She saw the way I was looking at her and covered herself back up with her shirt, uncomfortable. "Don't look at me like that," she said.
"Like what?" I said.
"With pity. Don't look down on me like that. Yeah I've been through some shit. I'm still equal to you. That doesn't make me less than anyone else," she said.
I gently but firmly pushed her down onto her back on the bed and leaned over her. I looked her in the eyes and said, "That doesn't make you less than anyone else. It makes you more than them."
Her eyes started to water and she wiped them away with her shirt. She turned her head to look away from me and mumbled, "Thank you."