Perception

XLV

They stayed up until silly o'clock again, of course, Sarah sitting on the other end of the couch listening to every detail of Anna's date, and after that every detail of the dream as well, asking her a million questions.

"So anyway." Anna said after a while, in a tone full of finality: "Seriously, that's plenty enough about me. I would like to know a little bit more about a certain friend of mine who spent the night last night with a certain boy."
Sarah grinned, and suddenly she looked more coy than Anna had ever seen her.
"Sarah! You like him, don't you!" Anna exclaimed, louder than she intended, her arm gesture almost spilling her wine over the lovely soft couch.
Sarah looked up at her through her lashes and nodded.
"I really do. He's just so awesome, Anna! He's smart, and witty, and caring... and let's not ignore the facts: he's very  good in bed."
Anna laughed heartily. "Wow! That's... that's like, a whole list, right there, hey? I'm really happy for you, Sarah. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen you like this before."
Sarah shook her head slowly. "No, to be honest, I don't think you have."
Anna have her friend a good look. She looked happy, real happy, her cheeks still slightly flushed with the events of today. 
"Wow... that's something else." she said softly.
Sarah giggled. "Well. We'll see what happens next, my friend. But for now, we're here, together, you and I, just like it's supposed to be."

She had picked up the wine bottle to start filling their wine glasses again, when suddenly her cell phone rang.
"What? Who's calling me at this hour?" she mumbled as she got up, somewhat stiffly from sitting cross legged for so long, and walked over the the chest of drawers where it was charging.
"Hello?" she answered, and within seconds Anna saw her face fall.
Shit!
What was going on? Sarah's face paled visibly as she listened to the voice on the other end of the line, and Anna jumped up to go stand with her friend.
"Okay. I'm on my way. I'll see if I can get a car and set off tonight." Sarah said quietly. "Yeah. I'll see you soon, please keep me posted of anything, okay? Bye."

She hung up and suddenly her beautiful dark eyes were brimming with tears.
"Sarah! What's going on?" Anna asked urgently.
Sarah looked down at the ground. "It's grandma... she's... she's had a stroke."
The tears flowed over now as she whispered. "They don't know... they don't know if she's going to make it. I've got to get over there now, like, asap."
Anna felt like her heart fell through the floorboards and onto the floor below.
"Oh no, Sarah." she whispered, and she folded her arms around her friend. Anna knew how close Sarah was to her grandmother. She'd even lived with her with her mum for several years when she was growing up. Sarah leaned tightly into the hug for just a moment, almost as if she were drawing strength from it, and then she let go.
"I think James has access to a car. His folks live locally." she said then, resolve in her voice now, and she picked up the phone again, to call him.

The conversation only took a minute.
"He's coming." Sarah told her as she put the phone back down. "It will take him half an hour to fetch the car from his parents and make his way over to us."
She was already starting to rush around, fishing a small suitcase out of a cupboard and throwing some clothes into it.
"Do you want me to come with you?" Anna asked, her tone carefully neutral, making sure she was leaving space for Sarah to say yes or no as it suited her.
Sarah looked up for just a second. "Thanks, Anna, that's so nice. But I'll be okay. I'll have James with me. You and Eli will need to do all the work on the project by yourselves, though. Will you be okay?"
Anna smiled wryly. Trust Sarah to be thinking of other people at a time like this.
"Of course we'll be okay. That's approximately the last thing that should be on your mind right now."

She helped Sarah pack and then she followed her downstairs to wait with her in the dark street, quieted by the night.
"Hey. You say the word and I'm on a train a minute later. You know that, yeah?" she asked her friend as she saw a small Toyota roll up the street.
"I know. I'll text you the second I know more. I love you."
Anna gave her one more quick hug as James and Eli got out of the car. James smiled at Sarah and quickly walked around the car to open the boot.
"I love you too, Sarah."