• Troublesome • Rhett x Reader •

• Chapter Five •

I open my eyes and feel a pounding deep in my head. The sun blinds me and I reach up to shield my eyes. As I do, Nicole finally comes into focus, sitting beside me, one hand on my back and the other holding a cell phone to her ear. She speaks quicker than I can make sense of, but before I can even open my mouth she notices my eyes looking up at her.

"Oh, Jesus." She closes her phone and places it on the concrete beside us. "Don't faint on me ever again. I thought you just dropped dead."

"Huh...?" I crane my neck to eye the towering stairs we had almost made all the way up. "Oh."

"I tried finding you some water after a nice woman helped bring you back down, but the only one I could find was out of order. Most of the working ones are on the other side of the park. I shouldn't have lost your water bottle."

"It's ok, I just feel a little lightheaded right now." I sigh and rest my head back against the brick wall behind us.

"What's going on?" Someone approaches us just out of my like of vision.

"Oh, hey, thank god. (Y/n)'s having heatstroke. She lost her water bottle and she passed out on us." Nicole looks up at him.

Him.... being RHETT. (And Link of course, still looking like a lil boy on his first day of school)

My head snaps over to him and I suddenly feel the same self-consciousness make its way back up my spine. I watch in confusion as he passes link a few dollar bills.

Before I even know how to react he's by my side, on his knees but still towering over me. He turns his head back and gestures for Link to hand over his book bag.

"Buy her a water bottle." He said before turning his stare back to me, zipping open the bag and digging around in it. I begin to sit up, uncomfortable with all of the attention that's been placed on me.

"Here." He pulls out a lunchbox and pulls an ice pack out from that, easing it onto the back of my neck. "This'll help cool you down."

"Ooh! Cold!" I whine at first, but almost immediately feel a hundred times better than before. I let a satisfied sigh escape my lips. "Thank you."

"Lean your head back like this." He gently places both hands on my head. One on my forehead and one on the back and he carefully guides my head into a more comfortable position as the ice pack is cooling even more skin.

Link returns with the water bottle and passes it to Rhett, who passes it to me.

I crack it open and take a large swig of the cool liquid. Feeling completely refreshed with only minor remaining symptoms, I begin to stand onto my feet, to which everyone around me seems to begin standing as well, continuing to hold out their arms in case I fell one way or the other. I suddenly felt a very familiar feeling start to boil in my gut. From my past. And it made me very anxious.

Standing in the dull hospital room, wires strapped to my chest and in my arms, I could feel the cold tile floors through the wooly socks they gave me every time I requested them. The smell of sanitizer and the sound of 90s sitcoms quietly playing on the other side of the room wasn't supposed to be enough to disturb me, but it was. Figures crowd around me, some supportive and some holding cameras or taking notes. I wobbled in place, standing for the first time since the accident.

"(Y/n), we've got you."

I pressed my eyes shut.

"C'mon, (y/n)."

"Come on, move those feet!" Rhett snaps my attention back from where it had drifted off to. I'm sure to sincerely thank him and Link for what they'd done for me before Nicole and I parted from them.

We spent the rest of the time at there sitting on the empty bus.