‘Well?’
I nodded.
‘Get fucking in there!’ Beaming at me, Tony held both thumbs up. ‘I always knew you were worth the trouble.’
Rolling my eyes, I turned my attention back to my phone call. “You do realize she’s fifteen, right?” I said, tone serious. “My sister Shannon? She’s only fifteen. So, I hope you don’t have any notions because she’s a good girl.”
“I’m well aware, and no, I don’t,” came his cool response and for the first time, I heard a crack in his polite bullshit exterior. Clearly, I’d hit a nerve. “We’re, uh…”
“Friends?” I offered, amused.
“Yeah,” he answered, sounding flustered. “We’re friends.”
I smirked. “Just friends?”
“Obviously.”
“What kind of a license do you have?”
“A full license.”
“Is your car safe?”
“Yes.”
“How old are you again?”
“Seventeen.”
“So, you’re a lot older than her.”
“I know that,” he replied before adding, “I get it.”
“I hope you do, because there’s a big difference between a fifteen-year-old girl like her and a seventeen-year-old lad in a position like yours.”
“Yeah,” he bit out, still not backing down or rescinding his offer. “I’m aware of the difference.”
“Alright, mister rugby, she’s all yours,” I said with a shrug. “Don’t get her killed in that car of yours, ya hear?” And for the love of Christ, don’t hurt her.
“I won’t,” I heard him say before the line went dead.
“Well, thanks a fucking bunch for that, Tony,” I said, sliding my phone into my pocket. “The lad offers to drive my sister home, and I end up bumming tickets for a game.”
My boss chuckled. “Ah, sure if he ends up coming through with the tickets, you know I’ll take ya with me.”
TWO PINK LINES
AOIFE
When I got home from work on Tuesday night, my mother was sitting on her bed, pairing socks, and all I wanted to do was curl up in a ball on her lap and cry.
I felt sick to my stomach as I hovered in the bedroom doorway, trying and failing to come up with the words needed to express just how terrified I felt in this moment.
“Back for round two?” Mam asked, flicking her gaze to me, referencing the blazing row we had this afternoon over her walking into my room unannounced, of all things. “Or are you finally ready to tell me what’s wrong with you?”
Mam, I’m scared.
Mam, I’m in trouble.
Mam, I need a hug.
“What’s troubling you, Aoife?” she pressed, concern filling her eyes. “You’ve been standing in the doorway for ten minutes now, clearly trying to work up the courage to tell me something? Out with it.”
“I…” the words wouldn’t come out, and I shook my head, trying again, “I…”
Again, nothing came out.
“I’m sorry,” I finally managed to squeeze out, voice strained. My cheeks were flushed, my skin was on fire, and the plastic stick I had tucked in the pocket of my coat caused my heart to seize up with dread. “For taking your head off earlier.”
“That’s not you, love.”
“I know.”
“Is it Joey?” she asked then, setting down a pair of socks and giving me her full attention. “Are you two having trouble again? Because I thought you sorted everything out with him.”
“I did,” I replied, expelling a harsh breath. “We’re fine.”
Mam frowned. “Then what’s with the lonesome face?”
“I’m just… I’m…” Shaking my head, I cleared my throat and mumbled, “Tired. I’m just really tired, Mam.”
“Are you sure that’s all it is?” She didn’t look convinced. “Because you know you can tell me anything.”
“I’m sure.” Forcing a smile, I nodded and slipped away, moving straight for my room.
Closing my bedroom door behind me, I made a beeline for my bed and dove under the covers, fully clothed, shoes and all.
With the duvet over my head, I slowly withdrew the pregnancy test from my coat pocket, the one that had taken me twenty-four hours to work up the courage to use.
The two glaring pink lines in the display box hadn’t faded one bit since their original appearance in the bathroom at work tonight.
And there it was.
Staring me right in the face.
My life was over.
YOUR SISTER’S A WHORE
JOEY
I knew I was walking into trouble before I stepped foot through the door after work. I could feel it in the air around me.
Everything was all wrong and out of kilter.
I was also achingly aware that today was children’s allowance day. A windfall day on the first Tuesday of every month, where our father got paid by the government for having children, and then drank every penny, before beating the living shit out of said children.
Sometimes, I thought that monthly allowance was the reason he continued to reproduce so many of us.
“How’s it going, family,” I said, tone laced with derisive sarcasm, when I stepped into the kitchen.
The minute I walked inside, I could smell the whiskey permeating off the old man, as he hovered unsteadily in the middle of the room.
“Joey,” he acknowledged warily.
“Boys in bed?”
Our father nodded, keeping his eyes on mine the entire time, watching me like I was some dangerous predator that would strike at any given minute.
He was dead on the fucking money.
I could feel the fear coming off my sister in waves as she cowered by the sink, with her small hand pressed to her neck.
Shannon’s face was all blotchy, and her eyes were blood shot.
I wasn’t stupid.
It was as clear as day that I’d walked in at the right time.
Trying to keep my head, I reached for a can of coke from the fridge, knowing that I had to be careful here. “Where’s Mam?” I asked, taking a swig. “Still at work?”
“Your mother’s at work and this one here is late home again,” Dad slurred, glaring at Shannon. “Missed her fucking bus, apparently.”
“I know,” I replied coolly, giving Shannon a wink. “How’s it going, Shan?”
“Hey, Joe.” She swallowed deeply and attempted to smile at me. “Nothing. Just hungry. I was getting a snack.”
Getting a smack more like.
Walking over to her, I playfully nudged her cheek with my knuckles, but it was only so that I could get a better look at the marks on her neck.
Bastard’s fingerprints were imbedded on her skin.
Fuck.
“Did Aoife stay long after she dropped you home?” I threw her a lifeline by asking.
“Uh, no.” Her eyes widened in awareness and gratitude as she hurried to say, “She just dropped me off and went straight home.”
Offering her a small wink of approval, I grabbed a packet of biscuits from the press and tossed them to her. “Here. No doubt they were what you were looking for.”
They weren’t.
She would never touch a thing on the top shelf that I stored my shit on, but he didn’t know that.