Peach Scone(Lip Gallagher)

Chapter 8

4 months later

Karen came and left, again. Lip didn't do anything with her, thank god. But he's been... weird lately. Drinking more, not coming home, even when I'm there. It's not like him.
"Hey Fiona, Lip here?" I ask, walking into the house
"Hasn't been for 3 days, do you mind looking for him?"
It's starting to get colder, but I didn't mind.
"Yeah of course."
The first spot I look is the only bar that's on this side; the Alibi Room. Run by none other than Kevin.
I walk in, the stench of alcohol hitting my nose.
I see Lip.
I walk up to him and tap him on the shoulder
"Oh guys look it's my beautiful girlfriend" he says, waving around a beer bottle.
"Yeah and she's here to take you home." I say
"I don't wanna go home"
"You haven't been home in three days"
I drag him out by his ear all the way back home.
"Look who I found" I say, practically throwing him on the couch.
Fiona walks in, automatically smelling the alcohol on him
"Go give him a shower, then make him go to bed."
I guess I'm playing babysitter today.
"Lip. Go take a shower."
I lead him upstairs and turn the hot water on for him.
"Stay in here and wash off, I'm going to go wash your clothes"
He follows my orders. Hopefully the shower will sober him up a little.
"Is he taking a shower?"
"Yeah, I made sure to give him clean sweatpants and a tee, and I'm washing his clothes. The smell like a brewery"
"Give this to him when he gets out too" she says, handing me a water bottle.
"Will do"
I walk back to our room and hear the water turn off.
A few minutes later, Lip walks out, fully dressed and smelling like generic body wash.
"Here.drink up" I say, handing him the water bottle
He literally chugs it and falls back onto the bed, soon fast asleep.
I kiss his forehead and go outside with V and Fiona.
"I'm scared that he'll turn into Frank" Fiona says
"Honestly, I didn't know it had gotten this bad" V says
I remain silent.
"When I got to the alibi, he was sitting in franks spot" I say, putting my hands in my pockets.
We hear the door open and see Lip walk out, lighting a cigarette.
"What are we talking about?" He asks, clueless
"I was telling them about school stuff. Ashley moved out" I say
"Really?" He says
"Said it was awkward living with her best friends ex's new girlfriend. Got an apartment down the road" I say
It's around 5:30 now, and we decide to order pizza, my treat.
Lip is somewhat sober now.
When the pizza gets here, I see him put his jacket on
"Where you going?"
"Out"
I quickly follow him, not worrying about a coat
"If you're going to get drunk, you can forget about me" I say
He doesn't say anything
"I don't want to date someone like my father" I admit.
He is still just looking at me
"Don't compare me to piece of shit" he yells.
"Then don't give me a reason too"
Silence
"I'm scared. That you'll leave me too. With all your drinking, you probably will."
"I don't have a problem" he screams
"Really? Really you believe that" I scream right back
"Yeah I do" He says, much quieter now
"Well Lip, I hate to break it to you, but you do. This relationship is over, until you go to rehab. Or stop drinking as much. Call me when that happens" I say, throwing the ring he got me as a promise to love me, at him, and turning on my heels back to the house
I slip on my coat and walk out.
"Where are you going?"
"Campus. Lip and I are taking a break. Please make sure he gets help"

It's now been two weeks, and I wake up to a call from Fiona.
"Lip decided to go to rehab, finally admitted he had a problem" she says
"He wants to see you before he goes"
I quickly get up and run to the L, and jumping off at the stop close to their house.
I call her back and tell her I'm almost there, and not to leave.
I make it there and walk in.
I see the two oldest Gallagher siblings sitting on the couch, the younger ones standing behind it. At lips feet is a black duffel bag
"Told you she'd be here" Ian says
Lip turns to look at me
"Hey" I say
He walks to me and grabs my face
"I'm doing this for you. For my family. For myself. I'm going to be gone for 30 days."
I hug him, wiping a few stray tears
"Well lets go."
We all pile into the car and head to the rehab center.

We get there and are questioned
"Relationship to patient?"
"Brother"
"Sister"
"Sister"
"Brother"
"Brother"
"Girlfriend"
"And the patients name is Phillip Gallagher is that correct"
Lip nods.
"I'll give you guys sometime to say goodbye."
I let his siblings hug him before I do.
After they all let go, I walk to him
"I'm proud of you. I'm really proud. I love you, Phillip" I say, hugging him.
"I love you too, Skylar"
He lightly kisses me and then is taken back to his room.
Debbie is crying, Ian is hugging her. Carl is confused on what happened, so Fiona just wraps her arm around him
"Let's go guys." She says
We all walk out, hand in hand.

"So will Lip be.. different when he gets home?" Liam asks
"He'll still be Lip, but he won't be drinking, hopefully." I say, patting Liam's back.
We walk into the house, and I decide to go back to campus.
"I'm just a phone call away, Fi, if you need to call me, you can. It doesn't matter if it's just to talk to Deb or Carl or anyone, I'm always here. You're family" I say, hugging her before I leave

After about 10 days, me and Fiona decide to visit him.
"I know it's gonna be hard but you have to be tough, for Lip" Fiona says, turning to me in the car
"Always am" I say, looking out the window.

We finally get there and walk out.
"Photo ids please"
We both hand the grouchy old lady our ids and state our relationship to the paitent.
"Only family can come in"
"The only reason he's in here is because this girl refused to give up on him, now you're gonna let her see him or there's gonna be trouble" Fiona says.
"O-okay"
I smile and we're both escorted back to the meeting room.
"He'll be in in a minute"

A few minutes later, Lip walks in.
He's obviously having withdraws.
He's shaking like a leaf in a wind storm, I can tell his anxiety is getting worse because he's picking at his fingers.
"Hey baby" I say, getting up
He engulfs me in a bone crushing hug.
"How are they treating you here?"
"Alright, it really is helping" he says
"That's good"
"You get to come home in 20 days, isn't that exciting" Fiona says
"20 days is half a month" he says, obviously getting mad.
"Lip, it'll be okay. You'll come home and nothing will be different, except that you'll be better" I tell him, rubbing my thumb over his dark circles
"I know." He says
We only have a few minutes left of visitation.
"Well we better go. I love you Lip." Fiona says, hugging him
"Love you too"
I grab him by his wrist and kiss him
"I love you" I say
"I love you too"
"We'll come back soon" Fiona says
"Next time, just Sky"
"Ok" Fiona says, hurt
"I'll see you later Phillip" I say
"See ya Skylar"