Arranged love - jaylor AU

the first day

-joes pov- 

I groan as I turn around in bed trying to forget what happened yesterday. I'm now a husband, the husband of someone that is already getting on my nerves. Neither one of us is happy about this union, but she doesn't need to make it worse by arguing about stupid shit. I might have poked the bear with my little comment but whatever, she is a grown woman and shouldn't get her panties in a twist over that. she should be happy that I took the smaller bedroom and left her in the master without arguing with her about who is sleeping where. 

Looking over at the clock I see that its 10am and our parents are coming over at 11:30 am to talk about their terms for the marriage or something like that. I thought they said all they wanted to say before we signed the papers and got married, but clearly there are more things they want to show down our throats. 

Quickly I get some clothes from the closet in the other room to put on after my shower. As much as I want to stay out of that room, all my things are in there because people need to think that we share it. Thats why I take a shower there before putting on a simple pair of black jeans and a polo shirt. I'm not going out today so no need for something more formal. 

There is laughter coming from the kitchen when I go downstairs, children laughter to be exact. That would be the child that was caught in the middle of this whole mess. Not only was I forced to marry Taylor, but Taylor came with a six-year-old. Now I'm legally her stepfather which sounds like a cruel joke. Children make me uncomfortable because I don't know what to do with them, and it's annoying that I need to watch my language and all that shit around them. Hopefully she isn't going to be problematic or a brat. Her mother did enough whining last night so let's hope the kid is nicer to me. 

They are laughing at something on what I assume is Lilliana's iPad when I come into the room. Looks like they have just finished up breakfast too so now I need to make something for myself too. 

«Hello Joe» Lilliana says, at least she is polite. «Good morning, Lilliana» I say back. «Lilly. Only old people call me Lilliana. Unless you're old?» 

«I'm only a year older than your mother. So no, I'm not old» I say with a chuckle before I get some cereal and milk out. Our mothers had the fridge and pantry fully stocked when I moved in two days ago. Since they said that the apartment was ready, I figured that it would be nice to get here before they did, so that's what I did. At least I got familiar with the apartment before the girls got here. 

Neither Taylor nor I greet one another, but I don't mind. She is really making this whole situation even more difficult by being an ass. At least the kid is nice and has good manners as far as the short time I've spent with her. I want to hate her, it would be the easiest solution, but I know that I'm stuck with her. If I go to war with her and despise her, she won't go away anyway. 

Relationships are messy and tends to get in the way of everything else, that's why I run from them. I've had one serious relationship in my life and that was hell, so I made a promise to myself to never get in one again. But here I am married to Taylor. I just want to live my life on my own terms according to what I see fit, but now I can't do that anymore. I feel trapped in a suffocating box already and it's only been a day

I must admit that Taylor is beautiful. Now that I see her without makeup, I can see that she is unnatural beauty which seems to be rare these days. But it doesn't matter how beautiful you are when you're annoying at the same time. 

**

-taylors pov- 

We are seated in the office with our fathers to go over whatever they came to discuss with us. Apparently, there are aspects to this marriage that they needed to discuss. My father said something about rules which I find stupid because we aren't children.