☆
"THIS PLACE is nice as hell," Tami commented, and Amara silently agreed. With tall windows that reached the ceiling to the floor, the small island in the center of the kitchen, and the large living room space—it was pretty much perfect. There were enough bedrooms so Liam and Fred wouldn't have to share their own, and the master had its own bathroom off to the left of it.
"I just don't know if Lip will go for it," Amara said, pushing Fred's stroller further down the hall.
"That's because Lip likes making things more difficult for you," Tami pointed at her. "You gonna show it to him in person? Maybe it'll help persuade him."
"Yeah. He should be here at noon. He's caught up working on the house. Been pulling all nighters, pretty much, to finish it. New buyers moved in yesterday, and now we're back at the Gallagher's."
"Did Debbie learn how to use a toilet brush?"
Amara scoffed. "Please. Don't make me laugh. You know, we hadn't even been moved back into that place for an entire day before Lip got into it with Mickey. It's, like, the testosterone twins have to compete to see who's number one. And it's obvious who number one is."
"Who?"
"Me."
Tami rolled her eyes. "That guys scary. Ian's husband. I would not want to get into it with him."
"Mickey?" Amara sounded surprised. Sure, Mickey's exterior was tough, and he'd definitely shot some people, but being afraid of him seemed kind of silly. "He folds his socks. He's the opposite of scary."
Tami shook her head, and grabbed her purse from the counter. "Anyway, I've got a client. This place is really great, Mara. I say fuck what Lip things and get it no matter what."
"As much as I'd love to do that, unfortunately I care about his opinion too much and don't want him living here completely miserable."
"Huh," Tami mused. "You're better than me. See ya."
"Bye," Amara waved, and moved through the apartment to check out the balcony. It wasn't big, but there was enough room to set out a couple of chairs and a small table. She was just adding up how much all the furniture could potentially cost, when footsteps sounded from behind her.
Surprised, she turned to find Lip, but neither of them made any moves to get closer to one another. It had been almost ... awkward between them since their discussion about marriage.
"Hey," she greeted. "You're early."
"Yeah, I needed a break. Mickey showed up."
"No need to say more," Amara mused, watching his eyes scan across the apartment. He moved down the hall before appearing in front of her again. "What do you think?"
"Nice. Real nice, actually. Are we about to become north side assholes?"
"Only if you say yes to living here," she gave him a pointed look. "And besides, we're already assholes. Why not extend the title?"
"You know Kev and V sold their house?"
Amara nearly dropped her phone. "They what?"
"Yeah," Lip stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Some developers are trying to turn our neighborhood into a condo or something. I actually have an appointment with them soon."
"That's great, Lip."
"Yeah."
Amara took a step closer. "Hey, about yesterday—"
"Meeting is soon, actually," he interrupted, avoiding her gaze. Then, he laid a brief hand on her arm. "I like it, Amara. If you do too, go for it. Whatever you decide I'm cool with, all right?"
Amara watched him bend down to kiss Fred in his stroller, before he left the apartment. Confused, Amara rested her hands on her hips and felt her brows raise. Lip had made that way too simple. He was almost being an ass kisser. And Lip Gallagher was definitely anything and everything but that. "Huh. Weird."
☆
"Heard about your little freak out," Amara told Mickey back at the Gallagher house a few hours later. "Wanna talk about it?"
"Fuck are you, my therapist?" At Amara's blank stare, Mickey deflated. "No. Thanks, though. We're not here to talk about me. What have you planned?"
"I didn't want to make anything official without running things by you first. I thought that picking someplace that is significant to your and Ian's relationship would be the best bet. Someplace that is important to both of you."
Mickey shrugged, and Amara sighed.
"There's one place in particular that might work. Ian's family means the most to him, so I figured a place he and his family have been going for years would be perfect."
"What place is that? Jail?"
"The Alibi," Amara said, unamused.
Mickey sat back in his chair. "Oh. Right. That makes more sense. I'll talk to Kev."
"Good," she nodded, and her eyes caught movement from the corner of the room. "Uh, what was that?"
Mickey looked like he was grimacing, but Amara couldn't be sure. "A rat."
Amara pointed to the counter. "Give me that."
"What? The fucking rolling pin? What are you, Rapunzel?"
Amara crossed her arms. "I knew there was a Disney loving side to you in there somewhere."
"Fuck you-" Mickey started to say, but it was muffled out by Amara's shriek when the rat darted out the cracked door.
☆
Amara entered through the front door, holding a box of half-eaten food from her takeout container with Silvia following right behind her. Neither of them spared a second glance at the unconscious Frank on the couch as they made their way into the kitchen, putting the boxes in the fridge.
Silvia started towards the basement door. "Night."
Amara nodded, and made her way up the steps to her and Lip's temporary bedroom. The lights were off, and she could just barely make out Lip's figure under the covers from the light of the moon. As quietly as she could, she discarded her shoes and changed into sleep-attire before climbing into the bed next to him, and blinked when he turned to face her.
She was surprised to see him in bed so early, but more surprised to see that he was still awake and in bed. "Hey," she whispered, careful not to disturb the sleeping Fred from his pack n play. "How'd the appointment go? Sell the house?"
"Nah," he lifted one shoulder into a nonchalant shrug which Amara knew was a façade, but decided not to push him on it. "You get the apartment?"
"I did," she started to smile. "With a real lease and everything this time. Take notes."
Lip kicked her lightly from under the covers, but she felt him take her hand. "I wanted to talk to you about something."
"Oh, yeah?"
"Just about what you said yesterday. About growing up with no stable relationships to learn from. That we don't know what a marriage is supposed to look like, so how do we know how to not fuck it up?"
"Actually, I did not say that. At all."
"But you were thinking it."
Amara felt a smile break loose. "I was thinking it," she agreed.
"I just wanted to tell you that we're not like everyone else. We've been through so much already, just because we grew up in a place where romantic love didn't always last doesn't mean that we won't."
"I know that," she said, though hearing him say it out loud made her feel so much better.
"Good," he nodded, and then reached forward to rest his forehead against hers. They laid like that for a long moment, eyes closed, bodies pressed, in silence, until Lip's wavering voice spoke out into the room. "I love you, Amara. I always have. Ever since you ran out into the hallway in first grade and hit me with the door. I want to spend the rest of my life loving you."
Amara cracked her eyes open, heart suddenly pounding in her chest as Lip swallowed thickly. She felt her throat lodge up. "Wanna get married?" He asked.
"Is that an official question?" She teased, though she was struggling to breathe. Amara already had her answer by the time Lip spoke again.
"Only if your answer is yes."
"Yes, of course," she brought her hand up to his cheek to kiss him. "Idiot." When she felt him slide something cool onto her finger, she raised her brows. It was the same ring, she hadn't even realized it'd been missing until then. As far as she knew, she had it safely tucked away in a small box. Apparently not. "How did you get this?"
"I had Ian pitpocket it from you in his apartment."
"Asshole," she accused, but was grinning.
Lip smiled, too. "Gigantic bitch."
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a/n
heyyyy yeah so this chapter got deleted for some reason LMAOO?? it's essentially the same as the original one but obviously i don't remember the exact dialogue i had and stuff so if you read it the first time u can just skip over it ! it was literally driving me nuts that i had a chapter missing & even tho i wrote the finale the book didn't feel finished to me. adhd things me thinks. anyway !!! that's all u guys