Under The L, Beneath The Stars

Sunsets Are For Muggins

Ian Gallagher had his elbows spread on top of the checkout counter of the south side of Chicago's local Kash n' Grab. His head rested on clenched fists. Today was his first day on the job. 

Kash himself was out somewhere with Linda and the kids. At the dentist or some dumb shit. So Ian had the store to himself. It was 11am on a Sunday. Despite that half the population were active addicts, amazingly they all still showed up for church. So business was slow.

Ian started to drift into his subconciousness. The buzzing from the freezers and the echoes from outside started to disappear.

His head drifted even further onto his knuckles, which were moving closer to the counter as his elbows became weak.. When suddenly the bell attatched to the front door dinged.

It was so loud, (mainly so Kash or Linda could hear it from the supply closet.) Ian jerked awake. The noise had startled him enough to where his body gave out and he fell onto the floor. That is if you don't count his head that got smacked onto the counter top.

A boy with disheveled black hair walked into the shop but stopped in his tracks once he saw Ian's reaction. "Fuck man" he laughed. Ian was embarassed, "I fell asleep, startled is all". He rubbed the back of his neck, avoiding eye contact with the customer.

The raven haired boy moved his mouth to one side and raised his eyebrows, "Daaamn-.." he drew out as he walked around and picked up snack foods. The shop was relatively small.

Ian pursed his lips and watched the boy.

As he finsihed plucking his last item he turned back to face Ian and walked to the register. Ian gave him a smile, the boy tilted his head to the left and gave him a full toothed grin.

The raven haired boys teeth were a flashy shade of yellow, just from a quick inspection you could tell he was a smoker. Ian tried to focus on something else instead of judging the customer.

"Ya know.. Uhm, Ian"-.. He flicks his name tag-.. "This would've been a lot easier if you stayed asleep"..

"Wh-" Ian starts but a fist fills his mouth. The raven haired boy had punched him. Ian shook his head and tried to get over the counter to grab the other boy, but he only hit him harder and harder.

After seconds of rustling, Ian was in awe. He took a few steps back holding his face. His hands were wet but the boy was too afraid to look at the blood.

The perpertrator just laughed at Ian like some degenerate, "Pussy".

He then reached up over the counter to grab himself a few packs of camel crush menthols. "You'll be seeing a lot of me, red." The boy grabbed his bag and left.

Ian didn't say a word, he just watched.

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"Fuck!" Ian screamed and pushed everything off the counter. He grabbed his curly red hair and sunk to the floor.

Blood had been dripping down his shirt but he hadn't noticed till now. Just the sight made him want to gag.

The boy didn't bother doing anything after that incident, he just laid on floor behind the counter.

Sure he had went through the thick and thin with his siblings because of their incompetent parents.. But Lip and Fiona had always shielded him from the ugly of the world. Throwing punches for him to keep Frank away. Symbolically and literally. They had just always been there for him, which gave him hope. But today he was on his own, he got hit, he got robbed. Just one day on his own. Fuck.