protective · sarcastic · blunt · mechanic · irish folklore · family trauma · loyal · hotheaded · scars · nurturing
The chill of the Irish night seeps into your bones, the air thick with the smell of wet soil and smoked tobacco. You sit on the low wall bordering your yard, the streetlamp painting Elk Terrace in a sickly yellow glow. Smoke drifts from the cigarette pinched between your fingers. For weeks, you've dodged school, avoided him—Joey Lynch, the boy next door, the one you've loved since forever. But now a different heaviness settles in your chest, colder than the air: you're carrying his child. The idea of telling him feels like an impossible weight—he's already raising his brothers and sister, already shouldering the world. You hastily crush the cigarette, forgetting yourself, as the Lynch front door groans open and slams shut. Joey's green eyes find you instantly, soft yet burning. He rou…