Only You - [Lip Gallagher]

girls. friends. family.

I wake up sore, I wince as I get up, stiffly walking to my mirror trying my best to look at my bruised back; it's fucked up. I sigh and drop my shirt, it's gonna be a long day I say to myself as I get ready to go to school and back to the Gallaghers'. I quietly make my way downstairs, tip toeing down every step. I find my dad passed out on the living room floor, shit I think to myself knowing he will wake up as soon as I open the front door. I put on my white converse and grab my backpack and slowly open the door, staring at my father like a hawk. He's still asleep as I open the door phew I say quietly as I step onto my porch quietly closing the door. As soon as the door is shut I sprint making sure I don't get caught. It's not that he'd care if I went to the Gallaghers', who am I kidding, he'll totally beat my ass when he finds out I went somewhere without permission. My dad isn't usually a day drinker, he started to do that when he met Frank so maybe it won't be that bad, maybe he won't notice. I hopefully tell myself to calm my anxiety knowing in the back of my mind it's not gonna happen.

As I'm walking up the Gallaghers' sidewalk some tall man walks in front of me, he looks pissed. He just barges in and I diligently follow his lead, hoping not to intrude on anyone's privacy. "Yo, Veronica!" I hear the man say and walk into the kitchen. I peer around the corner and see Fiona, she motions me over, " You got my keys?" The guy asked Veronica then quickly motioned his glance towards me and a guy who looks really familiar, standing next to Fiona, "What's this?" he asks looking now between Fiona and Veronica, "Kevin, this is Steve, Fiona's new friend and this is Sadie, Fiona's other new friend and you-" "James' kid?" he asks, I nod, "Sick, your dad is great." He chuckles, "Yeah." I say sarcastically. "You got my keys babe?" Kevin asks Veronica. "Can you go make sure Debs and Carl aren't killing each other? They're too quiet." Fiona whispers to me, I nod and run upstairs.

"Debbie?" I call for her not knowing which room is hers, she comes out happily, "Sadie! You're back!" She hugs me tightly, "Of course, why wouldn't I come back?" I crouch down to her level, "Usually when Fiona gets a babysitter and they find out they aren't getting paid they never come back." she explains, "Well, I'm not just a babysitter, I'm here to help out Fiona, as her friend and your friend, you need another girl around you're stuck with smelly boys all day." I joke with her and she giggles, "I like you, Sadie." she says and skips downstairs to grab her lunch. "Carl, time for school." I call for him also not knowing which room is his. I'm startled by Ian who opened his bedroom door, "Sorry." He says softly as he walks past me, Carl following him close behind. I look over at Ian's door to see Lip standing against the doorframe shirtless, "No school for you today?" I ask, he shakes his head, "Had some teeth pulled." He says, I nod, "Well, Fiona just wanted me to get the kids, I guess I'll be going now." I say shyly, "Do you need help studying or anything?" he asks me, I decide to lie so I can stay with him, "Uh, yeah, math." I say knowing it's my best subject, he nods, "After school, I can help you." he says and walks towards me to go downstairs, I follow him.

"How many of you guys live here?" Steve asks as he sees Lip and I come downstairs, "I don't live here." V and I say at the same time, "Yeah, Sadie is just helping me out and Debs seems to really like her." Fiona explains and she looks towards me, "Thank you again, I really appreciate you." She says as she shoots me a smile, "Yeah, I appreciate you too girl." V says as she waves a hundred dollar bill at me, I shoot her a fake smile, this joke will never end. "Old guy died next door, Kev and I moved in so I guess we are neighbors." Veronica says as she is cleaning up Steve's head. "Don't apply that side of the gauze to a wound, it'll get stuck and infected." I advise Veronica, "You're a nurse I thought?" Steve says to Veronica, Lip laughs, "She worked housekeeping at a nursing home." Veronica rolls her eyes, "Fine but I was offered a place in the nursing school." She explains, "Fine, but it never happened!" Fiona teases, making us all laugh, "You know about nursing?" Veronica asks me. I shake my hand back and forth, "I know more than the average person." I say without telling them why, I hope they don't ask me. "Okay girl, if you ever need a job we're always hiring down at the nursing home." She smiles and nudges my arm, "Thank you." I say softly, "I better get going to school before I'm late." I dismiss myself and walk to school.

++

As I'm walking to the Gallaghers' after school I see Ian and Lip, he's limping, "What happened?" I run over to him, "Uh, he got his foot stuck in the train doors." Ian pathetically lies, "You need to lie better." I say and look at his swollen ankle, "This is an ankle injury, not twisted but more so a sprain uh maybe broken, so he jumped from something pretty high." I look up at both of them, Ian looks shocked and Lip has a partial smile plastered across his face, "She's smart." Lip says and I stand up, "I sprained my ankle a lot, I played softball almost my whole life." I explain and put Lip's arm around my shoulder, "Ian help on that side." I direct him and we help Lip walk home.

When we go through the door Fiona is shocked, "What the hell happened?" She follows us upstairs to his room. We sit him down on Carl's bed and all the kids surround him. "An old lady on the train." Ian blurts out and Lip throws his head back in pain as Fiona is squeezing his foot, "Really? An old lady?" Fiona asks, not sounding convinced, "Yeah, uh, the doors were closing on her walker, Lip barely got his foot in time to stop-" Ian is cut off by Lip yelling as Fiona bends his toes, "Broken." I blurt out as a confirmation to my previous statement. "More like you two jumped the train and he hurt his ankle running from the transit cops." Fiona says to Ian. "Elevate his leg and ice it every hour for 30 minutes." I say as I make a stack of pillows at the end of Carl's bed and open my backpack grabbing ibuprofen, an ace bandage, and a one time use ice pack. Everyone in the room is staring at me like I have three heads, "You never know when you'll need it." I say as I wrap Lip's leg tightly.

Suddenly Ian and Lip are jumping to hide, "We aren't here Fiona!" "You don't know us!" They both shout, Fiona looks at me I shrug, "What did you two do?!" She says pissed as she walks downstairs, Carl trailing behind her. Veronica comes upstairs, "Did y'all get a new washer?" She asks before seeing Lip and Ian on the floor, "What the hell did you two do?" Veronica asks but then rolls her eyes and walks back downstairs after they are silent. Once everyone leaves the room I peek out of their window on my knees, "Who am I looking for?" I ask, "Eddie Jackson." Lip says, "Karen Jackson's dad that she is always complaining about in class?" I lean back onto my heels, "What did you two do?" I ask, confused, "I asked Karen to give Ian head and he caught us and lost his shit." Lip confesses, "And you got the broken ankle because?" "Jumped out of her bedroom window." He finally admits, I nod, "Can't believe you made your girlfriend give me head and almost got us killed." Ian says plopping down in his bed, "Girlfriend?" I ask, shocked that someone would share their girlfriend with their brother. "Kind of." he says uncomfortably. "Here's your ibuprofen." I hand him four 200mg pills and my water bottle. He takes them and hands me my water bottle back, "I better get going. I hope you feel better, Lip." I throw my water bottle in my bag and zip it up and Lip sits up, "I thought you needed help studying?" He asks, "Maybe when you're feeling better, okay?" I toss him the ibuprofen bottle, "four pills once a day will give you the strongest relief, don't exceed six pills a day or you'll be fucked." I say as I leave his room. "Thanks." I hear him call out as I'm at the bottom of the stairs.

I stop in my tracks to see Fiona getting a new washing machine installed, "What the hell?" I ask, "That's what I said." Veronica says, "These were in the washer." Fiona shows V and I with a huge smile plastered across her face. "Steve?" I ask, she nods "Who's Steve?" Veronica asks, "The guy from the other night." I explain, "No!" Veronica says, flabbergasted and Fiona nods, "Yup." "Sadie, you did enough today, thank you for helping with Lip, I really appreciate you being around the past couple days." Fiona says, hugging me, I hug back holding back my wince since she's squeezing me too tight. "I don't need you to watch Liam tonight, I can take him to work with me today at the hotel." She lets me know, I nod, "Okay, I'll just go home then." I shoot her a quick smile, "Don't think I'm kicking you out or anything." Fiona says, "No, it's fine, I have homework to do anyway." I reassure her, she nods, "Come over anytime, alright? I know how alcoholic fathers can be, we're family now, I can tell you're a good kid. V and Kev are here for you too." "Yeah, anything you need you can come to us, no problem." Veronica chimes in, I shoot them both a smile, "Thank you, I really appreciate it." anxiety fills my throat as I leave, they're acting like they know something. Do they?