Chapter 69

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Soundtrack: Slowdive - Sleep

Dedication: sarah with an h (@lousmiles) hiiii i was gonna say that i feel like you've been around forever, then you commented saying you were reading tangerine on ao3, long before it was even on wattpad ha! i'm sososo glad that you like my writing, you're too kind — i spend extra time and work twice as hard on these chapters (and the full circle of the story overall) just for people like you :)

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I sit in the chair next to my manager, craning my neck to look up at him slowly.

He looms over me, not saying anything just yet. His stiff presence makes me want to crawl into myself and disappear just a little bit so he can glare right through me, rather than directly into me.

Mitch remains leaning against his desk, fixing the expensive watch around his wrist, until he speaks.

"Three things," he says. "We're going to go through all of them, you're going to try not to cut in as much as you love to, and everything should go rather smoothly. Okay?"

A tangle of guilt forms in my stomach. We haven't even begun and the man is already looking at me like I've been blathering on for ages. I nod my head, not wanting to say a single thing, for discomfort that a simple "fine" from me might be taken sarcastically on his end.

"Great. First, we need to talk about the Malik family party in Toronto," he says, all too calmly to be normal. "What were your instructions?"

"Instructions?" I frown, suddenly put on the spot. "I, uh... Take selfies with Harry? Wasn't that it?"

"Yes," the man purses his lips curtly, "and...?"

I draw my hands in by my sides, contemplating how I'm going to say what I'm going to say before I say it.

"Mitch. Please-" I swallow in inferiority. "I'm sorry- I know you want me to think about it, but please, can you... spare me? Just tell me what I've done, instead of having me guess all day long?"

Mitch visibly drags his tongue along his teeth, roughly pulling out a separate wooden chair for himself and turning it backwards. He sits heavily on the seat with his hands clasped together over its backrest, waiting directly in front of me.

He looks as if he's expecting me to say something further. I don't say a thing just to prove him wrong. If he's going to refuse to communicate with me, I'm going to refuse it right back to him.

"Do you think you can do anything you please?" Mitch finally speaks up after a long, irritating silence. "Is everything you do meant for your own benefit and no one else? Have you forgotten that you're working for an entire team of people, and not just for yourself?"

The man's tone of voice is so unpleasant, it nearly brings a cringe upon my face, although I could never show it.

"What are you talking about?" I question dubiously.

Mitch looks at me as if I should know what he's trying to get out of me, although I haven't a clue, "A number of sources informed the Twittersphere about your activities with Harry that evening. They said you were snogging all night long."

"Oh my god, that's it?" I sigh, feeling like a balloon just deflated in my chest. "Okay?"

"That's it?" Mitch repeats critically. "Scarlet, I specifically instructed you not to display any kissing with Harry that night."

"You-" my breath hitches and the pulse in my chest quickens. "I thought that was just for the selfies."

"You thought wrong."

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