GAME OVER ━━ Lip Gallagher

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Phoebe took the money and passed it to Lip. He put it in the lock box, and gave her the exact change in return. "Thank you," the kid muttered, obviously disappointed with his lack of alcohol. "Two frozen Snickers, a bag of beer nuts, and a couple of joints." Phoebe glanced toward Lip as he looked to her, an amused smile on his face. This kid was clearly no older than twelve. "You fourteen? Got I.D?" Phoebe fought back a smile, hiding her mouth behind her hand. The kid only shook his head. "Okay. When's your birthday?" A smirk crossed the boy's face. "June third, nineteen ninety seven." Phoebe snorted. She turned away from the scene, shaking her head. She instead busied herself with grabbing the Snickers and beer nuts. "Yeah," Lip chuckled. "Okay." She set the food on the counter and nudged Lip with her elbow. "Cash," she stated, holding her hand out for the boy.

          Kev finally joined the two as Lip passed the kid a couple of joints. She moved to lean against the freezer. "Taking little league book again like last year?" Phoebe grimaced at the old man who walked up. She remembered him from last summer. He always smelled worse than dog shit burning on the pavement. Her nose scrunched in distaste. "Absolutely. What do you want?" Lip asked. He looked in his element. He moved around with confidence, handled the money with ease. It was nice seeing it. "Marlins." Kev stole a DumDum from the bag and unwrapped it. "U10 or U12?" He wiggled his brows over at Phoebe before moving back to his spot in the driver's seat. "U10 for fifteen," Johnny answered. Phoebe sighed to herself, fingers drumming against the freezer door. "You're not worried about that Ratkovich? Kid threw seventy two pitches the other day." The middle aged man shrugged his shoulders. "Nah. He's Dominican."

"Huh! Brilliant reasoning!" Phoebe chimed in sarcastically. Leave it to old white men to be racist. Lip chuckled as he wrote down the bet in their little, brown book. "Yeah, whatever," Johnny responded, slapping his cash against the counter. Johnny looked to be the last customer for the moment. But as Lip put the money in the lock box, Phoebe noticed someone approaching. "Oh, no," she groaned, quickly turning toward the freezer in hopes of hiding her identity. Her palms fell flat against the dirty lid. "Can I get a, um, push pop? Grape preferably." His voice alone was enough to crawl under her skin. Lip glanced toward the customer before sighing heavily. "Get out of here, Peterson." Kevin's interest was peaked at the dismissal. Dicky tilted his head, though he wasn't focused on Lip. He was focused on the girl with her back to him. "Hey, Phoebe," he called out, making the girl flinch.

          "I said get out of here, Peterson. We don't sell to rapists." Phoebe's head fell in her hands at Lip's words. "He didn't rape me, Lip," she hissed. She glanced over her shoulder toward the blond boy. He was staring intently back at the other boy, daring him to say something. These days he was looking for a reason to get into a fight. "Wait, what?" Kev asked. He scratched his pinky through his ear before looking between the occupants of his truck. "Fuckwad can't keep his hands to himself," Lip stated. "Even when a girl says no." Dicky wanted to argue. Phoebe rolled her eyes at the offensive expression on his face. "And he did that to you?" Kev's question was directed toward Phoebe, brows pinched. "If she didn't want it, then she would have said so."

          "I did!" she fired angrily. "Multiple times!" Lip's hands curled into fists. "That's it." Kev jumped up from his seat, grabbing a nearby sturdy object. "Get the fuck out of here, Make A Wish Peter Parker!" he shouted, swinging the pipe in the boy's direction. He hung out of the door, watching as the boy backed away. "You liked me!" Dicky shouted, pointing at the girl. "I pitied you," she argued. "Go away, you creep." Lip could have climbed over the counter. He would have chased him to the ends of the earth just to beat his head in. "Whatever." She turned back around to the freezer and jerked it open. She grabbed the first ice cream cone she saw and let the freezer door fall closed. "Fucking asshole. I swear to God, I see him freaking everywhere." Lip shook his head. "I don't understand what you even saw in that joker."