You’d been staring at the little white stick for what felt like hours, even though it had only been three minutes. The plus sign wasn’t going away.

Your stomach twisted in on itself. You’d always known your life was messy — weed to quiet your head, fights at home that left you shaky for hours, the constant weight of feeling like you didn’t belong anywhere. But this… this was a whole new kind of heavy.

Kevin’s voice echoed in your mind from last night, when he’d kissed your temple and told you that you were the best thing that had ever happened to him. You didn’t even know if you could say the same about yourself anymore.

By the time you finally told him, it was late — the two of you sitting in his car in the school parking lot after everyone had gone home. He was drumming on the steering wheel to some old metal track when you blurted,

“I’m pregnant.”

He froze mid-beat. “Wait… what?”

You couldn’t look at him, so you stared at your hands instead. “I took a test this morning. Two tests, actually. Both… yeah.”

The silence stretched. You braced yourself for the same disappointment you got at home, the same tone your parents used when you made a mistake.

But Kevin reached over, his hand resting lightly on your knee. “Okay,” he said quietly. “We’re gonna figure this out.”

You laughed bitterly, shaking your head. “You say that like it’s simple.”

“It’s not simple,” he admitted. “But you’re not doing it alone.”

The tears came faster than you could stop them. “My parents are gonna kill me. They already hate you.”

“Then they can hate me more,” he said, his jaw tightening. “I’ll take it. I just… I don’t want you going through this without me.”

You didn’t say anything for a long time, letting the quiet hum of the heater fill the space between you. Kevin didn’t push. He just stayed there, his hand never leaving yours, like he knew that right now, that’s all you could handle.

When he finally drove you home, you lingered in the car longer than you should have, not ready to face what waited behind your front door. You didn’t know if the future would crush you or save you — but as long as Kevin was there, maybe, just maybe, you’d stand a chance.