Redeeming 6

Aoife wants to confide in her mother about her pregnancy fears, but she can’t bring herself to tell her.

Joey returns home to a tense scene. He can tell that his father is drunk and has been abusing Shannon. Joey gets Shannon to go to her room before their father can beat her anymore. Teddy reveals that he saw a picture of Shannon and Johnny in the paper, making him think they are sleeping together. He insults Aoife as well and threatens to rape her.

Joey begins to beat Teddy. Marie enters and gets Joey off Teddy, taking her husband’s side. Shannon comes to his room afterward and apologizes for getting him involved. They talk about her friendship with Johnny, whom Joey knows she has a crush on.

Casey tells Aoife she has to tell Joey about the pregnancy and offers to help her with whatever she decides to do. Aoife knows that, however scared she is, she wants to have and keep the baby.

Joey knows something is seriously wrong with Aoife when they go out to the movies later that week. Aoife begins to confess during the movie but only tells Joey that she is scared. She cries on the drive home, and when Joey pulls over to ask her what is really wrong, he jokes about her being pregnant. She suggests her emotions are just due to her period. Joey says that is good because he would “rather open the door and lie down in the traffic” than have a baby (175).

Joey and Aoife make light of her mood swings as he takes her home. When they arrive at Joey’s house, they see that Shannon’s face is black and blue from a beating. She tells them that shortly after their father left, their mother Marie, who is pregnant and was also beaten, got in a taxi and left Shannon with their younger siblings.

Joey takes two of his younger brothers to their hurling game and thinks about how their father had forced all of them to play hurling like him, which initially started the tension between Joey and his father.

He runs into his old drug dealer Shane, who tells Joey that he saw Teddy having sex with a server who looked a lot like Aoife. Joey knows that Shane is trying to bait him in order to get him to buy drugs again. Shane gives Joey a free bag of OxyContin before leaving him.

The day after they left, neither of Joey’s parents has returned home. Aoife helps him parent his younger siblings. They talk about needing to tell the other something before Shannon interrupts them. Joey thinks about taking another job so that his siblings won’t starve, but when Aoife offers to loan him money, he refuses it. Aoife suggests that they call the authorities, but Joey tells her they can’t because they have been in foster care once and hated it; their older brother Darren had been taken to a different home and sexually abused. Joey tells her that it was when his father started to be abusive toward them.

Aoife takes him out to dinner afterward, where Joey notices that she looks different. They run into Johnny and Gibsie, who are drunk, and Aoife offers to give them a ride home.

When they get to Johnny’s house, Joey tells him to be careful with Shannon and thanks him for being her friend. On the way home, Joey and Aoife fight about Joey’s previous sex life, and Aoife wants him to tell her who the first person he had sex with was. Joey says he was often too high to remember sleeping with other girls, and Aoife wonders if he even remembers their early relationship. Joey confesses that he wants a future with Aoife, and begins to lay out the life he sees for them, but he sees them taking care of his younger siblings rather than their own children.

Aoife worries that she will be taking away the future Joey dreams of when she tells him she is pregnant. In the middle of the night, she climbs out of Joey’s bed to call her mother Trish and confesses that she is pregnant. Her mother supports her and tells her that Joey has a right to know and that she doesn’t worry about Joey’s ability to be a father. Trish says that she is not disappointed in Aoife but feels disappointed that her life is changing against her will.

When she hangs up the phone, she puts it in the pocket of Joey’s sweatpants, which she is wearing. She finds the small baggie of drugs Shane gave Joey. Aoife tries not to panic as she goes back to bed and tells Joey she will stay with him if he will stay with her.

Joey wakes up to an empty bed and a note saying Aoife is out taking care of his brothers and that she needs to talk to him later that night. Joey and Shannon drive to Johnny’s to return his phone, which Johnny had left in Joey’s car the night before. Shannon stays in the car until Johnny goes out to see her himself. While they are alone together, Johnny’s friend Gibsie tells Joey that Johnny may be very serious about his sister.

Shannon and Johnny go inside. Shannon has been knocked into the mud by Johnny’s dog, so Joey suggests that Shannon shower. When Shannon leaves, Johnny asks who is putting their hands on Shannon, having seen the bruises. Joey can see that Johnny really cares about his sister, but he tells Johnny that Shannon has to be the one to tell him.

Teddy calls Joey to tell him he is coming home and is sorry, but Joey knows that isn’t true and forbids him from coming home. Teddy tells him that Marie is in the hospital after losing her pregnancy and won’t leave the hospital. Teddy tells Joey to come, as he can’t handle Marie. Joey agrees to come to the hospital, knowing Johnny will take care of Shannon in the meantime.

When Aoife returns to Joey’s house with his younger siblings, she is surprised that he and Shannon haven’t returned. Joey isn’t answering his phone, and Aoife knows he is wearing the sweatpants with the drugs in the pocket.

Teddy leaves as soon as Joey gets to the hospital, where he supports his mother as she clings to him and tells him what happened. Marie wants to see the fetus one more time before she leaves, and Joey tries to arrange it for her.

Aoife is washing the dishes when she hears who she believes to be Joey come home. It is Teddy, however, and he begins to sexually assault her. Joey and Marie return, and Joey fights his father.

Aoife wants to leave. She can’t even let Joey touch her as she sees Marie going to comfort Teddy. Joey drives Aoife to the police station against her request. He wants to tell the police about everything Teddy has done. Aoife refuses to go inside, demanding he take her home and saying she wants to forget about what happened. Joey finally agrees to take her home. Aoife tells Joey she can’t be around him right now, saying that when she looks at him, she can only see Teddy.

Joey feels completely to blame for what happened to Aoife and feels himself wanting to take drugs. He picks up Shannon from Johnny’s house and brings her home, mentioning that they should think about telling the authorities about their parents. Shannon fights with him, knowing she would have to go into foster care, but Joey wouldn’t, as he is 18. When Joey drops her off at home, he doesn’t go inside, knowing he would kill his parents if he did.

Aoife tries to assure her parents she is fine when she can still feel Teddy on her skin.

Joey goes to Aoife’s house and climbs into her window, but she is scared when she comes into her bedroom and finds him there. Joey tries to reassure Aoife that he is nothing like Teddy, but she is terrified of the way he lives and thinks that he may be bad for her. Even so, she wants to have sex with Joey to help her forget what happened that day. She feels terrible about herself afterward and asks for space again, and Joey is confused by her changing moods.

Aoife admits that she blames Joey for not being there for her, especially because she was there for him. Joey can’t deny the truth of her statement. Joey leaves her, knowing they are just hurting each other, and goes directly to Shane’s house. Joey asks to stay with Shane for a few days, knowing he has nowhere else to go.

Aoife skips school and work for the next few days, and the only thing that helps her is her mother’s support. They go to her doctor, who confirms she is pregnant and due in late September. Afterward, Trish asks her what is going on with Joey, but Aoife doesn’t want to talk about him. Though Trish suggests they will eventually need to talk with Joey’s parents, Aoife is terrified that Joey will only continue to compare himself to Teddy when he learns about their situation.

Three days later, Marie asks Joey to come home, but they fight because she won’t leave Teddy, and Joey is using drugs again. Marie asks him to think about his future, but he says, “[Teddy] took her away from me” (286). Joey goes to the police station and tries to convince himself to go in, but he eventually walks away.

Aoife and Joey happen to return to school on the same day, and they exchange awkward conversation in class. Aoife asks if they can talk privately. She admits that she didn’t really mean anything she said the week before. Aoife can tell that Joey is taking drugs again, and he admits that it started right after he left her place.

Joey leaves class when Aoife continues to try to talk to him, and Aoife follows shortly after but runs into Marie on her way out of the principal’s office. Marie tells Aoife she is worried about Joey, and asks her not to give up on him. Aoife sees Teddy in Marie’s car, and Marie tries to apologize for what he did to her. Just as Aoife and Teddy lock eyes, Joey comes outside. He tries to fight his father, but Aoife stops him and kisses him. Joey pulls away after a moment, claiming that Aoife is trying to manipulate him. They begin to kiss again and go behind the gym to have sex.

Joey feels terrible about all his recent decisions, especially because he knew Shannon was getting beaten while he was getting high the previous night. Aoife asks him to talk privately again, but he declines until the next day. He lies to Aoife and goes to meet Shane.

The next day, Aoife promises Casey she will tell Joey about the pregnancy that night. When she goes to the bathroom at the end of the school day, she hears Joey in the next bathroom and walks in to see him snorting something. For the first time, she thinks about protecting their baby. When she confronts him, he tells her to walk away. Aoife tells him that she needs him to stop because they are having a baby, but Joey is high and cannot comprehend.

Aoife and Podge take Joey back to his house, and she asks Podge to look for Joey’s stash because she can’t go inside his house.

At home, Aoife’s mom Trish confronts her about not telling Joey about the pregnancy. As she is doing so, her twin brother Kevin overhears the conversation. He insults Aoife, but Trish defends her and tells him not to tell his and Aoife’s father, Tony.

Joey wakes up with a headache to find Podge in his room. She berates him for getting back on drugs. Podge tells him she’s never seen Aoife so devastated, and when Joey calls, she won’t answer her phone.

Aoife examines her changing body as she worries about when people will start realizing she is noticeably pregnant. Joey sneaks in through her window, apologizes, and tells Aoife he doesn’t remember anything that happened yesterday. He brings up what she wanted to talk about yesterday and says they should talk about it now—he assumes she wants to talk about his drug use.

When she asks him if he is going to try getting sober again, he doesn’t answer the question, only assuring her that he is in control of himself. She mentions the pills she found the day before he started using again, and they fight about their relationship. Joey won’t promise that he will get clean, not wanting to lie to her, but Aoife can’t accept that. They agree to stop talking for now and go to school.

Shannon comes home from school early and finds Joey there. She is home because a girl at school has been bullying her, but he won’t tell Shannon why he is home from school. Shannon admits to Joey that she kissed Johnny a few days ago, but he is being distant around her because he plans to leave school to play professional rugby soon. They have an uncomfortable talk about sex, and Joey admits that his consent was dubious when he lost his virginity.

Aoife pulls back from her relationship with Joey but refuses to ease up on her insistence that he get clean. She admits that she flushed his stash because she doesn’t want to see him close to death again.

Neither Aoife nor Joey is willing to give an inch in their argument, even though Joey feels guilty for his actions. They reach a tentative truce in math class, but when the teacher notices they’re distracting each other, Paul comments that they don’t need help with math because “they’re both pros at multiplying” (362). Aoife realizes Kevin must have told Paul, and Joey tries to figure out what’s going on.

Aoife runs out of the classroom, and when Joey follows her, she apologizes for not telling him. Joey feels terror and panic, especially when he realizes she is three-and-a-half months pregnant. Aoife tells Joey about telling him when he was high. He is offended that she didn’t tell him sooner, and Aoife makes the excuse that she was trying to protect him, echoing Joey’s earlier sentiments about breaking up with her.