{UNEDITED}{MATTHEW}

        “Your father called. He said we have to meet him in half an hour, something about picking out your wedding dress and my suit, as well as telling him who you want your bridesmaids to be,” I said quietly. I could tell that she was already angry and I didn’t want to make that any worse, I had already dealt with that side of her enough to last me a life time.

        “I don’t care. If I see that god forsaken excuse of a father, then I am going to end up doing something stupid. Just take me home,” Chloe muttered.

        “But--“ I didn’t even have the chance to say what I needed to say before she opened her mouth and silenced me with the words which came out of her own. I knew she was annoyed with her father, hell I was annoyed with him too, but I knew if we didn’t see him now then there was going to be hell to pay later on.

         “And I don’t mean my home, I mean our home,”

        “Our home?” I was slightly confused when she said that, she told me that her parents had bought the two of us a house, but we weren’t allowed to move in until we were officially married to each other. It was supposed to be a present from them to us, their way of apologising for what had happened I suppose.

        “Yes, Matthew, our home. I already have the keys to it,” Chloe just about managed to smile. I didn’t need to be a psychologist to know that she really didn’t want the house and neither did she want to marry me, I didn’t want to marry her either, at least not while I was being forced to do so. She always thought the reason I left was because she wasn’t good enough for me, but that was never the case, she was always good enough for me.

        At fourteen, her father told me to keep the hell away from her because he knew what I was going to end up like and he didn’t want his daughter anywhere near someone like that. He gave me money, a lot of money, with the threat that he would run my entire family out of town if I so much as breathed on Chloe again. I was fourteen, a child, and he still had the audacity to threaten me with something he knew I wouldn’t be able to refuse.

        She never forgave me for leaving her. She hated me for it and I could see the pure hatred in her eyes whenever she so much as looked at me, I am sure she would have murdered me by now if it was legal or if she could do it without getting caught. I didn’t blame her though, I was a twat to her and I wasn’t exactly the nicest of people when she told that she was pregnant.

        I never wanted her to get an abortion, I only said that so she wouldn’t tell people I was the father of her baby. I knew if Pete found out about it, then he would kill me himself for going against the word I made four years ago, but an arranged marriage is so much worse than that and I want to kill him myself. Never mind about Chloe and her hatred towards her father, he was a twat to think marriage was the answer.

        “How? I didn’t think we were allowed to move in until after the wedding.”

        “We’re not. I stole the keys and have been slowly moving my stuff in with the help of Jason,” Chloe laughed. I couldn’t help but laugh at her as well, her sneaky behaviour was going to get her into trouble one day, but for now it was enough to give us some space and give her some time to think about what she needed to think about.

        “I think we have earned some time alone. The wedding outfits can wait,” I said and I couldn’t help but notice Chloe’s growing smile as we drove towards the edge of town. I was grateful that Pete and Julianne had bought a house out of the way of everything else, it meant they wouldn’t bother coming to check on how we were doing because it was just too far out of the way for them to make the effort. “I was think, if you wanted to, we could call Jason and go baby shopping?”

        “We need money to be able to do that. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we’re still both at school and my parents don’t seem in any hurry to put any money towards helping with their granddaughter,” Chloe sighed, her attention still out the window as the trees rushed past in a blur of green and the view changed from that of houses to rows and rows of fields.

        “I do have a job, you know, I’ve actually been saving since I figured out I was the father of the baby,” I shrugged.

        “I didn’t know you had a job,” Chloe muttered, now turning her attention in my direction.

        She always seemed surprised with me and things I did these days. It was probably because she had spent so long hating me that she wasn’t used to seeing this side of me, the side which did care and was willing to do things for the people around him. That’s the main reason my father saw so much good in me. He had never seen the side of me which people see when I am at school, he has only seen the side which actually gave a damn and didn’t want to hurt people.

        “There’s a lot you don’t know about me,” I chuckled.

        “What else is there to know?” Chloe asked with a genuine interest. “You are going to be my husband in three months. What kind of wife would I be if I didn’t know anything about my husband?”

        “Well, my name is Matthew Albert Jenkinson,” I paused as I heard her start laughing at the mention of my middle name. Usually, I would have been offended if someone laughed at me, but just hearing the sound of Chloe’s laughter was a joy. She had hardly made any effort to laugh or smile in the last month that I was almost certain she had forgotten how to, until I saw her smile when she discovered we were having a daughter. “That’s my great-granddad you’re laughing at there.”

        “Sorry, it’s just, Albert, I never thought that would be your middle name,” Chloe managed to say in the middle of her laughter. I simply smiled at her, allowing her to have her moment of happiness, even if it was at the expense of myself.

        “You going to be able to say that on our wedding day without bursting out in fits of laughter?” I chuckled.

        “It could be worse. I’ve got three different middle names,” Chloe replied.

        “Three? Who needs that many names?”

        “Chloe Alison Susanne Eileen Parker. Don’t even ask where all the names came from because I never paid attention when my mother was telling me,” Chloe grinned. I was glad to see her smiling, and not just because she had to smile, but because she actually wanted to smile and there was something worth being happy about.

         “I wasn’t planning on asking. The explanation would be too long,” I said.

        “Anyway, this is supposed to be about you, not the other way round,” Chloe pointed out.

        “Of course. Right, I am Matthew Albert Jenkinson and I am eighteen years old. My birthday is January 1st so I usually spend the 31st getting stupidly drunk,” I laughed, pausing for a moment so that I could gauge Chloe’s reaction to what I had just told her. She didn’t seem the slightest bit fazed though as she continued to smile, giving me a look which told me what she wanted me to continue with what I was saying. “I work at an office block in town as a part-time secretary of sorts and I have worked there for almost two years now. I have an older sister, Elizabeth, who is going to be twenty-three tomorrow. When I was younger, I was certain that I was going to have a pet tiger, but instead settled for a tabby cat and adopting a tiger who was released back into his natural habitat a couple of months ago.”

        “I actually forgot that you were older than me by a whole year and how come I never met your sister before?” Chloe asked. My sister was a touchy subject, she moved out when she was sixteen to live with her boyfriend who was ten years older than she was. Naturally, neither of my parents approved and told her that they wanted nothing to do with her if she stayed with him, so we haven’t really seen her since the day she left.

        We were invited to the wedding last year, but my parents refused to go, which meant that I wasn’t allowed to go either. I sent her a card and present in the post, but she never said anything to me about it, so I don’t know whether she got it or not. When people ask, my parents tend to tell them that I am an only child and they pretend Elizabeth doesn’t exist.

        “It’s a long story. Let’s just say she’s not exactly part of the family anymore,” I said, putting it simply. I didn’t really want to explain to her everything which happened, not because I didn’t want her to know, but because I didn’t want her to hate my parents in the same way she hated her own.

        Some people may call me selfish, but I wasn’t doing it for myself, I was doing so that Chloe still had someone she could call a mother and a father. I wanted her to still have someone who loved her and cared for her the way any parent should care for their child, I didn’t want to take that away from her because my parents were too stubborn to accept my sister’s happiness.

        “And a pet tiger? Really?” Chloe laughed.

        “Yeah. Whenever my parents took me to a zoo, the only thing I was interested in was the tigers. They looked cute and harmless behind the glass, so I wanted one,” I shrugged, finally pulling up outside the house which was soon to be our home. I didn’t know whether to be happy about the size, it meant there was going to be plenty of room for us to have our little family, as well as the room to have people over to stay if they wanted to. But, I also didn’t know whether I should be pissed off or not. To me, at least, it only looked like Chloe’s parents were trying to buy her love back with a big and expensive gesture.

        “How old were you? If you tell me you were five, then I will forgive you, any older and I will never let you live it down,” Chloe said as she stepped out of the car, not even bothering to look at the house. Though, considering she had been here already, it wasn’t really surprising that she wasn’t taken by the sheer size and beauty of the house.

        “I was ten and I don’t even care. I still think they’re cute and harmless, even now, and nothing will change my mind about them,” I shrugged as I walked into the house behind Chloe.

        The living room was massive. There were two sofas already placed opposite each other in the centre of the room with a glass coffee table in the middle of them, there was a TV attached to the wall as well as pictures of Chloe with her family and pictures of my own family. It strangely felt like home the moment I walked in, but it didn’t mean I was going to forgive Pete for what he was doing or Julianne for encouraging him.

        “Why don’t you tell me about you now? I think it’s only fair since we’re getting to know each other.”

        “Well, I am seventeen years old and my birthday is January 11. I was planning on getting extremely drunk since, you know, I am going to be eighteen but I don’t think that will be happening now,” Chloe laughed as she pointed at her stomach, taking a seat on one of the sofas at the same time. This was the first time I had really seen her relax and just be herself in the last month, it was a relief to see and I couldn’t help but feel internal happiness I knowing that I was partly to do with that. “I have an older brother, Jason, who is twenty-five and my best friend. Jodie is like the sister I never had and Abigail, well she’s just a bitch who is better off forgotten than remembered. My dream job is to be a teacher, don’t ask me why since I know what students are like, but I love the idea of being able to actually help people. My favourite animal is a penguin and I have a pet hamster which I called Loki because it’s evil and keeps trying to take over the world from inside his cage.”

        “You’re a fan of Marvel then? Or just Loki?” I managed to ask without laughing. I don’t know how I managed to keep a straight face when I was imaging a hamster taking over the world from inside its cage.

        “Loki is my favourite villain, but don’t ask me to pick my favourite hero because I can’t decide between Iron Man and Thor,” Chloe replied seriously.

        “Captain America is my favourite. If I was gay, then Chris Evans would be my ideal man,” I laughed. I had never said something so stupid in my life, but she wanted to get to know me, so she was getting more than she bargained for. She was discovering my homosexual tendencies towards Chris Evans and, from the look on her face, she was attempting to work out whether I was being serious or not. “I also wouldn’t object to Chris Hemsworth.”

        “I can’t tell whether you’re being serious or just a bloody idiot,” Chloe finally said, still looking confused as hell as everything went through her mind. She wanted space to think about things other than her father and the wedding, so I would say I have given her thoughts of a different kind.

        “I’m being serious. If a girl is allowed a lesbian crush then why can’t a guy have a gay one?” I pointed out.

        “Fair point. Scarlett Johanson and Mila Kunis are mine, but Tom Hiddleston is my perfect man. His British accent, the way he can pull of a villain, his laugh, oh god, his laugh. I could just die thinking about him,” Chloe said, not even breaking once as she finished her little speech about a man she was never going to meet or marry. I wasn’t going to dash her hopes, she could still marry Tom Hiddleston, just like I could still marry Michelle Keegan.

        “If I dress up as Loki for our wedding then, are you more likely to say ‘I do’ than if I turn up as myself?”

        “I would say it even quicker if you could just be Tom Hiddleston,” Chloe replied and then began laughing at her own comment, probably knowing it was never going to actually happen.

        For the last month, people have been telling me how much I have changed and how much they love the person I have become, even the people at school have noticed. They all seem to think I have taken something but, honestly, it’s just the thought of knowing Chloe is going to be there at the end of the day and that she is going to be part of my family in three months.

        It’s the notion that I am going to be a father and that Chloe is going to be the mother of that baby which keeps me smiling, it keeps off my old path and right on track to where I used to be before everything was fucked up by one insecure, selfish old man. Chloe doesn’t even have to say or do anything, it’s enough for me to know that she isn’t going anywhere and that she is going to be there for me.

        It’s that, no matter how little she wants this and how much she hates her father, she is still doing her best to make it work and she is actually attempting to get to know me again. I don’t need her to love me or fall head over heels for me, I just need to know that she doesn’t hate me anymore and that she is willing to give friendship a shot. That’s all I really need and it’s that which has given me a reason to change, to be a better person.

        “I’m sorry all of this is happening. If I hadn’t been such an idiot, then perhaps you wouldn’t be in this situation right now,” I finally spoke as I sat myself beside her. I hadn’t apologised to anyone in almost four years, unless I was in the company of my parents and then I would do it just to show them I still knew what manners were.

        “You still are an idiot, Matthew, but I guess you’re going to be my idiot for a while now,” Chloe smiled.

        “I am still sorry though. I should have just been there for you in the first place and then we could have dealt with this together, rather than being pushed into some whirlwind marriage.”

        “Honestly, I think this would have happened, regardless of if you were there from the beginning. My father has been planning this since I told him I was pregnant, he was just waiting to find out who the father was so he could put his plans in place,” Chloe shrugged and I could suddenly see tears forming in her eyes. I didn’t mean to upset her and neither did I mean to make her cry, I just wanted to tell her how sorry I was for getting her into the situation she was now stuck in for god knows how long. “He a bitter, twisted old man who doesn’t want anyone to be happy. He’s only ever happy when he’s making other people miserable.”

        “I know this marriage is the last thing you want to do, it’s the last thing I want too, but we should just try to make the best out of a terrible situation. Who knows, we even be able to make it work,” I smiled as I pulled her into a hug, relieved when she didn’t try to pull away from me, instead she wrapped her arms around me and pulled herself closer to me as her cries faded into nothing but silence.

        Question: Who is your favourite Marvel hero / villain?