almost; dream ✓

seven

"would you stop messing with your iv please?" george asked as he caught anna getting annoyed with the needle in her arm.

"i just wanna go home already." she huffed.

"the doctor said once this iv bag finishes we can go. you're still too dehydrated without it." george explained for what felt like the hundredth time between reminding anna, telling her parents, and texting dream.

"if someone would just drink a glass of water every now and then we wouldn't be here." toby joked.

"gee, thanks for the sympathy little bro."

while the three were out on a walk, anna began to feel lightheaded. she had been feeling a bit dizzy the last few days, but anna was also the queen of hoping that if she ignored something long enough it would go away.

george noticed her stumble and barely caught her  before falling. he quickly suggested a trip to the emergency room to make sure everything was okay. it turned out that anna was extremely dehydrated and that it was a miracle she didn't lose consciousness.

"i'm sorry about this." anna spoke in a lower register to george as toby leaned back and began watching tiktoks.

"its okay. i told you i'd help you get better every step of the way and i meant that. but i need you to make sure that you are helping yourself get better. we've gotta take care of you."

on the table next to her hospital bed, anna's phone buzzed as it had been for the last half hour. she reluctantly picked it up, already knowing what was waiting for her.

clay

george told me what happened how
are you feeling?

im really sorry this happened honey.

i know you hate the taste of water but
we cant have you going to the hospital
over it

id love to hear from you once youre
feeling better

"you shouldn't keep ignoring him. this is hard on him too." george whispered, noticing her close out of her messages.

anna didn't respond, so george continued.

"you know, maybe it would make you feel better if you talked to him. maybe letting him know how therapy is going, or telling him what you're up to. you spent two years either spending every second together or talking to each other every second. its gonna hurt both of you to just not interact anymore."

"i know, but-" three knocks on the door interrupted anna.

"ms. smith? we're ready to send you home," the doctor who had been tending to her announced. "i need you to be on top of making sure you are drinking enough water. it should annoy you how much you need to drink. we will send you home with some paperwork with exact measurements of how much."

"don't worry, doc! i'll annoy her equally as much to make sure she gets enough." toby said causing anna to roll her eyes.

after signing a few release papers george helped anna get out of bed since she was still a bit unsteady. they got to toby's car and he drove the three of them back to their home. on the drive back, anna pulled out her phone and weighed out the options if whether or not to text clay.

clay

i'm heading home now

i hope i didn't worry you

once pulled into the driveway anna tried to get out on her own, but george quickly ran to her side and was accompanied by toby opening every door. they got her to her bedroom where her parents came to check on her and make sure she was alright. anna honestly just wanted to be alone. george caught on to this rather quickly.

"you seem like you wanna rest. i'm gonna head on out if thats alright?" he suggested, met with a thankful smile from anna.

"oh, why don't we walk you out? so anna can have some time." her mother said as everyone exited the room.

anna sat in her bed not knowing how she fell in the strange in between of not wanting to fall asleep but not wanting to be awake. she felt so weak. and not even just due to the dehydration that made her physically weak. mentally she felt weak.

in this moment of weakness she found herself not being able to stop her hands from opening her call log and clicking the name on the top of her favorites list. the call was immediately answered.

"anna? hey, oh my- sorry. are you okay?" clay quickly rambled, confused by the call.

"yeah, i'm home now. i'm sorry. i don't really know why i called."

"well thats okay. how are you feeling?" clay was very careful with his word choice. not wanting to ruin this lucky moment he got.

"i'm alright i think. i thought things were okay until this happened today. i've just really gotta focus on drinking more water, which you probably know is the last thing i wanna do." anna picked up some scissors off of her nightstand to snip off her hospital bracelet.

"i know, honey," he said sadly. "you always like water more when you have fruit in it. pick up some lemons and strawberries so its at least bearable for you."

clay was always so detail specific when it came to anna. he knew all of her likes and dislikes and the things that kept her running and the things that kept her up at night. anna was always so grateful that he knew her needs before she even voiced them.

"are you okay?" she didn't want to hear the answer but knew she would needed to, for her sanity and his.

"i'm gonna be okay the second i know you're okay, ann. don't be worrying about me." he quickly reassured her, but anna could still hear the evident hurt.