"Someone's less depressing than usual today." Lynn commented as Lucy had practically floated into their bedroom. "What gives?"
Lucy looked down at her older sister in all the glory of her baggy Detroit University t-shirt and athletic shorts, her hair haphazardly twisted into some sort of a messy bun held together with a pencil, and splashes of glue, not to mention pieces of glue-smothered newspaper, had somehow attached themselves all over her legs, a stray piece stuck on her freckle-covered cheek. Lucy took a minute to look down at what Lynn was trying to do, and sighed loudly. The older girl currently sat on the floor trying to make a paper-mache football for the art class she told Lucy last night that she regretted taking (even though it was a graduation requirement), however Lynn's product bore almost no resemblance to a football. It sort of looked like a very oddly shaped dolphin, if Lucy squinted at it. Even with nearly eighteen years of life experience under her belt Lynn had almost no artistic talent except for the ability to make a mess of their floor.
"Rocky." Lucy said, pulling on the strings of her hoodie nervously as she waited for Lynn to look up. She mentally prepared herself for the worst, before taking a deep breath and deciding that she was in fact going to tell Lynn what had happened. Granted, she was practically waiting for her sister's 'boyfriend' taunts to whir around in Lynn's brain and spew out of the athlete's mouth as if on cue. Lucy looked down at her combat boots, sighing again. Maybe this wasn't a good idea.
"Hm?" Lynn mumbled, looking up from her mess of an art project. Obviously she hadn't been paying any attention, Lucy concluded, and she glared at her sister through her bangs. It wasn't like Lynn could tell. "You'd better not be insulting my football."
"It looks like a slowly dying ferret, but that isn't what I wanted to talk about." Lucy replied, and Lynn turned towards her sister, folding her hands on top of her crossed legs.
"Okay. Try me." Lynn directed, raising an eyebrow. "You okay, Luce? You seem out of it. Sorta...happy-ish. Did turning thirteen do something weird to your brain?"
Lucy shook her head in disdain. Lynn was obviously just trying to help, but she had trouble understanding matters of the heart. Lucy shared a room with a girl whose only 'true love', so to speak, was wrestling and meatball sandwiches. This had nothing to do with age, and Lucy knew she probably did seem a little strange, but there was a real reason for that. She'd kissed Rocky in a stupid spur-of-the-moment decision. Maybe thirteen was a little young to believe in love, but Lucy had been accustomed to liking someone (or a bust of a fictional dead man) since she was practically a baby. The first girl in her class with a boyfriend, and yet peer pressure drove her to doing something that she'd never even thought about up until that week.
"Helloooooo." Lynn waved a hand in front of her dazed little sister's face. "You wanted older sister advice, right?" Lucy was pulled from her thoughts, and watched as Lynn slapped another piece of wet newspaper onto her creation. Maybe she wasn't giving Lynn enough credit...but as far as Lucy knew her sister had never even thought about wanting a boyfriend, much less kissing anyone. She didn't really want romantic advice from someone so un-romantic, but her other choice was Lola, so there was no way that was happening.
"I did something stupid and I don't know how to fix it." Lucy mumbled, sitting down on the floor next to Lynn. Her older sister's chocolate eyes went wide, and her facial expression contorted to a consoling one Lucy didn't see very often.
"What did you do?" Lynn asked breathlessly. From knowing this particular sister so well, Lucy knew she must be thinking about cheating or sports or something equally as frivolous. Lynn's mind would never automatically divert to romance.
Lucy crossed her legs, tilting her head down and messing with a tear in her dark jeans. "I...I k...kissed Rocky." she admitted, and if possible Lynn's eyes got even wider.
"What? Why?" Lynn replied, patting a spot on the floor closer to her. "Are you okay?"
Lucy scooted over hesitantly, still unable to look up. She clasped her hands together, pressing her black fingernails into the pale skin. "I don't know." Lucy mumbled in reply. "I guess because some girl named Heather told me I was the only girl in the eighth grade who'd never kissed anyone. And she didn't believe that Rocky and I were..."
Lucy leaned her head up against her sister's shoulder, and Lynn looked at her pitifully. "I've been there. Well...not there, exactly, but close enough to there." Lynn mumbled in reply. "But Luce, what's important is that you're happy. Not Heather what's-her-face who probably only told you that because she's never kissed anyone either." Lucy was dumbfounded. Lynn could give romantic advice? What was happening? Wasn't this the girl who just last year gave Lucy a lecture on how stupid boys were? "So, now I'm interested. What happened? Y'know, when you..." Lynn made an obscure hand gesture, and Lucy sighed loudly.
"It happened, and Rocky ran over towards his friends." Lucy shrugged. "I think he hates me now. I'm doomed to live an eternal loveless life in the fiery depths of hell, tormented by the mistakes of my past."
Lynn stifled a laugh. "Just because you kissed one boy doesn't mean you're going to die. And definitely not that hell part. You're just being dramatic. Y'know, I think Rocky probably liked it." Lucy felt her sister poking her arm, knowing that the teasing was about to start.
"Really?" Lucy asked monotonously, trying to hide her red cheeks under her bangs. "Why would he like it?"
Lynn rolled her eyes. "Oh, because he's been oh-so head over heels in love with you since he was eight? You lead the guy on for five years, you weirdo!" Her sister's words began to resonate in her mind, and Lucy let out a long, dramatic sigh.
"He has?" she asked, and Lynn loudly groaned, shaking her head in disdain.
"You're killing me here." she sighed. "Your little boyfriend really, really likes you. Y'know I found him up here in our room the last time he was over checking out your fake vampire teeth collection, and he screamed like a little girl when he realized I saw him." Lucy quietly laughed at the thought of Lynn walking in to Rocky looking at vampire teeth, and realized her sister must have been keeping this in for a while, since Rocky hadn't been over since before Luan had left for performing arts school.
"Why do you know so much about this?" Lucy asked, and Lynn made a face, sticking a piece of wet newspaper to her art piece.
"Maybe because I've been in the same situation, I guess. Except I was fifteen. And it was probably stupid to walk up to a random senior football player who I barely knew and profess my 'undying love' but Luna and Luan don't exactly give great romantic advice." Lynn broke out laughing. "Oh, I just realized how stupid that really was. At least you did something semi-normal."
"You never said anything about that." Lucy replied, and Lynn shrugged.
"That's 'cause it wasn't important. Boys are just distracting anyways." Lynn punched Lucy's arm lightly. "But obviously some people liiiiike being distracted."
"You don't think he's mad at me?" Lucy asked, and Lynn waved it off.
"You kidding? That poor kid's been waiting to kiss you since third grade!" Lucy let that sink into her mind, and in spite of herself let a small smile cross over her lips for a split second. Her older sister smacked a piece of newspaper on top of her project, sitting back and proclaiming, "Done!"
She was most certainly not done, not if she wanted that to be a football, but Lucy didn't say anything. It wasn't her place to comment on Lynn's obscure art project.
Maybe she'd misjudged her sister earlier. Not on the football and/or possibly wet sock, that was atrocious. Her advice had actually worked wonders in helping Lucy feel better, and it helped to know that she wasn't the only one with an awkward romantic story.