HARD TIMES ━ lip gallagher²

01 | fifty bucks

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"OKAT, BUT WE ARE agreed that if we ever have a kid, and it's a boy that we're naming him Douglas, right?" Amara quipped, leaning her head against the wall behind her as she rested her legs over Lip's, who rolled his eyes and didn't look away from the laptop in front of him. "What? You don't like it?"

"It's disgusting."

"You're the one who told me that was your middle name and let me believe it for years."

"Our child shouldn't have to suffer for it."

"Oh, well too bad I got it sucked out already."

He elbowed her in the ribs as Xan turned to face them from her bed across the room. She was only about ten, apparently, from what Lip told her, her mother was a junkie, and his co-worker who was Xan's aunt, ditched her too. And Lip took it upon himself to watch after her. Amara didn't mind, she was sweet, and she offered good company. Mostly because she was silent and did whatever she asked.

"I like it," she told them with the same quiet voice as usual. "It's nice."

"See?" Amara shot her boyfriend a look. "It's two on one. You're outnumbered."

Lip chucked a pillow at Xan, who narrowly dodged it. "You've gotta stop taking her side on things. I feel at loss here."

Xan threw the pillow back with a small grin. "You should."

Lip sighed in defeat and checked the time. "We've gotta get ready for the wedding."

Amara sat up. "Shit, I forgot about that."

Lip raised a brow at her. "You picked up your dress, didn't you?"

"Nooo dipshit," she jabbed his side with her arm and crawled over him to stand. "Yes, obviously I have it."

Xan shooed him. "Get out."

"Yeah," Amara smirked. "Pervert."

☆

"I can't believe you just got ditched by an eleven year old," Amara mused, gesturing to the boy Xan had started to dance with instead. Her mouth tugged up into a teasing smile. "That's lame."

"Well maybe I wouldn't have gotten ditched if I'd been dancing with my girlfriend instead," he replied, draping an arm around the back of her chair.

"Nah, I would ditch you too," she offered him a cup of punch, he hesitated. "It's non-alcoholic, don't worry, I checked. Besides, do you really think Cami would let Brad have booze at their wedding?"

"Oh," Lip took it from her grasp. "Yeah, fair point. Did you finish that article from this morning?"

She leaned into his side and shrugged. "Halfway there. It's a lot harder than I thought it would be, you know."

"Eh, you'll master it in no time. You have that thing about you."

"What thing?"

"Y'know like... Just a thing."

"Wow, thanks babe. That really explained things."

"I don't know," he shrugged and toyed with her fingers as he glanced around the reception. "You're just special. You're funny and gorgeous, smart, talented. And also really fucking sexy in that dress."

She laughed and kicked his leg under the table. "Please try to control yourself. We are at someone else's wedding. I think it's bad luck to be horny at events like these when they aren't your own."

Lip crossed his arms over his chest. "You act like I can't keep my hands to myself."

She copied the action. "You can't."