Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

Awkward Hero

Chapter eleven: Past Regrets

Seventeen-year-old Lori Loud couldn't believe it; the Santiagos had actually moved back to Royal Woods! They had originally moved to the next state over to live with relatives, and even though this was just a three-hour drive, Lori still didn't like the fact that she was out of cuddle distance of Bobby Santiago, the seventeen-year-old son of the family and Lori's Boo-Boo Bear. Not only did the Santiagos move back to Royal Woods, but their relatives the Casagrandes came with them!

Granted, when Lori heard why the Santiago-Casagrande family moved to Royal Woods, she literally wished that they had moved to Royal Woods under completely different circumstances. Lori couldn't believe what her Boo-Boo Bear and his family had gone through. It made Lori's heart ache to know what happened, which was all the more reason why Lori wanted to be there for her Bobby Boo-Boo Bear as much as possible. It did lift Lori's spirits to know that she won't be alone in backing Bobby and his folks when they need it.

In fact, in the Loud family's backyard, an entire party had been set up, a sort-of welcome to the neighborhood kind-of shindig. All of Lori's siblings, aside from baby Lily who was put down for a nap, was in the backyard. Not only that, but all of the Ace siblings, who are friends with the Louds, were at the party as well.

A few other choice guests were there, such as Lynn's friends Ulfric Aesir and Mitzie Cornwell, Lincoln's friends Clyde McBride, Rusty Spokes, Liam and Zach, Rusty's younger brother Rocky (who Lucy invited), Benny and Maggie who were invited by Luan, Luna's girlfriend Sam, and Winston and Skippy, the respective crushes of Lola and Lana.

And this is saying nothing of the friends that Lori herself also invited; in addition to her friend Allison Ace, who came with the rest of the Ace siblings, Lori invited two of her friends; Trixie Goldman and Carol Pingrey. It was natural that Lori would want to invite Carol, given that the two girls have long since abandoned their rivalry and became friends. And Trixie, who currently lives with her Aunt Tara since her dad was arrested five years ago (Mr. Goldman is still in jail), was likewise able to make it. Trixie looked a bit different from when she was twelve; the seventeen-year-old former rich girl wore her hair in a long hairstyle that seemed as casual as Luna's short pixie cut, she wore a red unbuttoned shirt over a black t-shirt, a pair of jeans (held up with a belt) and a pair of sneakers.

"So, Lori, tell me," Trixie said as she, Carol and Allison talked to Lori off to the side, "When are Bobby, his younger sister and their cousins getting here?"

Gently shaking her head, Lori replied, "I have no clue, although I did call Bobby about-"

"Hey, babe!" Bobby's voice called out, getting everyone in the backyard to turn and see Bobby enter the backyard from a gate along the side of the house, his younger sister Ronnie Anne following behind him, "Did you miss me?" Without missing a beat, Lori ran over and threw her arms around her Boo-Boo Bear's shoulder.

"Oh, Bobby," Lori said, "I really wish this was under completely different circumstances. What your family went through is literally the worst thing ever!"

"Yeah, we're still kind of trying to deal with it," Bobby remarked, sounding a bit resigned, "Although it's great that you and everyone else who cares about us wants to give us a helping hand. You have no idea how much it means to us."

"Hey, sorry for interrupting," Lincoln began as he walked forward, "But didn't you say you were bringing your cousins along? Where are they?"

"My mom and grandparents didn't want Carlitos to come to the party, as they think it'd be too overstimulating for a two-year-old like him," Ronnie Anne explained. With a sigh, Ronnie Anne continued, "As for the rest of them, they…they just didn't feel like coming. I think we should respect their decision." The sole Loud boy knew what Ronnie Anne was getting at, so he decided to let things be.

"A shame that none of them could have come," Trixie remarked as she walked forward, "But we shouldn't let that get us down."

"Lincoln's older sister's friend has a point," Rusty remarked from where he stood, "I mean, we got a party here, so let's party!" The other party guests all cheered, pumping fists into the air. Bobby and Ronnie Anne, knowing that everyone was cheering for them, couldn't help but smile due to all of the support they were receiving.

…

And so, the partying commenced. There was even a bit of dancing, although Aggro blew everyone else who tried to dance out of the water by doing a one-handed handstand with his right hand, keeping his balance while gripping his left foot with his left hand, and then going onto his back and spinning around like a top, then going onto his head and spinning around; Leni and a few others were even cheering the male Ace twin on as he danced.

While everyone else was in the backyard, Lori had to excuse herself to go use the bathroom. After she walked out of the bathroom, she heard some sort of crashing sound come from her and Leni's bedroom, so she headed inside to investigate. As it turned out, the family cat Cliff had somehow managed to open the drawer to Lori's nightstand and jumped into it, the force of his jumping into the open drawer causing the drawer to come out the rest of the way and fall onto the floor of the bedroom.

"Dang it, Cliff," Lori said in a mildly annoyed tone as the cat scampered off after picking himself up. As she walked over to the mess that was the spilled contents of her nightstand drawer, Lori began to pick everything up. As she picked the items up one by one, Lori came across something that made her take pause. Gently, she reached forward and collected the item that she found; it was one of the beaded bracelets from back during Lori's 'awkward phase', as the seventeen-year-old referred to her tween years as. However, this particular beaded bracelet caught her attention, and for more than one reason.

Using beads that had letters on them, the bracelet spelled out 'Big Sister', and there was a heart-shaped bead between the two words. Lori couldn't believe that she still had this thing, but upon seeing it, picking it up, Lori gently gripped it as tears fell down the sides of her face gently. As she stayed kneeling on the floor there, having stopped mid-task as she was cleaning up the mess that Cliff made, Lori heard a familiar voice call out from behind, "What's going on here, Lori?"

Turning around, Lori saw her friends Carol, Allison and Trixie standing there. It had been Carol who spoke up. "Did you make some sort mess here?" Carol asked, her tone sounding concerned. Stepping forward, Carol said, "If you want, I'd be happy to help you straighten things up her a little bit."

"No, it's nothing, girls," Lori said to her friends as a whole as she got up, "My family's cat was just being mischievous, is all."

"You've been crying, I noticed," Allison remarked as she crossed her arms over her chest, "I can only assume that you're crying out of happiness now that Bobby is back here in Royal Woods?"

"Well, I am happy that my Boo-Boo Bear is back," Lori began to explain, "But that isn't why I was crying." Holding out her hand to show her friends the beaded bracelet she found, Lori said, "I was crying because I found this."

"…That looks like one of those beaded bracelet thingies you made back during the early parts of when we were in middle school," Allison noted.

"Yes, it is," Lori confirmed, "But this particular bracelet…it was made by my younger brother, who gave it to me when he was done making it. He was only six at the time."

"Aww," Trixie said in a heart touched tone, "That sounds so sweet!"

"…Yeah…" Lori replied as she slipped the beaded bracelet into her empty left front pocket. Turning back around, Lori bent down and picked up the rest of her nightstand drawer's spilled contents, put them in the drawer, then set the drawer on her bed. "I'll take care of the drawer later," Lori remarked. Turning to face her friends, Lori continued, "Anywho, we got a party to get back to."

"Aye, verily," Allison said in a tone of agreement, "There's plenty to eat and drink, and I intend to get my fill!"

"That reminds me," Carol said as she turned to face Allison, "Why did you bring one of your Viking drinking horns with you to the party?"

"The small plastic cups cannot hold enough drink to satisfy a warrior's thirst," the female Ace twin replied, "So I brought something of my own to drink with."

Lori sighed in a knowing tone, her sigh carrying a hint of amusement, as she and her friends all made their way back to the party.

The party was a blast, and aside from a mild incident where Rusty hurt himself a little trying to copy the dancing Aggro did, the rest of the party went smoothly. After all of the guests had taken their leave, the Louds went about the task of cleaning up everything. "Eww," Lola said in a tone of complaint and mild disgust, "I still can't believe that Skippy added cola to the punch!"

"What makes you think it was Skippy who did that?" Lana replied in a casual tone before gripping the edge of the punch bowl, bringing the bowl to her mouth, and proceeded to drink the rest of the punch that was in the bowl. The pageant winning Loud twin looked at her tomboyish counter part with a look of disgust as she watched her drain the last of the punch from the bowl.

Over in another area of the backyard, Lincoln was helping Lynn and Luan try and take down of party decorations such as streamers and balloons. While trying to help Lynn pull a length of streamer down, Lincoln lost his balance and fell backwards. However, before the sole Loud boy close to hitting the ground, Lori caught him. "Are you okay, Lincoln?" Lori asked after Lincoln managed to straighten himself out.

"Yeah, Lori, I'll be fine," Lincoln replied, "Thanks for the-" Lincoln stopped short when he noticed that Lori was wearing a beaded bracelet on her left wrist. "Where did you get that from?" Lincoln asked Lori as he pointed to the bracelet. Hearing Lincoln ask about something made Lynn and Luan turn to see what their little brother was talking about, and as such they saw the beaded bracelet Lori was wearing.

"…Hey, that looks like one of the beaded bracelets Lori made back when she was still such a big nerd," Lynn remarked casually.

"I'll literally get you back for that later," Lori said dryly to the athletic thirteen-year-old. Looking to the bracelet she wore, Lori continued, "And for your information, Lynn, I didn't make this particular bracelet." Pointing to Lincoln, the oldest Loud sibling continued, "He made it for me."

"I made it?" Lincoln asked, the confusion on his face obvious.

"Back when you were six," Lori confirmed as she began to explain, "You made it for me as a gift when you joined me for one of my bracelet-making sessions the night before I started the seventh grade." Walking forward to Lincoln, Lori got down on one knee so that she was level with her only brother, gently threw her arms around him, and drew him into a hug. "…I'm sorry about how big of a doofus I've been for the past five years or so," Lori said to her little brother in a gentle tone.

Lincoln, not sure what his older sister was getting at, nonetheless could tell that Lori was sincerely trying to be apologetic for past actions. Appreciating that fact, Lincoln began to return the hug. "…Apology accepted," Lincoln replied. The two Loud siblings, the oldest sister and the only boy, continued to hug each other for a while. Lynn and Luan, both touched by what they were seeing, stopped what they were doing so they could look on at the heartwarming display.

The heartwarming display of Lori hugging Lincoln.

END, AWKWARD HERO

Author's notes:

Just so you know, this story isn't set in the same setting as the 'Broken Mirror' stories and 'Restored Image'. Granted, Lori's past was brought up in the latter, but this is an entirely different deal. Anywho, to those who've stuck with 'Awkward Hero' since the beginning, I just want to say thanks for showing your support. Hopefully you all might be interested in various other Loud House stories that I'm working on/already have up. …By the way, it was Lana who added the cola to the punch. Also, yes, that was Beerus's dance from Battle of Gods that Aggro did…and Rusty tried to do but failed.

Peace.

I was (and sort of still am) under the impression that the city that the Santiagos moved to is located in the next state over due to something I read on the internet a while ago, even though it was said in a recent episode (I don't remember exactly which one) that the city and Royal Woods are only three hours apart. I am working with a new theory that the two locals are located close enough to the Michigan border, with Royal Woods staying within Michigan and the city being located outside, that the city is still located in the next state over while also being three hours away. It's possible.