LOVESTRUCK ━ lip gallagher¹

16 | fantabulous question

★

AMARA DID NOT WANT to move from her bed the next morning. It was warm, and comfortable, and above all, it was safe. The sunlight poured into her room through her blinds, leaving line shaped shadows to appear on her carpeted floor. She turned onto her other side, burying her face into her pillow, which was warm because of her body heat, and continued to stare at her pastel pink walls, which were peeling badly. She hadn't realized how much they were peeling until that very moment. Granted, she was hardly ever up in her room, but painting the walls was one of the best (and only) good memories she had with Joe.

She sighed, allowing the blanket to fall off of her as she sat up, and ran a hand over her face. The dinner plate from the night before still on the table next to her bed, and she stood up, grabbing it to throw it away in the downstairs trash can.

The kitchen was empty when she stepped into it, and she glanced at the microwave. "Eleven am?" Amara whispered to herself in disbelief, grateful that she didn't have work that day. She made herself a bowl of cereal, plopping onto their couch as she flipped on the television, surfing through channels until finally settling on some stupid reality show.

The back door swung open, and she looked up to see Ian walking in, his posture dejected. "Hey."

"Hi," she replied as he fell onto the couch next to her with a sigh. "What's up?"

"I'm really bummed about this whole Mickey thing," he confessed. "It's just...I know he didn't fake it. The emotion I saw in his eyes when he was with me...Dunno, it seemed so real."

"Are you sure his dad just isn't making him get married? I mean, you mentioned he was super homophobic-"

"Extremely," he corrected, face flashing. "He made Mickey do it with that girl Svetlana when he caught us together."

Amara felt her eyes widen in shock. "Holy fuck."

"Yeah." A pause. "I just don't know what do to."

"Want my advice?" Amara asked, and he nodded. "Forget him. I mean, seriously. He's bad news anyway. Some of the stuff Mandy has told me about him... He's not good for you. I know he makes you happy, but there's plenty of fish in the sea. Other guys can make you happy, too, you know, without all of the felonies and juvenile convictions."

"Yeah," Ian shrugged, though she could tell he didn't agree. "Anyway, what's up with you? Lip said he tried calling you last night and you didn't answer."

"Oh," she faltered. "Had kind of a rough day at work. I just wanted to relax."

"Everything good?"

Amara hesitated on telling him what really happened, and instead opted for something she'd been thinking about since before she fell asleep. "I want you to teach me self-defense."

"What?"

"You're in ROTC, right? You're good at fighting. I can throw a pretty good punch, but there's more I could learn. I need to learn how to defend myself, Ian. This world is not safe for woman, I need to know how to fight off a gangbanger, or a mugger."

Ian grew serious immediately. "What happened yesterday?"

"Some creep grabbed my ass at the Alibi. I'm fine now, but it was really, really scary. Kev took care of it but... He won't always be there. And neither will you or Lip. And I don't want to have to depend on a guy to defend myself. Please, Ian."

"Okay," he nodded. "I will. When do you want to start?"

She slowly began to grin. "Right now?"

★

Amara lounged in Ian's bed, still sweating from their combat that lasted over two hours. He appeared in the doorway, dripping wet from the shower he'd just taken, and she turned her head towards the wall to allow him some privacy.

"How did I do?"

"I told you already," he didn't sound annoyed, more amused if anything. "You need to work better on blocking your right side. You're fast though. Faster than I expected. We'll work on another defense tactic tomorrow."

"Pizza!" Fiona called from the kitchen. "Come and get it while it's hot!"

Instantly, the two of them bolted out the door, shoving each other as an attempt to grab a slice first. Silvia, Debbie, and Carl came racing down the stairs after them. Amara smacked the palm of her younger sister as she tried to steal her piece from out of her hands.

"How was school?" Fiona questioned.

"We did fractions today," Debbie told her, and Amara watched as Carl bit into his pizza, swinging his head back and forth with the food still hanging from his teeth.

Fiona stared at him in disgust. "Chew your food like a human." He allowed the pizza to fall out of his mouth, and land onto his plate. Silvia and Debbie giggled. "So, Mike from the office is planning a big camping trip this weekend. You're all invited. You wanna go?"

"Yeah, can we make s'mores?" Debbie wondered eagerly.

"Uh-huh."

"And shoot raccoons?" Carl asked eagerly.

"No," Fiona gave him a sharp look as Amara stifled a laugh. "Mara, you wanna come too? They have plenty of tents."

"Please," Silvia begged and Amara nodded her head.

"Sure. We'll go."

"Interested?" Fiona turned to Jimmy curiously.

"Love camping in theory," he responded. "Except for the bugs and the dirt and the ground sleeping, but yeah, it sounds great."

"Okay rich boy," Amara jabbed at him, smirking. "We get it. You totally suck."

He stuck his tongue out at her, before very quickly kissing Fiona on the lips. "Well, caffeine addicts await."

"Bye Dr. Jim," Veronica dismissed, subtly flipping him off.

"So," Fiona started, sliding into a chair. "You know how Jimmy's been thinking about going back to med-school? It'd be in Michigan."

"Michigan?" Debbie repeated. "So he's leaving us?"

"Not if we go with him."

"But what about school?!"

"Nothing's decided yet," Fiona assured, looking panicked as Silvia's eyes began to weld up with tears, in fear that her best friend would be leaving her. Jimmy's phone started to ring, and the eldest Gallagher went to answer it. "Hello? No, he's not here at the moment. Can I take a message? A studio? Right. Thank you."

"Who was that?" Veronica asked.

"Some rental lady in Michigan. Says Jimmy's application for his studio has been approved."

"What's a studio?" Debbie questioned.

"It's a one room apartment."

Fiona clenched her jaw, grabbed her jacket, and stormed out of the house.

Debbie blinked in confusion. "How are all of us going to fit into a one bedroom apartment?"

Amara bitterly nodded her head. "Fantabulous question."

★

a/n

this is rlly short and rushed oops