Like Mother, Like Daughter

Chapter One: Wild Heart

"You're sixteen today, Iana," Franny grumbles for what must've been the ten-millionth time since I started my shift at Patsy's that morning, just before the breakfast rush. "I mean, I would've thought you'd be over the moon..."

I shrugged, rolling my shoulders and leaning back against my locker, watching as Franny re-applied her lipstick. "Oh, I don't know, Franny," I muttered, the coldness of the metal locker behind me feeling good on my back, due to the heat of the late-May day. "My parents gave me a car this morning, so..."

"Wheels are great," Franny said, smacking her lips slightly obnoxiously as she slammed her locker door shut with a slight sigh. "But seriously, I got mine almost three years ago and look where that got me. "A minimum-wage job in my aunt's diner, a crappy apartment, and not to mention my beautiful son..."

"Ezra's amazing," I said to my best friend, although I was immediately on the defensive for the sake of my first-cousin-once-removed. "What's the problem with having him?"

"Gee, I don't know, Iana. Maybe the notion that I followed in my mother's footsteps and got pregnant as a teenager..."

"It wasn't deliberate, and you know it," I said, smirking over at her, as we both knew that my aunt and her mother, Debbie, had technically gotten pregnant on purpose by lying to Franny's birth father, Derek, about being on the pill.

Franny rolled her eyes, reaching out and flipping me around, tightening my long ponytail, which was secured by a simple hair tie, which did its very best to keep my raven mane in place. "Come on then, you," she said, turning me around then and squeezing my shoulders. "Our break is up in a few and I know you wouldn't want your mom yelling at us."

"It's my birthday," I shot back playfully as we made our way outside, and into the lion's den, also known as the dining area of the restaurant. "I don't think she would..."

"Please, your mom fucks your dad in the office sometimes," Franny said.

I raised my eyebrows dramatically. "My mom fucks my uncle?! Oh, my!"

Franny laughs aloud then. "Okay, okay, point taken," she replies. "Our family is weird, but you're not the first one to think so. Get in line, Gallagher."

"That's Gallagher-Blomqvist to you," I laughed back.

Franny shakes her head. "More like Gallagher-Milkovich," she mutters, retreating to the other side of the restaurant to take some poor soul's order, while I stand behind the counter, adding up my dips since breakfast four hours ago, and know I shouldn't say anything back.

. . .

I get off work around three that afternoon, getting into my car and driving down the road towards home. My mother will be holed up at the office at work for another couple of hours, despite the fact that it was Saturday, while my father was bringing his work home with him more and more to look after my younger siblings. As I pulled up in front of the house and got out of my car, I made my way into the yard and up the stairs, letting myself inside with my key. Placing the set of them into the back of my jeans pocket, I made my way through the living room, hearing no signs of my younger siblings, thirteen-year-olds Clayton and Fionn, seven-year-old Carla, or four-year-old Charlie around.

Stepping into the kitchen, I spotted a note taped to the fridge, informing me that dear old Dad had taken the kids to our grandparents' place for the afternoon. Shrugging it off, I considered heading upstairs to crash for a while, were it not for the great timing of my cell phone, which decided to buzz right then and there. Groaning aloud, I fished it out from my other back pocket and unlocked it, keying in the password quickly before spotting a new text message. I soon realized it was from 'Pops', and smirked to myself, opening it up.