Little kids and flustered mothers were streaming into our house early the next morning like running water.
"Debs! Carl!" I called as the 4 year old boy from down the street ran in between my legs, almost knocking over the cup of coffee I had in my hand. "The kids are here!"
They came hurrying downstairs now, Debs standing at the door to greet all the parents and taking whatever toys or snacks their children needed from them, and Carl going to turn on the TV for the kids who were filing into the den.
"Guys, I'm home!" I heard Fiona call now as she opened the back door and came inside.
She came into the kitchen and I looked at her. Her eye makeup was still dark and smoky, but her glamorous waitressing outfit was slightly wrinkled and her forehead was lined with stress creases.
"Another late night." Fi sighed, putting her purse on the kitchen counter.
"I can see that. Are you going to bed now?" I asked her.
She nodded slowly, pouting herself a cup of coffee.
"You need any help, Debs?" She asked as Debs shut the door as the last parent left.
"No, I got it!" She yelled over the loud noise all the kids were making.
"Okay, well, I'm going to go upstairs then. Do you remember the rule?"
Debs nodded.
"Yup. Only wake you up if someone is bleeding or dead!" She replied.
Fiona took one last sip of her coffee and gave Debs a pat on the head, heading for the stairs.
"If you two really don't need help, I'm gonna go get ready for work." I said to her, following Fiona upstairs.
*
Work flew by quickly, and Mickey surprisingly wasn't annoying. He didn't talk much, so I assumed him and Ian talked about how I felt about him.
Soon enough, the sun was setting and ending another day, and I was walking home, Ian by my side.
When we got home, Lip was out on the porch, smoking a cigarette.
He nodded to us when we came closer.
"Hey." Ian said to him, heading for inside. I started to follow, but Lip gave me a long look, suggesting he wanted to talk to me.
Once Ian shut the door, I sat down next to Lip. He fished for the pack of cigarettes and the lighter he always kept inside his jeans pocket, and got one out, handing me one and lighting it once I put it in my mouth.
"You know how Ian wants to go to West Point?" He asked me.
I nodded. Ian has been talking about wanting to go to West Point for years, it was a big dream of his. I wasn't a big fan of my brother going off to war, but I couldn't stop him.
"Well, I'm gonna meet with a recruiter tomorrow. I heard there's a bunch of them in the city. Would you wanna come?"
I grinned, happy that Lip wants to do this for Ian.
"Of course I'll come!"
Lip smiled back.
"Great. I'm gonna go tomorrow morning at 10."
"Okay."
We fell silent now, each of us taking a drag of our cigarettes.
"Karen's pregnant." Lip said now.
I looked over at him.
"What?" I asked in shock. "Is it Jody's?"
Karen was with some weird biker dude named Jody that she met through "Sex Addicts Anonymous Club". According to Lip, the two of them refused to have sex, and they did friend things, like go bowling or watch movies and eat popcorn
Lip shook his head.
I gasped.
"Yours?"
He nodded.
"You're still having sex with her?"
He nodded again.
"Well, there's no point in her going to a Sex Addicts club then, huh?" I said, causing Lip to laugh a little.
"I want her to get an abortion." Lip said, breathing out cigarette smoke. "But she wants to put it up for adoption or some shit so she can get money."
"Why do you want her to get an abortion?" I asked.
"Because I have too much crap going on right now. School, tests, taking care of you guys, helping out Fi." He said.
"I try to help." I said softly, and Lip put a hand on my shoulder.
"Jess, I know you help. You and Ian are big helps. But I can't handle a baby. Not now."
"I get it. But hey, maybe having someone adopt the baby is a good thing, because then you and Karen can split the money you get from it, and you wouldn't be killing an innocent life form." I said.
Lip looked at me.
"Yeah, you're right. Thanks, Jess."
I smiled.
"No problem."
I patted his shoulder, then got up and went inside, bringing my cigarette with me.
*
The next morning, I got up, showered, threw on a tank top and jean shorts with my old Converse, then met Lip downstairs so we can head to where the West Point recruiters were going to be.
They were at some college center in the city that Lip knew and I didn't.
We scrapped together enough money to get a ticket for the El train for both ways, so we didn't have to walk.
When we entered, there were a bunch of soldiers in uniforms standing around the entrance.
"Can I help you?" One of the soldiers asked.
Lip and I walked over him.
"Yeah, I need some information on West Point."
The soldier narrowed his eyes at Lip.
"How old are you?"
"17."
"Come back when you're not in high school. You have to be graduated in order to apply here."
I let out a small sigh. If they were telling Lip to come back, what would they tell Ian?
"And what's your grade point average, anyways?" The solider continued.
"A 4.6." Lip replied shortly, a confused look on his face. Why was he asking Lip all these questions?
The solider's eyes widened and his facial expression changed completely.
"Wow. What's your name?"
"Lip." He answered.
One of the solider's eyebrows went up.
"Philip. Philip Gallagher." Lip corrected himself.
The solider nodded.
"Alright. Well, we'll keep in touch, Lip."
"Okay."
The solider looked at us, signaling we needed to leave.
We turned around and walked out, heading for the El station.
"That was weird." I commented.
"Yeah, I know. He didn't give me any papers to bring back to Ian or anything. And why was he asking me questions about myself?"
"Well, you didn't technically say that you needed information for Ian." I said.
"Yeah, but I was gonna get to that." Lip replied.
"He said he'll keep in touch though, so that's good."
Lip nodded.
"I guess."
*
"Jess! Zack is here!" Lip called to me the next afternoon.
"Coming!" I yelled from upstairs, putting on some extra lip gloss and pulling my V neck t-shirt down a little to expose some more cleavage.
I hurried down the steps to greet my boyfriend, who was talking to my brother about school.
I came over to him and he grinned, pulling me into a hug.
"Hi, baby." He said in my ear.
"Hi."
"Where are you guys going today?" Lip asked us.
I looked at Zack for an answer.
He shrugged.
"Probably just driving around." He replied.
Lip nodded.
"Cool. Well, I'm off to see Karen. I'll see you guys later."
"See ya, Lip." I said as he walked out of the kitchen, through the living room, and out the front door.
Once he left, Zack pulled me close to him and leaned in to kiss me.
"Are we really going driving?" I asked once we pulled away.
He smiled.
"Sure we are. Now, let's go before it gets too late."
We started for the back door and as I opened it, I almost collided with someone already standing there.
"What the-" I started to say, but when I realized who the person was that was standing at the door, I trailed off.
"Jimmy." I said.