My One And Only // {Johnnyboy}

Chapter Fourteen: Burns

After driving in the car for what felt like forever, we finally pulled up to the hospital. I barely waited for the car to stop before hopping out. I stumbled up to the front door and walked in, not waiting for Soda who was behind me. He was in less of a rush than I was, considering the fact that Johnny wasn't his boyfriend. Nonetheless, I wasn't about to wait for him. I wanted to see my boyfriend. I needed to see my boyfriend.

I as I walked down the hall, everything around me started to feel less than real. Almost like I was walking through a dream. The voices of the nurses telling me to slow down were drowned out by my thoughts. My breathing became heavy as I approached his door, moving faster and faster by the minute. I needed my boyfriend. I needed him.

My nervous, shaky hand turned the doorknob of his room as I imagined what he would look like with all those burns covering his body. I winced at the thought, at how bad he must've been suffering. When I finally stepped in, I saw him.

He looked as bad as I had imagined. He didn't look like he would even be able to move.

"Johnnycake?" I asked softly as I approached his bed. The closer I got, the worse he looked.

His eyes fluttered open to look at me. I saw them light up with joy, as if he was happy to see me.

"Pony..." His weak voice spoke out. He sounded terrible.

"It's gonna be alright, hon. You're gonna be okay," I spoke softly as I sat down in a chair next to his bed. I grasped his hand lightly.

Johnny just let out a sigh and a weak smile. Eventually, he spat out, "I'm glad you're here, Ponyboy. I love you, ya know? I really, really love you."

I smiled back at him. I was glad that he was at the very least alive.

Just then, Sodapop strolled in, ruining our moment. I quickly let go of Johnny's hand, trying my best not to seem suspicious. I mainly didn't want to get caught because I didn't want to accidentally get Johnny another week or two in the hospital.

"Jeez, Pony, what's with the rush?" said Soda, sounding slightly out of breath.

"I just- I haven't seen Johnny since the church. I wanted to check on him," I lied partially. I was a pretty decent liar if I needed to be. And this was a situation where I definitely needed to be a good liar. So I hoped that my story was convincing enough.

Luckily, Sodapop seemed more concerned by how burnt up Johnny was rather than the reason I was running around the hospital like a lunatic. He walked over to the other side of Johnny's bed and kneeled so that his face was level with Johnny's.

"Hey bud...how ya feelin'?" asked Soda softly to Johnny. Johnny let out a small, painful groan, signifying that he did not, in fact, feel good. Soda looked concerned. For once, his eyes didn't look lively. They were dead, cold. His face was straight, yet concerned.

We didn't stay for very long. You could tell that Johnny was in too much agony for visitors that night. We did tell him about the rumble that was going to happen, but he didn't seem to care. In fact, he seemed almost angry about it.

"What's fightin' gonna solve, huh? Ain't that what caused all this in the first place?" He sounded weak, angry, and tired all at the same time. That was when we decided to leave, mainly because we knew if we got him too upset, angry, or any emotion that wasn't positive, the nurse would come and make us leave.

Soda and I hopped into the old red pickup truck and drove home. I still felt sick about everything; the rumble, Johnny, coming out, everything. I decided to go up to my and Soda's room and start a drawing, in hopes to get my mind off of everything. But just as I got started, I heard a knock on my door. I assumed it was Soda, so I yelled out "Come in!" But it wasn't Soda.

It was Darry.