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Mickaela Milkovich missed being on the South Side while she was in juvie. She missed dealing drugs, stealing, and kicking the shit out of people. It reminded her of home.
She was sitting around her living room playing video games with her sister, Izzy, when her mother and the Gallagher girls burst into the house.
Mickaela refused to acknowledge that her heart skipped a beat when she saw that Lilian was part of the group.
"Let's go beat up a kid fucker!" Tammy shouted.
That was all the explanation they needed. Mickaela cracked her knuckles and smirked. It was good to be back on the South Side.
Liz Gallagher had found a website listing all of the known sex offenders in the area and she found out that one of them was living nearby. She led the group, and as they marched through the streets, more and more girls joined them until they had amassed an entire mob. Even Carly Gallagher had joined the group and she was only a child.
Even as children, all South Side girls were tough. They had to be to survive. That's why none of them were going to just sit around while a pedophile was in their neighborhood touching little girls.
Liz stomped up the stairs of the house, and Tammy was right behind her. They banged loudly on the door. The girls all stood holding baseball bats and bricks. Grins spread over their bloodthirsty faces.
A skinny, blonde man answered the door. He was actually young and very handsome. "Hello?" he asked in a small voice.
"You Blake Collins?" Tammy demanded.
"Y-yes, that would be me," the man answered quietly.
"You like fucking little girls, Blake?" Liz asked mockingly, her face deadly serious. Blake glanced past her and saw the entire gang with their weapons raised high. He was too afraid to respond.
"Hey, I remember this guy!" Lilian suddenly exclaimed. "He was on the news. This guy was a teacher that raped his fourteen year old student."
"I didn't rape her," the man said softly. "I loved her." He sighed. "Listen, please leave me alone. I did my time. I paid for my mistake… if 'love' can be called a mistake."
With those words, Mickaela glanced at Lilian, but she quickly looked away.
Before Blake could utter another word, Tammy grabbed him by the shirt and slammed him into the door. Her fist smashed into his face and blood ran down his nose.
"Listen here, you piece of shit," she growled. "After we leave you whimpering and bloody, you better get the fuck out of this town, or we'll bury you in your front yard."
The man nodded quickly, sobbing pathetically.
"Let's get him, girls!" Liz shouted in excitement.
Everyone in the mob raised their weapons and cheered.
"I did my time. I paid for my mistake… if 'love' can be called a mistake."
The words rang in Mickaela's head. She couldn't stop thinking about how her first reaction had been to look at Lilian. Is that really what she thought about Lilian? Did she love her, even though it was a mistake?
No. That can't be it. Mickaela wasn't a fucking dyke. She had just been messing around with Lilian, having a little fun. It didn't actually mean anything.
Mickaela, Lilian and Liz all ran from the pedophile's house together, laughing and high off of the adrenaline. That fucking pervert would never show his face in their neighborhood again, that's for damn sure.
Mickaela had been having so much fun that she didn't notice Lilian staring at her. When she finally saw Lilian's bright, beaming expression, she hurriedly looked away. Panic rushed through her.
What the fuck was that ginger-haired girl looking at her that way for? And why did it make her stomach knot up?
Mickaela pulled out a cigarette and lit it to hide her uneasiness. Neither of the Gallaghers seemed to notice. They continued walking down the street together. Mickaela walked in silence as the other two girls chatted about pedophiles and rapist teachers and how they should beat them up more often.
Mickaela felt the urge to run. She was starting to feel things she didn't know how to process, and she just wanted it to stop.
That's when Mickaela spotted Andy Zago sitting on his front porch drinking a beer. Andy was kind of fat, but he had a reputation for having a big dick. That reputation probably started because he was the type of guy who liked to brag. Whenever he had sex, the entire town knew about it within a couple of days. He had fucked practically every girl in town, no strings attached, and everyone knew about it.
That was exactly what Mickaela needed right then. Being known as a whore was better than being known as a dyke.
"Hey, Andy," Mickaela yelled over to him, licking her lips and waving seductively. "I'm horny. Wanna fuck me?"
Andy shrugged. "Sure," he said. "Come on in."
Mickaela grinned and threw her cigarette on the ground, stubbing it out with her toe. She didn't bother to glance back at Lilian and Liz. She didn't even say so much as a goodbye. She just followed Andy up his porch steps.
Lilian stood there awestruck and confused.
"Wait… but I thought you two were…?" Liz asked quietly, looking confused.
"Shut up," Lilian mumbled. Just thinking about Mickaela with that guy made her want to beat up another pedophile with a baseball bat.
Lilian was seething with jealousy. All day, she couldn't get the image of Mickaela and Andy out of her mind.
She didn't know why she was getting so angry, it was no secret that they both fucked other people, but Lilian had never even considered that Mickaela actually fucked boys. Everyone around town talked about all the guys that Mickaela banged, but Lilian always thought that it was just gossip.
She had assumed that Mickaela was a lesbian like her, but maybe she'd been wrong about that. It wasn't like Mickaela actually talked about that kind of thing anyway.
Lilian hated that, just as she thought she was beginning to figure Mickaela out, she realized that she still didn't actually know that much about her. Ever since Mickaela had gotten out of juvie, they had been spending more time together without the pretense of sex. They enjoyed each other's company, and Mickaela seemed happy. Lilian had even started to think that somehow she was special to the brunette girl.
Was she wrong about that too?
Lilian tried to distract herself from her paranoid thoughts by working even harder than usual at the Kash and Grab, but the fact that Mickaela was late for her shift wasn't helping her calm down. Lilian angrily slammed the door to the back room and stomped back towards the front counter.
She jumped in surprise when she saw Mickaela sitting in her seat. The Milkovich must have snuck in when she wasn't looking.
"Nice of you to finally show up," the redhead muttered.
Mickaela raised an eyebrow. "The fuck are you so pissy about?" she asked.
"Nothing," Lilian mumbled.
Mickaela just rolled her eyes.
A tense silence lingered in the air, but it wasn't very long before Lilian finally couldn't stand it anymore.
"Did you really fuck Andy Zago?" she asked bluntly.
Mickaela just shrugged. "Yeah, I fucked Andy. Everybody fucks Andy." She paused awkwardly. "You don't fuck Andy?"
Lilian frowned. "Uh, no…" she said slowly.
Mickaela waved her off, avoiding eye contact with her and getting up to swipe a beer from the freezer in the back of the store.
Lilian was even more confused than she had been before.
A bell chimed and the front door to the Kash and Grab swung open. Lilian looked up and saw the one person she had least expected to walk into the store: Lydia Lishman.
After Mickaela left to go to juvie for the second time, Lilian's heart was broken. She had been desperate to hook up with someone, anyone, just to get her mind off of what happened between them. That's when she went to a lesbian bar and met Lydia.
Lydia was from the North Side. She was married, and old enough to be Lilian's grandmother, but Lilian didn't care. She didn't have any feelings for Lydia, but it was nice to have sex with someone who wasn't afraid to show affection for her and pamper her once in a while.
Being a doctor, Lydia was very rich. Her wardrobe consisted of expensive dresses and classy power suits. Even her shoes all seemed to be some kind of fancy designer heels that probably cost a fortune. You could just look at her and know that she had a lot of money.
Lydia liked to spend her money on Lilian. Whenever they had sex, she splurged on fancy hotels and room service. Sometimes she bought Lilian gifts like ROTC equipment and textbooks. For Lilian's birthday, she even bought her an iPhone.
Lilian didn't mind the special treatment. Just being able to spend time in a fancy hotel room and get away from the craziness of the South Side was like a dream to her. Being with Lydia was relaxing. It was an escape. It was nothing like the rush of fire and electricity that ran through her veins when she was with Mickaela.
She hadn't talked to Lydia since before Mickaela got out of juvie. The last time that they met, Lilian finally told the other woman that they had to stop seeing each other so often. She explained to Lydia that she sort of had a "girlfriend" that was coming back home soon. Lydia seemed to understand, but after that, Lilian forgot to call her completely.
So she was very surprised when she saw Lydia unexpectedly saunter into her humble little store.
"Why hello there," the woman said in a flirtatious tone.
"Lydia!" Lilian exclaimed in surprise. She glanced over to Mickaela who was too busy dealing with customers to notice what was happening. "What are you doing here?"
"I was just in the area when I suddenly found myself craving ginger snaps," Lydia said, grinning slyly at her own joke.
"Really?" Lilian asked with a disbelieving smirk. "You were in the area? Here?"
"Well, I admit I took a little detour," Lydia said. "After all, I wanted to see someone who hasn't talked to me in weeks."
Lilian glanced at Mickaela again, only half paying attention to Lydia's words. "I'm working," she responded without cracking a smile. "You couldn't use a phone?"
"This is more fun," Lydia replied. "What do you say? Wanna join me for happy hour at The Fountain later?"
"Yeah, okay," Lilian finally said when she saw Mickaela walking back towards them. "It's a date. We can go tonight."
Mickaela's eyebrows furrowed together and her eyes darted back and forth between the two of them. She took in the sight of Lydia's blatant flirting and frowned in disgust.
"Good. See you there," Lydia replied, smiling and turning to leave.
Mickaela blocked Lydia's exit. She didn't say a word. She just stood there, glaring icily.
Lydia frowned in confusion. "Is there a problem?" she asked, finally uncomfortable enough to speak.
"Nope, no problem," Mickaela said as she moved out of the way. "No problem at all."
Lydia looked at Lilian, trying to make sense of why Mickaela was being so hostile towards her, but Lilian just waved goodbye. Lydia shrugged and left without another word.
As soon as the bell chimed and the door swung closed, Mickaela spoke up. "That your grandma?" she scoffed.
"No. Just someone I've been seeing," Lilian said simply.
Mickaela's eyebrows shot up. "Oh… someone you've been… you've been seeing," she repeated, tripping over her words. "What do you even do together? Does that little old lady give you candies from her purse and take you shopping for Christmas sweaters?"
"No. We mostly just fuck," Lilian answered coldly. "Like you and Andy." The redhead got out of her chair and walked off in a huff.
That shut Mickaela up for the rest of the day.
Before Mickaela could stop herself, she'd followed Lilian all the way across town to a lesbian bar. Outside the bar, she leaned against the alley wall and stared at Lilian and Lydia through the window.
Empty beer cans were piled around her feet, and she eagerly downed another one. She didn't want to watch Lilian having fun with that old bitch while she was sober.
Mickaela didn't know why it bothered her so much. She refused to think too hard about the situation. All she knew was that it made her angry.
When Lilian and Lydia finally left the bar, they were laughing and joking around with each other. Mickaela threw her beer can to the ground and stomped over to them.
"Mickaela," Lilian said with a surprised little smile on her face. "What are you doing here?"
Mickaela didn't respond. She just stood there awkwardly, scratching her nose with her thumb.
"Oh, I get it now," Lydia said. "This is the girl from the store. She's your girlfriend, right?"
Mickaela flinched.
"Go ahead. Invite her to my place if you want. There's plenty of room for everyone," Lydia continued.
That was it.
Mickaela violently banged her head against Lydia's and the woman let out a cry of pain as she was pushed to the ground.
"The fuck did you call me, dyke?" she screamed.
Lilian sighed. "Mickaela," she said warningly, not a single trace of panic or surprise in her voice. "Stop it. Calm down."
Mickaela didn't listen to her. She kept kicking the older woman's crumpled up form over and over, until Lilian finally used her ROTC moves to swiftly punch her in the neck.
Mickaela toppled over in surprise.
"Hey!" a voice shouted in the distance.
They both looked up and saw everyone on the street staring at them. Two cops began running towards them.
"Shit!" Mickaela said, scrambling to her feet. "Come on, Gallagher. Let's go!"
Lilian looked back at Lydia, who was still in shock, clutching her bleeding nose on the ground. "Are you okay?" she asked.
"Gallagher!" Mickaela yelled out in warning.
"I gotta go," Lilian said to the older woman apologetically. She ran after Mickaela, away from the cops and away from Lydia.
They ran until no one was chasing them anymore, smiling at each other and laughing from the adrenaline. Mickaela beamed at the taller girl. A rare, genuine smile lit up on her face. Their relationship was fucked up, but it was the most fun that they'd ever had.
Lilian had made her choice, and it was Mickaela. For the moment, they still had each other, so maybe being a little jealous wasn't such a bad thing.