Until the end (Ian Gallagher x OC)

Chapter 43

"What are you doing?" Mandy questioned Ian when she passed him in the hallway to find him drilling into the doorframe of his room.

"Keeping Frank out. Planning to go to Carnegie Mellon?" He nodded to the papers in her hands.

"Please. That's for nerds and homos." She laughed, hitting him with the papers teasingly. "But, um, Healey thinks Lip should apply."

"Fat chance." Ian gave his two cents.

"He's smart enough." She reminded.

"Yeah, but too stupid to do anything about it. I already tried." Ian checked the lock he installed. "Hey, can I ask you a question?" He called as she was about to walk away.

"Sure." She turned back with interest.

"How do you know if a girl you've been hanging out with likes you?"

"You like her?" She asked simply.

"Uh-huh, but I think she sees me as only a friend."

"Ask her." Mandy suggested.

"Doesn't want to talk about it." Ian sighed

"No one ever does." Mandy told him. "She's probably just shy because she feels the same way and doesn't know what to do with those feelings" Mandy added.

"How do I know, then?" Ian wondered with worry.

"Does she get that look in her eye when she's with you?" Mandy asks with a smile.

"What look?" Ian looked back at her with confusion.

"You'll know when you see it." She promised, leaving Ian to think on it. "Oh, Megans coming over to study after work" Mandy called back to him with a knowing smirk.

~~~

"Morning." Fiona greeted jogging downstairs.

"Hey." Ian greeted back, walking to the table to give me a cup of coffee.

"Jimmy gonna come down to make us breakfast?" Carl asked while his stomach grumbled.

"He's sleeping in. Eat your cereal." Fiona told him.

"Wore him out, huh?" Lip asked with amusement.

"You too. Eat your cereal." She told him as well with a pointed finger.

"Spoiled now. Need an omelet." Carl claimed, taking his cereal back to the table.

"So, um, how's the club night thing coming?" Lip asked from his seat at the counter.

"Gonna be a big success. Probably make enough money to roll it into another one. Take out a small loan, really get things going. What's wrong, Debs?" Fiona looked over to see Debbie come down with a tired look.

"Got home late. Baby-sitting." She sighed with exhaustion.

"So the ghetto girl thinks she can live the American dream, huh?" Lip directed back to Fiona.

"Maybe it's my time, Lip." Fiona suggested with pride, causing Mandy to chuckle from beside Lip. "None of your business, Mandy." Fiona shot back.

"Don't you see, it doesn't work like that, sis. When you're poor, only way to make money is to steal it or scam it, like Don King or Joe Kennedy." Lip explained as Fiona and Mandy continued to make faces at each other.

"Daddy's home! Brought friends." Frank called as he entered through the living room.

"Howdy!" A random man called out.

"Just dump it." Frank said, dropping a bike in the living room.

"Hey, that's my bike!" Ian defensively stood to confront Frank.