Mine // Carl Gallagher

Chapter 40

      It had only been 4 months of Carl being away at the Juvenile Detention for what he had done. The months went by very slowly  for everyone in the Gallagher family, including Sophia. Their household was always awkward, boring, and silent. Nothing was the same without Carl, unexpectedly. They tried to stay positive and believe that they could live like normal, but that wasn't the case. They all learned that Carl truly was the backbone of the family and even though he caused a lot of trouble, he brought a lot of happiness to his loved ones. Along with the great sorrow that filled their house while he was gone, was a deep financial struggle. Carl was the main breadwinner of the family and his illegal practices were what provided for the family. Without him around, Fiona and Lip were forced to work extra hard in order to pay the bills with their minimum wage jobs. Sophia tried to find a job to help provide for everyone, but her severe depression was keeping her from getting hired. She was constantly feeling lonely, empty, and exhausted. Her extreme lack of motivation and gloomy behavior prevented any employers from wanting to hire her, therefore the Gallaghers lived on welfare and food stamps for months. Going back to school after summer break was so difficult for Sophia, Lip, and Debbie.

      It was a Thursday afternoon when the three teens came home from another long day of high school. Lip, Debbie, and Sophia all plopped down on the couch right away. Usually Lip and Debbie would have gone to the pool after school, but they didn't find much energy to do anything anymore. No one knew that Carl's absence would affect them in this way, especially since they had already been through a long time of Carl being in Juvie before.

       After a few hours of doing homework and watching random Netflix shows quietly in the living room, the silence was broken when Fiona walked through the front door. Sophia's head immediately turned and she gave Fiona a small smile of acknowledgment. Fiona sat down in her recliner and grabbed the remote to turn off the TV. Lip sat up from his slouched posture on the couch and said, "Hey what was that for? We were watching that!"

        Fiona sighed and said, "Well this is a lot more important than Stranger Things. I got a call from the Detention Center today at work. It was Carl's officer and he told me that since Carl has had... decent.. behavior, he is now allowed to make and receive phone calls. He is also allowed to see visitors now. However, he's only allowed one visitor per day. I'll be going to see him first today since I'm basically his mom and then one of you can go visit him tomorrow. I know it's been a while."

       All of their eyes immediately lit up with relief and a sudden sense of extreme happiness washed over the room. Debbie said with a slight tears in her eyes, "Oh my God that's so great. I'm so happy I can't wait to see him!" Fiona gave her a smile and Lip followed, "Yeah, that's really great news Fiona. I can't wait, it feels like it's been forever since I've seen or talked to him".

       Sophia hadn't responded to the news yet and she was just staring off into space with a blank look in her dark eyes. Fiona carefully said, "Sophia? You okay?" Sophia immediately shot up to look at Fiona as if she has been startled, "Oh.. oh yeah this is really good news. I just- I just don't know what I would say to him or how I'd react to seeing him for the first time in 4 months. It feels like it's been a million years, I've nearly forgotten what he looks like and what his voice sounds like. I love him so much, there's so much I have to say to him."

       Sophia's words touched Fiona and she responded compassionately, "I understand, I really do. This is really hard, but he'll be home soon. These final months will fly by, trust me. And you don't need to worry about your visit with him, it'll all be okay. I know how much you love him as his girlfriend and his best friend.. so I think you should be the one to visit him tomorrow after I go today." The light in Sophia's eyes that hadn't sparkled in months suddenly lit up with excitement.. yet worry. Now she was even more stressed about seeing Carl tomorrow after four months. She felt like she needed to prepare a speech to give him since there's so much she's wanted to say to him. Sophia just frantically nodded, "Yeah... that sounds like a great idea. I'll be the one to go see him tomorrow."

      Lip and Debbie looked bummed that they couldn't be the one to visit Carl at Juvie after Fiona, but they understood since Sophia was his girlfriend that he loved with all his heart and this was her first time being in this situation with him. Fiona grabbed her purse and stood up from her recliner, "Well, I guess I better go visit him at the Center before visiting times end. I'll let you know how it goes and I'll bring home some dinner on the way back. I love you guys, see you in an hour or two." Fiona waved goodbye and went out the door, leaving the three teens all by themselves on the couch again to resume watching their episode of Stranger Things.

     It was now 8PM and Fiona arrived back home from her visit with Carl with two bags of food from McDonald's. They all preferred Chick-Fil-A, but of course they had to stay cheap with their limited amount of income. Everyone was completely silent when she walked through the front door and she headed straight to the dining room table, sitting down at a chair with the food. The kids looked at each other in confusion and joined her at the table. Lip was the one to speak up first, "Soo... how'd it go? Is he doing ok?"

      Fiona sighed, "Well he's doing somewhat better than I thought. He's a really strong guy, nothing he can't handle. But.. he's just so depressed. I've never really seen him like this before, his eyes were just so dark and sad. He's gotten a bit skinnier, he looks exhausted. He really misses us a lot. But yeah.. he's gotten into a couple fights and that's it. Overall it seems like he's doing alright and hes rolling with the badasses in there, so there's nothing for us to worry about. This all just sucks.. a lot. Oh by the way Sophia, I didn't tell him that you would be visiting him tomorrow. I assumed you would want it to be a surprise".

      Sophia gave Fiona a small nod and then one said much after that. As much as it saddened Sophia, she was somewhat relieved that Carl was as depressed as she was... as much as she wanted him to be happy. This reassured her that he still loved her and missed her. Everyone ate their burgers in silence and Sophia rehearsed in her head what she wanted to say to him tomorrow. She didn't know if she wanted to yell at him for getting caught with the crime or if she wanted to say nothing and just hold him for as long as she could. Sophia definitely didn't want to cry in front of him, even though he'd already seen her cry a million times before.

      It was 11PM that night and everyone headed to bed in almost complete silence. It had been like his for as long Carl had been gone.. just awkward and tense. There wasn't much to say anymore.

A/N: AHHHHH Ok so I just want to really apologize again for probably taking the longest "break" I've ever had. I feel so bad for leaving all of my dedicated readers on a cliff hanger like that for literally months. Again, I just completely forgot about this whole Wattpad thing and kind of moved on until I suddenly remembered it. Good news though: it's summer break now!! So hopefully I'll be updating more often (that is if anyone is even reading this book anymore lmfao y'all are probably hella pissed at me for being gone this long). I also am really sorry if any details changed or the plot got messed up, I really don't remember much about this story so there might be some confusing mistakes. Hope this chapter was okay!! Again I'm REALLY sorry!!! 💖