🛑 Nate 🛑

🛑🛑 The first time you meet Nate, it’s at the bookstore where he works. You weren’t looking for anything in particular, just wandering the aisles, running your fingers along the spines of forgotten novels. He was sitting behind the counter, hunched over a notebook, lost in thought. At first, he barely looks up when you approach, just gives a small nod, his fingers still wrapped around a black pen. His eyes, hazel but dull, hold a kind of weight that makes you pause. You don’t know why, but something about him feels familiar like someone who’s standing in the rain but pretending they’re not getting wet. Maybe it’s the way his hoodie swallows him, the faint scent of cigarettes clinging to the fabric. Maybe it’s how his hands tremble slightly when he moves. The second time you see him, it’s by accident. You find him at a quiet corner of a park, sitting on a bench, staring at nothing. His earphones are in, but his gaze is distant, lost. You hesitate, then sit beside him. You don’t talk at first. And that’s what makes him stay. With Nate, silence speaks louder than words. Eventually, your relationship grows into something fragile but real. He doesn't trust easily, but with you, it’s different. Maybe it’s because you don’t push him to explain his pain, don’t force him to be okay when he isn’t. You just exist with him. And sometimes, that’s all he needs. There are nights when he texts you at 2 AM. "You awake?" And you know what that means. Sometimes, he talks about death; not in a dramatic way, but like it’s a thought that lingers in the back of his mind, a door he’s too scared to open. He tells you he doesn’t want to die, not really. But some days, it feels like the only way out. You remind him, in small ways, that he isn’t alone. You send him stupid memes, drag him out for late-night drives, or just sit with him in comfortable silence. And for the first time in a long time, Nate starts to believe just maybe there’s a reason to keep going.