Pieces [Lip Gallagher]

Chapter 18:

We walked out of the office eventually and down the hall getting ready to leave. As we walked Lip grabbed my hand with his free hand and I looked at him confused.

"Daddy!" Debbie yelled.

I turned my head to see Frank walking towards us with Karen at his side. They looked to be having an enjoyable conversation.

"Debbie. We gotta go." Fiona said.

I gave Lip's hand a small squeeze and he tightened his grip.

"I wanna say hi to daddy. Daddy." Debbie said.

Frank looked over and continued to walk towards us.

"Hi." Debbie waved.

"Hello pumpkin." Frank greeted Debbie.

"Karen. What's going on?" Lip asked looking at her.

I turned to see him with a slightly heartbroken look on his face.

"You said you never come to these so I thought you weren't gonna come and so I asked Frank to stand in for my worthless father." Karen explained as the two stopped right in front of us.

"Did they expel Carl?" Frank asked.

Fiona shook her head.

"What did I tell you? Drama and threats, all for naught." Frank said.

I stepped closer to Lip and he shifted towards me. We stood there in silence and I saw Karen glaring at how close I was to Lip.

"Come on guys. Let's go." Fiona said looking at all of us.

Lip and I followed after the others to the doors and I looked at Lip. I expected him to be looking back at Karen but when I looked at him he was looking down at our hands.

"Sorry." I muttered while moving my hand from his.

"No." Lip said and grabbed my hand again.

We looked at each other and I looked away trying to hide my smile. After we got back to the Gallaghers we sat in the living room while Carl was given a speech on his behavior.

"Carl. We're serious. The stakes are really really high. We love you and we need you in this family, in this house." Fiona said.

Lip pulled me closer a bit and I looked at him but he kept his eyes on the ground.

"You need to stop biting and punching and hurting people." Fiona continued.

"Well how else do I make them cry?" Carl asked.

"Gossip and slander." Lip added in.

"You know when I get really angry I usually just count to ten." Steve added.

We all looked back at Carl.

"Hey little man. Tell you what we're gonna do." Lip started. "We're gonna get you some pads and skates. Get you out on the ice. You can take your frustrations out with a hockey stick."

"Yeah. You can come to karate with me. Remember when I broke Kyle's leg? It took three pins to put it back together." Ian added.

"You can't beat karate when it comes to regulated sanctioned violence for children." Debbie added.

Once everything was figured out I sat with Ian, Carl, and Debbie in the living room. We were watching TV while Fiona and Steve spent time together and Lip called people back about their scores being invalidated since someone found out Lip was taking it for them.

"So you and Lip?" Ian asked.

I turned my attention to my best friend. "What?"

"Are you and Lip together now?" He asked quietly so Carl and Debbie couldn't hear since we were sitting beside each other.

"No. Why would we be?" I asked raising an eyebrow.

"You two were holding hands." Carl said.

I turned to look at him surprised and out of the corner of my eye I saw Lip.

"It was just out of support." I said turning my attention back to the TV.

There was knocking on the front door. Ian and Carl didn't get up and right as I was about to answer Debbie got up. She answered it and the guy from the bathroom was there.

"Hey. I'm here for Lip to pay him the balance for the SAT test." Tire said.

Debbie let Tire in and Lip came out from where he was calling people.

"Tire." Lip greeted.

"Lip. My man." Tire said as he walked over to Lip.

Tire and Lip went to high five but Tire launched at Lip.

"They invalided my score." Tire announced.

"I was gonna call you." Lip said.

"I'll get like a six on this test." Tire said.

"You'll get at least two hundred for spelling your name correctly." Lip said.

"Shit. Wait wait wait. I can fix this all right?" Lip said making Tire stop.

"I won't be able to play ball in college." Tire yelled and went after Lip again.

"You'll go straight to the pros." Lip yelled as he ran upstairs with Tire chasing him.

A few seconds later there was a thud and Lip let out a noise. The four of us ran upstairs to find Tire dangling Lip out of the window.

"Lip!" Debbie yelled.

I held Debbie back as Ian ran past me and tried to pull Tire back. "Get back inside!"

"Back off or I'll throw you out too." Tire warned.

Carl ran in and Ian stepped backwards.

"Let him go!" Carl screamed.

He held the killing bat up and Tire turned around to see this. Debbie was now near the door.

"Get my brother back in the house or the kid swings the bat." Ian said.

"Okay." Tire said.

"Now." I ordered.

"Keep your shit straight. I'll pull him in." Tire said.

"Now. Come on." Ian said.

Tire pulled Lip back in as Fiona ran in with Steve.

"What the hell is going on?" Fiona asked.

"Carl's got it covered." Ian said.

Lip was back in the room and was standing by me.

"I was just joking. Okay? Okay?" Tire asked as he put his hands up.

Carl swung the bat, hitting Tire in the knee. We all screamed as Tire fell to the ground. I backed into Lip and he grabbed my shoulder to balance me before letting go and moving towards Carl.