S P I L T ° Phillip Gallagher

[14] Needs

Ian, Lip, Mandi, and I all sat in the red van that rotted in the backyard. We passed around a joint Lip recently rolled. Us laughing filled the silence half the time, while the other half was is trying to focus on breathing while laughing.

"Boe, how long have you been staying here?", Mandi asked taking the joint from Ian.

"Shit, I think it's been about a year and a half maybe.", I chuckle while looking a Lip for reassurance. He nodded with a smile that was followed by a wink. Mandi nodded taking a long drag, barely paying attention to me.

"Will this make you wanna relapse?", Lip whispered in my ear.

I shook my head and leaned over to him, "Different kind of high." We both nodded and then laughed breaking the serious vibe.

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  Later that night all the Gallaghers, including Vee and Kev, sat in the living room watching a movie that Carl stole from a library. Vee and Kev sat on the green couch along with Fiona and Liam. Debbie sat on the floor by Vee's feet. Carl and Ian sat on top of each other in the stained chair next to the windows. Lip and I sat in the kitchen drinking a beer and just talking. He has been working three part time jobs and I've been working two full time jobs. All to afford a place for use to have so we can move out. Everything we try just doesn't work though. Everything is just to expensive. We buy bare minimum for ourselves as it is, and we still barely make it to next pay day.

    Lip leaned in the table slightly while taking a drink of his beer, "Did your boss give you a raise yet?"

I shook my head, "Nope, I guess cleaning up dog shit all day is only worth minimum wage.", I chuckled taking a sip of mine.

He shook his head with a chuckle and leaned back. I looked over at the living room to see everyone and I just smiled. That was my family, the ones who took me in and lived me for me. As I took another sip I turned to look back at Lip who was smiling at me. I lowered my beer slowly and looked at him confused.

"What's got you all smiley?", I chuckled.

He leaned forward and kissed me a couple times before leaning back and began talking, "You."

"Me?", I chuckled. "What'd I do?", I smiled with a laugh.

He lifted his hand and had it closed in a fist. I looked at him oddly, very confused at what he was doing. He took my hand and slid on a beautiful but simple ring in my finger and looked up at me.

"This is my promise to you, that I will marry you and fuck the shit out of you.", he smiled and kissed me agin. Everyone jumped up screaming and cheering. The house was flooded with joy and tears. I kissed him back with a loss of words. My heart beating so fast I thought it was going to jump out and start dancing. Pulling away I looked at him and had the biggest smile. Tears covered my eyes as I kissed him agin and listened to everyone hug each other and scream with joy. Fiona ran over and kissed us both on the head several times before running back and hugging everyone. Lip and I looked at each other getting lost in each other eyes with a smile. Everything seemed to freeze and go silent. My world filled with his words, "I love you."