Third Person

“Hi sweetheart.”

Matt looked up at his mom pleadingly as she came into the house, her arms laden with shopping bags. He got up to help her,
taking the heaviest of the bags from her and set them up on the kitchen counter where he had been sitting for over an hour – eating
left over sponge cake that his mom had made.

“What’s wrong?” Kim asked her son as she started to unpack the perishable groceries into the refrigerator.

“I need advice,” Matt sighed, handing her items as she unpacked.

“From me?” She asked, clarifying what her son was asking from her while putting a tub of yoghurt into the fridge.

“You’re probably the only one who can help me.”

She smiled, put away the rest of the items before she turned the kettle on and got two mugs from the cupboard.

“Hot chocolate and marshmallows?” She offered.

Matt laughed softly but nodded his head. He could remember his mom and his sister sitting in the living room, Amy crying into her
hot chocolate because her boyfriend kissed someone else. His mom always knew how to make the perfect hot chocolate, so that
by the time his sister was drinking the last little drop out of her mug, she was laughing instead of crying. He’d never really needed
the wonders of his mother’s hot chocolate, but he knew that if there was a situation that warranted it, it would be this one.

He watched her make them up, measuring out a teaspoon of sugar, heating the milk and topping it off with two big marshmallows
that bobbed in the hot liquid.

“Get the Oreos,” Kim smiled, picking up the mugs and heading to the living room.

Matt pulled out the double-stuffed Oreos and followed her, already eating one before he reached the couch by the window and
slumped down next to his mother. He took his mug from her and wrapped his large hands around it.

“So,” Kim began, smiling softly “Girl trouble?”

Matt nodded and grabbed another cookie.

“What I’m about to tell you is something that you can’t repeat to anyone. Even Dad.”

Kim raised an eyebrow and tucked her hair out of her face.

“You have my attention,” She smiled, blowing on the liquid in her mug.

Matt sighed, chewing the Oreo thoughtfully before swallowing.

“I’m, uh… I’m dating Hannah Haner,”

Her eyebrows raised so high that they almost disappeared into her hairline. It was like she was suspended in animation, surprise
written all over her face. Matt gave her a few moments to process what he had said before he started to freak out.

“Mom,” He stressed.

She blinked, and was a flurry of movements before she reached for a cookie.

“Sorry,” She apologized “That was just… unexpected.”

“Tell me about it,” Matt sighed, reaching for his third cookie.

“Okay, so you and Hannah. How old is she again?”

He cringed, knowing that his mother would immediately mention the age difference.

“I’m thirty-four on Saturday, which will make me eleven years older than her.”

“Right,” Kim nodded, pretending that she still wasn’t completely shocked.

“No one knows,” Matt told her “Well, Zack knows, and he’s been giving me one-sided advice.”

~~~~

Matt’s birthday was tomorrow, so Hannah had asked him to spend the night at her place so that she could wake up with him on his
birthday, and he had accepted.

Erin and Dale were in the bathroom doing what they hadn’t stopped doing for almost a whole week now, and Hannah and Matt
were on the sofa, not really watching the TV and making out instead. They jumped apart from one another instantly when the
buzzer by the door buzzed loudly through the apartment.

Hannah got off of the couch and walked over to the door, pressed her finger to the button and spoke into the speaker.

“Yeah?” She asked.

“It’s me,” Brian’s voice came through.

Hannah’s finger slipped off of the button and she looked to Matt with fear in her eyes and saw him pulling his shirt back over his
head.

“Zack’s here, too.” Brian spoke again.

Hannah squeezed her eyes shut and told them to come right up and used the minute and a half that it took them to climb the stairs
to calm herself down. She unlocked the door when she heard them coming down the hallway, and they walked right in.

“What are you guys doing here?” Hannah asked before they even had the door closed.

“I was coming over to pay my sister a visit,” Brian started “Found Zack sitting outside, apparently he was waiting for me.”

Hannah looked to Zack and didn’t miss the look on his face. She knew that that was bullshit and that he had been sitting outside
for who knows how long waiting for Erin for whatever reason, but she tried not to think too much about it.

“What are you doing here, Matt?” Zack asked Matt with a smirk on his lips as he walked over to the couch and sat down next to
his friend.

“Hannah and I were just hanging out,” He shrugged, changing the TV channel.

The four of them fell into a comfortable silence and watched TV together, but when Erin and Dale walked through the apartment
only half-dressed and dripping wet with content, lazy smiles on their faces, the air in the room suddenly got thick and tense.



“Matt,” Erin spoke, tossing something at him “You left these in the bathroom,”

Matt looked down at what she had thrown at him and his eyes widened when he realised that it was his underwear from the other
day. Hannah noticed, too, and they both looked at Erin who was covering her mouth with her hands while apologizing to Hannah
with her eyes.

“Is that your underwear?” Brian asked Matt, but Matt didn’t say anything.

“Brian-“ Hannah started to speak, but Brian stood up quickly and looked at her and Matt sitting next to each other on the couch and
he took in their expressions, their body language and then looked at Erin and noticed that she looked embarrassed.

“It’s you?” Brian asked Matt, his voice nothing more than a whisper and his face laced with shock and betrayal “You’re the one my
sister is dating?”

He finally managed to connect the dots, he realised why Matt looked sick and Hannah looked hesitant.

Matt jumped to his feet and out his hands out in front of himself, surrendering before Brian even went for the kill.

“You’re the one fucking my pregnant sister?!” He shouted, trying to grab a hold of Matt’s shirt.

“I can explain!” Matt shouted, trying to distract Brian from his obvious plan of a beat down.

“Brian, stop!” Hannah shouted, grabbing his arm “You’re not going to hit him.”

“Like fuck I’m not!” Brian shook her off and cracked Matt in the jaw.

Matt stumbled back. It fucking hurt, but Matt knew how hard Brian could punch and the blow he had landed was nowhere near as
bad as Brian could deliver.

Hannah rushed to his side, her fingers gentle as she cupped his face.

“Are you okay?” She asked softy, tilting his head so that she could see.

“You know what, no,” Brian demanded as he swung again, but this time, he meant it.

He hit Matt with such force that he stumbled back, the couch knocking his legs out from under him and he fell down next to Zack,
sprawled across the cushions, cupping his face. The pain bloomed, rocketing through him like a bullet and he could feel the tear in
his bottom lip, he could feel the rip in his skin.

“Get up,” Brian demanded, anger rushing through him.

Hannah stepped up to him and pushed his chest.

“Stop it,” She demanded “You’ve done enough! He’s trying to be honest with you!”

“Honest?” Brian spat.

Matt blinked rapidly, making stars burst in front of his eyes. He could taste blood, the familiar metallic tang that soured his mouth.
He worked his jaw gently, the pain making him groan each time he moved.

Hannah was still shouting, still in her brother’s face. Zack was sitting on the sofa next to Matt with a smug smirk on his face, Erin
and Dale were still where they had been standing but Dale was holding Erin back from getting into the middle of it all.

Matt picked himself up off of the couch slowly, and squared off with Brian.

“What the fuck do you have to say for yourself?” Brian asked.

Matt touched his tender jaw, eyes on Brian.

“I care about her,” He said simply.

Brian almost growled, swinging again and clipped Matt’s cheek. He grabbed his keys and cigarettes, and headed for the door.
Unfortunately for him, Hannah was as hostile as he was and she stopped him.

“If you leave this house, I swear to God, Brian. You sit down and you fucking listen to what he has to say, because he is doing the
right thing, and you’re being an asshole.”

Matt felt a surge of pride, despite the pain. He felt his mouth quirk up in a soft smile. She was fearless, she fought for her family,
and she wouldn’t give up until Matt had said his piece.

Hannah shoved her brother, pushing him along until he was back in the living room, and she pushed him down onto the couch.

Matt sat down opposite Brian.

“I care about her,” He repeated softly, his eyes on Brian. He wouldn’t be able to get out what he wanted to say if he was looking at
Hannah.

“She’s my sister,” Brian groaned out.

“I know,” Matt stressed “Trust me, I fucking know.”

“Then WHY?” Brian demanded, his voice rising again “You say you know, but do you? Do you give a fuck? Tell me why, Sanders.
Give me a fucking reason.”

His words broke Matt in two and suddenly the answer was crystal clear.

“Because I love her.”

Everything went quiet. It was like everyone stopped breathing for a second and Matt felt the words cutting through him like a knife.

“You love her?” Brian spat angrily “Is that supposed to make it okay?!”

“No,” Matt told him honestly “There’s nothing that I could say that would make you feel any better about this, ut you’re my family,
she’s my family and I’m telling you that I love her.”

Hannah’s eyes had started to fill with years the second Matt had said the word ‘love’. Did she love him? Was that what this was?
She’d been sure it was companionship, friendship. But it had always felt like more.

“Maybe in the start I didn’t think things would go this way,” Matt said “I tried not to feel this way about her, I tried to put distance
between us, I even told Zack thinking that he would talk me out of it, but I love her.” Matt repeated and Hannah sniffed.

Matt turned his attention to her, almost as if he’d forgotten that she was in the room.

“I love you,” He told her gently, wanting to reach out and touch her, hold her, but he knew that would be a death wish.

“ Don’t you fucking talk to her,” Brian demanded “You knew about this?” Brian asked Zack.

“Yeah, I knew,” He nodded.

“Why the fuck didn’t you tell me?”

“He was too busy fucking Erin!” Hannah snapped without thinking about it.

“He was doing what?!” Dale boomed, letting go of Erin.

“Dale,” She sighed “It was before you and I got together for good, I didn’t mean for it to-“

“No,” Dale snapped, cutting her off and storming over to Zack, throwing a solid punch square into the centre of his face “It’s this
sick fuck that I’m interested in now!”

Matt looked back at Brian.

“I’m in love with your sister, and if that means that I deserve to have the shit kicked out of me, then deliver.”

Brian shook his head.

“What about all of that shit you said?”

“What shit?”

Brian laughed cruelly.

“About her being an easy fuck?”

“No,” Matt insisted “I didn’t mean that. I did not mean that about her.”

“You said it,” Brian shot back “She was easy, she’d do anything that you wanted her to do. You spoke about my baby sister like
she was a piece of trash.”

Matt looked at Hannah and he could see the hurt in her eyes, and a little piece of him died. He’d promised himself he’d never hurt
her and that he would treat her with respect… but he had lied. He’d said those horrible things to get Brian off his back, and in turn,
hurt the one person he never wanted to hurt.

“Pack a bag,” Brian barked at Hannah “You’re coming to stay with Michelle and me so that I can keep an eye on you and keep him
away from you,” He said snidely.

Hannah walked away, and Matt went to follow.

“Are you fucking kissing me?” Brian demanded angrily, standing in front of Matt and gave him a sharp shove “You’re not going
anywhere near her.”

Matt’s shoulder slumped as he looked to Zack and Dale who were equally beating each other up and yelling obscenities at one
another and then he realised that Erin had followed Hannah to her bedroom. A few moments later, Hannah walked back into the
living room with a bag in her hand and towards the front door.

“This isn’t over,” Brian pointed out “This is not okay,”

Matt winced at the promise in his words, almost like Brian was throwing another punch.

“You’re going to need stitches,” He sneered, shoving Matt in the chest before dragging Hannah over to the door but he was
stopped short by three loud bands from the other side.

“OPEN UP!” A male voice demanded “POLICE!”

Everything stopped and everyone fell silent, moving away from one another while Hannah opened the door to reveal two police
officers standing on the other side. Before she could say anything, she felt a sharp, mind-numbing pain coming from her abdomen.

“Fuck!” She cried out, dropping her bag and cradling her stomach “Jesus, ouch!”

“Hannah!” Erin gasped, noticing the dark patch on the back of Hannah’s jeans “Is that blood?”

Hannah reached behind herself and touched the wet patch, pulling it away and looking down at her blood soaked fingers

Notes

Fight!!
This wasn't as long as I had wanted it to be, but there will be another chapter very soon with more fighting from Zack and Dale with Erin drama! And of course, we'll find out what is happening with Hannah!

Enjoy!!

~ LMV