Expelled and needing to transfer for his final year, Liam had known immediately where to go. It was the place that'd taken everything from him; that'd ruined him so absolutely it'd twisted his personality beyond recognition.
The place where he'd met...
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Stepping out from his flat, the chilly morning air clogged in his nostrils, an autumn scent polluted with stale piss and rotting rubbish. Crisping bushes crinkled alongside plastic bin bags and cans sliding down rough tarmac, his neighbours' disregard complaining in the wind. His door creaked shut, and he locked it behind him.
ㅤIt wasn't as if he'd anything worth burgling anyway. If he couldn't afford to have breakfast for himself, any opportunist was going to be sorely disappointed. No electronics here. Even so, regardless of his sparse lifestyle, his flat was still his space. Having it get broken into would be unsettling.
ㅤFucking Liam.
ㅤ"Mornin' Charlie!"
ㅤThe next door down, his neighbour, Emily, was leaning against the railing, lipstick-stained fag hanging from her mouth. He couldn't help but furrow his brows, thinking about Liam and his gross habits.
ㅤ"Morning, Em. It's been a while since I've seen you around."
ㅤ"You know how it is. But, hey, boytoys come and go... though I guess it's more accurate to say I was the one who came and went." She laughed at her own joke.
ㅤ"I'm sorry to hear that."
ㅤ"I'm not! Not with that one. I can never fully leave this shithole, anyway. No, if I don't bring it with me, I always come back." She blew out smoke, the cloud sinking into the fabric of the foul-scented air. "It's the same for all of us here."
ㅤCharlie didn't want to think about that. He already knew.
ㅤAfter a beat, she crossed her tattooed arms, and her pierced eyebrow steadily rose, the barbell glinting alongside her mischievous eyes. "But I'm good otherwise. Great, even. Although... apparently not as great as you." She took a smirking drag.
ㅤEmily had lived next door before Charlie had arrived, having been placed here by the council as a teenager, much like himself. Now in her early twenties, she'd been trying to bounce from being a tattoo artist to pursuing hairdressing. She'd been getting pretty good at it, even if her own hair was white-bleached to steel wool.
ㅤ"What are you talking about?"
ㅤHer grin widened. "Do you really want me to spell it out? It'll embarrass you."
ㅤ"You're illiterate. Zero GCSEs."
ㅤ"Zero driver's licence. I'm talkin' about your boyfriend."
ㅤCharlie quickly assessed her. Liam had only become his boyfriend a couple days earlier, and he hadn't spoken to her about him before.
ㅤAs if sensing the unasked question, she dryly added: "The walls are thin here."
ㅤ"Oh," he huffed, a little embarrassed indeed. "Ever heard of a one-night shag? Or are you ageing out of the sex market these days?"
