25 parts Complete MatureLately, Lip Gallagher's been off his usual game-but not in the self-destructive way they're used to. He's up early. Out late. Sober more often than not. Focused. Secretive.
The Gallagher house notices. Of course they do.
He's eating breakfast at the table, not passed out on it. He showers. He's reading-for fun. Fiona's suspicious. Carl assumes it's drugs. Ian just says, "He's hiding something." But nobody knows what.
Then one morning, as Lip eats toast with a rare smirk on his face, a car horn blares from outside. One short beep. One long.
Lip immediately jumps up. "Gotta go," he says, grabbing his bag.
Everyone follows him to the front window out of pure South Side nosiness. They watch as he strides down the steps and into a waiting car-but before he gets in, he leans through the open window and kisses someone.
A real kiss.
Not a hookup. Not drunk regret. Not just heat. Intention.
The car pulls away before anyone gets a good look.
Silence.
Kev whistles. "Okay... who the hell was that?"
V grins. "Lip's got a damn girlfriend."
Debbie mutters, "And didn't tell any of us?"
Carl: "I bet she's weird. Like, yoga weird."
Lip never says a word about it.
But now the curiosity is full-blown obsession. The Gallaghers aren't great at boundaries, and this? This is now everyone's business.
Eventually, they learn her name-Destiny. She's the same age as Lip. A nursing student. Clean. Focused. Private. Smart. Not from the South Side-and definitely not the type of girl who usually gets mixed up with Gallaghers.
But she sees something in Lip he's never seen in himself. And that scares him more than anything.
When their two worlds start to collide-her calm against his chaos, her past against his present-Lip has to ask himself: is he falling for her because she's everything he's never had, or because he finally believes he deserves her?
