Shameless

19|A Bottle of Jean Nate

Carla woke up to a knock on the door. She quickly ran downstairs half awake and opened the door. "Hi,Jasmine." She said, rubbing her eye."Hi Carla. Is Fiona here?" Jasmine asks "upstairs in her room." She said, letting Jasmine come in. She closed the door and went back upstairs, "we don't let people in the house before I wake up!" She heard Fiona yell from her room.

She got dressed and then walked downstairs into the kitchen. "Breakfast?" She asked, yawning "here." Jasmine handed her a cup of coffee and then walked upstairs. Carla stared at the cup in confusion, then grabbed a bowl and cereal.

Lip came downstairs and into the kitchen. "You guys still not talking?" Fiona asked as Carl came down the laundry chute."Cool." Carla said laughing."Dude!" Lip exclaimed,"Carl!" Fiona exclaimed "what the fuck?" Ian asked "Holy crap. Why have I never done that before? Carly, you gotta try it." Carl said.

"No, Carla, you are not gonna try it, and you both have too time on your hands. Summer school next year. Both of you." Fiona said, holding Carl's head."How's your head?" Fiona asked worried "little dizzy." Carl said. Fiona hit his arm. "You're fine. Go have some breakfast." Fiona told him.

"How much in we looking at in the winter squirrel fund?" Lip asked,"just over nine grand." Fiona said,"That's all we made to get us through the entire winter?" Ian asked."Frank screwed up when he gave Liam away. There was the compressor for the fridge." Fiona said,"and the stuff for Liam's eat infection." Lip said, kissing Liam's head.

"Everyone needs to get winter jobs. Debs get down here. Breakfast." Fiona called out."I'll be right there." Debbie called back. "School supplies and clothing. Nothing else. No candy,drugs,beer,or concert tickets. I want receipts." Fiona told them while handing them money.

"What if the drugs are really good?" Jasmine asks, coming out of the bathroom "your still here?" Fiona asked."I got caught up reading a magazine." Jasmine said, holding up a magazine only for it to be snacked out of her hands by Debbie. "Hey,that's mine." Debbie said. "Debs,I need you to find the backpacks and any old school books. Carl,Carla put the daycare supplies back in the basement." Fiona informed.

"Okay." Debbie said,"Roger that." The twins said together."Lip,you and Ian clean the pool. I think there's a few surprises in there for you." Fiona told the brothers. "Carl, tell Lip to do it himself." Ian said."Lip,Ian says you can do it yourself." Carl repeated."Carla, tell Ian he's being a douche bag for not talking to me." Lip said in a weird voice.

"Ian Lip said you're being a douche--" Carla started to mock the voice only for Ian to cover her mouth. "Okay. Whatever you guys are still doing, I want it over before school starts. So figure it out." Fiona ordered."Mommy,what's my assignment?" Jasmine asks.

"Ah,go home to your family?" Fiona asked."Actually... I need to go get the boat ready. Belmont Harbor. Slip 22. Two o'clock." Jasmine said."I said I'll think about it." Fiona said."uh-huh." Jasmine said before leaving.

Lip stood up to the sound of Frank's voice. "I wanna see what Fiona's cooking for breakfast." Frank's muffled voice said,"It's a rooster in the henhouse. Rooster in the henhouse. Hide the money." Lip ordered as everyone rushed to hide the money,"moving Grammy." Everyone said as they rushed into different parts of the house.

~~

"Hey." Carla said, shoving her hands in her pockets."What do you want, Carla?" Sophia said,"I know this won't work. But I'm sorry for all that stuff last year. I stopped doing that stuff, and I started karate with my brother." Carla said, kicking a rock."I guess it's okay. But this doesn't make us friends." Sophia said. "Cool." Carla smiled and then skated away.

Carla stopped in font of the Alibi again and walked in. "Hey." She said,"Why is a 10 year old in a bar?" Tommy asked "whens your liver gonna give out?" Carla shot back,"coke?" Kev asked."Please." She said, putting down a ten dollar bill that Kevin actually took this time.

"Nice shirt, kev." Carla lied "thanks carly I'm worried sick about her." He said sadly."I'm sure she's fine." Carla reassured."I gotta go to my game. I'll see you guys later,okay." Old man Stan said and chuckled. Kermit covered Carla's eyes when she saw him coming out in his underwear. "Yeah, I'm out. See you kev." Carla said, hopping off the barstool.

And out the Alibi room and skated back home. Carla and Carl got home at the same time and went inside. Carla leaned on the back of while Carl looked through the toys in front of the TV. "You're in my way." Peggy said."What's wrong with the TV?" Carla asked."Nothing. This show's in black and white." Peggy explained."You're still in my way." She said again while Carl looked through a gray tub.

"Looks old." Carl said,"So do i. Now move." Peggy told him "here,Carl. I found these old readers you can use." Debbie said as Carl sat on the couch and flipped through them. Carla jumped over the couch and sat next to her brother, looking through one as well.

"Little old for third grade,aren't you?" Peggy asked."It's our second time." Carla explained,"Not too smart,huh?" She asked the twins shrugged. "Anything you're good at?" Peggy asked again. The twins shrugged again. "How about let's teach you two a skill?" Peggy offered.

The twins looked up smiling as she winked at them.

~~

The twins stood outside a store waiting for their grandmother's signal to do something. Finally, they got it."Excuse me. Our grandmother's having an allergy attack." Carl stopped a blonde girl,"and we need to buy her Sudafed,but we're under 18, and her driver's license was revoked. Can you buy it for her?" Carla asked in a very soft tone.

"You making meth?" The blonde asked."Free rock when we're up and running." Carl said, putting the money in the girl's hand. Peggy chuckled as they did a handshake. "All right." Peggy said, putting money in the twins' hands. They went over to where they had waited before.

Carla walked next to Peggy and Carl with new sunglasses on they had bought while Peggy had a whole bunch of bags on her wheelchair. The twins did a handshake they had since they were little.

The twins helped bring in the bags into the house as they walked in on Lip and Lan fighting. Again. "Hey! Hey!" Peggy called out."Put all that Sudafed down in the basement." Peggy told the twins. The two walked down into the basement and set the bags down.

"What do you think grammy's gonna do with all this?" Carla asked, setting the bags down."No clue. But we get paid for doing it." Carl reminded,"true." Carla said as they did their handshake and walked back upstairs into the kitchen.

~~

The next morning, the twins were helping Peggy in the basement when an explosion happened that probably woke the whole house up. "Fiona! Fiona!" Carl yelled from the basement."Where's your grandmother?" Fiona asked, putting out the fire,"buying more supplies." Carla explained."I'm gonna kill her." Fiona said angrily as she walked out of the basement.

Carla coughed. "That was awesome." Carla laughed high-fiving her brother as they left the basement. The twins saw from the upstairs window an ambulance truck outside "Grammy." They said walking downstairs "hey it's smells in here. You both blow up our lab?" Peggy asked."A little bit." They said sitting on the couch.

"Oh,come here. We'll get it right next time." Peggy told the two. They both nodded. "She's gotta be in a lot of pain. Shouldn't be leaving the house." The Paramedics said,"These morons don't know what they're talking about." Peggy said,"Sigh this form,please. If she were my grandmother,I'd call hospice. They can manage her pain. Make her more comfortable. " The paramedics said the left.

"Hey, knucklehead,ser up the card table. I wanna teach the twins a little five-card stud." Peggy told Frank as he left.

~~

"Let's go. School. Come on, monkey." Fiona called out. "Ew. Carl, you have a hair chunk missing." Carla laughed as she examined her brother's head. "Carl,Carla,come on, get out of there." Fiona said."Our house still smells like meth." Carl said,"Yeah,whose fault is that?" Fiona asked, patting the twins' shoulders as they went into each other's room to get dressed for the first day of school.

Carla changed into a black shirt she stole from Carl and put some gray jeans on, then put some convers on along with a black jacket. Carla walked downstairs, smaking the back of Carl's head.

The twins walked together to school. "Ready for second year of third grade?" Carla joked,"I guess. Can i--" Carl started to ask "yes you can cheat off me this year." Carla laughed and wrapped her arm around his shoulder. He chuckled and put his arm around her shoulder.

Word count: 1557