My One And Only // {Johnnyboy}

Chapter Nineteen: Stay Gold

We were both running down the hall. Nurses and doctors alike tried to slow us down, but we ignored them. We made it to Johnny's room that was on the other side of the hospital in under a minute.

Johnny wasn't looking great. He was still severely burnt up. I felt my eyes well up again. I sat down in the chair next to him and held his hand.

"Pony?" asked the small, frail voice of Johnny.  "S-stay gold Ponyboy.  Stay gold."

And that was it.  His head sunk back into the pillow.  He was gone.

"Johnny?  Johnny, please, wake up," I said, tears streaming down my face.

"Johnny?  Man, you gotta get up.  Johnny, get up, get up," said Dally, who was now on the other side of Johnny.  

A nurse who happened to walk by saw us.  She immediately came running in.  She pushed past me and started feeling for a pulse.

"I found it," she said after a couple of seconds.  "You, boy, go outside and find a doctor, nurse, or anyone that looks like they can help.  Tell them we have a male, aged sixteen, unconscious and not breathing, and that CPR is being performed," she said, pointing to me.

I nodded and ran out as fast as I could.  I quickly bumped into a doctor.  She started to lecture me about running in a hospital, but I interrupted her to tell her about Johnny's situation.  She ran with me back to his room and started helping.  The doctor made me and Dally wait outside and out of the way.  

We sat on a bench right outside of his room.  I couldn't stop thinking about how Johnny was in the room right next to me, dying, and that I couldn't do anything about it.  My lover, the person who I had already planned out an entire future with, was dying.  I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror.  I was pale.  I stood up to pace around, but suddenly it felt like I was underwater.  I couldn't hear anyone.  I couldn't hear Dally.  I could tell he was trying to tell me something, but I couldn't figure out what.  My world started to spin.  I could see the floor meet my face.  Then the world turned black.

-

I woke up in my old bed.  The sun was beaming through my window.  I sat up, but I immediately sat back down after a sharp pain shot through my head.  I looked over into a mirror across my room.  I looked awful.  My eyes had massive bags under them and my hair was a mess.  I tried to speak, but all that came out was a groan.  Eventually, I got the strength to roll out of bed and make my way down to the kitchen.  Surprisingly, no one was there.  I called out, "Hello?" to the rest of the house, but still, nothing.  

I decided to wait for a little while, so I got a piece of toast.  And that's when I started to remember everything.

More specifically, I remembered one thing in particular:

Johnny was dead.

I almost choked on my toast.  I started shaking again, so I sat down on the couch, knowing what happened the last time I panicked.   

Before anything got out of hand, I heard the door open.  Darry stuck his head inside.

"Oh, Pone, you're awake!  Wait, everything alright?" he asked.

"What'd ya think?  Johnny's dead!  How in the name of hell could everything be alright right now?" I snapped.

"Oh, that's right, no one told ya," he said, sitting down next to me.

"What d'ya mean?" I asked.

"Johnny ain't dead.  They were at CPR on 'em for almost an hour before he woke up.  Now he's got a few cracked ribs and some burns, but he's alive," explained Darry.

"You ain't bein' serious right now?" I asked in disbelief.

"I sure am," he said.

I felt myself well up with tears of joy and relief.  

"Holy shit, well can I go visit him?" I said, voice cracking.

Darry nodded and hopped in our old, rusty truck.  I followed.  After ten brutal minutes of waiting in the car, we finally pulled up to the hospital.  I got out, assuming Darry was coming behind me.

"I've already seen him today.  I'll let ya have some alone time with 'em," said Darry.

I nodded and started speed-walking through the hospital.  It felt like he had been revived from the dead, even if he never really died in the first place.  

I came across his room and practically broke down the door.  I sprinted over to his bed.

"Johnny!" I cried, breaking down.  "Oh, thank fuck you're alive.  I love you, okay?  I love you."

"Hey Pony," he said, smiling.  "I love you too.  I really do."  I could see him wincing in pain when he talked.

"So... how many ribs did ya crack?"

"Three."

"Jesus."

I stayed with him for as long as the doctors would let me.  And the day after that, I went back.  On the third day, Johnny's burns looked like they were getting better.  The hospital became my second home.  Sodapop was still avoiding me in the house, so I didn't feel wanted there.  I would bring my homework to Johnny's hospital room, and any free time I had I would spend with him in his hospital room.  Dally came to visit every other day. 

I explained to Johnny that Dally knew about us.  He was panicked at first, but once I explained myself a bit better he relaxed.  Dally even came out to Johnny on his second visit.  Everything was going great.

Until three weeks later, when Johnny got out of the hospital.