Laced » Lip Gallagher [3]

2: method to madness

His chest vibrated with a chuckle, while his arms wrapped around me. I felt him place his cheek on my head and sigh and my heart inflated at the sound.

Simplicity was nice, but with the thundering I felt in his chest, simplicity wasn't enough for either of us. It never was.

Pulling back, I looked into his clear blue eyes. Questions rolled through my brain, and my mouth threw out the first one I could think of, "What are you doing here?"

With his arms still around me, he smirked. "Thought I'd pay my favorite girl a visit."

I felt heat rush to my cheeks, and I smiled. "How'd you find me?"

"Stopped by the bar to see if you were there, when I realized you weren't, I asked Kev." Lip casually shrugged, "He also mentioned something about you waitressing?"

I felt my eyes roll to the back of my head. "Jesus, he's a got a big fucking mouth." I smiled when I saw Lip's mouth curl with a laugh. But when my ears filled with my favorite sound, my stomach rolled with realization. I pulled away from his embrace and evened out my tone, "The real question is: what are you doing back so soon?"

The smile I spent years dreaming about slowly drifted and was replaced with a sigh. He looked up at the sky before looking back at me. "Wanna go for a walk?"

I furrowed my brows, thrown off by his response. He wasn't running from my questions, but he certainly wasn't going to make this easy.

I looked down at the time on my phone, noting that it was past midnight. My feet were killing me in these booties, and after the nightmare at the bar, I was dying to dive deep into my sheets. But the familiarity of Lip's smile and all the questions I had in store weren't dying anytime soon. I nodded, "Lead the way."

Without wasting another fleeting second, I placed both hands on my bag strap to prevent from grabbing Lip's, and walked beside him down the sidewalk. The beginning of our adventure was filled with idle talk to fill the silence. Youen's picked him up from rehab and dropped him off at Patsy's earlier, and from there, Fiona hired him as her new dishwasher. I wasn't exactly jumping with excitement, considering that meant seeing each other more often, but neither was he. I wasn't ready to be that close with him again.

A few minutes into our walk and we were already at the park where the ice cream business used to boom. The abandoned park was quiet, with nothing but patches of grass and squeaky metal swings.

"So, did you get all dressed up for my homecoming?" A smirk rose on his face as he took a seat on one of the swings.

Before sitting down next to him, I looked down at my outfit and chuckled. "I see rehab didn't cure your inflated ego."

"Nope. I'm afraid that's one of the many hallmarks of my perfect personality." He said in a joking tone. "But really, you look great."

I blushed. "Thanks." I took in a deep breath, trying to suppress my smile, "Speaking of rehab..."

Lip sucked in air between his teeth and began to push his converse against the gravel, gaining momentum for his swing. "Left on my own terms."

"You left on your own?"

"Yup." He said with a popped 'p'. "I'm not really an alcoholic, I just enjoy a drink as much as the next person."

I pushed my feet lightly against the gravel and kept my eyes trained on the ground as my heart sank. He was in denial.

"I mean what was the point? Might as well rehabilitate majority of the south side for enjoying mixed cocktails and a beer or two."

"Did you at least learn anything?" I asked hopefully, while tucking my bottom lip in between my teeth. Despite Lip's stubborn nature, he was smart. When he admitted that he needed help, a part of me was grateful. I was grateful that he saw a light in himself that wasn't going to be extinguished by a drink.