Hannah Fletcher.
Who would’ve ever thought that Dominic Fletcher would one day spend his nights grading papers and reading through essays? Definitely not him, but that was exactly how the twenty-six year old was spending his Thursday night. “Just one more day,” he mumbled to himself, reminding himself that after tomorrow afternoon, he’d be able to regenerate himself for the weekend and push everything off until last minute. For now though, he needed to finish his students papers, so then he’d at least have a few hours before he went to bed to do whatever the hell he wanted. Maybe play video games? Do some writing so his publisher would get off his back? Maybe he wouldn’t do either, and he’d go visit his sister who he hadn’t seen in a little while. Yeah, that option seemed to be a good one. The relationship between Hannah and Nic was a complicated one, though he’s always had a complicated one with his entire family. Hannah had been supportive of him after he had stood up to his parents, but then, after that time that he didn’t like to think about, he had pushed her and everyone else away from him. To this day, he still kept himself an arm’s length away from everyone, but she was his little sister, and he needed to make sure she was okay. They might not have been close as they once had, but she was the only family he had left, after he had cut all ties with his father when he sent him to boarding school. Not that he wasn’t grateful for being a few hours away from the older man, but it hadn’t been his decision, he had been forced to leave his friends and Hannah behind. Almost eight years without talking to his dad, but he still felt the need to prove himself to him, felt the need to make him proud. He hated that. A sigh left his lips as he pushed the thoughts of his dad from his mind, not wanting them to invade his head again. He focused his eyes back down at the paper, reading through the essay that one of his top students, Bethany, had written on their discussion of Lord of the Flies, one of his all time favorite books that he had read in school. A part of him always felt a connection with those boys on the island, as stupid as that sounded. Maybe it was because, just like those kids, his innocence had left him before it should’ve. His eyes scanned across the paper, absorbing every word she had written, nodding his head at the things he agreed with. Writing a 95% on the top, he moved on to the next paper. It wasn’t much longer before Nic had finished grading. It was just after seven, not too bad. He picked up his iPhone from the desk, scrolling through the contacts until he found Hannah’s name, hitting the text message button. I’m coming over and bringing dinner. Hope you’re hungry. Even if she had already ate, he was starving, so he didn’t care. - - - - - - - - Forty-five minutes later, Dominic found himself in his sister’s place, a medium sized pizza on the table. “We need plates. And sodas,” he told Hannah, a grin crossing his face as she turned her back to go get them. One of the only things he actually enjoyed about being the older of the two was how he was always able to pull the “I’m older, you have to do what I say” card on her when they were younger. To this day, he still occasionally pulled it, though it wasn’t satisfying enough to beat the list of why he hated being the oldest one. Hannah’s phone, which was laying around of the table buzzed, drawing Nic’s attention when he read the word ‘Dad’ displayed on the screen. His face face scrunched up in disgust. “Han, daddy dearest is calling you,” he informed her, his voice hinted with annoyance and jealousy. Jealous that still, after all this time, his dad never once even tried to get in contact with him. Not that he wanted to talk to him, but he didn’t deserve to feel like he didn’t matter at all to his father.