tires

seventeen

ponyboy sat in the waiting room after getting checked for any major injuries. he had a few burns and cuts but nothing severe. next to him sat a middle aged man who was one of the teachers. he followed the boys to the hospital to thank them and make sure eden was alive. 

"ya know, you guys are hero's for doing what you did."

"i ain't no hero man, all that for my best friend to be put in critical condition. greasers ain't hero's and i bet when this comes out to the tulsa papers we'll somehow be framed as bad guys."

"well that doesn't matter." the nice teacher said "you guys did something good and saved kids with their whole lives ahead of them. i bet you those papers will say something good. i hate labels man."

pony smiled at the man nodding his head before yells came from down the hall.

the dirty boys eyes lit up, running towards his brothers to hug them.

god did pony miss them, even after darry did what he did. he loved his family and just like eden, he didn't want to lose more, so no grudges were held.

"how's our girl holding up?" darry asked.

though it never seemed like it, darry deeply cared for eden, in so many ways was she like mrs. curtis and the boys adored it. that's why they never fell for her, but cherished her and always kept her around.

"i don't dar, i don't know." pony cried into his chest.

darry rubbed his hair, not minding the ashes getting on him. "she's gonna make it. that girls a fighter."

"i don't know this time. she looked lifeless and i really really don't want her to go."

unfortunately, eden was rushed into emergency surgery once the boys were escorted to the hospital so no one could visit her yet. pony knew if it wasn't her, it was johnny. she saved his life by risking hers and it showed the love she had for the boys. she had so much potential but believed the gang did too.

especially the two boys with the puppy dog eyes. she loved them dearly and knew she had to save johnny.

the three brothers made their way to go and see johnny as he needed a hospital room. he had burns on his chest and a few broken fingers from falling after eden kicked him away from the burning wood. poor johnny was shaken up, he didn't even want to be around anyone at the moment. the only thing on his mind was if his older sister was doing okay.

after a few minutes of just making sure johnny was okay, he told the boys he was going to take a nap so they went to see dally.

unfortunately, he had a sprained wrist but when would that ever stop him?

"hey dal," soda started as they walked in and sat by him. "how ya holding up with..everything?"

"everything as in eden, or my wrist i know you don't care about?" dallas stated the obvious making soda give him a look.

he sighed. "honestly man, i don't know."

he did know.

he hated her so much right now. hated her so much that he wished she was the one walking into his hospital room and checking on him. he just wished she stood in the car.

but he was also thankful. thankful she saved his best buds life and risked her own for it too.

he wouldn't have been here right now if johnny wasn't alive. he couldn't handle that, but this was scary too.

"listen dal, we know you care about her okay? it's been obvious since day one. i ain't ever seen someone look at a girl the way you look at her and you can deny it just like she does, but you care. it's fine to care too so stop having this tough guy face on when it's just us talking to you." pony spoke.

pony doesn't hold back, and it was a gift of his. the way his words worked. it didn't make people mad he told them how it was, but it made them realize, and that was important.

"shit pony, i just want her to be okay like all of us, and maybe even more than you guys." dal said, mumbling the last part.

after they all talked for another fifteen minutes, dallas was left in his room to think.

the only thing there was to think about was her and only her. he hoped the surgery was going fine. it scared him how quickly they rushed her here.

he didn't want to think about it so due to the fact that he left his cigarettes, he did something eden or pony would do.

read.

he looked through the magazines and books left in his room till he found one with astrology written at the top.

maybe this would impress eden if we spoke about it again and i knew something. he thought.

he started to scan through it, getting a bit sidetracked considering he never reads till he came across a compatibility section. he had no idea what his sign was, so he went back to the first page that read each date and the sign following them.

"okay, okay i need to find november 9th...ah there we go! i'm a scorpio? what the fuck is that?" he questioned, then went to go look for edens birthday.

it was the only birthday he had remembered besides sylvia because well- what else would the two of them do on her birthday? anyways, dallas found out she was a gemini and went forward to the compatibility page again.

the first section was about sexual intamacy

"what do our signs have to do with good sex? i'm dallas winston why would it be bad..."

then he saw their trust. it made him feel guilty, a feeling he gets too often with her. dallas couldn't trust anyone but she gave off such a nurturing vibe that he felt it almost hurt her that he never really opened up. he made a mental note to start telling her things and not be so closed off.

and of course their communication was something that they definitely needed work on, but reading each part of this compatibility section, dallas realized that though the personality of the signs were true, eden and him as people needed to fix themselves if they ever wanted a future.

"why the fuck am i thinking of a future? god there's something about this girl."

dallas closed the book and decided to follow johnny's actions from earlier and get some shut eye. he hated hospitals and would usually never trust to sleep in one, let alone walk in one but today was a long day and all he needed was to turn his brain off.

but even when it was off his mind went to her, it's all he could dream about