A/N Saw this cute writing prompt and had to try my hand at it. Short drabble.
"You okay?" Tegan asked her.
"I don't think you'd be here if I was," She said sadly.
"Yeah."
It was an overcast day; the sky was angry and yet the wind was calm. It was eerily quiet in the park. Sara sat on the grass against a tree, arms wrapped around her knees and shivered.
Tegan couldn't stay here. She couldn't leave either.
"What do you need?"
Sara shook her head; a tear ran down her cheek. "Just go."
Tegan held back the frustrated groan that wanted to make itself heard. "You know I can't do that."
"God can't I just be fucking sad for once! Can't I have that?"
Tegan stepped back at the unfamiliar anger in her voice. "Sara…" She tried to say.
"What!? I can't let myself be sad because if I ever feel anything, you show up! I drag you away from your life because of some stupid promise you made me at fifteen."
Tegan hadn't thought about it like that. She only saw her own side of the issue, like how annoying it was to constantly be dragged away from her life and responsibilities.
X
She thought back to the time her and her girlfriend were quite literally in the middle of having sex when poof! Tegan was in an unfamiliar bathroom. She looked at herself in the mirror, naked and flushed. Somebody banged on the door.
"Hurry up in there!"
The music outside the bathroom was loud. The walls dulled the sound a little but Tegan assumed she was at a party.
"C'mon I gotta take a piss!" The voice yelled.
"Okay, just a minute!" She looked around frantically for some clothes and to her relief found a laundry basket in the corner. She rifled through the dirty clothes with a grimace but found a pair of jeans and a too small T-shirt to throw on.
As she stepped out of the bathroom the person on the other side pushed her out of the way with an exaggerated, "finally!" She stumbled and quickly righted herself against a wall. It was a college party. She could tell from all of the drunk nineteen year olds and the football and cheerleader uniforms around her.
She made her way into the living room and looked around in search of the only reason she could be here. Sara.
She wasn't to be found so Tegan entered the kitchen where A couple were making out and she checked to see that the girl wasn't Sara. It wasn't.
A guy stopped her in the hallway. "Haven't seen you around before."
No, you haven't," she continued to walk past him. In the back of her mind she worried that the owner of these clothes would see her and notice.
"Hey wait up! What's the hurry?"
Tegan sighed; rolled her eyes. "I'm looking for someone can you help me?"
He smiled drunkenly, "Sure, I know everyone. I'm pretty popular."
Tegan resisted the urge to roll her eyes again. "Her name's Sara. She's about my height, short brunette hair."
The jock went blank. "Umm," he scratched the back of his head. "No actually, I guess I know everyone but her."
"Well thanks anyway," Tegan pushed past him and he let her go.
Outside! Tegan thought. She pushed through the drunken college students and made her way out the back door of the house. It was much quieter outside and Tegan could finally think clearly for a moment.
"Tegan!" She heard someone call. Sara. She was sat inside one of those trampolines with the protective nets around them.
"Sara, I have been looking for you everywhere!" Tegan ran to the trampoline. "What do you need? Why am I here?"
Sara looked at her through the net and giggled.
"What is so funny?" Tegan asked crossly. Sara only laughed harder. "Sara, are you drunk?"
"Yup!" She laughed again like it was the funniest thing in the world.
"I was in the middle of… something personal. And now I'm here in the middle of who the fuck knows where for no god damn reason."
Sara gasped clasping both hands to her mouth dramatically. She snorted with laughter and her eyes screwed up from her dopey mischievous smile. "Were you doing it?"
Tegan cringed while her face flushed betraying her.
"You were! You totally were!"
"Shut up!" Tegan scolded her half-heartedly. She couldn't be mad when Sara was such an adorable goof of a drunk. Tegan looked at her through the net and Sara fell back into another fit of giggles. "I'm glad you find this so funny."
"Poof! You're here now," Sara mumbled looking up to the sky.
Tegan thought about joining her on the trampoline now that she was here anyway, she looked for the way to get in when it dawned on her, "You can't get out can you? That's why I'm here."
Sara sat up sheepishly. "I'm trapped, Tegan. They've got me," she hiccupped and fell backwards again.
"What? Who's got you?"
"Them, th-they got me."
Tegan laughed and shook her head. "C'mon lets get you out of there." She found the snug entrance to the trampoline and stretched it open into a gap wide enough for Sara to slide through.
Sara's attempt to get through was sloppy at best but with Tegan's help she managed to drag her out of there, though not without the two of them falling together onto the dewy grass.
Sara half rolled onto Tegan and looked down at her thoughtfully, Tegan thought Sara was going to kiss her, Sara's alcohol stained breath ghosted her lips, and thenX Sara burst into another fit of giggles and rolled back onto the grass. Tegan touched her own lips and then laughed too, what a ridiculous evening this had turned out to be.
"Do you think you'll be okay now?" Tegan asked her looking up to the stars. So pretty.
Sara didn't respond and when Tegan rolled to face her she was snoring peacefully.
"Really? You're really just gonna fall asleep on me?"
Tegan didn't know what to do, she tried to shake Sara awake but she was passed out solid. Tegan didn't want to leave her on a bed at the party in case someone took advantage of her. She sighed and smoothed a palm down her face resigning herself to the fact that she would be sleeping outside for the night next to her drunk ex girlfriend from when she was fifteen. "Fuck me…"
X
"How long will I be here?" Tegan asked. Sometimes the visits were quick but sometimes Sara was in real distress and Tegan had stayed upwards of two weeks. She was already thinking about all the work she would have to reschedule.
"I don't know, okay?"
Tegan sighed, she sat down next to Sara against the tree.
"I'm sorry," Sara said. "I'm sorry you made that stupid promise when you didn't know any better. I hate that you always have to rescue me, I know you have a life now and I'm not supposed to be a part of it. If I could change it, I would."
"Hey," Tegan placed a hand on her shoulder but removed it when Sara flinched. "I'm-"
Sara looked up from the ground. "You're what?"
"Remember that time you had that accident?"
Sara nodded.
X
Tegan had been studying in the library when suddenly she was standing in a cornfield. Something felt urgent about this time, and she didn't waste a moment trying to determine where she was. She sprinted towards the nearest road and what she found made her stomach drop. A car accident. A car had crashed into a telephone pole. The front end of the little white vehicle had been pushed in and Tegan knew Sara was in there. She tried prying open the door but it was stuck, when she looked in through the window, Sara was unconscious, slumped against the steering wheel, blood on her forehead.
"Sara!" She shouted. She banged on the side of the car to wake her up. Tegan looked at the road to maybe flag down another driver but none had passed since she got here. The road was dirt and appeared to be in the middle of the country. Tegan pulled out her phone and held it up for a signal. She got one and quickly checked her gps location before dialing 911.
It was a while before emergency services showed up, but in that time no other cars had passed. They managed to cut Sara out of the vehicle and Tegan rode with her to the nearest hospital.
She had a broken arm, some fractured ribs and a concussion, but she was okay.
When Sara awoke, Tegan was right there beside her.
"I had a feeling I might be seeing you," She smiled.
The worry that had managed to tangle itself around Tegan's heart seemed to loosen with that smile. Her vision blurred and she blinked away the tears. "You did it on purpose didn't you? I knew you couldn't get enough of me."
Sara laughed and then cried out at the pain in her ribs. "Ow," Her eyes watered. She looked down at her body beneath the thin hospital blanket and then to her broken left arm. "What's the damage?"
Tegan told her what the doctor had said and Sara groaned over dramatically, then yelped at the pain that caused.
Tegan scolded her, "Hey, cut it out."
"My sarcasm is literally killing me," She groaned again.
"Stop being a smart ass then."
She grinned, "I can't help it. You bring it out in me."
Tegan smiled down at her. "I'm glad you're okay."
Sara looked sincere for a moment but it was gone too quickly. "You and I have very different definitions of okay."
"Shut up," Tegan flicked her leg.
Sara rubbed the spot with her good hand. "That's right, cause harm to the person who's just been in an accident."
"You know I would never hurt you."
Sara looked Tegan in the eye like she were searching for something and Tegan had to turn away when it became too intense. Sara looked down to her fingers playing with the blanket near her leg.
"I know."
X
"I'm glad I was there to find you. I still think about it, what if no one had driven past and found you?"
"Maybe I'd be dead, and you wouldn't have to worry about anything."
Tegan frowned. "Sara, hey c'mon. Don't say that."
"Sometimes I think about it, you know?"
"Is that why I'm here? To stop you from doing something stupid?" Tegan asked incredulously.
Anger flashed through Sara's eyes. "Oh fuck off, Tegan. Don't act like I'm some victim that needs saving. You don't always get to be the hero."
Tegan was taken aback. "What? I never said I was a hero. Trust me I wouldn't be here if I didn't have to be."
"Then leave!" Sara shouted. She stood up and when Tegan pursued, she pushed her. Tegan stumbled backwards catching herself against the tree.
"What the fuck, Sara!?
Sara pushed her again and Tegan clutched her hands as they came for her. When Sara tried to pull away, she held them tight.
"Let me go!"
"I won't."
"I said let me go!"
"Not until you tell me what's wrong."
"I get to keep some things to myself! You don't always get to know everything!"
"Fine!" Tegan yelled. She let go of Sara's hands and turned away with tears clouding her vision. "But let me tell you, I don't just want to know so that I can go back home, okay?" She wiped her sleeve against her wet nose. "I care about you. But yeah, okay. I'll go." Tegan began walking away. "I'll be seeing you some time soon anyway."
It was quiet for a moment, and then she heard Sara's distraught, "Wait!"
Tegan turned back and Sara stood before her with red eyes and disheveled hair.
"Yeah?"
"Wait. Just… don't go."
"I'm not going anywhere," Tegan assured her.
"But you will. You always do," She said through tears.
Tegan softened as she watched Sara struggle. "Sara? What are you trying to say?"
"I don't- I don't want you to go…" She said sadly. She looked down to her hands where she had subconsciously begun fiddling with the middle knuckle on each finger, then looked up into Tegan's eyes. "After all this time…" She released a shaky sigh. "The only thing I need- the only thing I want is you."