In Sickness and In Health

Chapter 19

Soda's POV

I'm so happy Darry's better. Yes, he seemed a little seemed a little weird this morning, but it could be nothing. I'll try to remember to take his temperature when we get back. Arriving at the park we split into two teams consisting of Darry, Pony, and Two-Bit versus me and Steve. They're uneven, but we manage alright. The rain had started to sprinkle a little, but the game was tied so it was decided that next touchdown wins. We were all playing lousy, but me and Two-Bit were both laughing so hard at everything that everyone thought it was fun. Pony, Steve, and I were all covered in mud from slipping and sliding. I figured Darry would be able to stay dry, so that's not surprising, but Two-Bit would usually be head-to-toe. As if he could hear my thoughts, Two-Bit runs in for the touchdown pass thrown by Darry, catches it, and can't stop running so he trips and slides in the mud at least ten feet. He finally comes to a halt, sits up, and yells, "Come on in, the mud is fine!" Steve, Pony, and I start whooping and hollering and dive in to wrestle and drag each other through the mud. Darry stands and watches us with a small smile on his face. "You not coming in?" I ask loudly. "'Course I ain't! I stayed clean this long right?" Darry responds smiling bigger. That right there catches me off guard. Darry smiling bigger at a question like that either means he actually doesn't want to do what we're doing or he's hiding something. Not wanting to interrogate him I tackle Steve one more time before announcing, "Alright, you guys, let's go on back." By the time we're heading home, it starts to rain a lot harder. I suddenly feel bad when I see Darry shivering. We shouldn't have come when Darry was just getting better and we knew it was going to rain. Regretting our football game, I barely hear Two-Bit say, "I'm going to go on to my own house to clean up. I'll be back for dinner, though, don't you worry," He winks and we all say bye when he walks on towards his house. Steve kind of sheepishly asks, "Y'all mind if I stay and clean up at your place?" ""Course you can stay," Pony says first before me or Darry can respond. We soon arrive at our house and I give instructions saying, "Hey, let's hose off before we go in how 'bout?" "Yeah, okay," Pony agrees with mud splattered on his face and him and Steve turn toward the hose on the side of the house. "I'll bring you guys out some towels," Darry offers and I realize he's shaking a little and his cheeks are flushed. "Are you feeling okay, Darry?" Darry looks at me with pleading eyes that give away how he feels, but he mumbles some kind of excuse and grabs us three towels.