I woke up in the middle of the night having to go to the bathroom. I rolled over to look at my clock to check to see if I really had to get up now, or if I could just hold it until morning. I opened my eyes, but my clock wasn't there. I shot up in bed and started looking around the room. I didn't know where I was for a minute. Then I remembered that I was in Darry's bed not my own. I found the clock they had in their room and it read 4:17am. I would have to get up. That would be too long to hold it. As I started to push the blankets back, I realized how cold it was. Darry's bed was pushed up against the window and so I looked out and saw that it was snowing! It's a Christmas miracle! I wanted to wake up Soda to tell him, but just then he rolled over and let out a sigh and I didn't want to disturb him.
As I sat looking around the room, I noticed how strange it was being in a different bed and room. The shadows on the walls were all different and even though I had slept in this room before it felt all wrong. For some reason this realization started to freak me out a bit. My heart started racing a bit and I just wanted to be in the comfort of my own room. Everything was different in here. I tried to calm myself down, I really wasn't sure why I was getting worked up, but decided that I just needed to go to the bathroom and maybe get a drink of water.
I got up and did just that. As I was leaving the bathroom though, I heard something hit the house. It was probably the wind blowing something around with the snow, but since I was already a bit worked up and freaked out I started panicking a bit. I just wanted to get back in my bed and quick! I ran to my room and was about to jump into bed, when I saw a person in my bed already! I let out a little scream. Darry shot up from his sleep. He looked around the room and his eyes landed on me. I realized my mistake and remembered once again that I hadn't been sleeping in here, but I was so worked up and scared already and my heart was pounding so hard that I started to cry.
Darry sat up straighter clearly confused but he managed to ask "what's going on Ponyboy? Are you ok? What's happened?" I sat on the edge of my bed and tried to get my breathing back under control, but I knew the shock of seeing someone in my bed after I was freaked out was going to make my stomach churn. I have this problem. When I get really worked up or upset or scared, I tend to get sick. Like the gross kind of sick. Ever since I was little if I got too scared from something or got real upset and cried too much I would get sick all over the place. The doctors said it was just a fight or flight response that was caused from when I was a baby. I used to spit up a lot as a baby and had trouble keeping things down especially when I cried. At least that's what I was told. I obviously don't remember. The doctor always said I would grow out of it, but that hasn't happened yet. Mostly I just try not to get too worked up and it's fine.
Darry knows all about this as he has seen it happen many times. He immediately got out of bed and grabbed the trash can right by my desk just in case. "Ponyboy" he said very slowly and quietly "breath kiddo. Stop crying. There's no need to cry. You're fine. Sorry I scared you. I can go get Mom or Dad if you want" I shook my head. I didn't want to wake them up. I felt stupid enough with Darry here. I didn't want to start waking up the whole house. I willed myself to breath and calm down. I'm a tough Greaser. Greasers don't cry or get scared at night. After a few breaths I calmed down and my stomach settled. Darry seemed to notice that I wasn't going to spew and set the trashcan back down and sat back in the bed.
"What was that all about?" he asked me. "Sorry. I got confused after going to the bathroom and this storm freaked me out and I forgot you were in my bed." Darry just nodded seeming to understand. "well where do you want to sleep now?" he seemed unsure what to do now. I just shrugged. "can we just stay here?" I asked.
He looked at me like I was crazy for a second but then seemed to nod. "sure" and he laid back down in bed. I got in after him and shuffled all the way over to the side. I wanted Darry to have as much room as possible, but I didn't want to be alone with the wind blowing into the house like it was. I've always been kinda freaked out by bad weather. Especially wind. I'm scared of tornado's especially. I heard Darry breathing lightly like he had fallen asleep, but I just laid there for awhile.
I must have drifted off because next thing I knew I was being shaken awake. "What the heck Ponyboy?" It was Soda standing over me. I glanced at the clock. 6:38am. Still way too early to get up on Christmas when we all had the day off. I gave Soda a confused look. What was he doing here waking me up?
"Was our sleep over not good enough? You had to have one with Darry instead?" He had a smile and was teasing, but I could also tell that he was kind of upset by it. Soda didn't like to be left out. I shifted over so I could look at him better "it was a mistake Soda I swear! I went to the bathroom and got confused and came back here. Then I was scared by the storm so Darry just stayed." I tried to explain.
Soda looked hard at me for a second and then opened his mouth to respond. "Well scoot over. It's freezing out here and I want to be part of the fun" Soda gave my shoulder a nudge. I started to scoot in the bed and Soda slid in. This finally woke up Darry. He gave an annoyed grunt "what on earth is going on now?"
"I just wanted to join in on the bed party is all! Not fair to leave me in a room all by myself on Christmas. Look we will all be up in like an hour. It's freezing out there anyways so this is better." Soda replied. "Whatever." Darry said rolling over on his side to face away from us. Soda mockingly copied Darry's face and gave a stern expression which made me giggle. "Hey you two! Stay quiet. Let me sleep for at least another hour" Darry called to us. This just made Soda and I giggle more. Darry kicked me which pushed me into Soda and almost knocked him off the bed. Soda started laughing harder at that.
This was all too much for Darry so he started moving like he was going to get out of bed and leave. "Darry stop! We will be good. We are going to sleep right now aren't we Pon?" I gave a nod. Darry laid back down and sighed. "I'm out of here if you don't quiet down" he told us. Soda with his usual mischievous smile just replied "no you won't leave. You have a nice warm bed here and it's freezing out there and your bed will be frozen at this point" Soda let out another chuckle and I joined in. "Shut it" was the only response we got from Darry. We then finally quieted down and both Darry and Soda fell back asleep.
As I was drifting off I wondered what Mom and Dad would think when they found us all in my bed together. We used to sleep like this sometimes when we were really little, back when the only beds in the house were this one and Mom and Dads. Soda and Darry used to share it growing up when I was a baby and slept with Mom and Dad, but sometimes I would crawl in with my brothers. We were so much smaller then that you could probably fit a few more kids in it. We actually had one time when Mom had to watch Two-Bit for a night. Laying there I realized we were probably too big for this now. It was a very tight fit. Darry took up almost the whole bed himself usually. He had to stay laying on his side just to fit and I was very squished in the middle. It looked like Soda was half falling off the other side too. He was also laying on his side and had thrown his arm over me like he was protecting me. I think he understood more of what I was saying when I told him why I was in here earlier. The wind was also still blowing and he knew I didn't like that. It might have been a tight fit, but laying in between my brothers while the wind blew outside on a Christmas morning was the best I have ever felt. I was able to drift off feeling grateful to have them with me.