"If you find that your fists are raw and red from beating yourself down/ If your legs have given out under the weight/ If you find that you've been settling for a world of grey/ So you wouldn't have to face down your own hate/ If no one will listen, if you decide to speak/ If no one is left standing after the bombs explode/ If no one wants to look at you for who you really are/ I will be here still."- "If No One Will Listen" by Kelly Clarkson
She slipped into his apartment and sighed when she found him slumped over his kitchen counter, a bottle of whiskey clutched in his hand. He lifted his head and tried to fish out a smile for her.
"What are you doing here?" he asked as she crossed the room and settled into a chair beside him.
She reached for the bottle and poured him a drink with one for herself. "I know what day it is. I thought you could use some company."
"I don't want to talk about it."
"I know."
He swallowed the whiskey in his glass and tried to grab the bottle. She moved it out of his reach.
"Pace yourself, Nate. You don't want to kill yourself."
He let out a bitter laugh. "Actually, I kind of do."
She let her eyes fall to the counter as she took a deep breath; she slid the bottle to him and watched as he dumped a healthy amount of the amber liquid into his glass. She sipped at her glass; he drank half in one gulp.
"It doesn't get any easier," he mumbled. "Every day…I remember he's still gone, and I'm here. It's fucked up, Soph. So goddamned unfair."
"Yes, it is," she whispered, reaching out to place a hand on his shoulder.
He turned his head to look at her, and when he studied her face through his drunken haze, he realized that there wasn't any pity in her eyes. Understanding, sorrow, and even love, but she wasn't looking at him like he was less than her equal or didn't deserve to still be alive. Something inside him broke a little. The tears were streaming down his face before he could stop them, and she pulled him into her arms, letting him rest his head on her shoulder.
"I'm here, Nate," she murmured, pressing a kiss to his hair and holding him a little tighter. "I'm always going to be here."