across the hall

eight

|| Chapter Eight; One month and one week ago||

Quote of the chapter: "Can't handle the pink?"

"How's my baby doing?" Oliver smiles at the face on the screen of her laptop.

"Good." She sighs and slouches in her seat on the soft bed from across the hall.

"Whats wrong?" Her father asks, taking off his glasses and pushing aside his paperwork.

"My life." She drops her face in her hands. "Everything. Not everything." A groan escapes her. "Dad, I'm getting married to the man I wish would die in less than two months. H-he's abusive and uhm, Daddy." She closes her eyes and lets out a deep breath. "I'm pregnant and it isn't his. He thinks she is, but she isn't." Her head drops down into her hands. "And the father doesn't know it's his."

At the doorway of the bedroom stands an irishman with green hair, frozen in place at the words he is hearing.

"Who's the father?" He hears a mans muffled voice through the door.

"My friend's. His name is Mark." The irishmans jaw drops. "I dont know how to tell him and I dont know how to leave Noah. Daddy, please. Help me." The man outside the door whips around at the sound of his name.

"Jack?" The green haired man meets the eyes of the father. "What are you doing?"

"I thought I heard something from your room." Mark shrugs.

"That uhm, yeah. Thats my uh, my neighbour." He rubs the back of his neck. "She's kind of been staying here for a little while. Its a long story that I can't tell." The door to the bedroom opens and a small girl with brown hair looks up from the floor to the two men standing before her. Her eyes shift from Mark to Jack. She offers him a small smile.

In the next hour, Mark left for his dentist appointment.

"I - I heard you through the door. When, uhm, you were talking to someone." E's gaze falls to the floor in front of the couch. "Are you going to tell him? About his baby?"

"Eventually," she responds. "I just have some things I need to fix before he can know." He places a hand on her knee.

"If you need anything, feel free to ask, okay?" She nods.

"I-I'm scared, of how he'll react when I tell him." She whispers.

"He won't leave you, E. I promise, okay? He loves you too much to do that to you." With a swallow, she nods.

For the short time he was gone to th dentist, Jack and E have sat on the couch, talking and getting to know one another. Just before Mark walked in, she had shut the door to his bedroom.

He came in and checked up on her as she lay still on the bed in one of his shirts. He sat beside her on the bed, with a hand on her side turned up to the air, and lent down to kiss herd forehead.

"Goodnight, E." He whispers to her.

Another few hours pass before Jack has passed out on the guest bed and Mark comes into his room. She wakes up when the soft click of the door sounds and sits up, wiping away the dry tears as he strips from his shirt. He glances at her a s he tosses the dirty clothes into a hamper.

"Hey," he says with a lightness o his voice.

"Hi." She responds with a small yawn. He watches her gently as she reaches behind her head to undo the braid. She messes her hair to evenly distribute on both sides of her head and she looks up at Mark, who cracks a smile.

"You're hair is worse than mine," he chuckles as he sits down beside her. She smacks his chest.

"My hair has not been infected with pink." She shivers, thinking of her hair being an unnatural color.

"What's wrong with pink?" He hawks.

"Nothing. I just prefer my natural look." She moves onto his lap, one leg hanging off the bed and the other on the bed, as she sits on him. Her fingers land on his hair. "I could never do this to my hair." She slides her hands down to the sides of his face.

"Can't handle the pink?" He asks, placing one of his large hands on hers. Her other hand moved own to his chest. He sits up, placing his other hand on her lower back to keep her balanced.

"Can you not handle natural?" She raises an eyebrow as their faces grow closer together. Their lips brush, sending chills down his spine and causing her heart to jump. She gently pulls away, moments before they kiss.

"Goodnight, Mark." She whispers as she rolls off of him and falls asleep.