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Ch. 11

You can say a lot with silence, it is the speech no one gives but everyone hears. It can deafen you if you aren't careful, but lull others. You can say anything with silence, almost better than you can with words. That's why I don't listen to half of what people say. I listen to what they don't.

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Do you even realize what you are missing?
Don't you understand that you aren't even listening?

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The ride home was silent, our train car mostly empty. Liam was dosing, off and on, on my shoulder as I held him tight. He was my rock to sanity right now and I was thankful to have him. If I had gone alone I would have ended up riding the train until there was no where else to go. Staring into space.

But he was my tether, reminding me that I had to take care of him. He needed me. He couldn't find his way without me right now, much less make it.

Soon we reached our stop and I grabbed his bag off the floor. We made our way out and onto the sidewalk and I started slowly walking back home. At least it was the only place that ever felt like home. All I could do was stare at my feet hitting the sidewalk.

We finally made it to the Gallagher gate and as I turned to go up the front walk I stopped short. Lip was here.

"Hey." He said dangling the cigarette in his hand, he stood up.

"Hey... what are you doing here?"

"Waiting for you, I was going to go in but it's locked."

"I didn't want Frank to get in," I said a little distracted. "Why are you here? Why aren't you in school?"

He scoffed at me a little and shook his head.

"I know all that shit Lyd. You're more important than that."

"Lip—"

"Hey— You are. I'll go and take the test, I'll pass and it'll be fine. One absence isn't gonna rot my brain... Come on, let's go in."

So we did. We sat on the couch with Liam between us watching television as I told him everything that had happened.

"Holy fuck."

"That's what Ian said," I said with a small laugh. I looked down at my hands twisting a ring on my finger back and forth.

"What are you gonna do?" He asked.

"The only logical thing to do is get a DNA test. Who knows, I mean she's probably just crazy."

"Or she just doesn't give a fuck what she says."

"That too," I said looking back at my hands.

"Me and Ian will go with you. Hell maybe we should get tested. Who knows, we may not even be Franks," he laughed.

"Yeah, that sounds good," I said with a smile. Suddenly my phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Lydia! Hey, are you okay?? My ass of a manager didn't tell me what happened until a few minutes ago? What happened? Is your mom ok? Are you—"

"Fi! Slow down, I'm fine... she's fine, she just— she—"

"What did she do?" She suddenly sounded angry.

"She told me some things... just don't worry, okay? I'll tell you when you get home."

"You better."

"During our talk."

"Ok, I have to go back in my breaks almost over. Be safe."

"You too," I said before hanging up.