A Different Kind Of Dysfunction - A Shameless Fanfiction (Book One)

The Gallagher backyard was a junkyard masquerading as a lawn.

There were rusted bikes leaned against the fence, a mattress with a suspicious stain, and a half-dismantled sedan that had been sitting on cinder blocks for longer than anyone could remember.

Lip Gallagher was underneath that car, cursing at a bolt like it had personally offended him.

Sophie Whitman sat on a plastic milk crate nearby, hands shoved into her jacket pockets, watching him work.

She wasn’t really sure how she’d ended up there. One minute she was walking Rory to the Gallaghers’ after school, the next Lip had shouted from under the car, “You know anything about alternators?”

She didn’t.

But she didn’t say no either.

So now here she was, sitting in the February cold, watching him wrestle with engine parts and talk shit to metal.

“Want me to Google it?” she offered.

Lip grunted. “Already did. The internet lied.”

Sophie smirked. “Shocking.”

Lip slid out from under the car and sat up, wiping his hands on a rag that used to be a t-shirt.

He looked like hell — grease smudged on his jaw, flannel open over a stained tank top, eyes bloodshot like he hadn’t slept in two days.

Sophie wasn’t much better.

Same thrift-store jeans she’d worn for three days, hair tucked under a beanie that barely kept the wind out, dark circles making her look older than sixteen.

“You’re Lip, right?” she asked.

“Technically Phillip,” he said. “But if you call me that I’ll set this rag on fire and throw it at you.”

Sophie nodded. “Fair enough.”

“And you’re...?” he asked, narrowing his eyes.

“Sophie. Rory’s sister.”

Lip pointed a greasy finger at her. “Right. You’re the smart one.”

Sophie blinked. “What?”

“Gallagher rumor mill says you’ve got a brain. Like actual genius-level, not just 'can spell their own name' smart.”

Sophie shrugged. “I study. Big deal.”

Lip raised an eyebrow. “You ever think about college?”

Sophie laughed, sharp and short. “Every day. Then I remember we can’t even afford hot water.”

Lip nodded slowly, like he understood. Because he did.

“I got into MIT once,” he said. “Didn’t go.”

Sophie stared. “Seriously?”

“Yup. Full ride. Then my life fell apart and I torched the whole thing.”

Sophie didn’t know what to say to that.

“Why are you working on this car?” she asked instead.

Lip grinned. “Because it’s broken. And fixing broken things gives me the illusion of control.”

Sophie smirked. “At least you’re self-aware.”

He laughed, the sound warm and real.

“Come here,” he said, nodding toward the hood. “I’ll show you what an alternator looks like.”