(Book 2) The Dark Side of Fame - Scarlett Johansson x Female Reader

Why What Happened, Happened

Two weeks later...

I sit out on the balcony after a quiet few days sat in the house in Northumberland with my guitar, playing a few chords over and over as the sun rises.

(Noah Cyrus - Mr Percocet)
Me: "I barely recognise you when you wake up in the morning
Must be someone else's eyes that I look into every night
You're only kind when you're all fucked up
You're only mine til the high is gone
But I wish you'd still love me when yours drugs wear off in the morning."

Scarlett: Sounds pretty deep.

I turn to see Scarlett resting on the back door frame, then she sits beside me on the bench.

Me: Yeah, I guess it is.
Scarlett: What's it about?
Me: It'd probably be what I would've said to myself if I was you all that time ago in that hotel room.
Scarlett: You would've been that harsh?
Me: Yeah, I would've.

She shifts a little in her seat.

Me: What?
Scarlett: You just, we never really talked about exactly why what happened, happened.
Me: Don't really see how knowing that is going to change anything.
Scarlett: Can I tell you anyway? I just, really need to get it off my chest and I feel like it'll help.
Me: Yeah, if it'll help.
Scarlett: Okay, first off let me start by saying I'm just gonna say it how it is and if it's a little brutal, then I'm sorry.

I put the guitar down on the decking and turn to face her as she sighs.

Scarlett: When you were away, back in LA, I really tried to forget about you, and Colin was the first person to pay any attention to me without judging me for what happened with us. The media tried to swing everything to make it look bad for me, and basically everyone bar LG left. I hated you for that, you were the one that walked out but everyone still backed you up. Even Hunter was furious at me. Then after London, I just felt so isolated...

I go to talk but she interrupts and takes my hands in hers.

Scarlett: I know you were there, I know, but when your mind starts playing tricks on you, it's hard to push past that. Anyway, I got so convinced that I was going to end up with nothing again that I thought there was no point in waiting around. I don't know if it was the drugs, or just the trauma, but in my head you were already gone, and Colin was just there waiting. Then when I found out that you ran straight to Hailee I thought that you must've done the same as me, so I hated you more than I hated myself for giving me a hard time when you were doing exactly the same thing behind my back.
Me: Why didn't you just tell me how you felt?
Scarlett: I tried, so many times. But every time I tried, I just got scared. I convinced myself that you didn't want to hear it because you were cheating with Hailee, even though you weren't. And then the only person that ended up getting hurt was you. You have no idea how much regret I have, for all of it. It broke us.
Me: You need to let go of it. I have. It was the straw that broke the camels back, there was a lot more than just that which broke us.
Scarlett: You have?
Me: There's no point in hanging onto what happened. We can only try to move past it and try and get back what we had.
Scarlett: So you singing that song...
Me: I guess I just need to practice what I preach.

She laughs a little then looks into my eyes.

Scarlett: Are we ever going to be the same?
Me: No, but we can try and be better. Oh, that reminds me, I do actually have something that I need to tell you.
Scarlett: Oh God.
Me: No, nothing like that, it's actually quite interesting, be it all a little crazy. While we were...fighting...I got a call from a solicitor here, saying that they found a will belonging to my birth mother. This house, I didn't exactly hire it.
Scarlett: It's Francesca's?
Me: It was her Mom's, but when she died a few years ago they started looking through everything and found Francesca's will. The house was left to her, but because she's dead, it automatically passes over to me as the only child. The only child who isn't incarcerated anyway.
Scarlett: Wait, so this is yours?
Me: Yup, it's mine. Oh, and that's not the best part. Follow me.