Five hours. Five hours of literally nothing but his neighbor blasting "The Mountain Goats." Her name was Jennifer, if he remembered right. He'd seen her around a few times, and she was always so polite and kind to the people around her. So clearly something was very wrong for her to be blaring something like this so loudly.
Duke finally went and knocked on her door.
"Who's there?" came a rather drunk sounding voice.
"It's um, it's Duke. Uh, you live in the room next door to mine and you've been playing 'The Mountain Goats' very loudly for like the last five hours. Are you…? I mean, are you okay?" Duke yelled back through the door.
The music turned down as the door opened. She leaned against the door frame, her hair mussed and her clothes a little rumbled and he could spy a bottle of Honey Whiskey and a shot glass on her table.
"Okay?" She said, glaring at him, "Am I okay? Listen, pal, I am many things right now, but I am not okay."
"Oh, no, see I was starting to get that, what with the Honey Whiskey on the table, and the fact that it looked like a small tornado whipped through her," Duke commented.
She glared at him for a moment longer before she turned from him, heading back into her room, but leaving the door open. Unsure of what else to do, Duke followed after, closing the door behind, "Is there anything I can…? I mean, do you wanna talk about it?"
She sank into the couch sadly, "Not really, y'know?"
Duke sat down next to her and she rested her head on his shoulder, "He was a dick anyway."
Duke tentatively wrapped his arm around her shoulders, and she curled up a little more into his side, "When was the last time you ate, Short Stack?"
She lightly hit him in the chest, "Don't call me that, I'm not that short."
"That doesn't really answer my question."
She paused thinking, "I dunno; a while?"
"And how many shots have you had since you got home?"
Jennifer shrugged, "Enough?"
"Okay," Duke said, shifting slightly so he could grab his phone from his pocket, "I'm going to order us a pizza, we're going to stay on this couch, you are definitely going to stop drinking, and we're going to watch something mindless; whether or not you tell me all the grisly details about this asshole is up to you, but if you choose to, just know that I'll probably kick his ass at a later date."
She chuckled at him before kissing his cheek, "Thank you."
"Any time, Short Stack."