ORPHANED

:: ninety-two ::

the first day george didn't show up to The Grind dream tried not to worry. there were plenty of reasons why, maybe the brunette still wasn't feeling well, maybe he got caught up in work, maybe he didn't have time for them. dream didn't seem to be the only one who noticed his absence. the blonde took notice of the several times sapnap glanced from the clock on the wall to the glass doors. they shared looks of knowing worry throughout the days.

it had currently been the last full day they had with sapnap before he left for thanksgiving break and yet they still stared at the empty stool that would normally seat a bubbly brunette. even quackity had managed to show up. this was when dream had decided it was okay for him to begin panicking. he tried to keep the anxiety's that rose in his chest unnoticeable, however when george opened but never responded to dream's messages, this proved to be harder said then done.

he drafted a message, desperate to hear from the other.

sapnap leaves tomorrow i'm sure he'd like to see you again before he's gone. maybe stop by before he leaves it'll calm his nerves

the screen under his fingers was colder than normal.

the noise of karl tapping on the counter brought his eyes away from the screen. karl moved his hand to cover his mouth as he smiled at his phone. "no way." his giggles bled through his fingers.

sapnap paused his movements, sharing a look with dream before he spoke to the pink hair that sat beside the unusually empty seat. "what happened?"

karl's smile widened, "they were doing crack at that party." he rose his eyebrows at the two, ignoring the perplexed quackity who sat beside him.

"what?" sapnap seemed to be as unbelieving as the other two.

karl shook his head. "the girl who i was talking to just told me."

sapnap let out a laugh throwing back his head in relief, "you're joking." finally having closure about the entire situation was weird to the blonde, it felt so long ago.

"i thought the cops came by because we were being too loud." karl admitted setting his phone down in front of himself.

sapnap nodded. "i guess we didn't really have to run from them then, huh?"

"well..." dream couldn't seem to help himself.

sapnap rolled his eyes, all the focus turned to him. "oh i'm sure mr. i have to help everyone but myself out of this situation, has a great story about why he needed to run from the cops."

dream shone a sheepish smile.

"haha, yeah, running from cops am i right guys?" quackity laughed feeling left out of the conversation that didn't include him.

"quackity you weren't there." karl bit back his laughs by pressing his face into his hands. a gesture the guys had seemed to grow particularly fond of.

"please tell us why you needed to run from the cops dream." sapnap smiled back at the blonde.

dream felt his smile grow at the nostalgic memories of his past. "back home me and the guys used to get into some serious trouble, but since the town was small my dad knew all the cops personally so i never got arrested when i was supposed to. but we did a lot of thing that tested the limits."

"go on." sapnap crossed his arms, leaning against the counter to better envision the story.

dream laughed through the words that followed. "turns out trespassing and possession of fake ID's still goes on your record."

now sapnap tried to hide his smile as he offered a high-five to the blonde.

"no are you kidding, i got called a felon for stealing oranges from my neighbor, and dream is an actual criminal." it was karl's turn to cross his arms.

sapnap just laughed it off, obviously having no justification. "hey we never talked about it, what happened with you and george after you helped us over the fence?" sapnap nudged dream with his elbow raising his eyebrows as if he already knew what went on.

dream felt his eyes roll, nudging his elbow back against sapnap's. "nothing really, we just hid. they seemed to be on a mission though, they busted down an entire door to find us, then followed us almost all the way through downtown."

karl dropped his crossed arms, feeling more understanding about the situation. "i guess me and sapnap got off easy, we kind of just ran to his house." collectively they nodded at the memory.

"that was not getting off easy, my legs were so sore the next day." sapnap rolled his eyes.

"right, sorry, my bad. your legs being sore was just as intense as literally being chased by cops."

"it was." sapnap mumbled into the air.

"i've ran from cops before, but only for skating in no skate areas." karl shook his head, idolizing the very illegal things dream could've gotten away with when he was younger.

"what can i say, i get around." dream pretended to flip his nonexistent long hair.

"not as much as george." sapnap mumbled again.

all four pairs of eyes turned to the empty stool. dream wondered what the brunette would be up to at this current moment. maybe he could ask wilbur if george was okay, maybe he would stop by the apartment, but then again maybe it was an invasion of privacy.

"you know what, fuck george i would never chose that guy over dream." quackity seemed to be irked by the silence ensued by the lacking of a certain brunette.

they all tried to make eye contact with the blonde, knowing he was most affected by the absence. dream forced a smile, trying to push down the feelings that slowly bubbled up in the short amount of time the conversation had changed. he fished his phone from his pocket, staring at the read receipt on the message he had sent just minutes before.

i wish he would just answer me already.

—

yesterday was my oldest brother's birthday and instead of me gifting him something he gave me two factory boxes of yogurt covered pretzels, you better believe i've already eaten five packages