HARD TIMES ━ lip gallagher²

04 | just pop out twins

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THE GALLAGHER'S HAD GOTTEN their house back. Amara didn't have any idea on how the hell that was possible—but apparently it had something to do in large part with Carl, and she could take a wild guess on where he'd gotten all of that money from.

She definitely wasn't complaining. The house had seemed so lonely in the couple of days the family had been gone. Not to mention how lonely Amara felt herself. With nobody to bother when she was bored, she resulted to picking up extra shifts, and was looking for a second job.

Even if they were back, she needed to take her mind off Lip. Which was why she was currently sitting in an interview room at Target.

"Have you ever worked in retail before?" The woman asked her, and Amara shook her head.

"I haven't," Amara answered. "But I've worked loads of waitressing jobs, so I know how to deal with people."

"I can see that," her name-tag read Donna, and she was scanning over Amara's resume. "And it says here that you studied at New York International Arts over the summer."

"I did," Amara replied, confused to where she was going with this.

"That's a great school, my son goes there."

"Yeah," she smiled. "It was really fun."

"See, what I don't understand is why you're here, getting a job to work as a cashier, when you could be doing something you really enjoy."

Amara faltered. "Uh, well it's kind of just a temporary thing? I need to save up, pay bills and stuff before I can really do something I'd like."

"So what you're saying is I'm wasting my time interviewing you, seeing as how this is only a temporary thing."

"I- uh," she swallowed. "I suppose."

Donna leaned forward. "I really do like you, Amara. But I don't want to hire someone who is just going to quit on me in two months. So I'll give you this," she handed Amara a small slip of paper. "My brother teaches a creative writing class. Why don't you try it out? Improve your talent, start working towards what you really want to be, yeah? He's helped a lot of people, you could be one of them. Get you to branch out."

Amara examined the card. "That'd be great, actually. Thanks. I'll think about it."

Donna smiled at her. "I hope to see you there."

Amara sent another grin in her direction and turned to leave, rolling her eyes once she was facing the opposite direction. And the card Donna had given her found its way in the closest trash can on Amara's way to the parking lot.

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Amara tried the handle to Kev and V's door, but it didn't budge, and she went to knock before it swung open. She blinked in surprise as Kevin ushered her in. "You called?"

"I'm planning a trip for me and V," he told her, sitting on the couch as the twins played on the floor with a couple of stuffed animals. "Little vacation, we've both been so stressed and I think we deserve one."

Amara raised a brow and flopped onto the couch next to him. "Uh-huh. So what do you want me for? Water your plants or something?"

"Was hoping you could watch Amy and Gemma?"

Amara scrunched up her nose. "You know I don't do babies."

"But they're my babies. Look, I promise they'll be good." He crouched down and picked up Gemma, making her wave one of her hands, and imitating a baby voice. "I promise I'll be good for you Auntie Amara."

She rolled her eyes. "Ugh, fine. But you better pay me."

"Oh, absolutely."

"And I can't take them to work so my grandma will have to watch them."

Kevin gave her a skeptical look. "Do you think she's trustable enough to handle my kids?"

Amara bit her lip and then nodded. "Yeah. I mean, she fucked up pretty bad with Joe, and the whole stealing money from me when I was ten to go buy some crack and disappearing for nine years thing, but I think she's learned." He gave her a blank stare. "I trust her, yes. And I'll put their crib up in my room, that's where they'll be the safest, okay? Everything will be good."

Kevin flashed her a smile. "Okay, then! I'm gonna go get the paperwork and tell V. I'll bring some of their stuff over later. Can you take them?"

"Both of them- okay," she struggled on balancing the twins on either side of her hip, but eventually got the hang of it. "Hey, this isn't so bad."

"I made a list of some things you'll need to remember," Kevin told her, "and you can take the stroller too."

"Oh, thank God. You know, the next time I ever want to gain muscle mass in my arms, I'll just pop out twins."

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Amara watched as Carl stormed down the steps, brushing past her and Silvia without even a nod of acknowledgement. Her sister bristled, but tried to hide the fact that she did so, and adjusted Gemma in her hands. Amara nudged her with her open arm. "Come on, I think grandma will be okay with taking the day off and letting us order pizza."

"I really just wish he'd talk to me," Silvia admitted as they walked towards their house. "I know he's going through shit, he's always been bad at lying to me, and I can tell that he is. We were just best friends, you know? Now it's just..."

Amara sighed and pushed open the door. "Oh, trust me. I get it. So, I'm gonna put Gemma and Amy up in their crib and feed them dinner. You order the pizza?"

"Sure," Silvia nodded, handing off one of the babies to Amara as they went their separate ways.

After spooning canned baby food to the twins, a completely disgusted and covered in vomit Amara made her way to the bathroom, but the door was locked. Her brows furrowed as she looked down the hall. Margot's door was closed, which usually meant she was in there. But Gloria had been nowhere to seen when they walked in, and suddenly, a pit of worry formed in her stomach.

"Did you fall in the toilet?"

There was a snort. "I'm fine. Just a little lightheaded, is all."

"Did you take your pills?"

"I... I think so, yes."

Amara didn't feel convinced but she nodded, even though Gloria couldn't see her. "Well, try not to tumble and crack your head open on the bathtub."

"Wise words."

"Yeah, I try. And please hurry up. I'm covered in child vomit."

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