falling for 13 || Johnny Kavanagh

Ma's Home

J O H N N Y

I knew I was in trouble before I even opened eyelid. The tone of my mother's voice as she screamed my name from the rooftops was proof of that. "Jonathon Robert Kavanagh!" Her voice cut through the silence, followed by high heels clicking on tiles. "You better come out from wherever you're hiding and explain what the hell is going on!"
     
Startled, I sprung up, still half-asleep, and blinked rapidly as I tried to process what the fuck was happening.
     
"There you are!" Mam barked. "What in gods name is Gerard doing sleeping in the living room?"

I rubbed a hand over my face, confused as to why there wasn't a girl in my bed. Fuck. Where was she? I yawned loudly, "He brought me... eh- food, he hates driving at night so he slept here."

Mam put her hands on her hips, "The same boy who knocks on the front door at two in the morning is scared of driving at night?"

"Yep" I nodded confidently.

"Do you have any idea why Marie Lynch left a message on your father's phone first thing this morning looking for her daughter?" Mam demanded, standing in the doorway.

"What?" Scratching my chest, I asked, "Marie who?"

"Marie Lynch!" Mam snapped. "Grace, your girlfriend's mother."

Oh shite.

"Well? I'm waiting for an explanation here, Johnny!" she said, furious with whatever I'd done.

Last night's events came flooding back in a rush, bringing with it a flush of heat straight to my dick. At least I knew it was fully working again.

"Would you believe me if I said I didn't know?" I called out to my mother as I pulled the covers over my legs and slipped out of my bed. Then I was biting back the urge to scream when pain shot through me, because I hadn't taken the painkillers yet.

"Not in the slightest," Mam shot back, watching me like a hawk. "Why are you naked?"
     
I glanced down at my jocks and shrugged, feigning nonchalance. "I'm not naked."
     
Her eyes narrowed. "Then why are you sleeping in your underpants?"
     
"Underpants?" I gave her an indignant look. "Am I ten?"
     
"No, you're nearly eighteen and partially naked," Mam shot back angrily. "And there's a girl I can't account for – one who you're particularly fond of, and one whose mother has been hopping off my phone."
     
I scratched my head, knowing that I was completely fucked, but wrestling for a way out all the same. "I thought you said she called Da's phone."
     
"And your father gave her my number," Mam bit out, turning purple now. "I've been on the phone, listening to that bleeding woman drone on the entire drive down from Dublin, demanding I return her seventeen-year-old daughter before she calls the Gardaí on you."

"You shouldn't answer your phone when you're driving, Ma," I poked the bear by saying. "It's bad form."
     
"Bluetooth headsets, Jonathon," Mam growled. "Now, do you know where she is or not?"
     
"No idea," I lied through my teeth. "Sorry."
     
"If you know where she is, you need to tell me now," Mam countered, giving me one of those 'don't bullshit me' looks.
     
"No clue," I shot back. "Sorry."
     
"Do you know what statutory rape is, Johnny?" she growled, sounding furious. "Because Marie Lynch threw that word around an awful lot on the phone to me! And if you've been with Grace – if she's here now and you're lying to me, then you're going to be in some serious trouble, laddie."
     
"What the actual fuck?" I barked, horrified. "She said that? Are you being serious?"
     
"Yes, she said that, and it's not the first time," Mam said, voice shaking. "Do you have any idea how damaging an accusation like that could be to a boy's future – and especially one in your position?" She threw her hands up for emphasis. "You could kiss goodbye to a career in rugby, that's for sure!"
     
"I didn't do anything," I choked out.
     

"Her brother swore down that she left her house after you called yesterday and she conveniently didn't go back home last night." Glaring, she added, "You're the mathematician in the family, so do the bleeding maths!"
     
I glared right back at her, furious. "So, because her brother thinks she's with me, that makes me a fucking rapist?"
     
"It means that if she doesn't show up at home, her mother will have the Gardaí up to this house and you'll be the first one –" My Mam was interrupted by my bathroom door opening.
     
"Don't let her call the Gards on him, Mrs. Kavanagh." Grace said, stepping out of the bathroom. "I'm here."
   
I dropped my head.

"And I'm so sorry. I know I'm not supposed to be, but I just... I didn't mean to...we didn't..." She started.
     
Mam's mouth fell open in horror. "Grace?"
     
"It's not how it looks," I hurried to defuse the situation, if that was even possible. "It was late and I couldn't drive her home- We didn't do anything, Ma–"
     
"Grace," Mam strangled out, moving towards us.
     
"We were sleeping," I repeated, stepping in front of Grace. "Just sleeping. I didn't touch her I swear! We didn't do any of that-"

"Oh god," she strangled, dropping her head in her hands, voice strained. "Jesus, Mary, and Joseph."
     
It took me a few moments to figure out what the fuck was happening, and why my mother wasn't dragging me away by the ear, when it dawned on me that this was her first time seeing Grace since I told her about the attack. Yeah, I was calling it an attack because that's exactly what the fuck it was. An attack.

"I'm so sorry, Mrs. Kavanagh," Grace choked out, flailing anxiously beside me. "I just...I didn't want to go home last night," she continued, breathing hard, as she looked to my mother. "I'm so sorry for causing trouble, Mrs. Kavanagh. I didn't mean to upset you –"
     
"I'm not upset with you, love," Mam interrupted, sounding slightly more composed, as she stood up. "Don't be worrying."
     
"I'll go," Grace hurried to say. "Right now, I swear."
     
Mam sighed heavily. "You don't have to do that, love."
     
"She doesn't?" I asked, confused.
     
"I don't?" She frowned.
     
"Let's all just have a cup of tea first." Wiping her cheeks with the back of her hand, Mam smiled warmly at my girlfriend. "And then we'll figure this all out, okay, love?"

"Thanks for the bed, Kavanagh, you're sound out, lad" a familiar voice called out from down the hallway, choosing the worst possible time to wake from his stoned slumber. "Can I borrow a hoodie?"
     
For fuck's sake.
     
Mam's eyes bugged in her head. "And who is that?"
     
"Ah, that would be Joey," I muttered, rubbing my jaw.
     
"And who is Joey?" she asked.
     
"My brother," Grace replied, scratching her head
     
"Are there any more Lynch children in my house, Jonathon?" Mam asked.
     
"No," I muttered, not meeting her eye. "I only took two."
     
"Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and the little donkey," Mam wailed as she bounded for the hallway. "What am I going to do with you?"