Hey guys, welcome back to another installment of Carol Likes Luna. I hope you had a very Happy Easter, and a safe, Luan free April Fools.
The last chapter was one of my favorites to write, and hopefully you guys enjoyed it too. Sorry to make you guys wait for this one.
Also, I decided to change the rating to T. I wanted to avoid this as much as possible, but I am a potty mouth, and let's be real, we're all adults here. All that changes is the letter people; I don't want to compromise what makes this story… this story:)
Today, I have more songs for you! Do "Battery" by Metallica, and "You Make My Dreams Come True" by Hall & Oates.
Enjoy, my loves;)
The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and it's a beautiful new day outside.
The view inside is pretty nice too, at least for Carol Pingrey, because the first thing she sees when she wakes up is Luna Loud resting just a few inches over.
It's true what they say, people are cuter when they're asleep. It's especially true for Luna, considering she just always looks cute.
She considers nudging her shoulder to wake her up, and saying something adorable like, "Morning, Sleepy head," or "Wakey wakey, you," but she decides to just let her be, at least for a little longer.
She rolls over, and lets out a happy little sigh. Even after sleeping in a measly bag on the floor for the past eight hours, Carol couldn't feel any sweeter. Yeah, maybe nothing romantic or spontaneous happened with Luna last night, but it doesn't stop her from smiling like an idiot as she thinks about all the fun they had together.
In fact, she could get used to mornings like this.
That is, until every alarm set by every Loud goes off at once. There are literally ten freaking phones going off at once, all with a noisier, more obnoxious alarm than the last. The worst ones are Lori's annoying ass rooster crowing, and Luan's John Cena theme song, which is probably supposed to be funny in some ironic way.
And of course, Luna's phone blares some heavy metal, "Metallica" or whatever…
All of the Loud children groggily rise up from their bags, except for Luna. She shoots straight up like she's in need of an exorcism.
"Yep, she's up," Carol mentally quips.
Lynn Loud, Sr. and Rita both come in, wearing their night robes.
Mr. Loud speaks up. "Alright everybody, time to get going. Now can we please just have one morning where everyone isn't ducking, dodging, pushing, and shoving just to reach the bathroom on ti-"
Like wild animals, they all jump out of their beds at once, and stampede past their parents to get up the stairs.
"I don't have enough coffee," Rita simply moans before turning around and heading into the kitchen.
Carol just flabbergastingly watches on as they all charge up the steps, like it's some sort of ultra violent car crash or a monster tornado. One where everything is destroyed and no one survives.
"That thought got dark," she realizes.
During the kerfuffle, Luna stops straight-arming Lucy in the face to look back down at the living room, apparently remembering Carol is still here. She looks to her, and Carol looks back, and oddly enough, Luna isn't as attractive with a face full of Lincoln's foot.
But that's probably beside the point.
Luna breaks free from her struggling, and uses her window of opportunity to whistle as loud as she can. "Hey!" she follows with a yell, and everyone stops behaving like miscreants.
"Dudes, Carol's our guest. She should be allowed to get the restroom first," she insists.
Carol just nervously sits there as all the other siblings groan.
"Fine! Whatever! But she better not take forever!" Lola shouts.
"Yeah, I need at least twenty minutes to take care of my morning ritual," Lynn adds.
"Oh, what? Do you have a game tonight?" Leni asks.
"Uh, not that kind of ritual," Lynn responds.
"Yeah, I'd give you the details, but I don't wanna be a potty mouth! Hahaha! Get it?" Luan comments.
Once their bathroom talk is finished, they all look over to Carol as if to say, "Well? What are you waiting for?"
She just stupidly grins before standing herself up, and pussyfoots her way to Luna while facing the growling grimaces of her siblings.
Luna just rolls her eyes at their morning grouchiness, and then smiles at Carol. "Come on, C."
"She's gonna make a good wifey someday… If she'd ever make a move on me…"
"If I'd ever make a move on HER…"
She dutifully follows Luna on the way to the restroom, stopping briefly to grab some things from her bag out of her and Luan's room
"Hey," Luna hollers from outside.
"Yeah?" Carol simply responds as she gets her toothbrush and special eight dollar toothpaste.
"Sorry I passed out on you last night. I was beat," Luna apologizes.
"As long as you didn't hear me babbling on like an idiot about my feewings, all can be forgiven," Carol thinks about replying. Of course, she wouldn't actually tell her that though.
"It's fine! I was pretty tuckered out myself," she sweetly tells her.
Just as she finishes collecting her things, Luna makes her way inside with a somewhat discomfited expression.
"Uh, I'd ask Lori if you could borrow one of her outfits for school… But after last night-" Luna begins, but Carol cuts her off.
"What? You don't think I can pull of stripes?" Carol nervously asks.
"Uhm, no, stripes work for you," Luna tells her, to which Carol internally squeals like a giddy little girl.
Luna makes her way over to the closet, and starts rummaging through it. She pulls out a purple plaid shirt and some matching black jeans, both with stylish rips in the right places to accentuate the punk look.
"But I think you'd look killer in this," she says with a smile, handing the clothes to Carol. She studies them for a moment, and realizes she needs to take Luna shopping sometime, but again... beside the point.
She doesn't want to cause a scene like last night by denying the clothes, especially not with her sweet Luna. Plus, "It could be fun to do some Luna cosplay for a day," she tells herself.
"Thanks," she says with a soft grin as she accepts the clothes. "Uhm, why now though? You didn't offer me your clothes last night?"
Luna nervously rubs her neck, and shrugs. "Well, I thought you wouldn't like any of mine, honestly," she admits.
"Fair enough," Carol simply says. "These are cool though," she adds with conviction.
"Well, unless you wanna go back downstairs and tell my sisters to wait, you're stuck with these," Luna playfully quips, and Carol just smiles a little, feeling herself starting to blush.
"Whatever," she simply ripostes, the cutesy butterflies in her tummy making it too hard to come up with anything wittier.
Carol begins to make her way out of the room, but feels Luna just watching her. She turns around to face her, and she's wearing that familiar devious smile of hers.
"What?" Carol asks with a little happy huff.
"I think maybe I'm starting to be a good bad influence on you," she tells Carol with this sure look in her eyes.
And, oh my… It suddenly gets really hot in here.
The way she just leans back all coolly like nothing can touch her, and the way she's always smiling about things she knows she can handle…
"Yeah, I could get used to mornings like this," Carol tells herself.
"WILL YOU GUYS HURRY UP?! I GOT THREE SPICY TUNA SUBS TALKING BACK AT ME, AND THEY AIN'T IN THE MOOD FOR WAITING!" Lynn Jr. elegantly informs them from the hallway.
"I'll get Big Bertha…" Lana says shortly after.
Carol and Luna just look at one another, sharing the same look of indifference.
Until Carol breaks the ice with another smile.
"Still awesome, though."
It's not the first night Carol stays with Luna. In fact, she stays the next night, and the night after too.
And each night is better than the last. Carol helps Luna with homework, and then they proceed to share more laughs and smiles with the rest of Luna's family.
When they're not eating Lynn Sr.'s home cooked meals, they're doing each other's makeup with help from Lola, Leni, and Lori. When they're not doing that, they're indulging Luan's comedy routine, or Lucy's Vampires of Melancholia. Carol gets to change baby Lily, who's super adorable when she's not expelling things out of her orifices. Lynn's glad to tell Carol about her love of all things sports, and Carol's more than happy to tell her about her love of varsity golf.
Even Lincoln and Clyde are okay when they're not doing stupid boy stuff. And Lisa is polite enough to leave Carol out of her peculiar experiments. Lana's still disgusting, but she's a little sweetie when she wants to be.
Yup, the Louds are one big happy family. And, honestly, they're really nice to be around. They've made Carol feel more at home than she has in months.
Sadly, Mr. and Mrs. Pingrey are scarce, as they normally are. They send out their usual "I love you" texts to Carol throughout the week, and she sends some back, but that's about it.
Then there's the girls: Becky, Whitney, and Dana. They'll smile and wave at Carol in the halls, but that's about the extent of their interactions. Especially since Carol started sitting with Lori and Luna at lunch.
But really, the best parts of life are when she has Luna all to herself. Lori will steal away to sit with the wenches, leaving Luna and Carol to get to know each other even better.
Carol will tell L about Bach, and Luna will tell C about Swagger.
They get their trig done together, and their Pointerpoint slides for their upcoming journalism presentation finished as well. Of course, Luna always tries to get Carol to play violin afterwards, but she comes up with some pretty good excuses not to…
"I chipped a nail," was her best work, so far.
Even so, no matter what they end up doing together, they're sure to be smiling, laughing, or at least in Carol's case, blushing all the while.
It's nothing short of wonderful.
Sunday night comes, and Carol once again finds herself sleeping over. At this point, her, Luna, and Luan have arranged a "who has to sleep on the floor tonight?" schedule, and she just wears whatever's in Luna's closet.
Luckily, with thirteen people all living under one roof, it's easy to find participants for their last presentation rehearsal.
"And that's how Richard Avedon was able to change what it means to be a photographer for you and me," Carol finishes, as aplomb as ever. If there's one thing she can do well, it's make herself the center of attention.
That is, when she only has to worry about herself.
She waits a few seconds, then glares at Luna. Luna looks back with a dumb expression, then perks up upon realizing she's missed her cue.
"Oh!... Uhh… Any questions?" she reads off of her note card, looking out to her audience with a nervous smile.
Her audience being Lola and her stuffed animals, as well as Lana and her real animals. They all smile and clap.
"You did fabulous, Carol! I give you a ten!" Lola proclaims, holding up an actual 10 sign.
"Aww shucks, Lola. You're too nice," Carol brazenly responds.
Then Lola glowers at Luna, who looks to her with same nervous smile, not at all desperate for approval.
"I give you a five. A generous five," Lola states, not even privileging her with a sign.
"Wicked harsh, dude. I'll remember that next time you wanna play tea party," Luna replies with a look of scorn.
"Well, what did you think, Lana?" Carol asks the girl in the red hat.
She doesn't answer, because she's too busy looking for something she appears to have lost.
"Lana!" Luna hollers, and she snaps out of it.
"Huh? Oh, terrible, yeah," she thoughtlessly answers. "Say, have you guys seen Becky anywhere?"
"Becky?" Luna asks.
"Yeah, my new python," she explains.
Carol and Lola are both out the door more scared than long tailed cats in a room full of rocking chairs.
Luna face palms. "How do you lose a python? And what kind of name is Becky?"
"Carol said Becky was a snake in the grass, so I thought it worked!" Lana tells her.
Luna just sighs. "Well good luck with Becky. I gotta go make sure those two haven't keeled over.
She goes out to the hallway, where Lola and Carol are cowering over the snake.
"Eww, eww! So gross!" Carol expresses.
"I know! I'm telling my daddy!" Lola declares, and she goes to do just that, yelling "DADDY!" on her way down the stairs.
Luna sneaks up on Carol and places a hand on her shoulder, to which the girl jumps a bit with fear.
She quickly realizes it's just her though, and calms her tits. "Jeez, Luna. At least wait until after the presentation to scare me to death," she quips.
"Sorry, dude," Luna apologizes with her usual drawl. "For real though, I don't get it. How do you keep so calm talking in front of people?" she asks.
Carol amusingly huffs. "Well, I mean, when you're good at something…" she arrogantly answers.
"Dude!" Luna bemoans.
"Okay, okay," Carol responds, easing up on the flair. "It's like when you perform in front of people. I just know I'll do well, so I don't get nervous."
"Dang, I wish I didn't. I mean, I can rock out on stage like nobody's business! But this stupid presentation has got me all out of whack."
Carol rests a comforting hand on her shoulder. "It'll be fine, Luna. Just follow my lead, and stick to the note cards. You do that, and we'll ace this bad boy and be on our way to the yearbook committee next year!"
"You really think so?" Luna questions with these adorably piteous puppy eyes.
"I know so," Carol states with a smile. "Worst case scenario, picture everyone in their underwear," she jokingly adds.
Luna smiles at her goofy statement.
"You're such a turd," she quips, playfully jostling her.
"Says you, stinky," Carol says back, jostling her in return.
She likes flirting with Luna. She likes it a lot.
But Luna always stops flirting after a couple awkward, nervous laughs. Like, every time Carol thinks she can maybe work one of these conversations into making a move, Luna just halts the momentum. Like, maybe she's just too nervous, or she doesn't know what else to say, or...
"No… She likes me. She has to…"
But this time is different. Luna doesn't stop. In fact, she keeps smiling her devious little smile, and even jostles Carol a second time!
"Stinky? That's just your breath going back in your face," she jokes.
"Oh my gosh! It's happening!" Carol giddily thinks.
"Nope. It's definitely you. You smell like Charles' butt," she ripostes, walking backwards.
Luna just keeps smiling that smile that's become Carol's favorite, and she can't help but smile back.
"You would know what my dog's butt smells like," Luna fires back.
"You're dumb," Carol simply retorts.
"You're rubbish," Luna jokes with her British accent.
Then, they break. They can't help but burst into laughter. It's all so fluffy and cute, and so…
"Perfect!" Carol excitedly thinks.
"If there was EVER a more perfect time to say something romantic, it would be right flipping-"
"CAROL!" Luna shouts, a fearful expression coming to her face.
In an instant, Luna is grabbing her by her arm, and pulling her in close. At first she thinks maybe it's time for some sweet stuff, but the way she yelled her name, and the panicked expression she wears makes it obvious she was getting her out of harm's way.
Carol turns back, and sees an enormous snake on the ground, looking up to her with pitiful eyes.
"Stupid Becky," Luna utters.
Carol, on the other hand…
"AHHHHHHHH! Oh my god! Oh my god! Get it away! Get it a-way-hay!" she screams as she clings on to Luna for dear life.
Luna is unimpressed, but allows Carol this gesture. Meanwhile, Lana is running into the hall, and Lola is escorting her "Daddy" up the stairs to witness the buffoonery.
"Daddy, you have to see this! Lana brought a big nasty snake into our home!" Lola tells him.
"Now honey, I know your sister likes to bring some interesting animals into the house, but what harm could a little old snake do?" Lynn Sr. asks, until he lays on the titanic python on his floor.
"What is going on up here?" Rita Loud inquires as she makes her way up as well.
And of course, her husband shrieks like a girl, "AHHHHHHH!" before jumping into her arms all Scooby Doo like.
Needless to say, she's unimpressed.
Lana rushes over to the poor snake, and coddles it in her embrace.
"Guys! You're scaring her!" she cries.
Rita just sighs. "Lana, please find somewhere else for your new friend to stay. Frogs are one thing, but a four foot long python is a little much," she assertively tells her daughter.
"Come on, Becky…" Lana sadly tells her newest pet as she carries it back into her bedroom.
Then everyone goes back to their business as Lola follows her parents downstairs, leaving Carol and Luna in the hall as before.
And yes, Carol is still totally glued onto Luna like she'll literally die if she lets go.
Luna clears her throat, and Carol looks to her with a nervous grin.
"Sorry," she utters as she pulls herself off, and she dusts off her britches.
Luna just rolls her eyes as she smiles again.
"I swear, it's always something in this house," she says.
Carol just smiles back, as this warm, fuzzy feeling comes over her.
"Luna, thank you. You saved my life," she says, wholeheartedly believing this.
Luna raises her brow and chuckles. "Heh heh, if you say so? I think you would be been alright."
But Carol sees this much differently, and places her hand back on Luna's shoulder to let her know this.
"No, Luna. That monster could've swallowed me whole! Or I could've tripped and fell down the stairs! For real, I owe you big," she asserts.
Luna just keeps sweetly smiling. "Alright, C. If you really feel that way, then I guess that's just my way of saying thanks for not letting me fall to my death a couple days ago."
They just laugh it off, and then… It gets quiet.
And there's really only one of two ways this can go.
Luna will start flirting again, and Carol will flirt back, and she will finally get the chance to make a move on this girl she's pined for so hard…
Or, she'll just stop.
"Carol…" Luna begins, this bright look in her eyes.
And Carol gets all bubbly inside. "Yes?" she eagerly responds.
"Wanna go watch TV?"
As cute as Luna Loud is, sometimes Carol wants to just smack her.
But she refrains, because good things come to those who wait.
At least, that's what she hopes.
"This show is so stupid. I mean, it's like, eleven minutes of the same crap every episode?"
"Then again, it IS a kids' show," Carol thinks to herself as her and Luna attempt to watch some Nickelodeon cartoon on TV. That's what happens when Luan gets the TV.
"Dude, can we please watch something else?" Luna asks her younger sister with chagrin.
Luan meets her with just as much enthusiasm. "Well, it's either this or the news. I got the remote first."
Luna and Carol just roll their eyes together.
"Hey, you don't like it, go to your house. Don't you have your own place?" Luan asks Carol.
"Don't even joke about that," she quips back. "I'll watch your cartoons before I go back there…" Carol says, practically shivering at the thought.
Luan winces, then smiles at her. "Alright, Care Bear. I gotta get caught up on homework anyway. I almost ate it before I realized what my teacher meant about it being a piece of cake… Hahaha!" she jokes as she tosses them the remote.
She stands and makes her leave, and alluringly raises her brows at Carol as if to say: "Getchu some."
Carol just rolls her eyes again as Luna takes the remote. She eyes Carol up and down, then decides to place her head on her lap. It obviously catches her by surprise, like, hello?
She tenses up, and acts as if she's going to scoot over. "You're good," Luna simply says, making herself comfortable on Carol's thighs as she surfs the channels.
Maybe she is good, maybe she's even better with Luna getting as close as she is. But it doesn't stop her heart from racing, or her cheeks from reddening, or her mind from thinking.
"Okay… This is good, right? She wouldn't just plop herself down on my lap like this unless she thought I'd be cool with it, right?..."
She looks down at her, and she just shoots her a little smile before returning her eyes to the TV.
"No, this IS good! She's treading the waters!... Seeing how I'll react... "
"Just be cool, Carol."
Slowly, easily, she rests her arms down on Luna. She takes a deep breath, and just enjoys the warmth of having her like this.
"Hey! Dessert storm! Are you caught up?" Luna suddenly asks Carol, breaking her reverie.
It takes a second for the question to fully register, but it does.
"Huh? Oh, yeah, I can watch the next one," Carol tells her, ignoring her inner conflict.
Luna flicks it on, and the episode shows Bruce trying to work up the courage to ask Diana on a date.
In his confessional, he tells the interviewer: "I know how much I like her, and I'm pretty sure she likes me… I just- I know it sounds stupid, but I want it to be perfect when I do make a move, you know?"
"It's not stupid at all, actually," Carol thinks, feeling her heart beat faster by the second.
"Poor dude. We've all been there…" Luna comments.
"Heh heh… Yeah…" Carol mutters. In actuality, many colorful, (some incomprehensible) words run through her mind about the irony of her statement.
"So, can I… can I ask you something kind of dumb?" Luna asks, her usual aura of confidence waning.
Carol deduces that, it probably doesn't have anything to do with Dessert Storm. But, if may have something to do with Luna resting herself on her lap like this.
"Uhm… Sure?" she responds, a little lump forming in her throat.
Luna doesn't follow up right away. She steels herself a moment before saying anything more.
"So… Like… After the presentation… You're still gonna come around, right? I know I'm lame for asking, but, you know…"
Carol thinks it over, surprised by her sudden display of apprehension.
"Luna… Of course I'll still come around! I mean… I know I'm lame for saying it, but you're not getting rid of me so easily," she says with a wide smile.
Luna just smiles back, but she doesn't say anything more about it. She doesn't have to. Unlike the Stones song, she can get some satisfaction.
Instead, she just goes back to looking at the screen.
"I will be glad when the presentation's over, though. I'll have more time to rehearse my act for the talent show," she says.
And Carol raises a brow at this. "Talent show?"
"Yeah. School talent show's coming up in a couple days. I'm totally gonna shred for it!" Luna announces.
Carol smiles. "Well, of course you'd take the opportunity to show off," Carol quips, playfully raising her knee to jolt Luna up. She just laughs at this.
"Ha ha… I'd say something about your violin… But…" she snidely says.
Carol just looks at her with a wince, and Luna just smiles before the other girl rolls her eyes yet again.
"I'm just playin', C…" Luna sweetly says before contently leaving it be.
Carol smiles, and she leaves it be too.
"I have to ask her out, already."
I imagine Carol's "punk" look basically being a purple/black version of Rachel Amber's outfit from Before the Storm. I love Life is Strange, obviously;p I also imagine that, if this were actually part of the show, that this would be a redesign for the character, and would become her new everyday outfit.
UPDATE: Check out my boy NickTheIrkenArtist on Twitter, Instagram, and DeviantArt. Specifically, "Carol's New Look."
Thanks as always, and please stay tuned until next time, true believers!