the reviews - especially Marauder and the Q and marsonfire, your enthusiasm has been inspiring.