Gold Dust Woman- Lip Gallagher

karen's back

Lip and I were in his room as he was looking up lawyer shit for the house. For a little relaxer, I gave him a hummer when someone knocked on his door.

"L, can we talk?" Ian said. I got off of Lip and put his pants back on. 

"Yeah, what's up?"

Ian opened the door and looked at me, "Do you mind, it's private."

I shrugged, "Sure."

The two went downstairs, so I waited for a few to go down as well, and Ian was at the kitchen table. He looked troubled.

"What's wrong?"

Ian shook his head. 

"You gonna tell me what's going on or am I gonna have to find out myself?"

"Fuck, fine," Ian said, pausing before speaking, "Karen's back."

My eyes widened, and my heart beat fast. I hadn't heard that name in months.

"She's WHAT?!" I said, "Where's Lip?!"

"He went to go talk to her under the L."

I clenched my fists.

"I swear to god, I'll kick her fucking ass."

I almost walked out of the door before Ian grabbed me and held me back.

"Stop it!" he said, "Look, she came by the house, and I told her to meet Lip under the L. He'll be back soon."

"If she tries to put her nasty pussy near him-

The door opened, revealing Lip. I straightened myself out and crossed my arms.

"So she's back now, huh?"

"Yeah, and you don't have to worry about anything, okay?" Lip said coldly, "Besides, there are bigger issues to focus on. Like whether or not we'll have a roof over our heads in the next few days."

I shook my head because he was right. Karen Jackson was the least of our issues. The Gallaghers might not have a house by the end of the week.

__________________________________________________________________

Diana and I came over to pick up everyone for school when Debbie came downstairs in an outfit that Fiona would never approve of.

"Debbie," Fiona said, "That is not the outfit we picked out for your first day, and you are so not leaving here in that."

"I borrowed it from Diana."

"Clearly," Ian said before Diana slapped him on the head.

"You do realize that I'm in middle school now, right?" Debbie said.

"Yea, not stripper school. Go change."

Debbie huffed and went upstairs before Fi turned to Diana, "Diana, she's 13. She's not working a bedroom at the Mustang ranch."

"Oh, come on, like you never wore a short skirt at her age," Diana said before going to the bathroom.

"Look, she was just trying to help," I said to Fiona as Lip got up to answer the door. 

We heard Lip fighting with whoever was at the door, and in came evil cousin Patrick. His sons were also there, telling the family they had to leave by Saturday. 

"We have kids living here, and you're just going to throw us out?" Fiona said, "How do you sleep at night?!"

"Don't blame your miserable goddamn lives on me," Patrick said.

"Bastard," Diana said. 

__________________________________________________________________

The situation was getting worse. Patrick was practically tearing up the house, even removing the fucking toilet.

I parked in the school parking lot and walked towards the main building when I heard my name. Karen fucking Jackson.

"I don't want to talk to you, so fuck off," I said.

"Mayo, I re-enrolled," she said, "I know you and Lip have been dating for a while and-

I shook my head and turned around, gritting my teeth.

"Karen," I said, "I'm gonna say this once. If you try to become friendly with my boyfriend again, I will grab you by the neck and break every bone in your body. And that's if you're lucky. Stay away from us."

Before she could even respond, I walked off.

___________________________________________________________________

"You know, Karen tried to talk to me today at school," I said, "About you."

"Huh," Lip said.

"That's it?" I said, "No comment?"

"What else would I say?"

I shrugged, "I mean, you only saw her once, right? Under the L?"

"Yea," he said, "Are you implying something?"

"No, nothing at all," I said, "I just want you to be honest with me. I mean, she still has pictures of you on Facebook-

"Mayo," Lip cut me off, "You know there are other people in this world, right?"

I didn't respond but instead furrowed my eyebrows.

"The rest of us have been losing hours of sleep trying to figure out how we're going to fucking take care of this Patrick situation," Lip said, "And meanwhile, you're over here, bitching about Karen, who I don't care about anymore because I love you, and I wouldn't go behind your back and do that to you."

I shook my head and flipped through my phone. 

"Well, if you think I would, then maybe I should."

I got up, took my shoe, and threw it at him. 

"Fine!" I said, "Go fuck her! Fuck Karen Jackson. See if that bitch does half the shit I did for you. Including applying to colleges for you!"

I stormed out of the house and cried the entire way home. That ungrateful little shit. I did everything for him. His laundry, cleaning the house, driving him places, and I literally filled out his college applications for him.

Oh, shit, I realized. I just completely dropped the bomb about the applications.