Chapter Three

"Hn… I got a message… And play…" Lincoln said.

"Hey, Lincoln… I'm sorry I'm sending you this message so late. My grandma came over unexpectedly and I can't get out. I'm gonna hafta cancel our date for tonight. Call me tomorrow and I'll be sure to see you soon! Later!" Lincoln sighed.

"What's wrong?"

"AAGH! Damnit, Lucy! Don't sneak up on people like that!" Lincoln protested.

"Sigh." Lucy muttered. "I have a question for you. I have a graduation dance coming up at my elementary school and I wondered if you would go with me."

"What? What about Rocky?"

"He broke up with me a month ago. He's pining after some green eyed redheaded belle… I can't compete." Lucy muttered, seeming depressed.

"Well sure I can go to the dance with you. When is it?" Lincoln asked.

"This Saturday." She replied.

"Whoo… That's kinda short notice… I guess I didn't really have anything planned for that night though.

"Sure… Sounds like fun." Lincoln said. He would get to see his old school again and probably be the tallest kid there. That was a new feeling. Even his own girlfriend was taller than him by half an inch. But she never let him forget that half-inch. He wasn't exactly short. She was just getting pretty tall. Lucy actually smiled, hugging Lincoln tightly.

"Thank you. Wear your darkest suit."

"Right… My darkest suit…" Lincoln said. He had grey pants and a grey dress shirt, but he only had a black tie and a red tie and a grey jacket. Leni had said that grey looked better than black with his color scheme. He had blue-grey eyes that she said looked good with a grey suit. She would have preferred that he get a blue tie, but he bought a black one and a red one. He hoped it still fit. He immediately went up to his room and tried on the suit, relieved that it still fit.

Suddenly, his phone rang. He gasped. It was Ronnie Anne.

"Hey, Ronnie! How's it going?"

"We're still on for this Saturday, right?" Ronnie asked. Lincoln immediately ran to his calendar.

"Our anniversary!" Lincoln shouted, a little too loudly. Even from across the room, Ronnie heard him.

"You didn't forget, did you?" She asked.

"O-of course not… Listen… Can we switch our date to Friday? I wasn't thinking and I promised Lucy I would go to her school dance with her. She is graduating from elementary school." Ronnie was quiet for a few seconds… Then ten seconds… Then thirty. Lincoln was starting to worry she was angry.

"That's not a graduation! She's moving from the sixth grade to the seventh grade!"

"She's moving to a new school and she's scared that she won't fit in in middle school and her boyfriend broke up with her recently. I think she's more upset about it than she's letting on. Please, Ronnie? Come on. What would you do if it was your cousin who asked you to do that for him?" Ronnie sighed.

"I guess I would do the same thing. Alright, Lincoln. For you… But you'd better be at the restaurant this Friday… On time! And not in your usual tacky orange shirt!" Ronnie snapped. Lincoln nodded. He thought she liked his orange shirt. He had some nicer polo shirts that he could wear instead, though.

Friday. That only gave him a day to prepare. Friday was tomorrow. But it would be worth it. He could meet both his obligations that weekend. He had gone to his own dance with Ronnie Anne… Just as friends, of course, and Ronnie got adorably angry when anyone suggested that she was his girlfriend. She had looked beautiful in a blue cotton dress. Unfortunately, it rained that night and the dress shrank after that so she couldn't wear it again. She was a little angry since she liked that dress.

Her grandmother had bought it for her specifically for the dance saying that the boys would go crazy for her… Well, at least one boy did that night. That was the night he asked her out. She actually said yes… After they got back to her house so that nobody would see or hear the conversation. Bobby had given Lincoln the business after that about how he better treat her right or he would be after Lincoln. He couldn't believe he almost forgot their anniversary again. He wrote it down specifically so he wouldn't.

He pulled out a blue polo shirt and khaki pants to wear the next day, looking at the clock. It was odd. He felt there was something Lucy wasn't telling him. Maybe he could talk to her. He got up and went to her room, knocking on the door.

"Hey, Stincoln! What's up!" Lynn said in her usual loud tone. She really had no indoor voice.

"Can you give me a minute to talk to Lucy?"

"Yeah, sure. I need to go for my evening run anyway." Lynn said.

"What's your speed these days?"

"38 mph! It's not fast enough though! I need to get it up to 40 by this Christmas!" Lynn said intensely.

"Why? You already leave most of the cars driving down our street in the dust. The speed limit here is 30. You beat the pants off of cars. How much faster do you need to be?"

"There's no such thing as fast enough! No such thing as strong enough, or flexible enough! Once you start saying 'good enough' you stop getting better! No compromises! No limits! No stopping!" Lynn shouted, leaping from the window and rolling to mitigate her fall and setting into a sprint immediately.

That was actually one of the more intense conversations he had had, even with Lynn. She was well known for having no setting lower than 7 and she was usually on 9 or 10, even in her sleep, she had extreme dreams. Apparently, doing extreme sports in the waking world wasn't enough for Lynn Loud Jr. Lincoln walked into Lucy's room, sitting down.

"I feel like you're hiding something from me, Luce. What's wrong?"

"N-nothing… You don't need to worry about it." She said. Lincoln sighed, putting a hand on Lucy's shoulder. "But I do worry about it. I'm your brother. It's my job to be concerned about you when something seems wrong." He replied.

"Well… My motives for asking you to the dance aren't entirely pure. I often talked to Rocky about how great you were and I kind of want to make him jealous."

"You want to make Rocky jealous, so you ask your brother to take you to the dance?" Lincoln asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes. Surely the thought that even a blood relation is better than him will send him seething into the fiery pits of envy and jealousy." Lucy said. Lincoln wasn't sure he liked where the conversation was going.

"Plus… You are great. You're the best brother a girl could ask for. You're smart, you're sensitive and you can enjoy Vampires of Melancholia and The Dream Boat with us.

"You're the perfect man, Lincoln." Lucy said, hugging Lincoln, her lips pressing on his in a loving kiss. She closed her eyes, sighing happily as she felt the warmth of his body pressed against hers, or rather hers against his.

Lincoln's eyes widened. How hadn't he noticed this? He would've tried to find a way to cut this off sooner if he had. He gently pushed her off of him.

"Lucy… I love you, too… But you're my sister. I don't love you like that. It would be wrong."

"Edgar Allan Poe married his cousin."

"Edgar Allan Poe also died in the 1840s." Lincoln said, tempted to laugh at what he was sure should have been a joke. Lucy nodded, tears stinging her eyes. Lincoln gasped as he saw her shoulders trembling with her tears.

"Lucy… I'm not saying I don't love you… I just… Don't love you like that. Do you still want me to go with you to the dance?" Lincoln asked, sure that was going to bite him in the butt at some point. He had made a promise though, and he wouldn't back out of it. Lucy gasped, blushing.

"More than anything. Will you dance with me, there?"

"Of course. What is a dance for?" Lincoln asked, brushing off her awkwardness. She smiled weakly at him. Her hair blew out of her face for a moment.

"You're not mad at me?"

"Mad at you? For what?"

"For kissing you, of course. For falling in love with you."

"Lucy, I'm not mad at you. I don't think any less of you at all. You're still an amazing and talented person. I have to go. But I promise I'll be there with you for your dance." Lincoln said, sharing a hug with Lucy, who felt extremely relieved that Lincoln was being so understanding. She had been terrified that he would reject her after that, that he would be disgusted with her and would say he never wanted to look at her again. Perhaps a bit overdramatic, but she had an intense imagination.

Lincoln headed over to Leni's room. She was visiting for a while over the summer.

"Hey, Leni?" Lincoln asked, walking in to see her making out with Chaz. He slammed the door just as Leni shoved Chaz away from her.

"Sorry!" He said, hurrying away from her room. He should have known to knock first.

Leni came rushing out after him.

"Linky! Wait! I should have put a tie on my door or something… What is it? Are you alright?"

"You're good at getting gifts for people… What should I get for Ronnie Anne? Our anniversary is on Saturday." Leni squealed happily.

"Like, OM Gosh! That's totes awesome!" She exclaimed. Lincoln nodded.

"Well… How much money do you have?" She asked.

"About fifty dollars in my piggy bank."

"When is your date?" Leni asked.

"Tomorrow. I'm going with Lucy to her dance on Saturday so I had to reschedule Ronnie's and my date."

"Ohh… Lucy finally asked you? That's super! 'Scuse me… Chazzy baby!" She said.

"I'm super sorry! I need to help Linky with something! I totes promise we'll meet again soon!" She said. Chaz agreed and headed out.

"Hey, Linc… Cool to see ya again…" Chaz said, putting his shoes on and heading out. Leni went down with Lincoln, getting in the car with him.

"So… What kinds of things does Ronnie Anne like?" Leni asked.

"Well… She's into karate, soccer, something called boffing, skateboarding and roller skating."

"Alright… Does she like jewelry?"

"Not really. She doesn't even wear earrings… Oh! She mostly teaches herself martial arts… Her family doesn't have a lot of money… It's as big as ours is. So she buys martial arts self-help books with her allowance and her part-time jobs."

"What kind of music does she like?" Leni asked.

"SMOOCH, she and I listen to a lot of the same music."

"OM Gosh! SMOOCH just put out a new album recently… Luna told me… You should totes get it for her!" Leni said. Lincoln laughed. He couldn't believe he hadn't thought of that.

"Sure… That's perfect." Lincoln replied, jumping out of the car at the music store and buying the last SMOOCH CD, taking it to the counter. Ronnie had complained that she hadn't been able to afford the new album. This would be the perfect gift. He paid for it and headed back home, wrapping it as well as he could. He had never been good at wrapping presents. He usually just used tin foil, and this time was no exception. Ronnie said she liked how industrial tin foil wrapping was.

"Plus, then I get to use the wrapping paper as a ball to throw at someone!" She would always say.

"Hey, Boo Boo Bear! So… How's your job going?"

"Huh? Oh… Pretty well…" Bobby replied. Lori scowled. Bobby had been really distracted the entire meal, and he was barely responding to her when she spoke. He wouldn't look her in the eye. They were at a really nice restaurant. He had reserved seats there, no doubt knowing how expensive it was, but now… He wasn't paying attention. He had barely taken three bites of his meal.

"What's wrong, Bobby? You've been really distracted! You won't even look at me… Are you breaking up with me?"

"Huh? What?"

"Forget it!" Lori snapped angrily, standing up and starting to leave. Suddenly, Bobby snapped into action.

"Sorry, Babe! I was distracted… I've been trying to figure out what I should say… I'm not breaking up with you… Th-the opposite… I… Lori… Will you marry me?" Bobby asked, kneeling down and showing her the ring. Lori's eyes were as wide as saucers. Her breath caught in her throat. Was she dreaming?

"Bobby… I… Yes!" Lori said, grabbing Bobby and hugging him tightly.
"I love you, Babe." Bobby said, his forehead resting on hers.

"I love you too, Boo Boo Bear." Lori replied, kissing Bobby tenderly. Finally, the two sat down and finished their dinner.