I Could Use Somebody

"Excuse me?" I slowly opened my eyes to a nurse standing over me.

"We need to run a few tests on him, sorry." I got up and stretched, then patted Dally on the stomach to wake him up. "What the fuck are you doing." He was always miserable when someone woke him up. He rubbed his eyes, then nodded his head at the nurse.

"What do you want?" She cleared her throat. "We need to run a couple of test on you. It won't take long at all." He propped himself up on his elbows. "I burnt my fuckin' arm. What kinda tests do ya gotta do? Christ." I felt bad for the nurse. I'm sure she didn't deal with people like Dallas everyday. In fact, I would bet money on it. "Just go with her Dal. I'm gonna head on over to the Curtis's. I'll be back in a little. We'll go see Johnny when I get back." He started tapping his cheek. "What, no kiss?" I went in like I was going to give him a peck on the cheek, but at the last second I turned his head and kissed him on the lips. I could feel him smiling and it made me smile too. He pulled away. "Love you." I jerked my head back and stared at him. I haven't had anyone tell me that they loved me in a while. In fact, the last person to say it was Dallas, over a year ago. "Love you too." I ran my fingers through his hair, then got up and left. "Here, let me help you." "Jesus Christ, just cause my arm is burnt doesn't mean my fucking legs don't work, man." I thought about going back and helping the nurse because I knew that Dally was a pain in the ass, but it was her job to take care of him while he was in the hospital. It was my job when he wasn't.

Before I even opened the door I could hear Two Bit laughing in the house. "Jesus Christ Two Bit, I could hear you from the other end of the fucking street." He took a sip of beer and kept his eyes on the T.V. "Shut up, Mickey's on."

"Hey, after we beat them Soc's tonight me and Steve are gonna throw a huge party and every one's gonna get ripped!" Soda screamed. Steve started screaming with a mouth full of cake. "Are you kidding? Chew your food dumbass." He gave me the finger. I didn't realize what Soda had said until after Steve stopped screaming. "Wait, wait, wait. What do you mean beat the Soc's? What's going on?" All of the guys looked at each other. "Us and Tim Shepards gang are havin' it out with the Soc's tonight. Gonna be a huge rumble." I threw myself on the couch. "Oh, come on. I'm sick of sitting around worrying, waiting for you guys to come home, and when you do come home I have to play nurse." Two Bit cut in. "That's because you're a girl." I threw an empty soda can at the back of his head. "At least I don't watch Mickey Mouse you faggot." He threw the can back at me. "Hey!" We would've went back and forth if Darry didn't cut in. "Ya'll are gonna be late for work. Let's go. Nicole, Two Bit and Pony clean up a little around here." Steve and Soda followed Darry out the door, and in a few seconds they were gone.

"You guys wanna head on over to the hospital?" I already knew that they would want to, but I figured I would still ask. "Yeah." I heard Pony answer from the kitchen. "Let me clean these dishes first." I laid my head back on the couch and felt Two Bit sit down next to me.

"So..." I rolled my head to the right to look at him. "So, what?" "You and Dally are back together, huh?" I nodded my head yes. "Listen, you gotta know that I don't agree with what they did last year. The whole lyin' to you thing. But I understand why they did it." I turned my head away from him and rolled my eyes. "Alright Keith." I only called him by his real name when I was annoyed with him or pissed off at him, and he knew that. "I mean, you can't say that Dally is an angel. I understand why your cousin and Darry were worried about you being with him. Hell, I don't even like being near him half of the time. You see how he gets when he gets mad? I don't blame em' for lyin' to you." I sat up. "You don't know Dallas, Two Bit. No one does. That's the problem." He cocked his head to the side. "I've known him longer than you have." I rolled my eyes. I knew he was gonna say that. "So you know that he actually gets really upset that his father doesn't care about him? You know that he hates that people are scared of him, especially you guys? And you know every single thing that he's been through? You don't know him, Keith. End of conversation."

"Alright, I'm ready." Perfect timing. Ponyboy came out of the kitchen, and started heading towards the door. We thought about walking to the hospital, but I had money on me so we hopped on the bus. When we got to the hospital we went straight for Johnny's room. I figured I would bring Dallas to see him later. Too many people might overwhelm him.

"Excuse me, you can't go in there." I took a step back, while Two Bit took a step forward, getting closer to the nurses face. "What do you mean we can't go in there?" She backed away. "Family only." I grabbed Two Bits arm and pulled him backwards. "We're all that that kid's got. He doesn't have family." The nurse looked at me for a second, then stepped out of the way.

Two Bit went in the room first, then Pony, then me. I tried hiding behind Pony. I knew that Johnny wasn't in good condition. After all, I saw him right after he got pulled out of the church and he didn't even look human. "Hey Johnny." Two Bit went over and stood next to him. "Hey ya'll." His voice sounded like shit. After about two minutes of hiding I forced myself to look up at Johnny. The only thing I was focused on was making sure that I didn't throw up.