When James announced that he had killed somebody, Fisher's first reaction was to laugh. He manage to stifle it quite well, but after last Friday he didn't know if he could handle being around another murderer. Of course James hadn't intended to kill the person (girl he assumed). It was all very confusing.
Once James got up and began stumbling outside, Fisher was right behind him. He swayed a little on his feet, the scotch having hit him just then, but he was steady enough to be there if they needed to smooth talk their way out of anything. He thanked the bartender before they left, mainly because he hadn't called the cops on James even though he could have.
The air outside was delightfully cool. The alcohol had painted rose colored circles on Fisher's cheeks, and he felt overheated. James didn't seem to have a direction in mind other than 'out of that fucking bar', so Fisher tried guiding him gently (and subtly) back toward Halcyon. "That sucks, man," he commiserated. "It's hard losing someone, then having it rubbed in your face how happy they are and how happy you're not." He took the bottle from James, drank a little, and let it hang by his side so every few steps a little bit would slosh out. "And I can't tell you anything a million other people haven't told you before. You can't make people love you, you can't control them, you have to love yourself before anyone else can, blah blah blah." He drank again, this time savoring the burn. It was awful strange to be on this end of the drunken stupidity. "Rehab did wonders," he confessed, "but the most important thing they said suprised the shit outta me. My counselor told me that nothing he said would ever convince me to stop hurting myself. One day, he said, I'd have an epiphony and it would just make sense. Some people get it before they need rehab. Some never get it. But it's the only thing that'll make you give a shit about changing." Fisher shrugged. "And it did. Four months and two suicide attempts later, but it did." He smiled at drunken James. "And it will for you, too. Hopefully before you're dead."