old neighbor || carl gallagher

four

lexis pov

i saw my mom pull up to the most familiar house ever. my house. i saw the moving truck guys already bringing the furniture into the house. i got out of the car and looked at the house, just stared at it. this is real, im actually here, my old house, my old life, well kinda, some things were going to definitely be different.

i walked up to the door. i really didn't want to walk in but i had to. i watched as my left hand grabbed the door nob slowly. i watched myself open up the door and push it open. i slowly walked in and looked around. i saw the living room, then the kitchen. i saw the ugly old wall paper, and the brown decaying wood floors. i saw it all. all the memories. everything.

it was all the same. it was all the fucking same.

i went up the hard wood stairs. i walked down the hall and stopped at my old bed room door, it was wide open. i looked in before taking a step forward. my room, its the same, just boxes and the bed standing up against the wall. i took a step into the room and walked over to the window, looking out. it still faced the same old house. the gallaghers same old house. i looked away and to where my desk used to sit, the wall being carved into. the same old carving, c+l, carl+lexi. i thought. oh how that was so cheesy now looking at it. i did that when i was younger. i made sure my dresser could cover it so my mom never found it. she would have been upset with me if she found out i intentionally carved something into the wall, let alone carls name.

carl gallagher. his name kept replaying in my head. i missed him. i missed all them. carl, debbie, fiona, lip, liam, ian, even frank. i missed this place, im not sad about moving anymore, im not mad. im happy but scared. scared of what could happen if i ran into any of them. what would they think? would lip ignore me? would debbie throat punch me? would ian and fiona hug me? would liam even know me? he was so young. what would frank say? some stupid shit probably, or give me a lecture on something going on in his head. what would carl do? say?

"lexi?" my mom said coming into my room. "want to go out to eat tonight? there is a place called patsy's pies downtown."

i glared at her as she leaned against my door frame. "sure."

"okay. in the meantime get unpacked, and all of it, we are staying here, forever, i promise." she smiled and left my room.

that was her way of trying to make me feel better. in all honesty, seeing the house across the street gave me more joy than seeing her face for her saying she loves me. she may be blood but that gallaghers were family.

//

i got all my things unpacked just in time for my mom to call me down to leave. my 'new' room looked similar to my old room. it just placed the bed and dresser different, everything else was the same. i put my dusty converse on and headed down the stairs. i walked into the living room and i see mom had put all the pictures back up where they used to be.

its like we never moved, its all the same. everything in it's same spot.

"ready?" she asked as she zipped up her sweatshirt.

"mhm." i nodded.

mom and i walked out of the house and she unlocked the car. we both got in and buckled before she pulled the car in drive and took off down the road. it was a quite ride. the radio played music but it was staticy and all around annoying.

i got so sick of the noise at one point that i dramatically reached over and shut it off catching the attention of my mom.

"i didn't like that noise either."

good for you.

about four minutes later, mom parked next to the curb. i looked out the driver side window and saw a big yellow sign that read 'patsy's pies.' it looked to me like a family diner.