South Side (A Shameless Fanfiction)

Chapter Twenty One

Little kids and flustered mothers were streaming into our house early the next morning like running water.

"Debs! Carl!" I called as the 4 year old boy from down the street ran in between my legs, almost knocking over the cup of coffee I had in my hand. "The kids are here!"

They came hurrying downstairs now, Debs standing at the door to greet all the parents and taking whatever toys or snacks their children needed from them, and Carl going to turn on the TV for the kids who were filing into the den.

"Guys, I'm home!" I heard Fiona call now as she opened the back door and came inside.

She came into the kitchen and I looked at her. Her eye makeup was still dark and smoky, but her glamorous waitressing outfit was slightly wrinkled and her forehead was lined with stress creases.

"Another late night." Fi sighed, putting her purse on the kitchen counter.

"I can see that. Are you going to bed now?" I asked her.

She nodded slowly, pouting herself a cup of coffee.

"You need any help, Debs?" She asked as Debs shut the door as the last parent left.

"No, I got it!" She yelled over the loud noise all the kids were making.

"Okay, well, I'm going to go upstairs then. Do you remember the rule?"

Debs nodded.

"Yup. Only wake you up if someone is bleeding or dead!" She replied.

Fiona took one last sip of her coffee and gave Debs a pat on the head, heading for the stairs.

"If you two really don't need help, I'm gonna go get ready for work." I said to her, following Fiona upstairs.

*

Work flew by quickly, and Mickey surprisingly wasn't annoying. He didn't talk much, so I assumed him and Ian talked about how I felt about him.

Soon enough, the sun was setting and ending another day, and I was walking home, Ian by my side.

When we got home, Lip was out on the porch, smoking a cigarette.

He nodded to us when we came closer.

"Hey." Ian said to him, heading for inside. I started to follow, but Lip gave me a long look, suggesting he wanted to talk to me.

Once Ian shut the door, I sat down next to Lip. He fished for the pack of cigarettes and the lighter he always kept inside his jeans pocket, and got one out, handing me one and lighting it once I put it in my mouth.

"You know how Ian wants to go to West Point?" He asked me.

I nodded. Ian has been talking about wanting to go to West Point for years, it was a big dream of his. I wasn't a big fan of my brother going off to war, but I couldn't stop him.

"Well, I'm gonna meet with a recruiter tomorrow. I heard there's a bunch of them in the city. Would you wanna come?"

I grinned, happy that Lip wants to do this for Ian. 

"Of course I'll come!"

Lip smiled back.

"Great. I'm gonna go tomorrow morning at 10."

"Okay."

We fell silent now, each of us taking a drag of our cigarettes.

"Karen's pregnant." Lip said now.