GAME OVER ━━ Lip Gallagher

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

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Game Over
chapter twenty six

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CHICAGO, ILLINOIS. It was a magical place. From the homeless men fighting in the alleys to the midget that sells popsicles out of his backyard every summer. It snowed every winter, rained every spring, and boiled people alive every summer. It was the very place that gave Phoebe Lim a purpose, a reason for survival against the odds her neglectful parents gave her from the very first day she took her first breath. It gave her a family, friends, hardships, sadness, and love. From the very middle of winter to the scorching heat of summer, Phoebe found herself out of her childhood home and rooming with a boy named Alan Dominguez.

          The two spent what felt like every waking moment together besides when Phoebe would be at school or he had to work. She picked up on his habits, his mannerisms. She memorized his favorite things and least favorite things. He knew her ticks and what made her react certain ways. He knew just how to read her and react without coming off too strong or possessive. The two became as thick as thieves and maybe that's why Alan felt comfortable enough to pee while Phoebe showered, and why she didn't even seem to care when he asked such an out of the blue question. "Hey, babe," he called over the sound of his piss hitting the bowl and the shower head running. She hummed in response, lathering her hair with shampoo.

          "Are you an organ donor?" Swiftly, she pulled back the shower curtain just enough to poke her head out, eyebrows pinched in confusion. "Uh, I guess so. It's on my I.D," she admitted. "Why? Are you needing one of my kidneys? Maybe part of my liver? That's a big commitment. I'll be inside of you for the rest of your life." A small sliver of a grin crossed his face as he turned back to focus at his task at hand. One hand scratched his face while the other held his stick. "What, are you saying you wouldn't give them to me?" he retorted playfully. The curtain slid back into place as she went back to her shower. "I don't know. I don't even know if my body is in tip top shape."

"Oh, it's the perfect shape," he fired back. And that's how it had gone. Alan welcomed Phoebe with open arms. He helped her sleep at night, calming her through her episodes of depression. He saw her at her worst, when she felt at her lowest. She talked through the neglect and confided in him. And it felt amazing. "Why do you ask?" she inquired after dismissing his compliment with a roll of her eyes. Outside the curtain, Alan had finished his morning duty and flushed the toilet. Instead of leaving, he closed the lid and took a seat. "I'm a donor," he sighed out, plopping noisily onto the lid. "I just wanted to know in case something happens. And I want you to know for me."

Alan had done well keeping his job and girlfriend separate. When his dealer friends came over, she usually stayed with the Gallaghers, sometimes even Mandy Milkovich. It was strange to them too when Mandy suddenly apologized to Phoebe for what happened before, but the Korean girl didn't sweat it. Instead, she offered up a friendship and treated her like any other person. Phoebe knew how dangerous Alan's job was. Every day, there was a chance that he wouldn't come home. It could be because he got caught by a policeman, or maybe a rival dealer would pull up and kill him. Regardless, both Alan and Phoebe worried. It was a topic in most of their conversations. Phoebe didn't know what she would do if she lost Alan.

"Okay," was all she could think to say. The warm water fell across her face, rinsing her hair of the shampoo she had forgotten about. "You know Lip called about helping he and Kev with the ice cream truck." She snorted. There was another change in the equation. Ever since that night after the whole Daddy's Girl video, they hadn't been the same. There was something Lip couldn't let go, and that thing was Karen. "Do you want to come with?" he asked. There was a small pause before Alan stood up from his seat. Quietly, he stripped off his tank and shimmied out of his briefs. The shower rod squealed against the curtain links. Phoebe cracked open an eye to see him jumping in beside her.