Y/n POV

"We can work on it tomorrow, its fine." Mark shrugs as I pull my jacket on.

"You can't come over here though, I won't be here." Marks mother adds sweetly.

"Mom," Mark groans. "Its fine, don't you trust me?"

"I do sweetie," His mom rubs his back. "I just don't want to risk you being a father so soon."

"Mom!" Mark's eyes widen and his face turns red, making me laugh.

"Its fine, we can go to mine if you want." I offer, sticking my hands in my pockets. "If you can handle three loud, annoying siblings of mine. My mom might be out so we'll have one less annoying person."

"That could work." Mark nods.

"And tomorrow we will actually work." I chuckle, beginning to open the door.

"You said that earlier multiple times, but did we?"

"I'm serious this time!" I laugh.

"You said that too!" Mark laughs.

"All right, whatever." I roll my eyes.

"Its pretty dark out, do you want me to take you home?" Ms. Fichbach offers.

"No, its fine." I smile thankfully. "I don't live too far, its only a ten minute walk."

"Maybe Mark can go with you then," His mother says. "Its dangerous for a girl like you to go out alone."

"No really, its fine, I promise."

"Mark, help me out here, she might listen to you!" His mother lightly slaps Mark's arm.

"I'll go with her," Mark sighs, walking outside next to me. "C'mon."

"Be careful!" His mom yells to us before shutting the door.

"If she thinks it's dangerous, why doesn't she want to come with us so you're not alone on the way back?" I ask, chuckling.

"Who knows with her." He shrugs, hugging his jacket to him.

A silence falls between us as we walk down the sidewalk. My eyes dart around to anything, but him. Why, might you ask? I honestly have no idea. I just feel so awkward? I didn't want to make eye contact, I made as much room in between us as possible. My mind was racing for things to say to break the silence, but I couldn't think of one simple word. Thankfully, Mark made it easy and said something.

"What did you mean when you said you had three loud and annoying siblings?" Mark chuckles.

"They're just brats." I shrug. "Well, Nix is okay."

"What'er their names?" Mark zips his thin jacket up, attempting to keep warm.

"Theres the youngest, Zachary or Zach for short, he's thirteen. The worst one is McKenna, but we call her Ken. She's fifteen. And my other brother is Nixon, or Nix. He's sixteen. We adopted him when he was ten." I say, staring at my feet as I walk.

"You're the oldest?"

"Yep." I nod, staring straight ahead now. "What about you? Any siblings?"

"I have a brother but he moved out awhile ago." He says.

"What about your dad? Does he work night shift or something?" I ask, remembering the photo in Mark's room. He wasn't there tonight so I guessed he worked night shift.

Mark stays silent. He looks down at his feet, his breath visible from the cold weather. I look over at him, wondering why he didn't answer.

"H-He died a few years ago." He mumbles, his chin covered by his jacket.

"Oh," My fist clenched in anger at myself for asking. "I-I'm so sorry."

Mark shakes his head. "Its all right, you didn't know."

"I'm still sorry. Its none of my business, I shouldn't have asked."

Another silence filled the air. The roads were empty, and the sky was full. The full moon was our only source of light.

It felt weird not to be alone, walking down the sidewalk. I wanted to like it but I couldn't let myself get used to it. We aren't friends, he doesn't want to be. He's a smart guy who doesn't need me dragging him down. He's most likely annoyed by me, I need to finish this project tomorrow so I can leave him alone. Its what he wants, obviously.

"Are you okay?" Mark's voice breaks me from thinking any further and stops walking. I stop just in front of him.

I can see my house from here. I can just sprint off. I wont have to annoy him any longer. I can spare myself from any more embarrassment. Its not that far, only a few houses down.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" I lie, keeping myself from sprinting off. I fake a smile but he doesn't seem to believe it.

"Your breathing got really heavy there for a second." Mark folds his arms.

"I-I'm fine." I nod, staring down and my feet as I pass him and continue walking. Mark catches up and walks by my side.

It was quite. Underline the word was. As we got closer to my house, someone began screaming. My head snapped up and my eyes met with an extra car in the driveway. The front door slammed open and a face that I've never seen before exited with a fuming expression. My mother came out and stood on the porch, yelling inaudible things to her.

This was enough for me to start sprinting. Mark confusedly followed behind me. As I ran up the driveway, the woman was driving away and Nix was attempting to pull mom inside. Stepping onto the porch, Mark right behind me, Ken and Zach are visible, standing inside with scared expressions. Mom sat on the wood floor, leaning against the railing.

"What happened?" I asked.

"My real mom came over." Nix mumbles. "Whose that?"

"Really? You're asking who he is when we obviously have bigger problems to handle?" I motion towards mom.

"Is mom okay?" Zach asks, slowly stepping outside, Ken behind him.

"Ken, Zach, get inside. Its cold." I tell them.

"But-" Ken begins.

"Just go to your room!" I snap, cutting Ken off.

"You can't tell me what to do!" Ken rolls her eyes. "While you were out with your boyfriend, we had to experience Nix's mom and our mom fighting!"

"He's not-" I stop, remembering the bigger problem at hand. "Is she okay?" I ask Nix, anger still clear in my voice, pointing at mom.

"She'll be okay, shes just a little shaken up is all." He replies.

"Where were you?" Mom snaps, looking up at me, standing up.

"I was at a friends house, I told them to tell you." I point at the three siblings.

"Well you didn't say who, where, why-" Mom begins only to be interrupted by me.

"I was with Mark," I point to him behind me. "down the street, we were working on a project."

"You could've called me to tell me this, at least." She folds her arms.

"I don't need to tell you everything." I roll my eyes.

"Well, it'd be nice if-"

I interrupt her again.

"It'd be nice if you'd shut up for once!" I snap. "Its bad enough you took me away from my father, now I have to listen to your shit!"

"You better not think you can talk to me like that! Say bye to your friend, we'll deal with this in a second!" Mom angrily walks inside, Nix following. The door is left open by just a crack.

"Welp, thats my annoying family I was telling you about." I chuckle, turning to Mark. "I'm sorry about all that."

"Its fine," He shrugs. "you have bigger things to worry about." He smiles, nodding towards the door.

"Yeah," I sigh. "most likely gonna be grounded for a long time."

"So its a no for tomorrow then?" He asks, kind of sounding disappointed.

"Nah, you can still come over." I shake my head. "She'll be working tomorrow."

He nods then stares down at his feet.

"Do you remember how to get home?" I laugh slightly.

"No, its only down the street a little, but I totally forgot." Mark speaks, sarcastically.

I roll my eyes. "All right. See you tomorrow. Same time?" I ask, grabbing the doorknob.

"Yeah, sure." Mark nods, beginning to walk down the couple of steps to the driveway.

"Cool, see ya." I wave, opening the door.

"Good luck!" He laughs.

I might need it.