Tangerine

Chapter 35

Soundtrack: Led Zeppelin - All My Love

Dedication: tea (@TeaJambrovi) your comments and messages are some of the sweetest i've ever received, i want to print them out and stick them on my wall :) i'm so happy you feel the way you do about tangerine and my style of writing, thank you tons for being so clever and lovely x

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"I was born in Middlewich, Cheshire..."

"Not that far back," Harry jests with a laugh, teasing me lightly. "Wait- Middlewich?"

"Yeah."

"I thought you said you were from Northwich?"

"Same thing," I shrug.

"Yeah, but Middlewich is a ten minute drive from Holmes Chapel ‒ barely ‒ when Northwich is like, twice as far," Harry presses on. "That changes everything."

I nod and shrug again, not really knowing what to say.

"You do realise if I were to walk home from Middlewich it would take only an hour on foot?" Harry questions matter-of-factly.

"I am aware," I chuckle.

"We grew up ten minutes away from each other, Scar..." Harry clarifies, his mouth parting a little as he speaks. "And we didn't even know?"

"Pretty much," I laugh, embarrassedly. "Well, I knew. I mean, I found out the day we met. That's why I was so taken when you first told me you were from Holmes Chapel."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Harry beams at me disbelievingly.

"I don't give a shit about Middlewich, that town can burn in hell," I roll my eyes, making Harry's bright expression dim. "Northwich is okay but London is my home."

"So, wait- did you move to Northwich?" Harry asks carefully. "Or, how did that play out?"

"I grew up in Middlewich, like I said," I tell him. "My parents fought a lot when I was a kid and thought that moving would change how unhappy they were. We moved but nothing changed," I shake off any harsh emotions I might be feeling from talking about such a bothersome topic. "I was fourteen when we went up to Northwich. We stayed there for three years until I moved out. I lived on my own then and I have ever since."

"Wait, seventeen?" Harry states, looking at me with piercing eyes. "You moved out when you were seventeen?"

"Yeah, it was, uh-" I pause. "It was an experience."

"Wow, that's- That's incredibly brave, Scarlet," Harry sits back on his hands, taken with the words I'm saying. I mouth a small 'thank you' to him, smiling softly before he continues. "What about your parents? Where are they now?"

"They moved back to Middlewich once I left and rebuilt a creepy reflection of their former life," I cringe at the kind of people they are now. "Without me in the picture, of course."

Harry furrows his brows, surveying me intently. I look around his room, antsy with all the pressure that's been put on me. Harry takes a few moments to form his next question, trying to get his words right so he doesn't come off with the wrong impression.

"What happened, love?" Harry lowers his voice, folding our hands together between our crossed legs. "I know you said your parents fought a lot but I'm sensing that wasn't the whole reason why you left."

"It wasn't."

"Wanna talk about it?"

"There's a bit to tell," I bite my lip, unsure of how deep Harry is willing to get.