At Last [Lip Gallagher]

Chapter 11:

I looked up at the sound of a dog barking to see Lip walking in with a dog on a leash. 

"Uh.." I said, turning and watching him walk into the back.

He looked up at me before disappearing into the back with the dog. Sierra walked back there moments later and I went back to work. After a couple minutes, Sierra walked out with the dog.

"Why do you have a dog?" I asked.

"My ex-boss is in prison." Lip said, walking out from the back.

I bent down and picked the dog up.

"What's it's name?" I asked, looking at Lip.

He smiled. "Rocky." 

I turned back to the dog.

"Hey Rocky. You're adorable." I said.

"You love dogs?" Sierra asked.

"Hell yeah." I nodded.

I started to pet Rocky and looked up to see Lip looking at me with a small smile and Sierra looking at me happily. Lip had to pry the dog from my hands and Sierra had to force me away so I could actually get back to work. After a while of serving tables yelling made me turn to the kitchen.

"How about "way to go, sis" or "I believe in you"? Is that so fucking hard?" Fiona asked.

I turned to see Lip and Fiona facing each other. They both wore very angry expressions and looked like they were about to kill each other. After they disappeared I followed them. 

"You're making a huge mistake." Lip said after a moment of silence.

Lip started walking away from Fiona.

"How huge? Huh? Like blowing a grant and getting kicked out of college? That huge?" Fiona asked.

She walked out from the kitchen and looked at me.

"Never, ever, date that asshole." She ordered before walking away without letting me speak.

Once shift was done, I walked with Lip and Fiona back to the Gallagher house. All three of us were left in an uncomfortable silence. 

"All right, this is for Carl so let's just pretend like we're having a good time." Fiona said as the three of us walked towards the kitchen. 

Fiona stopped when she saw the kitchen, making me stop as Lip moved past us. 

"Where is everything?" Fiona asked, focusing on Lip. 

"Don't look at me. I asked Debs to take care of it." Lip said.

Debbie appeared. "I need help getting Neil inside." 

"Where the hell is the banner? The cake?" Lip asked.

"Ian said he'd do it." Debbie said.

"Where the fuck is he?" Lip asked.

"He was supposed to get back from work two hours ago." Debbie said.

"You couldn't have just handled it?" Fiona asked Lip.

"I didn't ask to play Mom, all right?" Lip said.

"Neither did she." Debbie defended. "Is anyone gonna help me with Neil?" 

The sound of footsteps coming down the stairs made us all turn to see Carl.

"Bad news. We don't have a party for you. I'm sorry." Fiona said to him.

"It's okay. I'm not sure if I'm gonna go." Carl said walking past us into the kitchen.

"What?" Fiona asked.

"Wait. What do you mean? Cause of Dom?" Lip asked.

We walked into the kitchen and Carl turned to face us. 

"No. What if they haze me?" Carl asked turning to us.

"You're way tougher than they are." Fiona said.

"Yeah. Seems hard. All of it." Carl said.

"You did juvie no problem." Debbie pointed out.

"I mean, you let someone hack your dick. What could be harder than that, right?" Lip asked.

"Gallaghers are a lot of things, but no one says we back down from a challenge." Fiona said.

Carl nodded. "Yeah." 

Later that night we headed towards the buses that would take Carl to military school. Carl walked up to an officer as the rest of us hung back. 

"Hey Sergeant Winslow." Carl greeted the officer.

"Wanted to make sure you got on that bus. Even if I had to handcuff you to it." Winslow said.

Carl went to hug him but he was stopped.

"Are you ready?" Lip asked.

Carl turned to look at us. "No. I'm going, though. I think I need to. I need some direction. I'm not good at school. Not good at sports. Definitely don't want to be back on the corner. One thing I do know is I can take a punch and hit harder back. Hopefully, I can put that to some use."

"Call. Email. Don't make me come down there and embarrass the hell out of you." Fiona said, pulling Carl into a hug.

Debbie walked forward and hugged him for a second. Lip walked up to Carl and they hugged. Carl turned to look at me.

"What the hell." I muttered.

I pulled him into a hug for a moment before he broke it. Turning, he stepped onto the bus before turning back to us.

"I'm gonna come back a man." He said before the bus door closed.

He disappeared on the bus and we started walking away as the bus drove away.

"How long you think he'll last?" Fiona asked.

"A week." Debbie said.

"Four hours." Lip said.

The sound of a gun cocking made us all turn to see Winslow. 

"I need to make sure some punk doesn't have his hands down daughter's drawers." He said, waving to us.

We turned away from him and continued to walk away. 

"I'm gonna go start Neil's dinner. Sound good?" Debbie asked Neil.

"I'm hungry." Neil said.

They started walking the opposite way, leaving Lip, Fiona, and I.

"Heading home?" Lip asked.

"Patsy's." Fiona said.

"Well. It's not too late. You can still back out of that loan." Lip said.

He gave me a look before turning and walking away. I turned to look at Fiona. 

"I know I probably don't help your case but I think you could do something with the laundromat." I said.

A smile spread across her face.

"Patsy's?" She questioned.

I nodded and her arm went around my shoulders.

"Come on." She nodded.

We started walking towards Patsy's.