guardian angel || the outsiders fanfic♡

twenty nine.

***Lauren's POV***

I'm about to doze off when the front door bursts open.

Darry and I both sit up. He immediately heads out, and I follow behind. We find Alex in tears with blood seeping through the back of her shirt, Two-Bit and Victoria looking like they ran themselves into a meat grinder, Steve and Ellie cold and scared, and Johnny as purple and blue as the bottom of a shoe on a hot day.

"Darry, can we please crash here tonight?" Steve says slowly.

"Of course!" Darry says. As he says this, Kayla and Soda return down the stairs.

"What's going on... Alex, are you okay?!" Kayla asks. Alex shakes her head.

"Can Lauren and Kayla help Victoria and I, please?" Alex chokes out. I look at Darry, and he gives me an I'll-take-care-of-the-boys look. I smile thankfully at him and the girls and I head upstairs.

I stop by the hall closet and grab towels, medicines, ointments, rubbing alcohol, band aids, gauze, and tape. When we walk into the guest room, Alex is crying harder than I've ever seen someone cry. Her eyes are red and bulgy, so she must have been crying for a while.

"Alex, what happened?" I ask her. She coughs sobs out and leans against me. I rub her shoulders comfortingly.

"Dallas... he pushed me, and my back cut open, and he screamed at me..." she manages to get out as she cries into my shoulder.

"Alex, can I fix your back please?" I ask nicely. She nods.

"Okay, pull your shirt up, okay? Kayla, grab a tissue so we can clean off the excess blood. Victoria, put her hair up. Ellie, do whatever you think will help her." I begin to spit commands and soon enough everyone listens.

Alex's cut wasn't deep, but it spanned the entire width of her back. She winces and cries into Victoria's lap as I applied rubbing alcohol. Kayla dabbed here or there and gave Alex 4 aspirins.

She didn't need stitches, so I bandaged her back up. Then I turned to Victoria and began to tackle her.

She needed stitches, and she screamed in pain as I put her face back together. Alex held her hand, and Kayla rubbed up and down her arm. Ellie took Kayla's place and dabbed her bleeding cheek.

When I finish Victoria's stitches, Kayla puts a bandage over her cheek. Then we try and find things for people to wear. Alex pulls one of Ponyboy's hoodies over her shirt. Victoria, who's still sniffling, walks into the room her and Johnny were in and grabs some of his sweatpants. She also grabs a white tank of her own. Ellie takes one of Steve's flannels and some tight sweats. Kayla keeps on Soda's large t shirt and her spandex.

As a group, we walk downstairs. Victoria wipes her tears in attempts to hide her pain from Johnny. Alex stopped crying, but her cheeks are stained and her eyes are red. I pull Alex off to the side before we reach anyone.

"Alex, are you sure you're okay?" I ask again. She shakes her head.

"No Lauren, I'm not sure. I loved him, and everyone was right. He broke my heart. And almost my back, too," she says the last part with a laugh. I pull her into a tight hug because I don't know what else to do.

"Please don't tell Darry or any of the guys about this..." she says. I nod so she knows I won't, and we walk out into the living room.

Victoria is sitting in Johnny's lap, and he's rubbing her back and kissing her bandage. She's leaning on his shoulder, still sniffling, but he's making her laugh. Ellie and Steve are sprawled out on the floor. Soda and Kayla are sitting in Darry's chair together, Kayla sleeping on top of him. Alex walks over to Ponyboy and leans against him. Two-Bit sits next to her and she switches to lean against his chest.

Darry decides everyone is spending the night, so Kayla and Soda head back up to bed, Victoria and Johnny go back to Ponyboy's room, and Bryce comes to bed with me. Darry grabs cots for everyone that needs one, and Alex and Ellie take the couches. Steve, Ponyboy, and Two-Bit each grab a cot.

I walk back into Darry's room with Bryce on my hip. I try and relax, but I can't help having this feeling that something else is gonna happen.