"I asked how is Emily?"
Dallas stands abruptly to his feet, "maybe you should go see her and find out."
"Excuse me?" Darry crosses his arms, widens his stance and puts himself in front of Dallas' path to the kitchen.
"I'm the only one who's been over there this whole time. The fuck have the rest of you been doin'?"
"Working. Do you expect the hospital bills to evaporate into thin air?"
"I've got that covered," Dallas glares at him, "don't go around acting like you take care of my girl!" He yells, and Mio tightens against my side.
"Your girl?" Darry laughs in his face. "We all care about her, Dallas. Don't pretend that just because she lets you sleep with her that she's something more to you."
The air goes tight around us. "Get out of my face," Dal says, putting up his arm between him and Darry.
There is a heavy silence that is snapped in half with a crash and a thwack. Before time ticks off another second, Dallas and Darry are in a tangle of arms and legs, punches and kicks.
--
I sit on the rim of the bathtub, watching Darry press a damp washcloth to the cut above his eyebrow.
"His damn ring," he mutters.
Two-Bit leans in the doorway and sighs, "what did you get yourself into?" Darry gives him a side-eye glare, without saying a thing. "You two never know when to quit, do you?" Two continues, "when will you both stop arguing for a minute and realize that you're in the same boat. We're supposed to take care of each other, not beat the living shit out of each other."
"Watch it, Two-Bit," Darry warns.
"Or what, I'm next?" He snickers under his breath and begins to walk away, "you both need to stop fighting over who has the bigger pair of balls." He calls out. "Get your ass out here, Darrel. Put on your shoes and your jacket. We're going to go see Dallas before he spins off the deep-end. You're stupid if you don't realize we're all he has left."
--
Two-Bit walks in front of Darry and I. Darry has his hands in his pockets and is glaring straight ahead. I tug my jacket closed where the chain is broken and the zipper no longer goes up. I let a sigh escape my mouth. We left Mio at home with Morgan, Pony, and Johnny. Steve is at work and disinterested in going anywhere where he would have to reveal some sort of emotion. Or maybe he is just too uncomfortable with the idea.
We approach Buck's place, the red neon of the open sign in the window just visible in the late afternoon light. Two-Bit is the first to enter. He walks in unapologetically, glancing at Darry, somehow shoving him through the doorway with merely his force of will. I follow.
Country music plays quietly from a radio in the corner of the room. The place is empty besides the bar, a few stools, and a couch. There is no one here but the lot of us. Dallas is hunched over the bar, a beer clutched in one hand and a cigarette hanging between two fingers in the other. He doesn't look behind him at the sound of the door opening and closing. As I take a step further in, I see he wears a black and blue eye.
"Dal," Two calls out, his voice disturbing the silence strung in the air, "Come on, Dallas. We are done doing this shit. It's time for you two to make up like real men." He walks over to the bar and sits on the very last stool, distancing himself ever so slightly from Dallas. I follow and take a place against the wall.
Darry slowly approaches Dallas and takes a seat next to him with his back to the bar. Dallas remains still, and they don't face each other. It takes a moment for one of them to clear their throat as if they're both waiting for the other to speak up first.
"Look, Dallas--"
"Darry, I--" they both start off at the same time, "--go ahead." Dallas nods.
"I don't know why I've been such an ass lately," he heaves out a breath, "I'm just under a lot of pressure and stress, and we are all just worried about Emily-- I guess what I'm trying to say is-- I'm sorry."
"Yeah, me too," Dallas nods. That seems to be enough for the two of them. They shake on it and nod back into the silence. Dal stands, walks behind the bar and reaches under the counter to grab a bottle of beer. He opens it with one quick motion on the edge of the wood and slides it to Darry. He nods a thank you.
Dallas rubs his temples and leans against the back wall. "She wasn't awake when I got there," he says, "and all the docs came rushin' in and told me to leave. I got uh- kinda crazy- so they kicked me out of the hospital."
Darry shakes his head, "do you'll think they'll let you back in?"
Dal shrugs with one shoulder, a sudden seriousness dropping over his face, "they don't have a choice."
--
Dallas
The hospital looms hauntingly in the grey fog, the red lights blaring on the side: EMERGENCY. The four of us approach, throwing caution into the wind as I push open the doors and walk towards Emily's room. Several worried glances shoot towards me.
Two-Bit takes a step and catches up to be by my side. He doesn't say anything as we walk.
I lead the way, my stomach turning over on itself. I think I might die.
I step into Emily's room. The boys stay back in the hallway. I guess waiting for me to give the okay for them to follow. The room is still dark, barely filled with the orange light of the sun setting outside. Emily lays on her side in the bed, her teddy bear in the crook of her curled arm, its fur pressed under her nose. Her eyes flutter open at the sound of my footsteps.
"Hi," she mutters out, not moving.
"Hey," I say, dragging a chair from the corner of the room to the side of her bed, "how're you feelin'?"
"Better now," she says, reaching for my hand, I offer it to her, squeezing my fingers down around hers. There's a knock on the door.
"You guys can come in," I say, twisting to turn the small lamp on. Em's face is illuminated by the soft yellow bulb. She squints a little as she attempts to focus to see me. She presses her hand gently to my face, running her thumb over my cheekbone.
"What happened?" She asks.
"Got into a fight." I shrug, "don't worry about me. You should see the other guy."
"Who was it?"
I shrug, "It's not important. We smoothed things over," I reassure her, taking her hand from my face and squeezing it my own hand again.
"Okay, I guess," her attitude returns with a roll of her eyes.
I chuckle, "you've got a lot of spark left in ya, huh?"
She mocks my shrug, "it never really leaves." She brushes the hair off my forehead. "Just like this," she twirls the little plastic ring around her finger.
"You haven't had the chance to take it off yet," I raise my eyebrows at her. Tell her to stop talking about it. My mind flashes to the stupid looks of the guys when they hear about the whole, stupid fuckin' ordeal. Hell, I'm such an ass.
"I haven't been mad at you yet." Emily laughs. The sound fills the room with vibrancy, and it's as if the dusk has been reversed, and the sun rises again into the sky. I feign a cough and nod my head towards Darry, Soda, and Two.
"Hi guys," she says with a little more enthusiasm, opening her arms in welcome. I have to move out of the way as they each take a turn bending over to hug her.
"We've missed you, Em," Soda says, pressing a kiss to her forehead.
"I've missed you guys." She gives his arm a gentle squeeze before he takes a step towards the foot of the bed.
More orange light fills the room as the sun's rays hit the window pane head on.
Emily turns her body to look outside and sighs a heavy one of relief, "Pony would have a poem memorized for a moment like this, wouldn't he?"
There is a short laugh and a consensual agreement from everybody. The air is lighter. There seems to be a thread of hope.
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Începe de la început
