GAME OVER ━━ Lip Gallagher

CHAPTER THIRTY

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Game Over
chapter thirty

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"A NEW PHONE? ARE YOU CRAZY?" she stared at the box in her hand with wide eyes. Lip sat on the floor in front of the two, legs spread out and an ash tray resting on his leg. "Are you looking for more sugar baby?" Lip asked teasingly, winking over at the boy sitting on the couch. He laughed, a belly laugh, his face brightening. "This is an iPhone. How much did you spend?" He only shook off her question without an answer. There wasn't a need for one. He had just grown tired of her flip phone. "Can't you just say thank you?" he joked, nudging her knee with his fingers. He pouted in her direction, rubbing his hand over her kneecap. "Thank you," she replied with a sigh. "But you said that you were saving up. This couldn't have been cheap."

"It's better than your old phone," Lip stated, always butting into conversation. He took one final drag from his cigarette before snuffing it into the ash tray. She glared playfully toward the curly haired boy. "What do you guys have against flip phones? They're practical!" Alan moved her legs over his, stretching out across the sofa. His hands rested on her calves. "You can do so much more on this thing. You can download music, play YouTube videos, FaceTime. When I'm in Naperville, you can call me and we can see each other face to face." Her brows rose. That was very tempting. "And you can see other things if you catch my drift."

He barely dodged the pillow flying his way. Phoebe had gasped in shock, color spreading across her features. "You're a pervert. Like an actual pervert," she scolded him with a wag of her finger. "Why are you even here?" Alan rubbed up and down her legs in an attempt to calm her down. Lip grabbed the pillow that had been launched at him and hugged it to his chest. "I came to invite you guys out. Fiona found a purse on the L train and we're thinkin' about going to Golden Corral." Her eyebrows rose in interest. A buffet full of food from around the world. The thought of it was enough to make her stomach growl. She turned to Alan. He wore the same expression. They were thinking seriously about it. "Do you want to go?" Alan asked first, beating Phoebe to the punch.

          "Hell yeah," she responded enthusiastically. "Free food." Lip snickered. He knew there was no way she'd say no. He knew his best friend too well. She grabbed his hand in excitement. "Oh, my God. Imagine all of the food." She fell back into the couch with a dreamy sigh. Alan, though, seemed skeptical. "Are you sure you'll be able to eat, though?" Her head lolled to the side to meet Lip's eyes. "He's got a point, actually. You go sick on a fudge pop." She shrugged her shoulders. "I'll pace myself. Besides, it's been forever since we had a family dinner! I can't let this opportunity pass!" Lip rolled his eyes at the girl. "It's not like you'll be missing a whole lot, but who am I to argue? That's your job now." He flashed a thumbs up at the other boy, breaking out into a wide grin.

"Wow, man. That's so sweet of you," Alan responded sarcastically, folding his hands over his chest. He sighed so sweetly it almost made Phoebe snort. "So we're in agreement, then? We're going, right?" Both she and Lip looked to him expectantly. Her eyes blinked up at him while he rose his brows, almost as if he was challenging him to say no. He knew how hard it was to say no to her. Alan took his time to answer. He looked between the two with a neutral expression. Phoebe was about to lose it when he finally answered. "What the hell," he sighed, "yeah. We'll go. But." Both Lip and Phoebe sighed at his tone. He sounded a bit too much like a father. "If you start feeling sick, we're leaving. Okay?" She bounced her head in a frantic nod. She placed the box that held her new phone onto the floor beside the couch and leapt onto his lap.