I swear, I’ve never felt my stomach drop faster in my life than the second those two little pink lines showed up.

Two lines.

Two bloody lines that meant my whole world had just flipped on its arse.

She was sitting on the edge of the bathtub, pale as a ghost, eyes wide and wet, clutching the test in both hands like it was a live grenade. And all I could think was— fuck. Fuck. Fuck. We’re only seventeen.

And then the bigger fuck hit me: her parents.

Gerard and Claire Gibson. My mam and dad’s best mates. They’d been drinking partners, dinner dates, Sunday barbecue regulars since before I could crawl. The Gibsons were practically family. Which meant when this news came out, it wasn’t just gonna blow up our lives—it was going to nuke both households.

I crouched in front of her, trying to catch her eyes. “Hey, hey—look at me.”

She shook her head, breath coming in sharp, ragged little pulls. “My dad’s going to kill me.”

“Gibsie?” I muttered, half laughing out of nerves, half dead serious. “Yeah, he might actually kill me. Not you. Me.”

Her laugh came out broken, watery, and it gutted me. Because the truth was, I was just as terrified. Gerard Gibson—loud, larger than life, unpredictable—was going to lose his bloody mind when he found out his only daughter had gotten herself pregnant with Rory Kavanagh’s kid.

And my own dad wasn’t much better. He’d look at me like I’d just flushed my future down the toilet.

But when she lifted her face finally, tears streaking down her cheeks, all I felt was this protective, bone-deep certainty.

“I’m not letting you do this alone,” I told her. My voice came out steadier than I felt. “We’ll figure it out. I don’t care if they scream, or kick off, or cut me out of Sunday roasts forever. You’re mine. This baby’s mine. And I’m not going anywhere.”

She just stared at me for a long second before bursting into fresh tears. But this time, when she leaned forward, I caught her, pulling her into my chest, pressing my lips to her hair.

I was still scared shitless.

But beneath it all, there was this fierce, strange sort of peace.

Because it wasn’t just me anymore. It was us.