Wrong Number

Mallory Grant 28 stories

Summary

Shawn was just going through the motions. His parents split up, his mother was in a psych ward, and he was forced to live with his abusive father. His older brother had been the one his father turned on over the years, but now that Luke is free and out, Shawn is determined to make sure he doesn’t have to deal with their father again, even if that means he’s the one dealing with it now. His father had thankfully calmed down over the years, accepting that while Shawn wasn’t ever going to be big and strong for football, he was at least on the track team so that was something. However, like a rubber band snapping, his father turns back into a raging monster when they receive the wedding invitation for Luke and his soon-to-be husband, Kinsley. Shawn’s always turned down party invitations before from his best friend Grace and her long-time boyfriend Travis, but when Grace says there’s a girl she knows who’s interested in him, Shawn thinks maybe it’s just what he needs to keep his head above water and away from his father’s abuse. All of the girls here wear purity rings after all, and he was prepared to date a girl he didn’t have to try and sleep with until he graduates if it means keeping under his father’s radar and away from his abusive alcoholic binges. That is until the night of the party and Shawn is depressed and wasted, and he sends out a text, to the wrong number. Feeling like he’s slowly drowning, he starts to wonder if maybe drowning isn’t such a bad thing after all.