Chapter Twelve
A loud clang sounded throughout Lori and Leni's room, as Lori slammed the heel of her shoe upon a spare table. "All right, sibling family meeting is in session. Lincoln has the floor." She said dryly. Having been back from college for a few weeks, she had a mountain of coursework with only so many days that she could afford to push it all back to. "For years now, our parents have endeavored to make every way the best possible Christmas." Lincoln began, after walking into the middle of the room and taking a rigid stance. "And so far, we've always taken this for granted." He continued only for Lola to take advantage of his pause for effect to object. "What? I'm always doing my best at Christmas!" She whined.
"Only becaushe you shtill believe in shanta." Lisa mused in her dry tone.
"You say that like it's a bad thing." Lola accused, pointing her finger.
"Lola, don't point, it's rude dude and eventually someone is going to take a picture of you looking like you're pulling a Nazi salute." Luna, who was on the floor strumming her guitar, told the blonde champion of walking in a straight line. "Ugh, that's like, so not true." Lola said, only for a camera flash to emanate from Lily's position. "Hey!" Lola yelled, beginning to feel like she was being challenged on all sides.
"You never learn, Lola." Lisa said, metaphorically poking the already antagonised twin.
"Why you. This all started with you." Lola growled and made a leap for Lisa, only for Lynn to pick up Lisa, with one hand, and drop her down a good distance from Lola. "Guys, can you not? What did I just say?" Lincoln cried out, only for Luan to shoot out her reply.
"Guys can you not?" She said and laughed as she tied a knot together with the arms of one of Leni's tops. The ditzy blonde quivering with a worried frown at the sight.
Lincoln stormed over to Lori's desk, picked up her shoe, and started to slam it against the desk. "Alright, no more messing around and no more wasting time. Every Christmas, our parents do everything for a large, and possibly still growing, family. It's time we show we care by making the feel special. Agreed? Good." Lincoln went to slam the desk again, but Lori was quicker and snatched her shoe out of Lincoln's hand. "I believe what Lincoln is trying to say is." Lori began with a snarl. "That we shouldn't just sit around waiting for Christmas, while our parents do all of the work. Right?" Lincoln gave a big nod in response. "Now then, can anyone tell me why that's a bad idea?" Lori asked and smugly waited for a reply.
"I know!" Lana shouted, jumping to her feet. "Because it came from Lincoln?" Lana's jest got a slight chuckle from Lynn.
"Close, but that would be more accurate if you had called out Lynn." Lori replied, earning a scowl from Lynn and Lincoln.
"I guess you're going to keep this going until someone gives you the right answer." Luna said, as she straightened up and faced the center of the group. "Mom and Dad love going all out for Christmas, they enjoy the work. So, I'd agree with Lincoln, if he had a point that I could agree with." Luna finished and returned to her guitar without any further fuss.
"And there you have it." Lori declared with her continued smug smile. Only for a yell and a series of loud crashing noises to make her jump out of her skin.
The eleven siblings rushed out of the room, Lily being the smallest making it out first, and were confronted by the sight of their Dad, at the bottom of the stairs, covered in a pile of boxes. There was a chaotic symphony of eleven voices, all screaming "Dad!" Followed by Lynn jumping down several steps of stairs and hastily throwing the boxes off of her father. "It's okay, I'm okay. I landed on something soft." Lynn Sr, said. Lynn, now joined by Luan, pulled their dad to his feet. Where he used to be was a squashed cardboard box, filled with foil. "Well, I don't know if I was unlucky that I dropped that first box or lucky that I fell on top of it. But, I'm going to put some ice on my back and take the day off. Could you kids clean up for me?"
After they cleaned up, the siblings were straight back into Lori and Leni's room and Lincoln didn't need to so much as say a word. "Daddy-o took one hell of a fall." Luna blurted out, unwittingly stating the obvious. "Alright, we in the interest of safety, and showing thanks for years of wonderful holidays, will be taking care of Christmas this year" Lori then slammed her shoe down on the table and made the motion final. The others all filed out of the room, with Lori holding onto Leni so that the valley girl didn't get confused and follow the crowd. Outside, Lynn tapped Lincoln on the shoulder and pointed towards the attic.
The vents inside castle Loud lead all over the house, save for the attic. For which, there was one way in and one way out. Unless you were Lucy, going up there too often was considered suspicious. But, Lynn and Lincoln had decided that occasional trips to the attic were fine now and then. Especially since they were filled with prolonged make-out sessions and such events made the pair a little more reckless. Not that such a thing happened this time, however. As Lynn had other things on her mind. "A couple of weeks ago, you said that Leni and Luan had gone back to being how they were before Lori left. I'm guessing that's still the case." Lincoln mulled over Lynn's words, as he formulated his answer.
"I wouldn't put it that way. Leni's stopped kissing me and Luan's stopped going out on dates. That's all. But yes and ever since Lori came back."
"Any ideas why?" Lynn asked.
"None. You?" Lincoln fired back, immediately.
"You're the idea lightbulb, not me." Lynn argued, wincing slightly when she realised how loud she was getting. "Maybe we can ask someone smarter than us?" She then suggested. Lincoln sighed in disbelief, putting his hands to his temples. Only to slowly come to a halt, as he realised something. "That might not be such a bad idea." Lincoln said quietly, adding. "Leni gets upset whenever Lori leaves, starts kissing me at one point, only to stop when Lori comes back. We might not be able to figure out what Luan's thinking, but I think Lori has as good a chance as anyone else of being able to figure out Leni."
"So, we each ask Lori, independently, and then compare answers." Lynn plotted, now a little ahead of Lincoln.
The white-haired boy nodded with a smile, but got a bit of a shock when Lynn took his hand. "Now that we got that over with." She said and planted a firm kiss on his lips. Lincoln sunk into the delicious embrace, returning the love as he slipped his free hand under Lynn's shirt and thumbed her nipple. Lynn moaned into Lincoln's lips, only to suddenly shove Lincoln with all of her force. He crashed to the ground and was just about to yell, when he heard footsteps coming up the step-ladder. In their bliss, only Lynn was able to hear the attic door being opened. "Hey, Lucy." Lynn said, having wiped her lips beforehand.
"You've been coming to my dark corner a lot recently. Is Lincoln also here." Lucy said, with a voice like wind passing through a skeleton.
"Sure is. He lost a dare. So, we were discussing his options." Lynn told her goth sister, while Lincoln gave Lucy a slight wave.
"I suggest, making Lincoln ask dad to send him to military school." The goth said, not holding back in the slightest. Showing that Lucy understood and used many words, but mercy wasn't one of them. "Aww, nice, I was just going to make Lincoln dress up in a squirrel suit again." Lynn stated. To the applause of no one.
"Right, well, I'm gonna get going." Lincoln said, getting up and hopping around Lucy as he left the attic. Lucy simply sighed and made her way to the darkest corner of the attic.
Lincoln knocked on the door to Lori and Leni's room and was let in by Leni. "Hi and, er, thanks Leni." Lincoln said, as he entered.
"No problem, Lincy." Came Leni's reply, as she disappeared into the closet. Lori, sat on her bed, painting her toe nails with a little more success than usual. But, not by much. "Can I talk to you?" He asked her.
"Sure." Came Lori's reply, without her so much as looking up at Lincoln.
"Alone." He stressed. Hoping that Lori would show willing.
"Anything you want to say to me, you can say in front of Leni." Lori replied with a stroke of her nail varnish.
"Well, it's about Leni." Lincoln stated, only for Leni to come up behind him.
"What about me?" She asked, her normal cheeriness replaced by a look of uncertainty. Lori simply rolled her eyes.
"Leni, I'm sure it's nothing, I'll be back in a bit." Lori told her younger sister; before guiding Lincoln out of the room. "Alright, so, what is it?" Lori asked, none too pleased that she had to leave her bedroom for this. "Have you noticed anything new about Leni, since you've gotten back?" Lincoln asked, without reservation.
"No, is that it?" Lori fired back immediately.
"Nothing at all? She doesn't at all seem sad or withdrawn?" He asked, pushing the topic as far as it would go.
"No, what's this about?" Lincoln thought about answering Lori's question, but simply decided against it.
"I don't see why I should answer, when you haven't even given me one." Lincoln snapped, a little harshly. Though Lori wasn't the least bit perturbed and simply shrugged and returned inside her room.
Half an hour later, Lincoln met Lynn in her room. Lucy was, thankfully, still in the attic. "I hope it went better for you, then it did for me." Lincoln said, already feeling a little defeated.
"I was about to ask the same, but that answers my question." Lynn replied, as she entered the room and sat down next to Lincoln. They were silent, but Lynn never kept silence around for long. "This bites it hard!" She groaned, not minding her volume in the least. Lincoln kept silent while he mulled over his options. To him, it seemed that they could either push further or give up and wait for Leni to figure things out. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lynn rubbing the side of her head. "What's up with you?" He asked.
"The moment I asked, Lori signaled for me to come closer and then she beat me with her coursework folder. That thing's huge!" Lynn moaned, only to then rest her body against Lincoln's shoulder without a word. Lincoln tentatively put his arm around his older sister and they stayed like this for some time. Lincoln, unsure of what to do, didn't move a muscle. During their quiet moment together; Lincoln noticed Lynn's chest move up and down as she breathed, her hair falling on his bare arm, her eyelashes flutter. It was a pleasant feeling, one that filled Lincoln with feelings for Lynn that he didn't know he had, but he knew it couldn't last forever. He simply said. "Lynn, Lucy could be back any second." And Lynn slowly returned to a sitting position. With this over, he decided to put a newly formed plan into action
A little later, Lori was storming around the house, looking for Lincoln, until she eventually found him; making food in the kitchen. "You must think you're really funny." Lori growled as she marched towards Lincoln, she tried to pick him up. But, he proved too heavy for her and she was forced to let go. "Er, I'm a little too old for you to play rocketeer with me, Lori." He jokingly said, only for Lori to snarl in response.
"Why is it, that I had everybody asking me if Leni was okay? Including, Lily AND Leni!" Lori asked through gritted teeth.
"Because, everybody's worried about Leni?" Came Lincoln's retort and Lori's face boiled.
"Look! I have no idea about Leni. She's still the same as ever. But, if you're that worried, I'll take Leni out to the mall and ask her some questions." Lori softened a little by that last point, clearly the worriment that Lincoln and Lynn held was rubbing off on her. "Thanks, Lori." Lincoln said, but caught a scowl in response. Lori then gave a brief smile, as she shook her head, and finally left. "That went better than I thought it would." Lynn said, having hidden outside, with the backdoor open slightly ajar.
"But, about as well as I had hop- hey!" Lincoln interrupted himself upon seeing Lynn take a huge bite out of the sandwich he was eating. "What?" Came the reply and several wet breadcrumbs.
The next day, Lincoln exercised with Lynn, as he had started doing the month prior. Showered. Got dressed and ready. Sat down at his desk and had the life scared out of him when the whoopee cushion underneath him went off. "Don't you ever get bored of this?" Lincoln said with a sigh, as Luan entered the room and pulled the cushion out from under him. "Hey, I'm not the only person who gets a blast from this." Luan said and laughed at her own joke. Preventing her from noticing a sly smile slip onto Lincoln's face. "You know what? That's fine, Luan. Because, these days, I know your weakness." He told her and she immediately froze.
"And just what weakness would that be?" She asked, the comedy erased from her voice. Lincoln could have answered Luan, but he didn't. There wasn't really a need to. Instead, he stood up and gave Luan's butt a light smack as he walked past. "Your breasts may be pleasant, but they're not your only asset." He said as he left the room, leaving Luan frozen; her mouth agape. When Lincoln got out, however, he marched straight to the bathroom, locked the door, and crouched down in front of the door. His heart beat furiously and sweat ran off of him. He didn't always have the bravado to meet his ideas with action.
Once he calmed down, Lincoln got up and opened the bathroom door. Only to find Luan waiting for him. She shoved him back inside the bathroom and locked the door behind her. Then she simply folded her arms and stared at him. Luan had effectively turned this into a power play and for Lincoln, this situation was a nightmare. There were only two ways this could go, he lost or he won; but he could only win by exerting more power and that was just as bad. He immediately knew that he had to change the situation. He looked through the hole in the bathroom and pretended to see somebody. "Hi, Lana." He said, hoping to put Luan off. But, she simply grabbed him by the ear and pulled him towards her. "You know, in recent years, you've become a bit of a slippery snake. Pinning you down is like putting your hands in a bucket full of eels." She told Lincoln, even as she held his ear.
"You working on a new euphemism for masturbation, Luan?" He joked. Luan bit her lip in an effort to prevent laughter. "Why don't you tell me, what you're up to?" She demanded to know. It seemed, to Lincoln, that slipping away wasn't an option. Luan had come in expecting that. "Luan, you do know that it's because you're my fun-loving sister that I think that I can get away with being a bit silly." Lincoln said, trying to worm his way out of this mess. "You did something that was beyond a bit silly." Luan said, giving Lincoln's ear a squeeze. Showing that flattery wasn't an option either. So, he stopped planning, and like Luna had suggest some time ago, he let impulse take over. "What do you think Luan? Tell me what you think I'm up to." He asked
"I don't know what I'm supposed to think!" Luan yelled, now starting to get a little panicky.
"Well, maybe that means there's nothing to think. I did something I thought you'd find funny and you blew it out of proportion. End of. So, let's just hug and make-up." He explained. But, Luan didn't let go so easily.
"What? So, you can-" Luan caught herself close to letting the whole house know and instead mouthed the words, "touch me again?" Lincoln's reply was faster than a heartbeat.
"Do you want me to? You asked me to last time." He whispered. Luan froze, giving Lincoln ample time to step closer to Luan and, though there wasn't much height difference, look up at her eyes. Luan clenched her teeth in response. "So, this is what it comes down to. Huh?" Lincoln had tipped his hand, though it proved to be too much too soon. Luan put one finger on Lincoln's chest and did her best to lean over him, as she said. "I don't want to talk to you or even be near you, ever again." She then unlocked the door, stormed past nine siblings and left Lincoln looking ready to cry.
"It's your own fault." Lynn said, as they talked in the attic. "You got too impatient." She added.
"This coming from you?" Lincoln asked, as he laid on the musty attic floor.
"Unlike you and me, Luan doesn't have base feelings. That's what all of this planning was about, creating those feelings." Lynn explained, she kept her body busy by holding it in the middle of a squat pose.
"Does this mean I blew it?" Lincoln asked.
"Nah, it's too early to tell just yet. Who knows, maybe we can even turn this around in our favour." Lynn answered, clearly unfazed by her impromptu workout. "How so?" Lincoln questioned, leaning up with the dust clinging to the back of his orange top. "Absence makes the heart grow fonder." Came Lynn's answer.
At the same time, Luna and Luan were also having a heated conversation in their room. "It's only going to eat you alive, if you don't get it off your chest, dude." Luna said in, what counted as, her stern voice.
"I don't think I need to say anything." Came Luan's retort. Even if she felt she hated Lincoln right now, she didn't want to out him. Luna, laying back on the bean bag, simply scratched her head. "Well, if it's about you and Lincoln, I don't think it could be too difficult to guess." Luna said, earning a scoff from Luan. "He told you that you're not funny." Luna guessed.
"No." Came Luan's response and this continued for some time. With Luna making guesses based around Luan's personality and Luan simply saying "No." To each guess. Eventually Luna gave in.
"You know, Luan. Whatever it is, whatever was said or done, it doesn't remove the fact that you're family." Luna said, trying to be the adult in the situation.
"Yeah, well, things change." Was Luan's sad reply.
Over the next two weeks, the Loud siblings took care of preparing Christmas for the whole family, even as Luan gave Lincoln a cold shoulder that dug straight through to the bone. Lincoln himself didn't try to initiate, sticking to Lynn's advice. But the simple greetings he made as a family member, were all ignored by Luan. The others all noticed; but, unlike Lincoln, they choose not to get involved in sibling arguments. Leaving things to sort themselves out. And like this, even as they moved towards a holiday of joy, forgiveness and love, the rift stayed open until Christmas eve.
When Luna finally decided that enough was enough. "I've had it! Go make up with Lincoln, right now." She told Luan. "I'm not-" Luan began, only to be cut off at once.
"And I'm not saying dude, I'm telling." Luna barked. But, Luan didn't move an inch. Not that Luna was willing to accept defeat. She grabbed Luan, pulled her off of the desk, and dragged her to the exit of the room. Luan did her best to struggle and break free, but the older sister, who carried her own instruments around, proved to be a lot stronger. As one final act of defiance, Luan hopped up and spread out like a starfish. Grabbing a hold of the door framed. Luna still wasn't willing to throw in the towel and pulled Luan, for several minutes, until Luan's strength gave in and the two fell backwards onto Leni. The three ending up in a pile on the floor. "Ow, ow, ow." Leni moaned as she had been crushed between the floor and her younger sisters. Luna proved to be fiercely determined and was immediately on her feet and dragging Luan towards Lincoln's room. "If I tell you what's wrong, will you stop this!" Luan shouted at the top of her lungs. Luna dropped Luan, with an audible thud, and marched back inside her room; grumbling all the while.
When Luan entered her room again, she saw Luna sitting on the floor and slowly venting her anger. Luan sat in front of Luna and slowly tried to explain. "I tried to ignore it, at first. But, after getting me to go on several dates with him, slapping me on the butt the day of the argument and given how he acted during the argument. I think Lincoln has a crush on me." Luna fumed through her nose.
"That's it?" She asked.
"What do you mean, that's it?" Luan's question shot out of her like a bolt of lightning.
"Luan, he is a thirteen-year-old boy with ten sisters. What did you think was going to happen?" Luna queried. Being sure to add on. "Let me guess, he caught you masturbating one time?"
"Yes." Luan whispered. But, then exerted herself. "Hey, but, would you be comfortable if you were his object of desire?" She asked.
"No, but I wouldn't let something like that bother me, dude." Luna replied dryly, implying that all the fault lied with Luan. In reality, Lincoln was still mostly at fault. This wasn't an impulse of his after all. He had also been given multiple outs. But, neither Luna nor Luan could possibly know that and, so, Luan swallowed a lump in her throat and gave in. "What sh-" Luan began, only to be interrupted.
"Just apologise. Already, in the end, it doesn't even matter who is at fault. Just get that status quo back." Luna told her. Luan nodded and made her way to the door, only for Luna to ask one final question. "That was it, right? He just caught you masturbating, nothing else?"
"Luna; we were trapped in a shipping container with him, teased him at the park and who knows what else that I can't remember right now. When I put it that way, I realise just how right you are." Luan then left for Lincoln's room, leaving Luna on her own. It should have just ended there. But, with Luan's last words, Luna found herself wondering if Luan was Lincoln's only object of desire.
