"I'm sick of this place." Corrie closes his eyes. He rests his head on a fluffy pillow Jennifer brought from home. He nuzzles his face into the pillow. The pillows at the rehab center are fucked up. They've been downgraded since a few patients were able to sneak pills in the building and hide them in the pillows. Just a few people can ruin it for everyone.

"Why?" Jennifer's iPad is sitting on the table next to her. She's learned that Corrie opens up easier when he doesn't think anyone is taking notes on him. Some patients don't mind, they find that if Jennifer is taking notes she's really paying attention to them.

"Why don't you take notes on me anymore?" Corrie looks up at her. "I mean, I don't care either way but you used to always."

"Corrie," she gives him the look. "Focus."

Looking down, Corrie sighs. "Right. Sorry." He doesn't want to focus because that means he'll have to talk. Talking is hard, too hard.

"How's Devon?" Jennifer asks casually, taking a sip of her water afterwards. She sits her water back down on the table. To seem more casual, she traces the rim of her cup.

Corrie doesn't react like Jennifer hoped. He doesn't flinch, or laugh, or even look up from the ground. He's completely still.

Gazing at Corrie, Jennifer feels the urge to grab her iPad from the table. Corrie is one of the most complex people Jennifer has seen in a long while. Everyone who enters her office has a story to tell--some are more than willing to talk and others are hesitant. But Corrie, he's so different.

"I guess, he's okay." Corrie shrugs his shoulders the best he can in his position.

"Didn't he just see you a couple of days ago?" Jennifer raises an eyebrow before quickly remembering that Corrie isn't paying attention to her.

"Yeah."

"What did you guys talk about?"Corrie sighs heavily. "Stuff."

"You care to share the 'stuff' with me?"

"I have a feeling if I don't I'm going to get shit from you until I do." Corrie looks up for the first time since the start of the topic. He rolls his eyes at her.

"You're very correct." Jennifer's facial expression doesn't change.

"He doesn't want to be with me," Corrie's eyes flicker downward, "not anymore."

Jennifer nods her head, keeping her poker face. "Do you know why?"

Corrie sits up, back against the couch. He puts the pillow in his lap, and hugs it. "It's too hard. It's all too hard. I know it; he knows it."

"Why?" Jennifer's hands twitch to grab her iPad. It's not because Corrie is so fucked up that she loves taking notes on him. It's because Corrie is so complex that he is so many of her patients in one.

"Because," Corrie's voice comes out breathy. "This is fucked up," looking around, Corrie's eyes tear up. His arms fling around in front of him. "You can't even deny it."

"Are you saying that Devon wants to break up because being in a relationship is too hard because you're here, in rehab?" Jennifer knows this. She just needs Corrie to confirm with less choppy wording.

"God," Corrie sighs, "isn't that what I just said?"

"I was just making sure." Jennifer holds her hands up in surrender.

"You know, the worst feeling in the whole world has to be knowing that someone doesn't want to be with you anymore but you're too selfish to let them go. Well, it's probably not the worst feeling in the entire world but it's pretty fucking shitty." Corrie looks down at the pillow as he picks at it.

"You think that you're selfish? How?"

"I know he doesn't want me. I mean, who the fuck would want me? I sure as hell don't want to be stuck with myself for the rest of my life...no matter how short it is."

Jennifer raises an eyebrow. "Corrie, is there something else you'd like to share?"

Corrie's head hangs down to the side, resting slightly on his shoulder. "Not really."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

Jennifer nods her head, making a mental note to talk with the other doctors to do another suicide assessment. "Let's talk about something else. There's so much we haven't talked about."

Corrie cracks a small smile, "yeah. Specifically why you stopped caring when I cussed in our sessions."

•••

"It's been awhile." Corrie stares at Ophelia with a frown. He bites his lip before motioning for her to come in.

She walks through his door, straight to the chair that everybody sits in. "I've missed you."

Corrie scoffs, "don't lie to me." Corrie's feet drag as he walks to his bed. He gets in, pulling the covers up to his waist. He props himself up with two shitty pillows.

Ophelia crosses her right leg over her left, intertwining her hands. Shaking her head she says, "I'm not lying. I really did miss you."

"Where the hell were you?" Corrie doesn't believe her, but he doesn't feel like arguing over it. He twiddles his thumbs, making them pretend to have a thumb war with each other.

"I was traveling." Ophelia's eyes glance off to the left. Her face grows a slight pink. She uses her hands to try and hide the blush.

"You're a terrible liar," Corrie informs her in a matter-of-factly tone. "You were probably fucking someone." She grows even more red. "Someone who's not my father."

"T-that's a lie." She tries to deny it but her words give her away. They always will.

"If I were to guess, I'd say his name is Graham Johnson." Corrie scowls just saying his name. He's sick of cheaters. Corrie can practically taste the panic radiating off of Ophelia, even if she doesn't show it.

"Corrie," her tone becomes stern. "You can't tell you father about Graham. Graham's a mistake. He doesn't mean anything. It's pleasure only."

Clapping his hands, Corrie laughs halfheartedly. "You know what's ridiculous? My father says the same goddamn things to my mother when she comes back to town. I'm surprised that you haven't already been kicked out."

Ophelia shakes her head in a jerky motion. "No. You're fucking with my head. He would never kick me out. He--he loves me. We love each other. We're gonna get married, be together forever, have more kids."

Corrie rubs his temples. "That's what he tells all his girls. You're young, Ophelia, but you're not that naive."

"We-we're gonna have babies," Ophelia stares down at her stomach before she puts a hand on her stomach, almost caressing it lovingly.

"No," Corrie chokes on his words, unable to form any other words. "Fu--fuck." He stares down at her stomach too, hoping that maybe some kind of insane vision will kick in and he can see inside her womb.

Ophelia looks up, hand still on her stomach. Her cherry red lips open to say something before quickly closing. For the first time since she's walked in, Corrie really looks at her. She's almost glowing. Her hair is put in a messy, yet perfect bun. She's wearing little makeup so her freckles are more prominent than usual.

"How--" Corrie coughs, "how far along are you?"

Looking at Corrie, Ophelia responds softly, "four or five months, maybe?"

"Are you sure it's his?" Corrie asks rudely, not really caring. "It could be Graham's."

"It can't be Graham's," Ophelia face falls. "Because if it is, we're both screwed."

Corrie's eye brows scrunch together. "Both as in me and your or you and Graham."

Ophelia laughs quietly. Her heart beats in her ears, her blood pumps ten times as fast. She loves this baby. She needs this baby. She needs the father to love it just as much.

Corrie looks down at Ophelia's stomach and gulps. Inside there is either his or Bradley's half brother or sister, and he's not sure which one he wants more.

__________

☒ - unedited

Do Corrie and Devon need to break up? Are they toxic? Can you believe Ophelia is pregnant? Who is the father to Ophelia's child?

Please tell me if you see any mistakes, I'm the queen of typos.

IMPORTANT NOTE: I've recently been thinking and I'm kind of sure I want to unpublished this book. Temporarily-ish. I want to do this book & its characters & its readers justice. This current version doesn't do that.

In order to do so, I want to unpublish this book for a little bit & then republish it as a brand new book with different & better chapters as well as a new title. I'm not entirely sure if I want to do that, however.

Let me know your thoughts on it, it will definitely help.

Read, vote, comment, and please share!

Next update: next week y'all

Teaser: Next chapter is a filler. Fair warning.

Quick notes:
[ 1  ] predictions, thoughts?
[ 2 ] PM me if you need anything at all. Writing advice, advice advice, a review of my book, you want a review, you need to rant, you wanna talk about stuff. Just hit me up.
[ 3 ] twenty votes & ten comments?
[ 4 ] i love you and i'll see you soon. ❤️️