Lincoln stood at his table in the coffee shop slicking back his hair for the fifth time that hour. His heart was beating a mile a minute, and he needed to prepare himself for the upcoming event that awaited him. For that day, his old sweetheart from four years past, Paige, was coming to reconnect with him. He believed that this was the only chance he had at finally obtaining the ultimate prize: hooking up with his crush from so long ago.

It wasn't easy for the Loud boy. All throughout Bio, he kept playing through multiple pathways an invitation to a coffee shop would play out. Some outcomes ending wonderfully with others becoming absolute train wrecks. And when the bell for lunch rang, Lincoln crept him way towards Paige, sending a friendly hello her way. Naturally, the girl turned to meet him, and he was almost immediately dumbstruck as to what he was supposed to say next. And so he, quite pitifully, winged it and stammered out almost every cheesy pickup line in the book before ending with a not so strong invite to the local coffee joint across the block. All the other girls around him started to snicker at his amateurish performance, as the albino began to feel an onslaught of pure embarrassment fill his cheeks.

However, Paige simply giggled charmingly at her admirer's…unique display of affection. And in a completely unexpected move, she actually accepted Lincoln's offer, saying that she was free from 10 to 4 that day. Lincoln, resisting the urge to pee himself from excitement, almost immediately said that 3 would be a great time. She agreed and went off to talk with her girlfriends, all while they looked at him with giggles filling their voices. At the end of it all, the young teen felt a huge breeze of relief fill his veins, as he screamed out into the heavens shouts of happiness and pure bliss.

And all of that had preceded a new form of trepidation as the clock struck 3. Lincoln checked his watch as the minute hands moved inch by inch at an agonizingly slow pace. 3:05. 3:10. 3:15. He began to think that perhaps Paige had played him for a fool, and that he should just cut his losses and save himself from embarrassment. But just about he was about to step away from the table, what he saw then made his heart nearly jump straight out of his throat.

Paige had just walked through the door, wearing an orange dress with a marigold trim, dangling a petite purse from her arm. Needless to say, Lincoln felt a whole new wave of shame flow through him. Here she was coming in with that kind of clothing when all he had were a pair of blue jeans and a long sleeve polo. He almost felt like running straight to the bathroom and praying to God that somebody left some more formal clothes in there.

But he had no time for something as miraculous as that, as before he even knew it, Paige was right there, sitting across from him.

"Hey, Lincoln! Long time no see," Paige said with an exuberant flair. Filled with even more fright, the white haired teen sat straight up with sweat flowing down his cheeks.

"Oh! Uh…hi, Paige!" he said. "W-What brings you here?"

Paige giggled at her companion's words. "Don't you know, dummy? You were the one that invited me here."

At the sound of her response, Lincoln internally kicked himself numerous times over. 'GAH! You idiot. Of course you knew why she was here! Are you TRYING to mess this up?!' At the end of her makeshift self-loathing session, he looked back up to his crush and tried to sport a confident smile. "Oh, uh…I guess that…uh…kinda slipped mind. Ahahahaha…" Desperate for absolutely anything to latch onto, he spoke: "So how have you been these last few years?"

"Mmm…same as anyone else," she replied. "A few moves, gaining a learner's permit, a couple of clubs. Things like that."

"O-Oh. You've been to a couple of clubs?" he asked, almost like it was a kneejerk reaction. "What were some of them?"

At the sound of his inquiry, she began to talk about herself, the one thing girls seemingly love to do. "Okay, there was this art and crafts club that I just recently got into a few months ago. I didn't even want to do it; I was guilt tripped in by my Mom. But I found that I was actually really good at it. I mean, seriously. I didn't even know my hands could work with clay as well as they did. And now almost every shelf in my house is filled with so many pots and vases. Mom always cries when she looks at them. I think it might because of how I'm 'making her so proud' and also because of how she doesn't have any room for her perfume samples. And then I went into-"

All too suddenly, Lincoln felt like he had a whole new danger to worry about. But this was also a good thing. Maybe while Paige was busy talking about herself endlessly, he could use that time to think of some new questions to ask her straight out of his pants. But just as he felt the brainstorm process begin to take place, his pondering was interrupted by Paige's jubilant query. "What about you? What clubs are you into?"

"Wha-?" Lincoln responded with a jump. "Oh, well, I kind of…" As he scoured him memory banks for an answer, he found himself drawing a complete blank. "Um…I actually don't have any."

"What? Why not?" she inquired with a raise of her eyebrow.

"I dunno. It's just that…well, I know there are clubs out there that I would like. It's…it's just that…" Lincoln felt his arm subconsciously grab his shoulder. "I don't really have any interest in joining any of them."

Paige leaned over the table before eyeing Lincoln with a stern expression. "Well, that's no way to live a life, ya loner."

Lincoln leaned back, almost falling over and breaking the chair's legs. "H-huh? What do you mean?"

"Linc, clubs were one of the best things that have ever happened to me. You know how we used to play at Gus's Games and Grub when we were younger? Well, I found this club that is chock full of gamers just like us." Paige then gave Lincoln a small business card with the phrase "Radical Gamers" written out in impact font as well as multiple Space Invader enemies as a phone number sprawled all around it. "You should join us!"

From that line, Lincoln felt as if he'd been struck by the life lesson stick. He'd always been content with playing video games on the side, but to play them with other people at a set time? It may have been completely out of the blue but…it actually felt quite nice in his mind.

"H-Hey, thanks!" Lincoln exclaimed before shoving the card into his pocket. "But what did you mean by how clubs were one of the best things that have happened to you?"

Paige then began to lose a bit of her smile and sit back down in her chair. "Well…I guess it kind of helped me get out of my comfort zone a little bit."

Lincoln's curiosity was piqued at that last remark, as he leaned in to listen to Paige's tale.

"Yeah, I wasn't always the social butterfly I was today. Back then, I…kinda was bit of a loner like you are right now." At that point, Paige's smile had disappeared entirely, leaving all but a miniscule frown. "I always was kinda just…there along with the crowd. I never really wanted to find any real friends outside of a few guys just to wave 'Hey,' to every now and then. All that time, I felt like that was all I ever really needed in my life. But then, when I got high school, I saw all these people doing the exact things I did. I felt like I could be with people who enjoyed my company. And thus, I joined the Radical Gamers. And let me tell you something. I've never felt happier." At the end of her speech, she felt her smile return as she looked up to the ceiling with a content look in her eyes.

As for Lincoln, he felt that he'd experienced an otherworldly sense of calmness rush through his body. Almost everyone of fear of screwing up had almost completely disappeared. Because in that moment, he felt valued. He felt that someone chose him as important enough to vent their troubles to. And the feeling gave the white haired boy a warm feeling within his heart.

But in the middle of his newfound state of relaxation. He heard certain sound break their silence.

-RING!- -RING!-

"Oh! Sorry, Linc. I gotta take this!" Paige said while reaching into her purse and bringing out her phone. But what happened after that was the bombshell of that entire meeting.

"Hello? Oh, hey, Brandy! Are you almost ready for our date?"

Lincoln's ears almost ripped out from those fateful words. Paige had a "Brandy"? And they were going on a date?! He felt as if his effort were all for absolutely nothing. His heart began to sink into the pit of his stomach at the thought of him having wasted an entire session of romantic rehearsal on someone who was already taken.

However, even with his chances of gaining a girlfriend seemed all but diminished, he didn't feel all that despaired, and he didn't even know why until he heard Paige say:

"Yeah! Right now, I catching up with a friend of mine. But I might actually have to be a half hour late."

"A friend." That phrase kept on repeating in his mind over and over again. He hadn't thought about it until now, but a pertinent question came up in the middle of his reflection. Did Lincoln…think of Paige as more than a love interest?

As he looked back on everything that had happened up to this point, he began to remember how Paige vented all of her past insecurities onto him, and how he felt like he was worth something. He felt like she wouldn't have done something like that if she didn't think of him as a…

'Could it be…that I?' Lincoln looked back towards Paige, and began to see not a pretty young flower…

…but a person just like him. A true friend.

It felt surreal to Lincoln, but it almost seemed like he didn't care that she was off the market. All that mattered to him…was the soul of someone who actually gave a dang about him.

Through his whole epiphany, he'd failed to notice that Paige had finished her phone call and was now watching him stare into space.

"Uh, Linc? You alright there?" she asked with a dash of worry.

Lincoln almost immediately looked back at her with a concrete sense of confidence flowing through him. He may have been amateurish at all of the junk about romance. But with making friends? Oh, he knew just how to make people interested in his life.

"Hey, Paige. Have I ever told you about the many, MANY, misadventures of me and my ten sisters?"

Paige's eyes widened in surprise. "Wait…WHAT?"

Paige found her eyes pooling with tears of laughter, as Lincoln continued to talk about just how hectic life in a family as big as his could be.

"So then, we're all at each other's necks fighting for a seat of all things. And the next thing we know, the entire van is gone. Just…GONE! Metal, gears, transmissions. Everything!"

"Oh my God. This family of yours sound so…so…ppfffttt BWAAHAHAHAHA!" Paige laughed once more for about 2 minutes straight before finally composing herself. "I mean, really though. How in the world can you even put up with all of those sisters of yours? I probably would've been driven insane after just an hour with them if your stories are anything to go by."

Lincoln only shook his head and chucked. "It's all about having a plan, Paige. Without one, you probably wouldn't even be able to go to the bathroom. But that ain't to saying living with them is all grief. I love all of them, and they love me. And even though we get on each other's nerves time to time, I know for a fact that we'll always have each other's backs through thick and thin. That's what being in the Loud House is all about."

Paige found nothing funny about that line. Instead, she only smiled. "Wow. That sounds really sweet. I actually feel kinda envious of you, Linc. I mean, I myself only have a big brother who's already getting married this next month."

"Oh, don't worry. I know the feeling; my sister is begging her boyfriend to marry her as soon as humanly possible." The two laughed once more before settling in for one last say. "You know, I had a lot of fun here, Paige."

"Same here, Lincoln. And…thanks for listening to me. I don't always like to get so personal about myself. You really know how to-"

-Ping-

"Huh?" Paige paused to look at her phone. "O-OH! MY DATE!" She then began to scramble all of her belongings into her purse and prepared herself to run out the door. "Sorry for the bail, Linc, but I really gotta get going."

"Oh, please, don't let me hold you." Lincoln replied with a smile. "But we should get together again sometime."

"You got a deal! Now buh bye!" And with that, Paige was off with a quick paced scamper. Lincoln then decided to take his own leave, leaving a five-dollar bill as a tip.

As Lincoln put his hands in his pockets and walked down the street to head back home, he felt a sense of satisfaction grow inside of him. He may not have gotten what he originally sought after, but he got the next best thing: a real friend. And he wouldn't have it any other way.

And for the first time in his life, he felt happy to be in the friend zone.