Chapter 34): Frank Gallagher: Loving Husband, Devoted Father (1)

Chapter 34): Frank Gallagher: Loving Husband, Devoted Father (1)

(Aged Carl just for some more believable things, everyone else is the same though)

{I own nothing but my own ideas and OC characters.}

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Carl arrived home Monday afternoon, he had a great weekend chilling with the Winston family, they ended up taking them to an arcade after the amazing win with the rest of the team, even the Golden State Warriors were there. Instead of having them sign his hat like the bulls did he had them sign a jersey for him, they were also able to secure the second place they were fighting for.

After that it was just a weekend filled with Carl and Jordan hanging out his houses though they did go out to the country club again to practice basketball and work out, he did spend some time with Kassidi too. He had noticed Jordan being nicer to her which made him smile, he was glad that he was doing that.

Kassidi had been extra clingy but neither of them mind as at least she wasn't going overboard and yelling so it was better then what they were use to, she didn't blow up at the littlest thing. She did glare at a couple of girls who were trying to talk to them though, he was just glad instead of blowing up she just hugged his arm close, basically marking her territory.

Carl found it cute, he didn't say anything to her either as they were talking to the other pre-teens around them, he even took the time to get some of the girls to talk to her, which was harder then he thought. Eventually he gave up hoping she would just find a friend at school, after they had left Jordan had promised to help her find a friend at school.

Which shouldn't be to hard, there had to be at least one girl who was a loner at school, she could be her friend.

Sighing he put the thought to the back of his mind as he walked into the house, as he did so it was rowdy with everyone walking around doing something, "I'm home!"

"Carl!" They all shouted Debbie and Fiona rushed to give him hugs, with Fiona kissing his forehead.

He smiled when no one could see him, for all the crap he talked and the family put him through he really wouldn't trade them for anything, "So how was your weekend?" Lip asked as he took a seat on the couch with a beer.

"Great! I went to the Bulls vs. Warrior game, it was fun." He said smiling setting his bag to the side, he didn't tell them about the signed stuff not wanting one of them to accidentally spill the beans to Frank. It would be sold in no time that way.

"No shit. Where did you guys sit?" Ian asked, this was actually one of the few times Carl caught him at home he was usually out.

"Court side." Carl said shrugging he wasn't trying to brag or anything he was just telling them his weekend.

"That awesome Carl. I hope you had a fun time there." Fiona said with a smile as she reached over and ruffled his hair.

"Yeah it was fun. They invited me to watch the play off games too, I have to wait to see though. Make sure it doesn't interfere with anything school related." Carl said brushing it off, really he needed to see if Sophia wanted to upload any videos.

He had made two simple lyrics videos to go with the other two songs so they were posted to, this weekend Sophia was suppose to come up with ideas for their first video that would introduce them, he just had to check with her. If she had anything going on that would be the same time as the playoffs he wouldn't be able to go.

He really hoped the Bulls weren't knocked out in the first round.

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"How was your weekend?" Sophia asked as they were leaving the school two days later, it was a half day thanks to cutbacks at the school. Something in the past he would be thankful for, now he just saw it as he wasn't getting a proper education.

"Fun. Got to go to a basketball game, stayed up late playing video games and worked on my basketball skills." Carl said all nonchalant.

"Oh look at you living it up on the Northside. Hope you don't feel to embarrassed hanging out with us lowly Southside kids." She giggled while swinging their hands which she was holding.

Carl rolled his eyes, "Please, I know where I am from. You don't have to worry about that."

"As long as you don't leave me behind, don't want you to forget about little old me while hanging with your cool country club friends." She giggled.

Carl would have missed it if he hadn't turned to look at her at that moment but he saw the view of her face as she said that, he saw the worry flash on her eyes as she really did believe that he would be leaving her behind. He squeezed her hand causing her to look at him, he smiled, "Don't worry about that Sophia, we are going to stay friends forever, I can feel it."

Comforted she nodded and went back to her skipping next to him, "So I thought as a first video we could introduce ourselves then do a little skit of something funny, what do you think?"

"What about showing our lives and stuff?" He asked confused.

"Well I have been thinking on that, and I figured that we couldn't do anything really great like that yet without our parents. So I figured we could just do funny little sketches and stuff until then." She reasoned.

Carl nodded, a lot of the things they did plan were things that would need parents permission, sure there was some small things they could do themselves but they weren't as fun as things they could do when they were older, "Okay, so have you thought of a skit then?" He asked.

She shook her head, "Nope, I have been waiting for you. I figured we could brain storm it together then we could pan it all out. My dad gave me five hundred as the budget for our first video so it needs to be good."

Carl nodded, some ideas were coming to his head but he knew he would need to come out of the park with something on the first try, they would need it to be funny rather then something serious. After they got down how funny they could be they could try for more serious things, from there the channel could grow from just doing skits to doing everything they had planned.

"My dad has been talking..." She said bringing his attention from what he had been thinking about.

"Oh? About what?" He asked as they turned a corner just to see Lip and basically everyone else from the neighborhood robbing me at off a truck.

".....About sending me to Saint Michael's Academy. He said he has been saving since I was born, and believes that by the time I get to the high school section he will even have enough to send my sister Hailey." She said softly but it might as well been yelling to him.

Carl felt his chest get tight, it was true that he had grown closer to Jordan and Kassidi, but Sophia was his first real friend and while she may continue to live on the Southside he knew things would change if she went to that school. They would be put on different paths when that happens, not even having a YouTube channel together would keep them as close.

For the first time since coming to this world Carl felt alone, though he tried to play it off, "Really?!? That's great news right? You get to go to a better school and have a better chance at life." He said smiling at her.

Sophia frowned as they stopped, Carl noticing stopped beside her, "Do you really think it's great Carl? We wouldn't see each other as much."

He sighed showing his downcast face as he smiled sadly at her, "What am I suppose to say Sophia? In the end your dad might send you there, you could hold him off for another year to finish middle school but he will want you there for high school, ours isn't the best after all."

She nodded while looking like a kicked adorable puppy, "But you will miss me right?"

He chuckled lightly bringing her into a tight hug, "Of course I would. At the moment we don't need to worry about that though as it hasn't happened, plus it isn't like you are moving away we could still see each other after school."

She nodded on his chest as she held him tighter, the two stood there for a moment collecting themselves before pulling apart, some tears were at the corner of Sophia's eyes but she was still smiling, "You're right. I guess you will have to just spend more nights at my place on weekends when the time comes."

"Oh yeah right, as if your dad would allow that. He would skin me alive before that happens."

"True. But you could be like the bad boy in the movies, you know the one who sneaks into my window." 

"You do realize what they do in those movies right, because he isn't just sneaking into the girls window to talk." Carl said raising a brow at her.

All she did was giggle making him roll his eyes at her, she was such a smartass.