hometown glory - wroetoshaw [✓]

SIXTEEN

[twentieth of november 2019]

"sorry for just turning up at your door but i've been trying to figure out this blog thing for like two hours and i got really angry at it and left my phone at home before i left to come here which was really stupid but can you let me in the gate please." apollo managed to rant all in one breath, before she heard harry laugh and a button press over the intercom and the gates opened. she quickly parked the car and hopped out with her laptop in hand and went up to the door where harry was waiting. 

"hand it over." he said smugly which caused her to sigh, she worked with computers all day long but for some reason coding a blog was not her forte. he lead her upstairs into his room and sat in his computer chair. before sighing and opening the laptop. "what were you trying to do?" he asked, shocked by the mess she made of the website. 
she put her head in her hands and sat on his bed, "i don't even remember. i've drafted the first post on docs but i wanted to spruce it up a bit before i posted it." she realised it probably sounded a bit dumb but he just laughed at the helplessness on her face. 

he was met with a mess of codes and saw her other opened tabs were google searches for how to code a blog which he chuckled to himself about. "i'll clean this all up and if you want i can post the blog for you now? just drop it and then you can share it with your friends and stuff and it might get a bit of traction behind it." he offered but judging by the expression he was met with it was a strong no. 
apollo shook her head as she thought about sharing what she wrote with the world, "it seems too vulnerable still, i wrote it when it was like two days after this all happened-" she was cut off by harry who seemed like he had an idea. 

"maybe that's what needs to be put out. a way to really get across your emotions. like you can start with a note about how you felt when you wrote this and then it would be more raw and probably more emotional- if thats what you're going for." he could see apollo was thinking but her face still didn't seem convinced. 
she was very conflicted because she could see both sides of the argument. "but i don't want to sound like a sob story." she groaned as she didn't know what to do. 

"you won't sound like a sob story, and it's mainly going to be your friends seeing this so they wouldn't be judging you - they'd be supporting you if anything." they both knew harry was right but apollo was still apprehensive. "i'll get back to doing this and you can just think it over." he offered and apollo nodded, before flopping back onto the bed with her feet still touching the floor, and just thought. 

the keyboard clicks diminished after a while and the website was back to a functioning state, and apollo was shocked at how easy it came to him. but then remembered that being an online presence was all his life focused around. "do you want to read it?" apollo offered with the smallest voice he ever heard from her, as she pushed herself back up to a seating position. harry turned to give her a small smile at the offer. 
"do you want me to read it?" was the question he felt he should be asking. apollo was a big presence most of the time harry had been around her, but this topic of conversation caused her to shy away. she gave him a small nod and he moved over to the bed,  budging her up so she sat cross-legged next to the wall. he didn't want to read it by himself and have her sitting and watching every reaction to her words, so he decided it would be better if they read it together. 

when she opened the file he was a bit shocked. the writing was over two pages long with a fairly small font size so harry knew they'd be there for a while, but he read on nevertheless. throughout the writing there were a range of emotions. sometimes she would crack jokes and other times her writing would so clearly convey her feelings it felt like you were experiencing it with her.
towards the end you could tell she was writing every single feeling she had in her about that night and she couldn't help but let a few tears slip, she tried to be quiet but of course harry noticed and wrapped her into a small side hug while he continued to read. he was engrossed in her writing and it was something he felt definitely had to be shared. 

"apollo do you realise this is actually, really powerful." he turned to her and was shocked. shocked by how devastating her experience was but also shocked by how well written it was. 
she looked down and laughed while wiping another tear, unsure of what to say. "i think you should post this. give a little disclaimer at the top and let everyone hear what you have to say." he suggested. 

she had stopped letting out small tears which she was wrongly embarrassed about, "i'm just scared for what people will say. i mean there are people who have gone through much worse and i'm over here writing a whole essay about some man cat-calling me as if women don't get that daily." it was evident that she had got in her own head about it and harry was unsure how to get her to see that her experience was worth sharing. "and i was so up for it after it first happened but now i've let it sit and its festered in my mind-" 

he cut her off again by a simple finger to her lip which made them both chuckle a bit. "you just explained to yourself whats wrong, you did get into your own head when you shouldn't have." she nodded as he spoke, "no one has any right to judge you for sharing your experiences and if they do, fuck em. what you're writing is your story and just because people have gone through worse doesn't make your experience any less important. it is your call at the end of the day but i think it is a story that deserves to be shared." he sighed as if he was proud of his (for once) wise words and let them fester in apollos head. 

then after a few moments of deliberating in her head she let out a strong, "fuck it." and gave harry the go ahead to publish it to her blog.