[ WP ] He seemed tired but strong .

He seems tired but strong. The teenage girl sits beside him, looking down at the skates on her feet. He rubs at the bridge of his nose. `` What the hell was that out there?'' `` I dunno.'' 
 
 `` What do you mean you *do n't know*?!'' 
 
 `` I do n't *fucking* know!'' 
 
 She's usually so calm and collected. She never fights, *never*. Even if someone hits her, or a teammate, and *especially* not when she played and practiced with *them*. She'd tried to hit a man at least a foot and a half taller, and a hundred pounds heavier. He looks down at his own skates. He *was* tired, from practice, from life. 
 
 This was n't about the fact that she'd tried to fight. 
 
 It was about her not being *there*. 
 
 He could always talk to the girl, despite how much younger she was, about the little things that bothered him. She always understood. They got on well, they were good friends, they could talk and laugh and argue and it was okay at the end of the day. He got her through things, through her move to a new city, and she got him through things, through his nerves and anxiety, when his routine got disrupted. She was like a daughter to him. He loved her, in an entirely *father* type of way. He felt pride when she succeeded in school, when she captained her team to a championship win. 
 
 She looks *exhausted*, but she looks like she's breaking. 
 
 She's always looking exhausted, never enough sleep and always an abundance of work. But she did n't look like she could *handle* it now. Not like she used to. 
 
 `` What's been up? You look tired,'' she whispers. Feeling bad herself, and concerned about others. `` I should be asking you that,'' he says, equally quiet. 
 
 `` There was an accident.'' 
 
 And he looks at her, shock in his hazel eyes, and wraps an arm around her shoulders. 
 
 And she presses her face into his neck, and climbs into lap, and cries. She never cries. She protects everyone, she comforts *them*, she's the *strong one*. But she sobs. She wails. `` They're dead! A fucking drunk driver!'' He wraps his arms around her, strong, protective. He rocks back and forth. He goes *shhhh*. He lets her cry. 
 
 He could be the strong one for now.
