a flat

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~ Present day ~

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~ Present day ~

I have to be blunt. The past six months have been more than I ever thought I could handle. I had to balance my studies with the worry of financial ruin and the stress of getting a job. On top of that my boyfriend, Harry, has not been any help. I haven't even told him that I've been cut off, I've been waiting until it's absolutely necessary to tell him. And now, it is.

"Harry," I say softly, knowing that I'm about to approach a delicate subject. He doesn't look away from the TV screen, merely putting a hand on my thigh in recognition of my interruption. "Harry?" I ask again, a bit more demanding.

He squeezes my thigh roughly and sighs. "What, babe?" He still hasn't looked at me.

"I kind of need to talk to you."

He takes a swig from his beer. "It can wait," he says flippantly, keeping his eyes on the television.

I fiddle with my rings, not really knowing what else to do. "It's really important, Harry."

"I'm fucking watching 'The Inbetweeners', babe. Leave it." His voice is harsh, he's giving me a warning but I really can't keep this from him. I take the remote and pause the show, forcing him to finally look at me. "The fuck you think you're doing?" He snaps at me.

I take a deep breath, trying to somehow ready me for this. "It's about the flat."

"The flat's fine, now put the fucking TV back on before I kick off." His grip on my leg is getting ever tighter but I don't think I have a right to tell him off about it right now.

"Please, Haz. You've watched this before and what I'm about to say is going to change a lot of things."

"Fucking get on with it then."

I smile at him, grateful that he's going to listen to me. "You know that the lease is up on the flat soon."

He narrows his eyes at me. "Yeah and that's got fuck all to do with me."

"I know, I know. But my dad has said that he won't pay for the flat anymore. So if we want to renew the lease then we have to pay for it ourselves." As well as my remaining year at uni, my father agreed to pay the rest of the lease on the flat I share with Harry. As my dad was paying for the flat before, it's obviously an insanely nice place but also ridiculously expensive and I won't be able to pay for it by myself.

"Don't see how that's my problem."

"Well," I try to explain to him. "If we want to keep living here then we're going to have to pay the rent."

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