AN: Hey guys, swim4life here. I've been on ff for a while and decided to try and write a one-shot. I apologize if it has any mistakes, It's my first story. Please leave a review and tell me what you think! I'm working on my writing skills and feedback is appreciated! Now on to the story.
He finds her outside sitting on a wooden bench. The fight with her brown haired, doe eyed best friend has taken a lot out of her. He doesn't know what they were fighting about, only that when he got to the New York City apartment she was already in tears.
She has her legs tucked to her chest and her arms wrapped around them. Raindrops from the storm passed glisten in her light blonde hair, the drip of the water providing a constant reminder that she can't escape.
There are teardrops in her eyes, falling down her cheeks. She's staring at a leaf on the ground, light orange floating on a bed of water, watching the newly born rays of sun streak delicately across the surface. He silently sits next to her on the cold hard bench watching her from the corner of his eye. She doesn't move. They both are still, the air heavy between them, a million things unsaid drifting through their minds. He's first to break the silence.
"How do you cope?"
He's looking into her blue eyes that shimmer with her tears and are beautiful yet broken, like cracked glass. Her porcelain skin looks paler than usual.
He can't imagine what she's been through. Something serious must have happened between her and Riley to make her like this. He wants to ask, but he knows she won't answer. He can usually read her thoughts, but right now they are encased in a steel box, and he doesn't have the key. She's so still it scares him.
She's still staring at the leaf when she answers.
"I tell myself to keep breathing. Keep breathing for one more second." She pauses, taking a deep breath. "And after that second passes I tell myself to do it for another and another."
She looks up at him, the pain in her eyes cracking his heart. He wants nothing more than to wrap her in his arms, sheltering her from the harsh world that has already hurt her too much.
But he doesn't. Instead he just answers, "That seems...tedious."
She looks away.
"It is." She laughs bitterly. "But you asked how I coped."
He doesn't know how to answer to that, so instead he tilts her head towards him looking into her crystal blue orbs that still are shattered. The look she gives him, like she's just a lost little girl wanting love, causes him to move closer to her. This is the most vulnerable he's ever seen her.
She looks away. They both again fall quiet, staring into space.
"I wish someone would stay." He hears her whisper it, so faintly it could have been mistaken for a summer breeze, but he hears it. And suddenly he finds the key and he knows who she is and how she's broken.
He grips her shoulders, and her eyes bounce back to his, startled with his abruptness.
"Never say that again. I'm here for you. I will always stay." He stares at her intensely, willing her to believe him. He wants her to know he'll be there. She gives him a watery smile, a broken smile of a girl that is trying to fix herself.
"Thank you." She leans into him and he automatically puts his arm around her, hugging her close.
They glance up at the sky, the wispy, thin clouds floating in a sea of light blue, so light it's gray. They don't speak because they don't need to, they know each others minds and hearts. This comfortable silence blankets them and life moves on. And with his arm around her and her head on his shoulder they think they might be ok, if only in each other's company, if only a moment. And that's how they find themselves in the morning, waking up, maybe, for the first time, ok.
AN: Again, tell me what you think! If you have any requests let me know, I can't promise I'll write them, but I'll try! Thanks for reading!