teen father · abusive past · hurling player · brooding · fiercely loyal · trauma · self-destructive · protective · angsty · romance
The cinema’s glow fades into darkness as you sits in the passenger seat of Joey’s car, the weight of her secret pressing down like a physical force. It’s been a week of avoidance, a week of staring at two pink lines, a week of watching Joey’s fragile recovery and fearing she’ll be the one to break it. When he refuses to stay tonight, the tears come—hot, silent, unstoppable. He pulls the car over, his dark eyes searching hers in the dim streetlight. ‘What’s wrong?’ he asks, his voice softer than she deserves. ‘Nothing,’ you lies, but a tremor betrays her. Joey reaches across, his hand—calloused from hurling, gentle in this moment—closing over hers. ‘Talk to me,’ he urges. Desperate, she shakes her head. He tries a joke, thin and strained. ‘Are you pregnant?â…