Only You - [Lip Gallagher]

blood ain't thicker than water

"I wake up from my after class nap to Carl's ringtone, "Hey, what's up?" I answer, still half asleep, "Do you know Lip's blood type? You know all the forensics stuff." His question woke me up completely, "Uh, no but I can find out. Can I ask why you need this information?" I sit up, "Frank's liver is rotten and he smells like a monkey cage, I'm too young to donate one but Fiona and Lip aren't." "Babe, I don't want you to worry so much about Frank. I know you love him but you're too young to have all this stress." I mother, "Can you find out Lip's type or what?" Carl sounds annoyed, "Yes, I'll call you back. Love you." I sigh, "I love you too." Carl quickly says before hanging up.

I sigh as I put the phone back up to my ear, "Uh yeah, leave some words.' Hearing his voicemail was weird, he never doesn't answer. I wait a few minutes before I decide to go to his school and see what's up.

++

As soon as I walk onto his campus I'm handed a flier for a sorority party, 'Yup that's where he is.' I whisper to myself as I start towards the direction of the sorority house. As soon as I walk in I spot Lip, he's sticking out like a sore thumb–he does not belong here. "Ooo shot down again." I tease Lip as I painfully watch him flirt with a girl, "Yeah yeah, so funny. What're you doing here, you don't drink." Lip says, "Carl wanted me to ask you your blood type, he assumed I'd already know; forensics stuff." Instantly he gets a call; it's Carl, "Hey douchebag." He answers, "Yeah, she's right here just asked me, AB positive. Why?" He asks but instantly looks at his phone, Carl hung up. "Frank needs a liver, he's seeing if any of his blood relatives are matches." I explained, "Of course he needs a liver." Lip scoffs and sips his drink, "Wanna go to the cafeteria with me? I'm going to smoke with one of the dishwashers and maybe we can bang one out, as friends of course." He smirks at me, "Fuck off, Gallagher." I nudged him with a chuckle, "What?" He laughs, "You're so gross." I smile as we walk to the cafeteria.

"Jesus it's fucking freezing." I mutter as we step outside, "Yeah, it's supposed to snow later." Lip says, wrapping his arm around me, "Wanna go back to my dorm before I go smoke?" "No, it's okay–go smoke now I can be cold for a few." I say with a shivered lip, "Sade," He sympathizes as he takes off his sweatshirt, "Here." He says, wrapping me with it. "Hey, you just getting out?" Lip quickly jogs up the concrete steps and helps his coworker open the door, "Yeah, long day." His coworker sighs, "You want to blaze up real quick?" Lip asks, "I can't man, gotta get home to the esposa." He explains, "You know how it is right?" He asks while nodding towards me, "Yeah, yeah, okay man, see you tomorrow." Lip says while they dab each other up. I notice Lip's eyes fill with sadness as he watches his friend jog off, I sigh and walk up to him as he sits on the ledge of the concrete ramp.

I stand between his legs and I grab Lip's lighter and joint out of his pocket, putting it in between his lips and lighting it. He sighs after taking a hit, "What's wrong?" I ask, "College is so different, I don't like it. I'm alone, the family is growing up without me and you're so far from me. I can't do it anymore." Lip sounds so upset, it breaks my heart, "Honey." I pull him into an embrace, "You can, I know you hate change but you're gonna start loving it soon and you'll do so well once you're comfortable. You're a smart man and the family is only a few minutes away, they're alright and if anything happens you know we'll be on our way." I explain to him, he nods, sniffles and quickly wipes his eyes with his fingers, "Don't cry." I say, wiping a stray tear from his cheek, "They'll freeze right to your cheeks." I joke with him to relieve his sadness, he smiles, "Can you stay tonight?" He asks, I hesitate for a moment; remembering I have an 8am, "Yes, of course." I say softly and Lip walks us back to his room and we have a friendly, calm night–it was nice. It was needed.

++

I wake up to the absence of Lip, "Lip?" I mumble and squint my eyes, "He's not here." The sound of Lip's roommate's girlfriend triggers rage inside of me making me sit up, "Where is he?" "How should I know?" She scoffs as she files her nails and I groan, "What time is it?" I ask, grabbing my dead phone and groaning, "Twelve thirty." Lip's roommate says with his eyes glued to his monitor, "Shit." I mutter, "I missed my class." I mutter to myself as I grab my keys, "I gotta go, tell Lip I had to leave." I say, walking towards the door, "Oh shit, Sade, you okay?" Lip asks as he storms in the room, "No, I missed my 8am and you didn't wake me up." I groan and take his hair net off his head, "Don't walk around with this on." I roll my eyes and he smiles, "Hey, can I use your laptop later?" He asks and I roll my eyes again, "I gotta go." I say in a hurry, continuing to walk away, "I love you." He calls to me from down the hall, "Love you." I say quickly before turning to run down the stairs.

I'm so screwed

++

"Mr. Martin!" I say as I knock on his door, "Come in!" He calls and I barge in, "I didn't make it to my lecture this morning." I say, winded. "Okay, I can just say you were with me and it was a family emergency," He says, putting down his sopping wet sandwich, so wet it plopped when he put it down making me cringe, "Okay." I nod and sigh in relief, disregarding his sandwich issues, "However, I need to really know why you missed lecture." He says, looking away from his screen and directly into my eyes, "Everything okay?" He asks and I nod, "I overslept by accident, I don't know what got into me." I beat myself up, "Hey, it happens. No big deal, I always got you covered." He smiles and softly nods at me, "Thank you, you're amazing." I smile and walk over to give him a hug, "My favorite person ever!" I smile, "I could say the same about you, but I'm not allowed to show favoritism." He winks at me and I chuckle, "I'm gonna go study for my test later." I say, removing myself before it gets awkward. "Want to meet up for a coffee or a drink after your 3pm?" Mr. Martin asks as I have my hand on the doorknob. I turn on my heel to face him again, "Uh, sure, where did you have in mind?" I say hesitantly, Lip and I aren't together anymore, it's fine, right? "Uh, the Starbucks on University or the one on 53rd, your choice." He smiles, "53 is safer right? It's a little outside of the campus vicinity and I'm pretty sure we cannot see each other outside of this office, right?" I chuckle, "Ah, knew you were a smart girl. Smart and pretty, very rare Mitchell." He smiles at me and I nod, "See you later Mr. M-" "Hey, call me Adam." He says to me and I nod once more, "See you later, Adam." I smile softly and turn on my heel out the door.

What did I just do?