Finding Water

Chapter 14

Stacey's eyes fluttered open as her surroundings cleared up. She took a deep breath to try and steady how fast her heart was racing. Looking around, the room was almost completely white except for the clothes Stacey was wearing and the mahogany desk across from her, on the other side of the curtain rail.

"Where the-" She tried sitting up but she felt a sharp pain in her head, and collapsed back onto the cot.

"Stay still." A soothing voice said. Stacey opened her eyes and a woman with long, black hair, done into thin braids was standing in front of her cot.

The woman had a stethoscope around her neck and was wearing a white coat, the one doctors normally wore. She also had a tiny embroidered name in gold on the coat that read "𝓓𝓸𝓬𝓽𝓸𝓻 𝓐𝓵𝓪𝓲𝓷𝓪 𝓒𝓪𝓼𝓽𝓻𝓸" She smiled so softly, it was comforting.

"My name's Dr. Castro, but you can just call me Alaina," Alaina said. "I've heard a lot about you, Stacey." Stacey smiled. Then Asher peeked his head through the doorway.

Asher. He looked around the room quickly. "Is she awake?" he asked Dr. Alaina. Before the doctor could answer his question, Stacey met his eyes. His pale blue iris shined as he smiled.

Sighing in relief, he jogged over to Stacey and helped her get up from the cot.

"Hold on-" Alaina started to interject, but as Asher wrapped his arms around Stacey in a hug and she leaned into it, the doctor decided to stay quiet.

"You're okay, right? 'Laina says it's just a passing out, but I wanted to make sure cause Caty said before that passing out can cause brain damage and you've seen how dumb I am and we can't afford to have the smarter one of us 2 also become stupid . . ."

Asher trailed off from explaining his reasoning rapidly when he saw Stacey's face flushing pink.

"What's wrong?" he asked, his forehead creasing with concern. The truth was, for just a concussion, Asher was really concerned about her.

For a second, Stacey considered telling Asher about her silly crush on him. But she pushed the thought aside, far aside and just shook her head.

"Nothing, and don't worry about me so much. I'm fine, really." She said, with a hopefully convincing nod. Asher looked doubtful, but thankfully he waved it off.

"Okay. Well, I know you're still getting better, because fainting can hurt," he mimicked his mind blowing. "But we were all wondering if you wanted to come so we can get dinner-"

"Wait-how long was I out?" Stacey interrupted, scared of the answer. He laughed.

"About an hour. Not the worst I've seen, for sure." The doctor said from her desk. Stacey nodded 'thank you'.

"Thanks. I was hoping it wasn't more than a day ..." But the way Asher came in asking made her think her odds were really low.

"Anyway," Asher continues. "We were all wondering, if you wanted to go out for dinner? It's this place down in town, I'll explain more if you want to come."

Stacey still felt like her head was throbbing a little bit. "I'm a little tired, so you guys can go on without me." Asher frowned.

"Aww, I want you to come, Stace. But it's your choice," He looked like he was reaching out but winced and pulled back.

"Thanks for asking, though." Asher hugged her one last time and let Dr. Alaina help Stacey up to her apartment.

"Right here if you change your mind." He says wistfully.

Stacey pulled one of the chairs from her tiny living room's coffee table and faced it against the huge windows. She stared out of the window for minutes, trying to figure out what was going on.