Pride and Joy ✓

nineteen

THURSDAY. 09. DECEMBER. 21.
(LONGEST CHAPTER! For future reference, no other chapters are going to be this long, except for possibly the finale!)

FRANKLY, it was disastrous.

Maria was sobbing hysterically and clutching a crumpled tissue in her hands. Her shoulders were shaking and her silver charm bracelets jangled together every time she moved her wrists. Her face was blotchy and puffy, her eyes stained and bloodshot, and her breath hitched with every inhale and exhale, lips quivering and eyelashes fresh.

To her left, Nate was rubbing smooth, slow circles in-between her shoulder blades, pulling another tissue from the blue box laying behind him on her bed and handing it to her, all the while he hushed and muttered assuring words.

To her right, Denver was sitting stiffly, hands resting on his knees and his back straight, glimpsing at her.

As it turned out, the fight that she'd had with her boyfriend the day before turned out to be way more serious than he thought. Now they were broken up and Maria was frantic about it. Since they'd arrived, she hadn't stopped crying.

They weren't even supposed to be here. Denver and Nate had their last period together, and Nate had convinced Denver that they should go out for something to do since they'd be let out of class early, but as they'd been driving out of school, Denver had opened the group chat on his phone.

Maria had sent a message, begging someone to come over and keep her company while Taylor was at a doctor's appointment. His guilty conscience wouldn't let him ignore it and, when he explained the situation, Nate immediately asked for her address and said they would drive over to see her.

Denver had been dreading it the whole drive over, but she needed someone and he couldn't just ignore her.

It was a good thing that Nate was around because Denver coming over on his own would've left Maria worse off. Thankfully, she and Nate were so engaged with each other that Denver's presence was nothing more than a useless addition. It made him feel terrible but he didn't know what to do; he never knew what to do when someone cried. Usually, he kind of sat there and stared at them, occasionally offering an aloof 'there, there'— and that was him at his best.

He couldn't help how awkward it made him. He had never cried in front of anyone before, not since he was a toddler. Even then, he didn't cry a lot. His mom always told him what a well-behaved and quiet baby he was and the older he got, the less it sounded like a good thing.

That was besides the point, anyway. The point was that he didn't know what to do when someone started crying. Comfort them, sure, but comfort them how? All of his words sounded forced and any attempts at affection would've been so obviously staged and awkward that it would definitely make the person crying feel worse.

So he sat and let Nate take care of it instead.

"You're gonna be alright," Nate assured, tucking a stray lock of dark hair behind her ear and still rubbing those soothing circles on her back. "I know it hurts now, but it's going to be okay."

Maria continued to sob, eventually collapsing into Nate's chest and wrapping her arms around his waist, burying her head into the crook of his neck. He held her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and pulling her close, not seeming to mind how her tears stained his sweater.