This Love

Chapter 33

HARRY STYLES

Six Years Ago

"Hey, you know what I was thinking about?" I asked, looking down at Scarlett as she lay with her head in my lap.

"Hm?"

"You've never really told me much about your parents."

Her eyes remained closed up to the sky, but she still seemed to stiffen at the mention of it. "What about them?"

I paused for a moment, thinking of the information I'd already been given from Seth, and I remembered how he told me to make sure I kept that all a secret from her. "Anything about them. You've never mentioned them at all."

"Okay, well...how about you ask me questions and I'll answer them."

"Alright," I sat back with my hands keeping me propped up in the grass, watching our fellow classmates walking around campus. "Describe your mum in three words."

She smirked a little. "Controlling, materialistic, cunt. Next question."

My eyes widened in shock, though I didn't know why. After Seth's explanation, those terms seemed pretty appropriate. "And your dad?"

"My real dad is dead–didn't really know him. The man who married my mother is named Frank, and I'm not sure they've made words for him in the English language yet, but if I had to choose three, I would say...repulsive, asshole, and...intrusive."

Those words weren't much better than the three meant for her mother either. "Can I ask why?"

"Why what?"

"I mean...why would you describe them like that?"

Then it was her turn to take a moment to think about it, but I waited patiently and just hoped that she wasn't going to shut me down and change the subject. "My mom had this thing about food. Like, she wanted to control everything I ate and all that shit. She's materialistic because while my real dad was struggling with addiction and lost his job and everything because of it, she was cheating on him trying to find another man who could take care of her while they were still married. And she's a cunt for all of that."

Because her eyes were still closed, I allowed myself to wince at the picture she painted for me. "Is that, um...did your dad die because of addiction?"

Surprisingly, she nodded without any hesitation. "Seth was the one who found him in the bathroom when we were five. Our mother was on a date."

I swallowed, shaking my head as I tried to think of what I could even say about that. Seth never mentioned anything on the subject, but I could imagine that was just about as traumatizing as traumatizing could be. "I'm sorry. And I'm sorry for saying sorry. I know it doesn't help."

"It's okay," she yawned and adjusted her head on my lap. "I don't really remember much of it or him so it's not a big deal."

I couldn't kiss her in that position we were in, but she still smiled when I swept my thumb along her bottom lip. "And what about your step-dad? You don't like him?"

She laughed and squinted her eyes open at me. "Where is all this curiosity about my family coming from?"

"I don't know, I guess I'm just thinking that you know my family now so I'm curious about yours."

"Hm," she reached up for my black RayBan sunglasses, gently taking them off of me to put on herself. "I think you think you wanna know, but if I tell you, you're just gonna wish I didn't."