Shameless

68|A Yurt of One's Own

Carla took the cereal from Carl and poured herself some into a bowl. "Slept here last night?" Ian asked. Fiona sighed before answering. "Yeah." She said.

"What are you writing?" Ian asked. "Letter to Sean's ex-wife." Fiona explained. "Oof. How come?" Ian asked as Carla sat next to Carl at the table. "Ask Carl." Fiona said. "Carl,why is Fiona writing a letter to Sean's ex-wife?" Ian asked as Debbie came downstairs

"I don't wanna talk about it." Carl said as he handed Carla the milk to pour in her dry bowl of cereal. "Okay,great. I'll just stand here and drink my coffee in silence." Ian said with a suitcase.

Debbie slammed the suitcase on the floor as she put it down. "Where are you going?" Fiona asked. "To the commune with Queenie." Debbie said as she grabbed her jacket. "Except you're not, 'cause you have school. Remember?" Fiona asked. "I need a supportive environment. I'm not gonna get it here." Debbie said.

"So that's it for high school,huh?" Fiona asked as she stood up. "Pregnant,dropout at 15. Well played." Fiona said. "Don't pretend you care." Debbie said. "You gotta graduate,Debs." Ian said.

"Hearr of 'un-schooling?' It's a widely recognized form of education." Debbie explained. "By who?" Ian asked. "Queenie says it's when you get knowledge from life instead of books. Like making spaghetti. It's when you measure water,pasta, and salt. That's math." Debbie said as she walked into the living room, followed by Fiona and Ian.

"No,that's pathetic." Fiona said. "If I'm desperate,I could just get my GED. You know,like you did." Debbie said. "Queenie. Are you going to support Debbie as she 'un-schools' her way through life?" Fiona asked.

"Ignore her." Debbie told Queenie. "Oh,I have so many friends on the commune who have never had a day of conventional education,and they have so much worldly wisdom." Queenie said. "Like boiling pasta." Ian said. "If you wanna quit school,Debs,I can't stop you. Enjoy yourself at...what is it?" Fiona asked.

"Soaring Consciousness Ecovillage. Hundred acres,very peaceful." Queenie explained. "Oh. And if you see Lip,tell him never to stifle his passion. Ta-ta." Queenie said before she left.

~~

Carla walked next to Carl as they walked past Dominique. "Carl. Carl. Hey. Wait,making me run after you? What's that about?" She asked. "We're going home." Carl said. "Oh. Well,you said you got a recording studio,right? Do you think you could record me?" Dominique asked.

"Excuse me?" Carl asked. "Yeah,I wanna go to music camp this summer. And they need a sound file of me playing the violin. So..." Dominique said. "I would,but I got shit to do." Carl told her. "Oh. Okay." Dominique said.

"Sounds cool,though. Good luck with that." Carl said as him and Carla started walking again. "You know,I think she was hitting on you." Carla said. "What?" Carl asked. "Asking to come over and record her. Alone." Carla said.

"Fuck off." Carl laughed as he shoved Carla's head making Carla laughed as well. Carla passed Jayden as they walked. "Still not talking to you?" Carl asked. "Nope. He has better things like knock-up his cunt of a girlfriend." Carla said.

"That Evelyn girl?" Carl asked,Carla nodded. "Mm-hmm." She hummed. "She's pregnant?" Carl asked. "Mm-hmm. 2 months." Carla said as she pressed her lips together.

The twins got on the bus and rode over to Paty's pies for their shift.

Carla carried diry dishes in a tub into the kitchen of paty's pies for Carl to wash. "Who didn't get their check?" Sean asked."Uh,Carl and Carla." Sean said handing the twins their check.

Carla put the dishes into the skin and looked at her check. "Yo,what is this?" Carl asked. "It's pay for your first two days." Sean said. "This is for two days?" Carl asked."You make minimum wage. Here's hour's logged. Subtract federal withholding,Medicare,social security,state disability,state withholding,and insurance." Sean explained.

"Voilà,net total." Sean said. "This barely covers the bus to get here." Carl said. "That's not true... yeah, I guess that's almost true." Sean said, looking at the check. "What can I say? It's a shitty job." Sean told him.

"Meanwhile,you're not dead,you're not in prison. So there's an upside." Sean said, then walked out of the kitchen. "Remembered,you'll get a raise." Carla said as she pocketed the check.

A couple hours later, Carla was getting dirty dishes off tables when she saw Dominique walk in the restaurant. "Hey,Carla." She said. "Oh,hey Dominique." Carla said. "Is Carl working?" Dominique asked.

Carla looked at Sean who was sitting at a booth by the door. "You can go in the back if you want. Make sure he's decent." Sean told her. Carla walked into the back, followed by Dominique.

"Yo,Carl. Got a visitor." Carla said, getting Carl's attention. Carla then walked into the kitchen and washed the dishes. "You know who you reminded me of?" Olga asked.

"Who?" Carla asked, not looking away from washing the dishes. "Your sister,Fiona. You're a lot like her, you know,she even said you're good with kids." Olga said. Carla smiled. "Whole family says that I'm a lot like her." She said.

"Their right." Olga said as she patted Carla's back, then she went back to serving orders.

~~

The next day,Carla sat on the couch, watching TV when Liam walked downstairs. "Hey,Liam." Carla said as Liam sat next to her. "Is Dominique and Carl upstairs?" Carla asked. Liam nodded.

"Here,let's put something more kid friendly on." Carla said as she changed the channel on the TV to a kid show. "Here, stay here,I'll be back." Carla said as she stood up and poured Liam sole juice and grabbed herself a beer.

She went back into the living room and handed Liam the juice. She opened the beer bottle and took a drink out of it. She put her foot on the coffee table as her and Liam watched TV.

Soon,Lip walked inside. "Hey." He said. "Hi,lip." Carla said as Lip rubbed her head and went to walk into the kitchen when Mandy came downstairs. They held eye contact for a while before Mandy left.

Lip continued to stare at the door in confusion before he walked in the kitchen as Ian came downstairs. "How come you're home?" Ian asked. "That was,uh...Mandy,she back at her house?" Lip asked not answering Ian's original question.

"No,she's just,uh,dropped in to say hi." Ian said as Carla got up and walked into the kitchen. "Is that her Jeep out front?" Lip asked. "Yeah. Yeah,she got a job."Ian said. "How was the party?" Ian asked.

"It was boring." Lip said as Carl came running downstairs. "Either of you guys got a condom?" He asked. "What?" Lip asked. "A condom." Carl repeated. "He say condom?" Ian asked. "Yeah." Lip said as he took a drink of his beer.

"You got a girl in your room?" Carla asked. "Yeah. She only brought one." Carl said. "Only one,huh?" Ian asked as he pulled out some condoms out of his wallet and handed it to Carl. "Here you go,two." Ian said. "Thanks." Carl said as he ran upstairs.

"Is thst his first time?" Lip asked Carla. "Who knows?" Carla shrugged. Lip chuckled "to Carl." He said, putting up his beer bottle as Carla and Ian clinked their cups together.

Word count:1271
A/n:Fiona got divorced and got married...again