vodka|l. gallagher|

lip gallagher

"Lip Gallagher you are digging that hole as deep as you can get it, huh?"

The cigarette between his lips turned orange as he inhaled, "I don't know what you mean."

I roll my eyes unable to believe what he is saying, "You sure know how to play stupid for someone who makes money taking the SAT for a bunch of thundercunts."

The smoke left his lungs as he began to laugh and he passed the cigarette over to me in some sort of peace offering, "Soph, I think I can save her. I really do."

I take a long drag thinking about his response. I try my best to make it sound okay in my head. By the time then smoke exited my lungs I whispered, "You can't save someone who doesn't want to be saved."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Sophia if you aren't up in five minutes you will be late for school, Lip will literally kill you."

Dads voice this early was the last thing I wanted to hear. I wanted to sleep off the cheap vodka Lip and I polished off last night. We studied super hard for the test I was supposed to take but now, it seemed like a better Idea just to stay home. 

 My clock read 6:45 a.m. I was late so the first tank top and pair of old ripped up shorts I found on my floor would have to do. I slipped on my black knee high socks and slipped on my doc martens lacing them up quickly. I ran to the bathroom and grabbed my tooth brush letting the toothpaste land on it however it did before scrubbing the nasty taste out of my mouth. With my tooth brush in my mouth I brushed my hair out which didn't go without a few, "fuck this" and "god dammits". Spit. Rinse. 

I grabbed my  zip up hoodie and slipped it on over the tank top before slapping the pockets in search of my lighter and smokes, "Alright you old bastard, where the fuck are my smokes and if my lighter isn't in the pack I'm kicking your ass." 

Dad was sitting at the breakfast bar downstairs looking at the newspaper job searching. My cigarettes were sitting next to him, "Fork them over, I need my cigarettes to make it through the day."

He grabbed the pack and slapped them into my outstretched hand before grabbing his coffee and taking a long drink, "Alright, whatever." 

I mimicked him and stood up on my tippy toes to kiss him on the cheek before grabbing my keys and heading out the door. He probably wouldn't be home by the time I made it out of work, but it wouldn't be the end of the world.

The walk to Lips house was only about two blocks and when I made it to the door I opened it without knocking. It was practically my house anyways. "7:15 Gallaghers! Wake up!"

Fiona was walking down the stairs and towards the fridge, "Morning Soph, gotta love your wake up calls."

"Yes you do Fi, Lips lazy ass out of bed yet?" I sat down at the bar and she sat a bottle of Tylenol down in front of me before taking the cereal to the table. 

She shook her head, "No, but you two need to stop drinking on school nights, does nothing for your grades," the room became silent before everyone began rushing downstairs and she looked at the fridge, "Ah, shit."

I didn't ask because I knew it most likely had something to do with a bill, "Electric," 

Lip sat at the table and nodded, "Yeah." 

The box got passed around and once Ian tossed his money in I threw a couple dollars in. 

Words were thrown around about problems everyone was having for their day. Fiona walked back to the table, "How short are we?"

Debbie was finishing up counting before looking up at her, "18 dollars and 35 cents." 

I grabbed my wallet from my pocket and pulled out a 20 tossing it in the box while they argued about how they would get the money. Fiona looked down at the box and up at me, "No Soph."

I shook my head, "I practically live here anyways. Might as well be useful. Please take it, you guys need it more than I do, I'll stay late and restock at Kash and Grab with Ian, it's fine." 

She tried to come up with something else to say to stop me and make me pick the money back up, but it didn't work. 

"I'm picking up Candi's shift today." Fi said as she tried to get Liam to eat, knowing he was hard to handle in the mornings. 

Lip looked over at her, "Soph and I are gonna study here tonight, we want extra kraut on ours." he looked up at me and smiled before going back to his food. 

"Cheese on mine," Ian said standing and grabbing his backpack. 

Fiona looked at them, "Somebody's gotta take Liam." 

Lip looked up at me and his eyes were wide, "Uh, we have a calculus test we can't miss. Been studying all week." 

I rolled my eyes and stood up grabbing my backpack where I had left it in their kitchen the night before and slipped it up on my shoulder watching Lip do the same. I followed him to the door, "Sorry Fi, I can help out next time." 

I barely got the rest of my sentence out before Lip had my arm and was pulling me out the door. 

"Smoke?" I asked once we were on the sidewalk headed towards school. I held a cigarette between my lips before passing him one and lighting my own. Then passing the lighter to him. 

"What are you up to after school?" I asked and inhaled taking hold of the cigarette and pulling it out of my mouth and flicking the excess ash off the end. 

He looked over at me, "Karen Jackson needs help studying for her midterm. She is paying me 10 bucks. Might as well." he hummed and lit his cigarette. 

I laughed and rolled my eyes, "Watch out. She might try to get it for free."