"Hey, Luan. You all right?"

Lincoln would have gotten home earlier, but he had to help Clyde decorate for some fundraiser coming up soon, and he wound up leaving an hour later than usual. But at least it was Friday.

Of course, when he saw his fourth-eldest sister pouting at the kitchen table, felt compelled to cheer her up. Luan was always in such a good mood, and Lincoln was determined to get to the bottom of things.

"I think I'm a little more to the left today, Linc," the comedienne replied with a melancholic sigh. "Get it?"

Yes, he got it. It wasn't very funny, though he knew she hadn't tried very hard. "What's up with you?" he asked in concern, taking a seat next to her at the table.

"Well, it's…" she began, but she sighed again and stopped herself. "I-I don't think you'd understand."

Curious, Lincoln furrowed his brow. "Try me," he offered.

Luan shrugged. "Oh, fine. You know my friend Giggles?"

Indeed, the boy remembered the date Luan had set him up on with her little clown friend at the Sadie Hawkins dance a few weeks ago. Actually, despite the whole circus getup, Giggles was probably the most tolerable of the three dates he had been stuck with that night. "Yeah, I remember. The girl you set me up with."

Luan nodded. "Right. Um…she told me she was into this guy I like, and…"

Oh, no! Lincoln thought. Not high school drama! Ack, what have I gotten myself into?!

"…he asked her out today, so I kinda flipped my lid on her," she finished.

He rubbed his temples. "Oh, geez. Luan, I'm not—"

"See, I knew you wouldn't get it," Luan said sadly, putting her face in her hands. "I'm sorry, Lincoln…you shouldn't have to be a part of any of this."

"No, wait!" he insisted. "I want to help you. Just…just tell me what happened. What did you do?"

"I…may or may not have dumped a bucket of old chicken soup from the cafeteria on her…and called her a cu…complete and total jerk," the braced girl confessed, removing her hands from her face and smirking a little.

"Complete and total jerk, huh? Right, Luan," Lincoln replied. Though he himself rarely swore, he knew the full list of dirty words as well as anyone else in middle school, and the one beginning with "c" was no exception. Though, that seemed unusual for Luan. She cursed even more rarely than he did. She was just so chipper all the time. She must've been pretty angry.

"Whatever. So I cursed her out. You could say I was steamed, but she was the one covered in soup," Luan quipped half-heartedly.

That actually was kind of funny. "Okay, I think you may have gone a victual too far," Lincoln punned, prompting his sister to give an unenthused, "Heh." Hey, if she's gonna joke about this, then I can, too.

"Good one, Linc," she monotoned. "You're right, I did go too far. But…I don't know, should I make up with her?"

He shrugged. "I dunno, I probably would. The whole thing seems pretty stupid to me." Lincoln had heard his fair share of his many sisters' boy troubles, and though he usually tried to stay out of it because he was rather clueless when it came to romance, fighting over a guy when there were so many others out there was dumb to him. "I mean, forgive me if I don't know what I'm talking about, but there'll be other guys, right?"

"Maybe," Luan said, "but this one's a stand-up comedian! And he's so handsome! Besides, comedians are the only ones who'll give me the time of day, anyway." Her face turned downcast again as she let out another sigh.

"Oh, come on, Luan," he said with a smile. "You can't be serious."

She chuckled in spite of herself. "I'm just a dork who makes puns and pulls pranks all day. What kind of guy would put up with someone like that?"

"Well, I do," Lincoln pointed out, "and I still think you're pretty cool." Realizing what he was implying, he blushed. "I mean, I-I'm not saying I'd date you or anything, 'cause that'd be really weird and stuff, y-you being my sister and everything—"

Luan's face brightened as she watched her adorably stuttering brother's attempt at damage control. "Okay, okay," she said with a small laugh, touching his arm. "I get it. That's…really sweet, Lincoln. Thanks."

"Well, it's true," he insisted. "I mean, you're kind, and smart, and understanding…and you're really funny. I think any guy would be an idiot not to like you."

Now it was Luan's turn to blush. "Really, you think so?"

"Sure," Lincoln answered genuinely, happy he cheered her up. "I wouldn't say it if I didn't mean it. You're awesome, Luan. If that guy at school doesn't think so, then that's his loss."

Luan smiled a huge smile and gave him a kiss on his cheek. "Aww, you're the best." What had she ever done to get such a sweet little brother?

He smiled back. "I know."

So, the comedienne decided that on Monday, she'd apologize to Giggles. After all, it would be silly to lose her best friend over some dumb guy. There would be others. And after she'd get Giggles to forgive her (which, in the end, she did), she'd have to thank Lincoln for keeping their friend-ship afloat.

Suddenly, a thought popped into Lincoln's head. "Wait a minute. Didn't Giggles like Zach?"