Southside ~ Shameless

Chapter 40

The next morning Hollie went out into the yard to find Frank sitting in the hole he'd dug, passed out and surrounded by beer bottles but there was still no Aunt Ginger. She kicked the metal fence he was leaning against making him spring awake, "Enough with the kicking. Christ!" He yelled as he flailed around to face her as she leaned on her arms holding the fence.

"Where is she?"

"I can't find—I give up." said Frank, "I need sleep."

Hollie scoffed irritably, "Let me spell this out for you." She began, "The city digs up some bones. The police show up. They fingers out it's Aunt Ginger. They date the bones. They realise she's been dead for 14 years and yet her social security checks are being cashed each month. This isn't a DUI Frank," she said seriously, "you buried a body and stole from the federal government. You will never get out of prison." She patted the fence beside his hand, "Think about it."

She stepped back from the fence and made her way back inside the house.

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"It's my fourth," Jimmy insisted for the millionth time, holding his glass out to Hollie as he sat on a stool at the alibi.

"I don't care if it's your forty-fourth," Hollie dismissed, "we don't do buybacks."

"I'm broke," said Jimmy.

"Hey, news flash princess," Tommy called out to him from a table, "so is 150% of the patronage here."

Jimmy defeatedly dropped his glass back down on the bar. Hollie shrugged, "Sorry man. Get a job like the rest of us,"

"Hey, there she is. Welcome back," Kevin cheered as he approached Kate behind the bar, "How was your vacay?"

"I went surfing, got hit by a jet ski, saw a siphon masturbate," said Kate.

"Gross," Hollie grimaced.

Jimmy huffed drunkenly, "Yeah, well, my finger's broken, my parents are divorced and my dad's a fairy so..."

"A fairy?" Kate inquired, "Hello 1983,"

Hollie sighed, "Jimmy, I get that you've never had to deal with this sort of thing before but can you do it someplace that's not my place of work?" She questioned, "I hear it enough at home."

"Well, Fiona won't talk to me about it,"

"Well, I'm not your girlfriend so why should I?" Hollie rolled her eyes, "The whole thing isn't that big of a deal anyway. Your dad is the same person he was before, get a grip."

"You're a little bitchy today," Kev commented.

"There is a small human currently crushing all of my internal organs," she said, deadpan, "I can't sleep, I pee a thousand times a day, Jimbo over here mopes around the house all the time now and is now harassing me at work and Frank still hasn't unburied Ginger. So yeah, I'm a little bitchy today."

Kev nodded, "Okay. Fair enough." He then turned to Jimmy, "You know not for nothing but no one wants to hear a grown man whine." He said as he filled Jimmy's glass despite the fact that Hollie had just spent ten minutes arguing that she wouldn't, "It's like the verbal equivalent of a dude wearing Uggs."

"I appreciate the sympathy. Thanks," Jimmy snarked, "from both of you," he sent a glare Hollie's way but she flipped him off unbothered as she stepped out from behind the bar and sat down on a stool, lifting her bump a little with her hand to relieve the pressure on her back.

"Get over it," said Kev, "Fiona doesn't have room. Hollie doesn't have room. They're busting their asses to keep food on the table." He glanced over at Hollie, "You okay over there?" He questioned, "Not going into labour are you?"