Lie (Shameless)

11- Something remotely selfish

I was helping set up dinner with Fiona, Debbie. Fiona's new friend Jasmine was here too. We heard V come in the front door. "Hey! Where is everyone!"

"Kitchen!" Yelled Fiona. "Carl set the table."

"Hii, I'm Jasmine!" Said Jasmine to V, I smirked seeing Vs face.

"Oh sorry, Jasmine this is Veronica. V lives next door," said Fiona.

"Hiya V."

V didn't look happy at all as Jasmine complemented her.

"Pour yourself some bubbly V we're celebrating Morgan and the boys big breakout!" Said Jasmine.

I helped Debbie with the dinner, distracted until I heard Carl talking to Fiona. "Figure out what your gonna do to them yet?"

"Huh?"

"Punishment, ground them for a year?"

"Shut up Carl!" I said throwing a washcloth at his head. "Mind your business."

"A toast!" Said Jasmine handing me and Fiona champagne, then giving one to Debbie.

"To adolescent misadventure!" She said as we clicked glasses.

Lip came down the stairs giving me a smirk. "Where are you going?" 

Asked Fiona. 

"Karen's" I looked at him in shock before changing my reaction and said. 

"He means Skankons," 

"Dinners almost ready."

"Not hungry," He said before going upstairs.

I look at the stairs after he went upstairs and when i saw he was out of the frame I grabbed my jacket and bolted out of the house ran to Karen's house.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Luke stormed up the front walk, anger churning in his stomach like a relentless storm. His fists pounded at Karen's door, the sound booming through the quiet street. "Karen!" he yelled, frustration lacing his voice. "Come out here!"

The door swung open abruptly, revealing Karen with a mix of concern and irritation etched across her face. "Luke! What the hell are you doing?" she demanded.

"I need to know what's going on with us, Karen! Lip says he's headed over here right now, and you keep pulling this kind of shit!" Luke's voice cracked as he spoke, his emotions on edge.

Karen bristled at his words, trying to formulate a defense. "I've told you, it's not like that between—"

But Luke wasn't having it. Tears welled in his eyes as his anger peaked. "No! You don't get to keep playing these games with me!" The stress and confusion broke through his defenses, spilling down his cheeks.

In a sudden surge of raw emotion, Luke silenced her words with a possessive kiss, pouring every ounce of his pent-up feelings into the desperate contact. After a moment of stunned stillness, 

Karen kissed back with equal fervor before forcefully pulling away. Her eyes flicked nervously from left to right, scanning for any sign of Lip's approach.

Then, grabbing Luke's hand tightly, she tugged him inside the house and locked the door behind them. The world outside ceased to exist for the moment—their turbulent argument forgotten in the wake of their unspoken decision to face what comes next together.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~'

Meanwhile, Lip strode up the walkway to Karen's house, his steps slowing as he noticed the front door was locked - odd, since Karen's car sat in the drive and Mrs. Jackson was always home. His knuckles rapped harder against the wood, a growing unease wrinkling his brow.

"Karen!" he called out, voice laced with a confusing cocktail of concern and suspicion. His call lingered unanswered for one agonizingly long minute until eventually Karen appeared at the doorway. She was hidden beneath an oversized t-shirt that billowed around her slender frame like a flag of conquest.

Lip's smile blossomed at the sight of her but withered just as quickly when his brain pieced together what his eyes observed; that t-shirt wasn't hers. Rage seeded itself within him and he drew breath to lash out when Karen preempted him by slamming the door in his face.

"It's my dad's shirt," her voice filtered through the barrier between them, "We'll talk later."

The firmness in her tone left no room for protest, and Lip was left alone outside with his thoughts swirling in turbulent currents of doubt and frustration.