"I'll get it" Hannah shouted when she heard the doorbell ring on Christmas Eve. Moving swiftly down the stairs, she came to the door and opened it, only to find the one person she didn't want to see stood there.
"Oh" she managed to say as he looked down onto her in pure disgust, his arms folded across his chest as he wrinkled his nose up as if there was some form of bad smell in the air.
"I'm here for my son" Geoff Clarke informed Hannah and she turned around in the hallway to see Mark descending the stairs, his eyes shining with hatred as he looked at his dad who had a bruise on the side of his nose and one on the side of his cheek.
"What do you want?" Mark snapped, swapping places with Hannah as he hid her behind his body and she laced her fingers into his hand which wasn't holding the door and with her other hand she rested it on top of their entwined ones.
"We're moving away" his father stated "I've already called NY college and it is possible for you to get a transfer to Harvard…the place you had your heart set on before she took it away from you"
"You honestly think I'm moving away with you?" Mark laughed in disbelief and his dad nodded;
"Yes I do. You're having a clean start" he informed his son
"I don't need a clean start. Me and Hannah are giving our child up for adoption" he said and his dad pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head;
"But people will still know Mark…they'll judge you even more…I gave you the chance to get rid of this baby and you didn't take it…so we're leaving, come on" his dad said but Mark remained stood where he was;
"I'm eighteen" he said proudly "you're not the boss of me anymore"
"I'm your father" he snapped
"And at the moment I wish you wasn't" Mark replied quickly "I'm not running away and leaving Hannah. Do you understand me?"
"You're coming and that is final" he said and Mark shook his head;
"No I'm not. You go…leave me alone…I'll pick up the rest of my stuff one day" Mark began to shut the door but his father placed his foot in the way and held it open;
"So you're just staying here? This has to be the biggest mistake of your life…working in a coffee shop…living here…" he shook his head
"It's a part time job which helps pay lodge to stay with Hannah and to help me afford other things" Mark said
"You chose this tart over your family Mark…"
"And if I had to make a choice again I would always choose Hannah…you wonder why I left? Because you spoke out of term about her…I'd understand if you were angry at us…but not in the way you're being…it's wrong" Mark said, his voice rising slightly in anger as he did, his face turning red.
"Mark" a new voice entered the hallway and he looked around along with Hannah to see Jess walking in from the kitchen;
"Why don't you two go into the kitchen for a moment if you'd just let me and your dad have a word?" she asked the two teens. Mark huffed loudly but he allowed Hannah to drag him off from the door, both of them nodding at Jess as they went.
"You're lucky my husband isn't home" Jess said and Geoff paled a little;
"I hope you know what you've married into" he said and Jess nodded;
"I don't need you to tell me thank you" she replied to him, sparing herself the anger from hearing his venom "I have a loving husband and an intelligent and beautiful stepdaughter"
"Humph" he grunted "that's a matter of opinion"
"No" Jess said "it is a matter of fact. Now why are you here?"
"I've come for my son" he jutted his chin out "but the boy is being stupid and refusing to come with me"
"I think he's old enough to make his own stupid mistakes and not need you to correct them" Jess replied
"Evidentially" he said "he made a mistake in ever looking at your slut of a stepdaughter"
"No one" Jess pointed her finger at him "talks about Hannah that way. Not you, not anyone else. Okay? Now I am fed up with you being at the centre of all this trouble and not leaving them alone when they clearly don't need your ideas"
"Oh they need my ideas alright. It would sort this mess out" he hissed
"Regardless. They don't want to see you and at the moment you're ruining Christmas Eve" she said
"Oh apologies" he said sarcastically and Jess rolled her eyes;
"Just leave them alone. If Mark wants to talk to you then he can decide that on his own terms…but you pressuring him doesn't help…and if I were you I wouldn't come around here again because Don is looking to cause some serious damage to you"
"A police officer assaulting a member of the public isn't looking good for him" he shook his head "he's lucky I didn't press charges"
"And you're lucky you're not hospitalised" Jess retorted "I'm not getting into a fight with you, frankly because you're not worth my time, so just go home because you're not getting what you came for" Jess said and she slammed the door on his face. Geoff shouted through the wood but he was ignored as Jess walked back into the kitchen and looked at Hannah and Mark who were sat on the bar stools;
"He'll go soon" Jess said, still hearing Geoff shouting
"Thank you Mrs Flack" Mark said "he…just annoys me so much"
"I know Mark" Jess said "but you can't let him get to you…you need to be the bigger man and at the moment you are being by sticking to your morals and not letting him dictate your life" she said and he nodded "now you two should go and finish wrapping up presents for me" and then Mark and Hannah left but not before saying their thanks to Jess for what she had just done.
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