SAVE ME (𝘫𝘰𝘩𝘯𝘯𝘺𝘣𝘰𝘺)

Part 15

I sort of thought that once Johnny moved in with us, the days of him showing up on the doorstep with a black eye or split lip were over. Apparently, I was wrong. 

"Johnny, what the hell?" I stand up from the couch and rush over to poke and prod at his injuries. "What happened?" 

He pushes me off and shakes his head. "I'm fine, Pony. Nothing to worry about." 

Darry makes his way over. "Woah, what happened?"

Fortunately, he's more scared of Darry than he is of me, and decides to answer him. "I went to my parents house and they didn't like that." 

"Why would you go over there?" I ask, frowning. 

He glances at Darry, uncomfortably. "I, uh, I went to try to find my medical records in my moms files, to find out what type of medicine I need."

"Could you find them?" I ask. 

He tilts his head and shakes it no in exasperation. 

"Right, sorry."

"What do you need medicine for?" Darry asks.

"I don't really know." Johnny says. 

"Do you know what to ask the doctor about?"

"I don't have any insurance. I can't afford to go to the doctor." Johnny sighs.

"Well, what about the free clinic downtown?" Darry suggests. 

Both Johnny and I perk up. "Free clinic?" I ask. 

"It's where I go. It's not as great as a real doctor, but it's free." 

I frown. "You go there? Why?" Soda and I have always gone to our regular doctor, even after our parents died. 

"Can't afford to have all three of us go to the real doctor, little buddy." Darry smiles, like that's not the saddest thing he's ever told me. 

"Don't we have insurance?" I ask.

"Doesn't cover everything." He shifts, uncomfortably. "Anyway, Johnny, I can drop you off at the clinic tomorrow if you want."

"Uh, yeah. Yeah, sure." 

"I wanna go, too." I insist. 

"No problem." Darry says. "Now go get your lip cleaned up." 

Johnny and I both walk to the bathroom. I grab a washcloth and wet it under the sink before gently pressing it against his lip. 

"You look mad," Johnny observes. 

"I am mad." I meet his eyes. "Not at you." 

"I know." he says. We're quiet for a second, but my mind is anything but. "What are you thinking?" he asks. 

"That I hate your parents." I say, matter of fact. 

He grimaces. "Hey, come on." 

"What, you don't?" I ask.

"No," he takes the rag out of my hand and goes about cleaning his own cuts. "I don't. And it's not fair of you to say that you hate them."

"All they ever do is hurt you,"

"That's not true. They're just...complicated." He sighs. "I don't expect you to understand. From what I've heard, your parents were perfect. Mine are just..." He searches for the right word. "Difficult."

"Difficult?" I scoff. "Is that what you want to call them?" 

"Ponyboy," he meets my eyes through the mirror. "Drop it." 

I do.

-

Darry drops us off at the clinic early in the morning the next day, but it's still packed. We sit together in the waiting room under clouds of cigarette smoke, trying to keep our distance from people that are actually sick.

Johnny looks more and more nervous as time passes. "I don't know if I can do this." He mumbles. 

I bump my shoulder against his. "You can." 

He glances at me, and I can tell he's annoyed but is trying to hide it. "You're supposed to tell me that I don't have to if I don't want to." 

I bite the inside of my cheek. "Honestly, Johnny. I really think that you need this." 

He doesn't say anything back to that. We sit in silence the rest of the wait until a nurse calls his name. "Do you want me to go in with you?" I ask.

"No," he says quickly, shutting me down. 

I deflate a little, but try to be understanding. "Okay. Good luck."

It's a nerve-wracking twenty minutes that he's in there. I stand up as soon as I see him come out of the office. I cross the room to meet him in the middle. "Well, how did it go?"

"Fine, it went fine." 

"What did they say?" I ask.

He huffs. "Jeez, Ponyboy. Can you give me a minute to breathe?" 

I cross my arms. "Fine. Let's go." I turn and leave the clinic. He follows me outside a second or two later. 

"Pony, I'm sorry." He catches my arm. "Really, the appointment was just fine. Not better or worse than that." 

I sigh. "Did they say anything." 

He bites his lip and looks at the ground. "Um, no. Nothing at all."

I give him a disbelieving look. "Nothing at all?"

"I mean, obviously they said something, but it wasn't that important." He tugs on my wrist and starts walking. "Come on, it's a long walk home." 

"Johnny," I stop him. "Why are you lying." 

He looks uncomfortable. "Look, they had a guess, okay? But they want me to follow up with their psychiatrist to know for sure."

"Okay," I cross my arms. "What was their guess?"

"I...I don't want to tell you." He admits. "It could be wrong. And I don't want you to think I'm crazy for nothing."

"I wouldn't think you're crazy." I assure, then sigh. "But, okay. That's fine. Did you make an appointment with their psychiatrist?"

"Um, no." 

"Johnny," I groan.

He's silent for a moment, before responding. "I don't want them to be right." 

I take his hand. "If they're right, they can help you." 

He nods. "Okay." 

No one is more surprised about an update than I am rn. I rewrote the other chapters to be a little less cringe, so I encourage a reread!