☆

"JESUS," LIP BREATHED OUT a puff of smoke nervously as he paced. The four of them were loitering outside of the meeting room after it ended, Amara glanced up from the strand of hair she was braiding out of boredom. "What do you think they're doing in there?"

"Banging it out," Amara replied. Lip rolled his eyes.

"Discussing the merits of the case," Youens answered.

"Or they went to lunch to make you sweat," Ian added, smirking. Lip let out a chuckle.

"Also a possibility," Youens agreed.

"I'm supposed to pick up Liam from school today," Ian mused, and Lip nodded.

"I have a class," Youens stood, grabbing his briefcase.

"Want me to see if Debs can do it?" Ian asked, watching as Lip got more anxious.

"No," he shook his head. "No, No. I'm fine. You know. Good either way, for real."

"Well, I should go," Youens stated, looking to Lip. "Thanks for showing up."

"Thank you for..." Lip trailed off, shaking his hand. "Thank you."

Youens met Amara's gaze. "This is Amara huh? I've heard a lot about you.

"Don't-" Lip went to interrupt, but Amara raised a brow.

"What has he said about me?"

Youens smiled smugly and glanced between her and Ian. "Good job today, you two."

Amara waited until the professor was gone before turning to Lip and smacking him in the stomach "What have you said about me?"

"Nothing bad," he held up his hands in surrender. "Promise. Said you were a sex god and-" She smacked his stomach again. "Okay! Alright, Jesus. Fuck, I've never been this nervous in my life."

Amara leaned against the wall of the building and crossed her arms, squinting at the sunlight. "I think we made compelling arguments in your case. I'm sure everything will be fine. If not, I will kick their asses."

Lip smiled weakly. "Knew I could count on you."

She sighed and looked around the campus. "I'm thinking about applying to Patsy's."

Lip stubbed out his cigarette. "Why? Place is a shithole."

"I need the money," she replied. "Pool is closed down for the season."

He lifted his gaze back up. "Do you get to keep the uniform?"

She rolled her eyes, but felt a smile tugging at her mouth. "Yes."

"Thank fuck. At least I have that image in my head incase all of this goes south. Then again, I don't think sitting in a meeting room with a boner is a good idea."

Amara kicked a rock at his feet, grinning now. "Shut up, pervert. I'm supposed to be mad at you. Mad at you for getting expelled in the first place, mad at you for dumping me and stomping all over my heart. And I should hate you for what you said."

Lip was looking at the ground now. "Do you?"

"Hate you?"

"Yeah."

"Nah. Not even close," she admitted honestly, surprised at how true it was, and how much she wished it to be different. "I want to. But I don't think I ever could."

"I really am sorry," he glanced back up. "I'm doing everything I can to make it up to you. Even if it'll take years I'll never stop trying."

"I don't hate you," Amara repeated, shrugging. "But I'm still hurt by what you did and said. And I don't know how long it'll take for me to really get over it. You shouldn't have to wait for me."

"I would wait a lifetime for you," he said quietly, and then straightened and cleared his throat, almost looking embarrassed. She would've smirked at him if it hadn't been for the flutter in her chest. "I know I really fucked up the first chance I got with you. And I'm not saying you'll give me another one, because I'd totally you know- get it if you didn't, but I promise that if you do I'll be better. Like I said in the panel. I wasn't just talking about school."

You also promised you'd never hurt me again, she wanted to say, but that seemed pointless. She had scolded Lip for blaming Fiona when she went downhill, and told him nobody was perfect. But that applied to everyone, including Lip. Maybe it was time to let go of that small gut wrenching feeling of hate she got in her stomach whenever he was around. Because Amara was right, no one was perfect.

She cocked her head to the side. "Wanna have a bad movie binge session tonight?" Like old times. Before all of this.

A smile formed at his mouth. "Yeah, sure. I'll even buy the good popcorn."

"Mr. Gallagher?" Keegan called from the doorway of the meeting room. Both their heads snapped in the direction of the voice. "We're ready for you now."

Lip did his best to hide it, but she could tell he was absolutely terrified. She reached down, and for the briefest of moments, squeezed his hand, before following after the provost.

Once they were settled back into their seats, Keegan did a scan between them, and raised an eyebrow. "Is Professor Youens—"

"Oh, he had a class," Lip explained, folding his jacket over his lap anxiously.

"Oh," Keegan nodded. "All right. So, we have carefully weighed your testimony and the testimony of the witnesses that you brought," he glanced to Amara. "We admire the efforts that you have made to get your drinking under control. And we agree with Professor Youens, you have a bright future if you set your mind to it."

Lip ducked his head an chuckled nervously. "Yeah."

"But..."

Fuck.

Amara straightened in her seat and felt her teeth gnaw at her lower lip. That was never a good thing.

"Under sections 3, 4, 5 of the non-academic bylaws, we stand by your expulsion and we will not expunge the incident from your official transcript."

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"My life is over," Lip grumbled from the floor as Amara walked back into her bedroom. She sighed and placed the popcorn onto her nightstand before falling down next to him. "I can't believe I fucked up this bad."

"Maybe if you had some hot ex-girlfriend who continuously told you not to be stupid..." She tried to joke, and nudged his foot with her leg, but he didn't even crack a smile. "Lip, I know it sucks but it's really not the end of the world. You'll still have great job opportunities with the year and a half of college on your resume."

He scrubbed a hand over his face. "Which will read right under it: expelled."

She stared up at the ceiling, struggling to figure out what to say. "It'll get better."

"I keep thinking that. I've hit rock bottom but somehow I'm still going down. I fucked up with you. I fucked up with Fiona. Fucked up with college, and probably with the rest of my life. It can't get better."

Amara pushed herself up to grab the popcorn, and pulled it into her lap. Lip's eyes were closed, and with a small grin she opened his mouth to put a kernel in it. He scrunched his nose and peaked an eye open at her.

She repeated the cycle until he was no longer scowling, and even managed to spot the glimpse of the tiniest smile on his face. At one point, he had his mouth filled with popcorn, and when she tried to add another, he laughed, and it shot out around her room. She couldn't remember a time when she'd been so breathless with laughter. And it was almost like nothing had changed.

"Look at that," Lip snorted. "I'm already leaving ways to remember me in this room."

"Yes, I absolutely adore having your spit on my carpet."

Lip propped himself onto his elbows and shook his head. "Yeah, who wouldn't?"

She knocked his shoulder with a snicker. "Shut up. Hey, you still wanna watch those movies?"

Lip eyed the bucket. "I don't think there's any popcorn left."

"Yeah because you threw it everywhere with your mouth. I'm gonna be finding popcorn in my room for months."

"You started it."

Amara rolled her eyes, grabbed a kettle from the floor, and chucked it at his forehead. "And I'll finish it, too."

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