(11:45 AM)
(OSU Medical Center)
It took Bexley about 45 minutes to get to the hospital on foot. She walked up to the reception desk and asked to see Johnny.
She got into an argument with the nurses about seeing Johnny.
"Nurse, it's alright," the doctor said as he appeared. Bexley looked over at him as he placed a hand on her shoulder.
"He's been asking for her as well as two other boys," the doctor said, knowing that it was important that she'd see him.
"Yeah, my brother and our friend. They're gonna be here after seein' a movie," Bexley clarified with a nod.
"Alright, 3rd floor 7th room," The nurse said after putting some thought into it.
"Thank you," Bexley said. She turned away from the nurse and doctor and went up to the 3rd floor thanks to the elevator.
(Third Floor)
Bexley felt her hands starting to shake when she approached Johnny's room. She goes inside Johnny's room and felt her heart breaking.
Johnny laid on his back, laying completely still. "Johnny?" Bexley said quietly, walking up to his bed side.
Johnny heard Bexley's voice right next to him and he opened his eyes.
He managed to smile a bit when he saw the girl he had feelings for. "Hey..." He said raspilly.
"How're you feelin'?" Bexley asked him, gently brushing his hair back.
"Could... be better... How're you guys doin'?" Johnny asked her. "We're doin' fine. Two-Bit and Pony will be here soon to see you," Bexley answered, feeling a string of tears starting to rise in her blue eyes.
Johnny noticed this. "Bex, y-you okay?" Johnny asked. "Y-Yeah, I'm okay. Just seein' you in here like this... it's breaking my heart. Besides, everyone knows about us," Bexley admitted.
Johnny would've laughed if he wasn't hurting so much. "I had a feelin' they would figure it out," he said.
"Yeah..." Bexley replied, wiping her eyes from the tears. "Shoot... I'm sorry for cryin' on ya. I didn't mean to do it," she admitted, closing her eyes.
"Hey... you don't have to be sorry, Bex. It's okay," Johnny assured, looking at her with pleading eyes. He wanted to touch her face, but he was incapable of doing so.
Then, Bexley leaned down and kissed Johnny this time. It lasted for a few seconds before they pulled apart.
They stared into each other's eyes for what felt like an eternity. That was until Two-Bit's voice broke through.
"Well, what do we have here? Gotta say that you two are adorable together," Two-Bit said as a joke.
Bexley's face became completely red the second she heard his voice. Her eyes became big and she gritted her teeth.
She spun around so fast that she was sure she'd get whiplash. "D-Did you guys see...?" she asked, unable to finish what she was going to say.
"Every bit of it, Bex. You two are absolutely adorable," Two-Bit teased, walking over and elbowed her in the ribs plalyfully.
Johnny blushed a little bit too.
"How're they treating you, kid?" Two-Bit asked Johnny.
Johnny tried talking again, but it looked like it hurt him just to do that, even when he was talking to Bexley.
"Hey, uh, they got your picture in the paper for bein' a hero. Look at that," Two-Bit said, pulling out the paper from his leather jacket, which he wasn't wearing.
He showed Johnny the paper, making the injured greaser smile.
"Yeah, that's tuff enough, huh?" Johnny said raspily.
Johnny looked very pale and frail the more they looked at him. Bexley felt her heart break even more.
"Guess you can look at it later. You want anything?" Two-Bit said, putting the newspaper down.
"A book, man..." Johnny wheezed. Ponyboy sat down on a hospital chair. Bexley decided to stay standing.
"I think he wants a book of Gone with the Wind, so we can read it to him," Ponyboy said, looking up at Two-Bit.
"No, there's a gift shop downstairs, I'll get it," Two-Bit said with a nod, walking passed the two.
"Thanks, Two," Bexley said as Two-Bit walked out of the door. Two-Bit gave them a two-fingered salute before dissapearing completly.
For a moment, things were quiet between the trio.
"Dally's gonna be okay, Johnny," Bexley assured him.
"Yeah, Darry and I are getting along real good now," Ponyboy added.
They have been buddies with Johnny since they were little kids much. Like how Steve and Soda had been friends since grade school.
Suddenly, Johnny felt a wave of pain shoot up his back, making his groan and squeeze his eyes shut.
"Johnny!" Bexley cried. "Are you okay?" Ponyboy asked, starting to stand up.
Both siblings felt tears rise in his eyes.
"Oh, yeah... it just hurts sometimes. Usually don't. I can't feel nothing below my back. Pretty bad off, ain't I?" Johnny replied, opening his eyes again.
Ponyboy slowly sat down in the chair, close to breaking down into tears.
"No, you're gonna be alright, kid. You gotta be... couldn't get alone without ya," Ponyboy sniffled.
"Doc said I won't be able to walk again... not even on crutches," Johnny said, making Bexley shed tears.
"You're gonna be fine, Johnny. We know you are," Bexley said, wiping her eyes.
"You guys want to know somethin'? I used to talk about killin' myself all the time. Man, I don't want to die now... It ain't long enough. Sixteen years ain't gonna be long enough. Hell, I wouldn't mind it so much if there wasn't so many things I hadn't seen yet. So many damn things I ain't seen or nothin'. That time we were in Windrixville was the only times that I've been out of our neighborhood," Johnny explained, growing pale with each word.
Ponyboy swallowed a lump in his throat. "Knock it off. If you get too juiced up, the doc won't let us see you again," he said, sniffling as he stood up from the chair.
Being a greaser on the streets would make you learn all the wrong things.
You learn to turn off your emotions while living on the East side of town.
Then, a nurse walked inside of the room. "Johnny, your mother is here to see you," she said.
"I don't want to see her," Johnny wheezed, closing his eyes.
"It's your mother. She wants to see you," the nurse persisted.
"I said I don't want to see her. She's probably here to tell me about the trouble I'm causin', so why don't you tell her to leave me alo-!" he started, but he had passed out before he could finish what he was saying.
Bexley swore she felt her heart jump in her throat when she saw this. Two-Bit had returned with the book just as this happened.
"What's the matter with Johnny?" he asked worriedly. "You three can't see him now," the nurse said to the three greasers.
Bexley's face became very white when she saw this. "What's wrong with him, guys?" Two-Bit asked them.
Ponyboy was about to start crying in shock. "W-We don't know..." Ponyboy said, voice breaking.
Ponyboy wrapped an arm around Bexley's shoulders and led her out of there.
"You make sure he gets this, alright?" Two-Bit said to the nurse, giving her the book.
The three greasers go in the hallway, only to see Johnny's mother.
"I got a right to see him! He's my son! He'd rather see these no-good punks and dirty broad than his own mother! You scum!" his mother scowled at them.
Two-Bit turned towards the woman with anger in his eyes, which is something that he doesn't usually have.
"No wonder he hates your guts! You don't even care about him, you damn drunk!" he shouted tearfully at her.
She didn't say anything; her mouth hung open. "You go straight to hell! You go right to hell!" he shouted again, pointing a finger at her.
Ponyboy put a hand on Two-Bit's shoulder and pulled him away.
The trio go to Dally's room, where he was arguing with a nurse.
"What's happened to your gown?" the nurse asked, noticing that Dally wasn't wearing the gown the hospital provided for him.
"I threw it away," he answered smugly. "I'm gonna be so glad when you're out of here," the nurse said, shaking her head as she started to leave.
"Get out. Just get out, you're making my stomach sick," Dally said as the nurse walked out.
He laughed boisterously as the trio came to his bed side. "Hey, Dal," Two-Bit said.
"Hey, how you doin', man?" Dally said, shaking Two-Bit's hand, "Man, I'm glad you guys are here. This place gives me the creeps. I want out!"
Dally got up and closed the door. "Tim Shepard dropped by and I saw the paper. I couldn't believe that it didn't have Wanted Dead or Alive underneath it. He rubbed it in about the rumble tonight. I hate missin' it," Dally said, sitting back down on the hospital bed.
He then asked Ponyboy for a cigarette, which he gave him. For a minute, things got quiet. "How is he? How's Johnny doin', man?" Dally asked, toning it down a bit.
"Look, Dal. I don't know much about this... But he didn't look too good. Passed out cold before we left," Two-Bit answered, looking away.
Bexley started feeling nauseous when Two-Bit said that. She became pale as well.
"You look like you've seen a ghost," Dally said, noticing how pale Bexley had become. Ponyboy and Two-Bit looked over at her.
"Whoa, you okay?" Ponyboy said worriedly. "Y-Yeah, just got a little dizzy," Bexley answered, rubbing her face, "I'm gonna get some fresh air,"
Two-Bit put a hand to her forehead. "You're kinda hot, Bex," he commented. "Very funny," she replied.
"I'm serious. Look, go on outside and we'll be there shortly, okay?" Two-Bit said seriously. Serious usually wasn't in Two-Bit's vocabulary but he could be whenever he wanted to be.
"You take care of yourself, you hear?" Dally said. "Okay. I'll be back in a minute until my... my head clears up," Bexley said.
She then walked out of Dally's room, shutting the door behind her.
She stepped in the elevator and pressed the button to go to the first floor. She had to lean against the elevator wall just to support herself.
Making it to the first floor, she walked outside and sat down on a bench that happened to be beside the front doors.
Seeing Johnny pass out in front of them was bad enough for her.
She buried her face in her hands as she leaned forward. "He doesn't deserve any of this," she whispered to herself.
She just couldn't handle the fact that the boy she loved would possibly die because of that incident.
That thought alone made her feel even more dizzy. She felt like she was going to pass out too.
Then, Two-Bit and Ponyboy walked through the front doors and saw the state she was in.
She didn't look any better than how she did back inside the hospital. "Alright, that's it. I'm gettin' somebody," Two-Bit said, walking back inside to get a doctor to help her.
Ponyboy sat down beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Bexley, Two's gonna get someone to help you," Ponyboy said to her.
Bexley looked over at him for a moment. "Pony, I'm fine," she said, rubbing her hands on her knees.
"You're pale as a sheet and you're burning up. That ain't fine," Ponyboy said, knowing that his older sister wasn't fine at all.
"No. Look, I'm fine, see?" she said, standing up. She wanted to show him that there was nothing to worry about. But the second she did, she was completely overwhelmed by dizziness.
Her vision split in two. "Whoa, whoa, sit down," Ponyboy said, jumping up to his feet. Just as Two-Bit came back out with a doctor, Bexley falls to the ground.
"Oh, no!" Two-Bit and Ponyboy both said, catching the grease-girl before she could hit her head on the concrete.
The doctor had gotten her inside and got her taken care of.
Ponyboy and Two-Bit didn't leave her side the entire time while she was unconscious.
When she did wake up, she felt her body ache. "Ooh... God..." she said, slowly sitting up on a hospital bed.
Her head ached so she held it with both hands. "Hey, a revival!" Two-Bit said, grinning when he saw her wake up.
Bexley looked over and saw Two-Bit and Ponyboy at her side. "Thank God you're okay," Ponyboy said, sitting down next to his older sister.
"Oh, it's just you guys. What happened?" she asked. "You passed out on us, Shorty," Two-Bit said, putting his leather jacket back on.
"Oh... Sorry..." Bexley said. "You gave us quite a scare back there," Ponyboy said.
"I didn't mean to scare you guys. After seeing Johnny pass out like that... I couldn't handle it," she said, leaning forward.
Both knew how Bexley felt about Johnny. It was pretty clear.
Two-Bit put an arm around her shoulders.
"I kinda figured. Just let us know if it's gonna happen again, okay?" he said to her.
"Yeah, okay," Bexley said, getting off the bed.
"Let's get outta here," she said, stretching. They made sure she was okay before they left the hospital.