A/N Hey guys, welcome to chapter 10! I hope you enjoy the 3rd part to this triple update weekend!
R&R!
Chapter Ten: Roadside Mess-Ups
"Lincoln..." A soft, feminine voice whispers, beckoning the young boy to awaken from his slumber.
*Groan* The boy goes, choosing instead to pull the soft sheets over his body instead. "Five more minutes."
"Lincoln…" It repeats, this time shaking the young boy as it does so. "I need you to get up."
Yet, undeterred from his desire to rest, his nudges the hand away, "Please leave me alone, I wanna sleep."
"I said…" In frustration, the girl grabs the boy's pillow and pulls it right out from under his head, forcing his eyes to jolt open, "Wake up!"
"G'ahh!" The young boy screams as he scampers out of his bed, only to land face-down on the soft carpet below. Yet, still fearful of his safety, he rushes to his feet and takes deep breaths in order to calm himself down, "What the heck?!"
Instead of responding, the voice remains silent, allowing the young boy to take in his surroundings for a moment. Instead of the cheap motel room he has fallen asleep the night prior, he now finds himself standing back in his own room. Crisp morning sunlight flows through the rounded window, illuminating the room, just as it has done countless times prior.
Quickly, he darts his head from side to side, his eyes going wide in confusion, "What the… what's going on?!" Yet, after a moment of looking, he realizes that absolutely nothing is out of place. His comics are exactly where he left them, his room is still painted a dim green and he's just wearing his typical night clothes, "Was that all… a dream?"
And with that, he takes a breath, "What a dream." Before he sits down and rubs his head.
"He-he silly." The voice continues, "That wasn't a dream."
"Wait, what?!" Suddenly, he looks to his side and jumps to his feet once more, allowing his gaze to fall upon a familiar sight- a young, white-haired girl dressed in a simple pink shirt and matching blue skirt, "Sambell?! What are you doing here?!"
"He he." She chuckles, before hopping to her feet and turning toward the young boy, growing ever so slightly as she does so. "I'm here because you've got so much explaining to do little mister!"
"This isn't making any sense! Something is going on!" The boy immediately thinks, backing up as he does so, though given the small size of his room, that isn't very farm, "What reasons?" His voice begins to quiver as if he is trying to feign calm bravery.
The girl puts on a sadistic smile for a moment and leans in close, whispering in the boy's ear, "First, I needed to wake you up. Now I can get you to tell the truth."
Lincoln gulps, "Wake me up for what?" He then quickly looks around, "And what happened to the trip?! We were like, two states over!"
"The trip's over kiddo." The girl then grabs his arm, her voice filling with a poison seemingly uncharacteristic of when he had first met the girl, "And now it's my job to make you tell the truth.
"This, this isn't the girl I met in the hospital! She… she's." Lincoln tries to fight back, only for the girl to pull him closer. "Wh-what do you mean?!" His mind starts to race and yet, he realizes that there is nowhere for him to run.
"Oh, I think you know." The girl's eyes begin to glow red. "The secret that you've been hiding. We all know it, we're just waiting for you to tell us!" She leans in and whispers, "Don't you trust them? They care about you, you know."
"N-no, they don't know." Lincoln stammers, "L-Lori and I-"
Quickly, Sambell places a finger on the boy's mouth, "Enough talk. Your older sister Lori won't be meeting us today."
"W-why?!" Lincoln tries to fight back, only for the girl to easily overpower him, making sure to latch on tightly.
"She has been 'removed' from your family." She snickers, "She decided to not tell everyone about your little 'problem'. She sealed her fate with everyone else, but your sisters have decided to give you another chance."
"H-how do you know?!" The boy tries to fight against the girl, managing to move her hand slightly, loosening her grip on him.
"Because, Lincoln." She stares into his eyes once more, "It is destiny! The stars have dictated it!" Her pupils glow red, while her sclera become a murky black. "You must pay for keeping your sisters in the dark!"
The boy's young heart races in response, "I-I have to get away!" He thinks, before using the adrenaline coursing through his veins to break free of his captor and rush out of his room. He sprints through the hallway, before banking left and rushing down the stairs, "Girls, where are you?!"
Quickly, he ducks and rolls into the living room, only to find eight of his sisters standing by, their eyes wide open and their movements ever so zombie-like.
"Hello Lincoln." They speak in unison, "How are you going today?"
"F-fine girls." He tries to stammer, before backing up, slowly trying to make his way back up the stairs, "I just gotta stay away. Something crazy is going on and I don't wanna get caught in it all!"
Yet, as he tries to back away, another one of his sisters gets in his way.
She leans her head over his shoulder and plants a soft kiss on his cheek, before wrapping her arms around him and whispering in his ear, "Anything you wanna tell us, little bro?"
"N-no Luna! Nothing!" Lincoln immediately ducks under the hug, before jumping onto the stair railing and sliding down, allowing him to jump over his sisters and bolt into the kitchen. "Thank goodness I figured out that trick!"
Quickly, he looks back, hoping that he isn't followed. And after a moment of waiting, he takes breath and places his hands on his knees. "I'm safe."
"Hi, Lincy." Another voice greets, prompting the young boy's eyes to go wide once more. Slowly, he raises his head, allowing his soft gaze to fall upon his second oldest sibling, her calm smile begging him to come in and open himself up.
"L-Leni! I'm fine, really I am!" He holds his hands in front of him, trying to signal his surrender.
Yet, Leni refuses the offer, choosing instead to throw her arms around him, pulling the young boy into one of her famous bear hugs. "Hugs make everything better Linc…" He soft voice pierces the boy's chaotic thoughts.
"Please, let me go!" Lincoln begs, desperately trying to break free as he does so. Though, even he knows that once Leni gets her hands on something, she won't let go until she's done everything she can with it.
"Shh…" She whispers, kissing her little brother's forehead in an attempt to calm him down. In a normal case, a kiss like that would feel nice; and yet here, all it does is leave a burning sensation in the spot she had touched.
"Please…" He whispers, "What do you want?"
"For you to tell me the truth." Leni speaks in a soft, calm voice, while she runs her hand through the young boy's pure, white hair.
"N-no, I can't!" Lincoln struggles against his sister's bear hug, but to no avail, "You- you girls wouldn't understand! You'd go crazy! I- I just want you girls to be happy!"
Undeterred, Leni pulls him in closer, "Lincy, you're my baby brother. I want you to feel safe! Don't you trust me?" She sniffles, and though he can't see them, soft tears begin to flow down her cheeks, staining the boy's hair, "Don't you trust us?"
"I… I do Leni." Lincoln counters, "It's just, I don't know if… if…" His voice trails off.
"If what?" Leni begins to loosen her grip on the boy, allowing him to slowly turn them around and step backwards. Leni, of course doesn't notice. "If we can handle it?"
"Yes!" Lincoln fearfully answers, "Every time something bad happens, or something gets worse, you girls try to fix it and just end up making things worse!" His voice fills with pain, "I just want you girls to be happy, to keep the chaos you make as easy as possible to live with!"
"Oh Lincy…" Leni pulls him in closer once more- close enough to eve hear her heart beat.
"L-Leni?!" Lincoln repeats, unsure of just how to continue, though his sister responds by tightening the embrace.
"Please… please understand, I'm doing this for you!" The boy shouts. "You girls, I love you, I don't want you to get hurt!"
"Please Lincy, tell me the truth." Leni breaks the hug, and kneels down, allowing her to look into his eyes with a puppy-dog's gaze.
"N-no!" Lincoln stammers, "I have to keep up the charade, just a bit longer!" before quickly grabbing the back door's handle and pushing through, causing him to fall into the backyard. "You girls don't need to know yet!"
"You're going to have to tell us eventually." Lucy wastes no time appearing in front of him, "I love you Lincoln, please let me into your lonely soul."
Lincoln jumps to his feet in response, quickly shaking his head as his answer, "No! There's nothing to talk about! Everything's fine!"
"Is it, dear brother?" Despite the black hair covering her eyes, Lincoln can tell the Gothic Girl is staring at him with a begging gaze, "You've been acting so strangely, why is that?"
"Yeah! I'm just under the weather! Everything's just fine!" He quickly scans his surroundings, only to realize that he is surrounded by nine of the ten girls he calls his sisters. Frantically, he cries out, "Lori! Please help me!"
"She's no longer with us." Lynn speaks with a sadistic voice, appearing behind Lincoln as she does so.
The boy's eyes go wide, "What did you do with her?!"
"The same thing we're about to do to you." The athlete cracks her knuckles, "You know we don't like people lying to us."
"This can all be avoided if you just tell us what's going on." Luna cuts in, her voice harshening while her eyes begin to glow red with anger.
He backs up, causing his back to hit the fence enclosing the exterior of his home. "It's all right…"
"A shame." Leni shakes her head, "Then I guess you leave us no choice."
Then, the nine siblings ready their fists, before jumping up and pouncing on the young boy.
"No… no!" Lincoln mutters, though given the quietness of his words, none here his cries. Then, suddenly, the boy's eyes jolt open, "G'ahh!" he shouts, wasting no time darting his head from side-to-side, allowing him to take in the motel room around him. He pants for a short moment, his mind racing with fear as its fuel, "That… that was a dream?" He gulps, thankful that his sisters hadn't awoken despite his rather loud outburst. "The girls must've been really, tired from last night…" Before putting himself to ease with a breath.
"Ugh, Lincoln…" Lola groans, before promptly falling back asleep, no doubt she preferred beauty sleep other chastising her brother for the umpteenth time.
Not willing to take his chances further, he hops to his feet and runs out the door, not noticing the young woman he had awoken.
"Why is this happening to me?" He thinks, before digging his hand in his pocket, pulling out a bottle of pills as he does so. Then, he shoves one in his mouth and swallows, allowing the hard tablet to trickle down his throat. Then, before he knows it, the bottle's back in his pocket, hidden from the prying eyes of any of sisters. "This isn't fair." He grimaces in frustration, before turning and slamming his hand against the motel wall. "Why me?"
"Lincoln?" Lynn tiredly rubs her eyes, "What's up? Why are you up so early?"
Lincoln quickly recomposes herself, Lori's words silently echoing through his mind, "Nothing Lynn, I just feel refreshed and stuff, you know…"
The young girl stares at him for a moment and raises a skeptical eyebrow, "You sure bro? I've never seen you so frustrated before… what's going on?"
"It's nothing." He answers, "I'm just annoyed because I, uhh, haven't gotten my summer reading done yet and because we're on vacation, I'm probably not gonna have it done in time."
"He's lying… he always does his summer reading in the first month…" Lynn's gaze softens as she approaches her brother, "Linc, you and Lori have been acting weird ever since you left the hospital…" She places a hand on his shoulder, "What's going on?"
Though, the boy wastes no time pushing her off, "No, everything's fine, Lynn. Really, everything is." He takes a deep breath, "Just… where's Lori? I need to talk to her."
"Wait…" Lynn tilts her head in confusion, "She's not out here with you?"
Lincoln shakes his head, "No, I was just feelin' a bit cramped in their so I came out here?" He then tilts his head in response, "Why? What's going on?"
The young athlete's eyes go wide in surprise, "L-Lori's not in the room!"
The boy's eyes go wide, "She… she's not in our room?!"
"Yeah… I don't know what happened to her…" The young woman looks around for a moment.
"M-maybe she just decided to sleep in Vanzilla for the night. She's always talking about how comfortable the driver's seat is, right?" Lincoln stammers, before scanning the parking lot for the Loud's infamous ride.
Only for the duo to both realize its absence.
"Wh-what happened to it?!" Lincoln shouts.
Leaving Lynn to shake her head in surprise, "I don't know… it's not like Lori to do something like this…"
Earlier…
That morning, Lori wakes up softly, just as she has done for years. Carefully, she sits up in her shared bed- given the fact that al ten children had to be crammed into one room, accompanied by the oversized beds, Lincoln, Lori, Lana and Lily shared a bed, while Leni, Lola, Luan and Lisa shared the other. Luna and Lynn slept on the floor, and Lucy decided to sleep in the vent.
"Ok Lori, just stay calm and get through this all." Lori takes a deep breath, before calmly and carefully climbing out of the bed, making sure not to disturb her sleeping siblings.
*Yawn* she goes while she tiredly shuffles out of their shared motel room- thankfully, since it is the end of the season, most of the motels began to open up… though that doesn't mean that they'd be willing to scrounge up the extra money for multiple rooms.
"So, what's the plan for today, Lori?" She rubs her head, desperate to fight the pounding headache that results from having to sleep with all ten of her siblings. "Ok, before anyone wakes up, I'm gonna take the van to the nearest convenience store and gas station to get a test and to fuel up." She peeks back into the room, confirming that her siblings continue to rest "I just gotta get back before they wake up and they'll be none the wiser…"
And so, Lori carefully grabs her purse and steps out of the motel room, not even bothering to change out of her nightclothes as she does so- though she does grab her short shorts. After that, she hops in Vanzilla and drives off, silently hoping that they would not notice her absence.
A Few Moments Later...
Lori wastes no time heading into the nearby town, skillfully maneuvers Vanzilla through its winding roads until she comes across a small, plain store filled with random wares of all types… though Lori knows she's only came for one thing.
She sprints inside, pays for the item as well as some goodies to put her sibling's fears at rest and comes out with a bag filled with chocolate just in case the stress becomes too much for her to handle, before leaving as quickly as she had arrived leaving skid marks in her wake.
"Ok, so far, so good. Just gotta make sure that those guys think so as well." And within moments, she is back at the motel room, test in hand.
"I just gotta make sure that the chocolate stays hidden until after I do this…"
She takes a deep breath and opens up the door to their room…. Only to find her ten siblings waiting for her, their arms crossed and furious expressions on their faces.
Awkwardly, she raises her hand to greet, "Hey guys, what's up?"
"What's up?" Luna raises a skeptical eyebrow, "You ditching us is what's up!"
"Yeah!" Lola cuts in, flaring her arms as she does so, "Where'd you go Lori and what's in the bag?!"
Lori's face goes red in embarrassment, "I can't tell them anything yet. I'm not even sure myself!" She glances at Lincoln, secretly knowing that his anger includes fear that she had abandoned him., "Oh this thing? It's nothing!" she holds the bad up and waves her sibling off.
"Then mind showing us what was so important that you just had to run in almost nothing to get, while we were still asleep?" Lincoln painfully spits out. "You know what's going on, why'd you do it Lori?!"
The eldest sister shakes her head, "Nope!" Before she pushes her way passed her siblings and walks into the bathroom, locking the door behind her as she does so.
Lynn scratches her head, "Huh, I wonder what's gotten her so riled up all of a sudden…"
Lisa, meanwhile, remains silent, knowing that she is the cause of this morning's events, though even she cannot help but feel ever so slightly responsible for Lori's nervous behavior. "I should have just waited a bit longer. Then again, I choose not to put her into situations that would put an infant at risk."
For the next moment after that, the room remains silent, as if all ten siblings are listening in on just what their eldest member is doing… though after the moment passes, it is Lynn that breaks the silence.
"That was weird." Lynn quips, before nudging Lincoln, "Yo Linc, do you know what's goin' on with her?"
"Huh? No." Lincoln hastily responds, "Does it have something to do with me? No… it can't… maybe…" He sighs and shakes his head.
"You dude, maybe we should just leave her alone, I mean, Lori would never abandon us, right?" Luna hops to her feet and joins the group, "Right?"
Leni rubs her chin, "Maybe, though wasn't there that time she left me waiting at the mall?"
Lucy suddenly appears at her side, "That was the bus, and we were both waiting for it, remember?"
"Right…" Leni goes, though she still can't help but rub her chin.
And with that, the Loud Siblings shrug, before walking away from the door, leaving the young woman to her business.
For a moment, Lori sits on the open toilet, "Please be wrong Lisa, please be wrong." Before she pulls out the test- a small white plastic strip with a screen in which two lines would appear if Lisa was right and one if she was not. "Here we go."
She begins the test and waits for the result.
Her heart races as she holds up the small plastic stick, "Come on…"
Another minute passes, before two lines appear on the test's screen.
"No…" Lori quickly hops to her feet, "This has just gone from bad to worse…" Immediately, she shoves the test in her pocket and opens up. "I gotta make sure this doesn't get out either… not until Bobby knows." She mentally kicks herself for letting this happen and at the same time they are far from home too!
"Hey guys!" She greets.
"Well, what'd ya get us?!" Lana immediately asks, running over and grabbing onto the girl's legs as she does so.
"Thank goodness I remembered this." Quickly she shoves her hand in the bag and throws out some candy, which the six-year-old happily takes, "Thanks Lori!"
"Good…" Lori loosens her grip on the bag, "Now I just gotta…"
*Click* A flash beams through the room, startling everyone for a moment, as well as causing the Louds to turn towards the source.
"What the…" Lori quickly looks down and finds a small, disposable camera resting at her feet, "I don't remember buying this… though I was in a hurry so I guess…"
"Hey Lori, what's with the camera?" Lynn raises an eyebrow in confusion.
"Come on Lori, think fast!" The young woman takes it in her hands and shrugs, "Well while I was at the store I saw this and though, 'hey, we're on vacation, so why not make it more fun?' and so I decided to buy this."
Lola crosses her arms, "Uhh Lori, you do know we have phones, right? I mean really? A disposable camera?" She flips her hair at her sister, "Those things could never grasp the subtleties of a pageant queen-"
"Yeah, plus, it makes you gain ten pounds!" Leni cuts off her vain sister, much to everyone's delight.
"Come on guys! At least give it a chance!" Luan can't help but chuckle, "This is gonna need a photo finish!"
"Literally whatever." Lori pinches the bridge of her nose, "But she is right, besides, I spent ten dollars on this! We can't let it go to waste!"
A few grumblings of "fine" later and Lori shoves the device in her pocket.
The eldest sister then puts on a strong front and nods, "All right girls, Bobby and Ronnie Anne aren't gonna be comin' round for another few hours, so what do you guys wanna do till then?"
Immediately, Leni's hand flew up, yet Lori already knows what she is going to suggest, "No Leni, we're not going to Dairyland until we have Bobby and Ronnie Anne here."
Leni's hand immediately returns to its resting place.
*Grumble*
Lynn holds her aching stomach for a moment, "Hey Lori, how about we go to Burpin' Burger? I remember passing by one on the way here."
"Yeah!" Luna cuts in, "We gotta have some way to fight our hunger pangs!"
"Now, normally I'd detest going to some place so… oily and gross…" Lola starts, "But I'll make an exception for Burpin' Burger!"
And within moments, the rest of the Loud siblings express similar sentiments.
Lori takes a breath, "All right then, it's settled, we're gonna go to Burpin Burger. Pack your stuff, I doubt we'll be coming back here, all right guys?"
"Yeah, no one wants to be left behind!" Luan can't help, but laugh, before moving to pack her things as well.
And within the hour, the Louds have packed up once more, and head back on the road.
"Just keep going, just keep going…"
"Life is a highway…" Luna sings, serenading her siblings as they drive along. "I wanna ride it all night long!"
"Luna, that is literally…" Lori starts, only to chuckle, "Rather fitting actually.
"Course, cause we're getting high this way!" Luan puns, eliciting a laugh from Lori, while everyone else groans.
After a few minutes, a small restaurant with a burping man sign comes into view. And Lori wastes no time pulling into the parking lot of the store. "All right girls, you know what to do, behave!"
"Whatever Lori!" Lynn cheers, before hopping out of the van, he siblings not hesitating to follow.
Though Lincoln and Lucy remain, the former out curiosity and the latter out of devotion to the former.
"You coming, Lori?" Lincoln raises an eyebrow out of curiosity.
"Y-yeah…" The older girl responds, "Why you ask?"
"Well for one, you haven't let go of the wheel…" The young boy motions towards her unmoved hands, "And second, what happened this morning?"
"Nothing!" She quickly responds, her voice filling with fear.
"Lori… why did you really leave this morning? Lynn and Luna were really worried about you." Lincoln's voice fills with concern; "You usually say something before you go somewhere."
The young pulls the keys from the car and hops out, "It's nothing, come on, those guys are gonna get themselves kicked out if we don't handle them"
Then, before Lincoln or Lucy can ask her to elaborate, she walks away, making sure to pull out her phone as she does so.
"Lucy…" Lincoln starts.
"What is it?" She cheerfully asks.
"Is it just me or is Lori acting even more awkward than usual?" The boy turns and tries to look into the young girl's eyes, though her black hair obscures her pupils.
Lucy keeps her wide smile, "I'm sure it's nothing!" though; she can't help but think, "What could she be thinking about now?"
"It's never nothing…" In defeat, Lincoln sighs, "I guess it's all right then…" Before he starts walking, allowing the duo to follow his sisters.
As soon as Lori stepped through the front door, she knows that everything isn't going to be as easy as she hopes. "This trip is rocking!" Luna shouts, before following it up with her song.
Lynn and Lana, of course, waste no time hopping in and out of the ball pit. Luan, somehow manages to get the clown to walk away- no doubt to resign from his job- Lola decides to play with one of the plastic crowns, and Leni… she poses with the same.
Luckily for her, things go smoothly after that, with her younger siblings choosing to live up to their family name as much as they can pull off… well save for her, Lincoln and Lucy. And they eventually end up at one of the tables, eating the nice food they could get and all the mustard to season it.
"All right guys, eat up, we're gonna be on the road for quite a while today and I don't wanna make any more pit stops!" The elest commands, taking a bite out of her burger as she does so.
What follows is the random chatter of ideas and suggestions for where they can go, though Lori tunes out for most of it.
"Yo Lori…" Luna nudges her older sister, "You and Linc have been real quiet ever since that hospital visit."
"Huh?" She snaps back to reality, "Oh Luna, what's up?"
Quickly, Luna glances around, making sure that her siblings are too distracted by their own conversations to notice her, "You ok?"
"I should tell them… They deserve to know…" Lori quickly shakes her head and turns to Luna, "Everything's all right. Lincoln and I are still tired from that night ya know."
"I dunno mate, I mean, really tired and then going out while we were all asleep?" The musician narrows her eyes at her elder sister, "Are you sure you're not hiding somethin'?"
"Course I am!" Lori nearly shouts, catching the attention of her siblings.
Lynn is the first to turn to Lori, "About what Lori?" with the rest of their siblings following suit.
"Nothing." She shakes her head, "Luna was just asking me about this morning."
"Oh right!" Lana speaks up, "What was that about?"
"I may…" Lisa tries to speak up, though she stops when she notices Lori staring daggers at her, "… Suggest that we get more food…"
"Yeah!" Luan speaks up, "We wouldn't wanna go cold turkey!" Then she throws her head back and laughs, while her siblings groan.
"By the way, Lori, where are we going today anyways?" Lana tilts her head in curiosity.
"Well, while I couldn't get a hold of mom and dad…" Lori pulls out her phone and a small map she had grabbed, "I was able to convince Bobby to come by with Ronnie Anne."
"We know, we just wanna know where else we're going next." Lynn cuts her off. "You know, before they get here."
"Right…" Lori motions towards the map, "The plan right now is to go to Dairy Flags."
"No stops?" Lola tilts her head in confusion, "Aren't there a ton of things we can do before we get there?"
"Only if you guys want to." Lori turns to face the road and drives off. "Though, I don't think there's much to do besides that."
"Hey, so who wants to play a game?" Lynn cheerfully asks, pulling out one of her new balls. Quickly, she nudges Lincoln, "How about auto-attack."
Lincoln shivers at the mere thought of that game, "How about, uhh…" He quickly looks around, "Uhh…"
"How about I put on some music?" Lori suggests, "These girls will fall asleep soon enough, please." And before she knows it, a small lullaby resonates through the vehicle, putting the young children to sleep once more…
Later…
"What am I gonna tell him?" Lori pulls up into the small town surrounding Dairyland Amoosment Park, "I mean, he knows I'm being serious, right?" She leans back and closes her eyes, with that, allowing the conversation the day prior to come back into view.
"Hey Bobby!" Lori meekly greeted.
"Wow, I'm back and the first thing is you call! Haha!" Bobby quipped. "What's up Babe?
Lori hesitated, "No, I can't tell him like this… I have to do this in person."
"Babe?" Bobby's voice filled with concern, prompting Lori to continue, "Oh, sorry, I just uhh… wanted to know how your vacation was and stuff…"
The young man's voice filled with relief, "Oh, it was all right I guess. Ronnie wouldn't stop talking about how much she felt out of place in Canada… though she loved the CN Tower and all that stuff…"
"Heh, that sounds great…" Lori's voice trails off, before she continues, "Hey Bobby, my sibs and I decided to go on a little road trip before we went home…"
Concern filled Bobby's voice, "Uhh babe, is something going on?"
"Yeah…" Lori stuttered, "I just, uhh… wanted to know if you could come along for the ride and stuff…"
"I dunno babe." Bobby answers, "I mean, we just got back and…"
Yet, before he can finish, Lori cuts him off with, "Please, I need you here…"
"But Lorelei…"
"Roberto, please." She begged.
Now, as much as Bobby wanted to lie down and finish unpacking, something about Lori… clicked with him, "I don't even know what I'm gonna tell Ronnie…" Yet, despite the feeling welling up within him, he took a deep breath, "All right Lori… I'll uhh, find a way to get to ya."
"Thanks." Lori answered, relief filling her body, though soft tears continued to stream from her eyes. "We're getting close to Dairy Flags, so uhh, how about we meet in the town?"
"That's fine, babe." Bobby answers. "I'll see ya there!"
"And don't forget to bring Ronnie Anne!" Lori quickly adds, while her thoughts add, "Lincoln has some business he needs to get done with her…"
"All right Babe, see ya!"
"See ya, Bobby Boo-Boo Bear!"
And with that, the line went dead, followed by the young woman dropping her arms limply at her sides, "All right, I just gotta wait around a bit and I'm sure that Bobby is gonna come, I mean, everything's gonna be all right, right?" She takes a deep breath and leans back.
For a moment, she considers letting herself fall asleep with the meager hope that her partner would wake her up… though she knows just how fruitless that would be. So instead, she simply leans back, quietly taking in the silence.
"Lori…"
That was short lived.
The woman turns around, allowing her gaze to fall upon the only conscious Loud sibling- the young Goth.
"Yeah Lucy?" The young woman asks with a smile.
"Could I… talk to you?" Lucy worriedly continues, her soft voice only barely overtaking her siblings' snores.
"Sure…" Lori shrugs, before getting out of the van and landing in a small parking lot. "What's up?"
"Lori… I know…" Lucy whispers, her voice becoming even meeker than it typically is.
Lori's heart begins to speed up, "No… no she can't know! No one's told them anything! Doc Thomas made sure that only we'd know!"
"Know what?" Lori sheepishly asks, desperate to maintain the lie.
"Lincoln's not doing well…" She continues, staring at the asphalt as she does so.
The elder's voice fills with disbelief, "But… how?"
"Someone left a vent open…" The young girl continues, "I crawled through and well… I heard what the doctor said…" She rubs her arm.
Lori remains silent for a moment, choosing instead to allow her own sister to finish first- an act that Lucy had silently hoped she would not do, "Lori… what's going on with mom and dad, really."
"There's no point in hiding it now, huh?" Lori takes a deep breath in response, "Mom and dad haven't been answering, and I don't know why…"
Lucy begins to tear up, "And this trip?"
"I wanted you guys to be happy so…" Lori sighs, "When we finally break the news… things won't be as bad."
This time, it's Lucy's turn to remain silent, while Lori continues reluctantly, "Lincoln and I were planning to tell all of you guys together…"
The young girl hesitates, "And that trip this morning?"
"I'll tell you what that was later, ok?" She looks at the young girl with a begging gaze.
For a moment, the younger girl considers pushing her elder sibling to explain herself, but relents when her covered eyes fall upon the begging visage of her once-bossy sister.
"Sigh, ok…" And with that, she walks away.
*Beep* *Beep* Lori's phone goes.
No sooner than it goes off than it's in the young girl's hands, with her typing in the address of her family,
And within a few moments, a small, silver car pulls up, followed by Bobby and Ronnie Anne stepping out of it.
1-14-4 23-9-20-8 20-8-1-20 14-5-23 12-9-6-5 20-1-11-9-14-7 25-15-21 9-14, 6-15-12-12-15-23 9-20 20-15 25-15-21-18 14-5-23 8-15-13-5
A/N And that's part 3 to this triple update weekend! I hope you enjoyed guys!