Living a Loud Life

Chapter 18: Beat Around the Bush

Ever had a really uncomfortable moment? The kind where you'd love to just exit stage left and not have to deal with anything resulting from it?

That's how everyone felt here.

For what seemed like eternity, not a soul among the five talked. It was a Mexican standoff, with no one willing to fire off the conversation.

That is, until Lola got sick of it.

"Would someone say something already?!"

"H-hey there, Clyde. Long time no see, huh?" Lincoln asked, anxious sweat dripping from his forehead.

"Uh huh."

"I uh, assume you have a lot of questions."

"Uh huh." Clyde stiffly answered.

"Well, um, why don't you come inside?"

"Uh huh."

"Pssst. Clyde. That means walk forward."

"Uh h-"

"You know what, I'm just gonna bring him in for ya."

With her hands on his baack, Lana pushed Clyde's frozen body through the doorway with Lola following steadily behind. Lola, bewildered by situation, hesitantly brought up the rear.

Upon entering the abode two things were made abundantly clear: Lincoln's place was bigger than they thought and so too, was the party. This wasn't just a small, dinky, apartment nor the slightly better space that the twins and Clyde currently lived in. No, this was a huge upgrade from that. The walls and floor all looked new. The lighting bathed the space in a cozy glow. Several beautifully rendered posters of comic book characters in all sorts of art styles hung from the walls.

But was most impressive was the size of the crowd present. This wasn't just the little ten person get together that Clyde, Lola, and Lana had envisioned their geeky brother to have. No, there were at least a good fifty people milling about, from the lounge area to the kitchen in the back and the mall backyard out further. People chatted with drinks in hand on stairs that led up, seemingly, to the bedrooms.

"Yeah well like I was saying, I- ow!"

Lincoln grabbed his right shoulder in pain as Lola stood next to him, menacingly cracking her knuckles.

"That's for ghosting us for weeks, jerk!"

"Ooh! Throw one in for me, Lola!"

Another yelp was let out as Lola punched Lincoln's shoulder again. He silently thanked Lynn wasn't here to give him two more for flinching. "Hey! I was busy! And you two had work!"

"Like that's any excuse!" Lola protested.

"But it is one!"

"Yeah, well…phooey!"

Lincoln rubbed his forehead in exasperation. "Ugh, sisters."

"Yeah, sisters." Stella responded.

Lincoln quirked an eyebrow at her to which she dismissively raised her hands."Not that I have one, though. You know, single child here, heh."

"I wouldn't know." Lola bluntly stated.

Lana, achieving secondhand embarrassment from this interaction, reached a simple conclusion.

"Oh, I need to get drunk."

Stella smiled as bumped Lincoln in the arm. "Hehe, I almost forgot what it was like being around your family."

Lincoln smirked fondly at her. "Well, I'll never forget. That's for sure."

"Ahem."

The pair, startled at the noise, turned to see a visibly uncomfortable Clyde clearing his throat. Lincoln scratched the light stubble around his chin before patting Clyde on the back, albeit a bit more forced than natural.

"Heh, hey buddy. Once again, I'm glad you could make it."

Clyde nervously rubbed the back of his neck. "Heh, no problemo pal. Not like I'd miss this for the world."

"Ahhh, well now that we've all been reacquainted, it's time to finally party!" Lana announced her intentions to the world, letting out a phenomenal battle cry as well.

Lola gave Lana the side eye. "You are not going to mooch off of someone's rum, right?"

Lana turned to face her sis. "Please, you know me."

Lola let out a relaxed breath before she tensed up the clanking of glass behind Lana's back. "I brought my own bottle with me!"

With that, the girl ran off into the heart of the party.

"Where did she keep that?"

"You don't wanna know." Lola deadpanned. "Say, Stella."

"Yes?" The tan girl replied, still nonplussed from the bottle reeal.

"You wouldn't happen to have some advil, would you? I have a feeling I'm gonna have a headache later tonight."

"Actually, yeah. I think I have some in my backpack. Come this way."

Hastily, Stella tugged Lola up the stairs, out of the foyer, and away from the impending conversation that was about to happen between the two old buddies. Perhaps other partygoers had sense this coming doom, because the space around them was seemingly empty and quiet.

"Hey, Lincoln." Clyde spoke.

"Y-yes?"

Clyde swallowed a lump in his throat. "I just wanted to say…you see."

"Why is my mind blank?! Come on, words!"

"Sometimes you know, I feel, well…you know how-"

"Oh shoot! I forgot to unplug my hair dryer."

"Rain check on this convo, Clyde!"

Before Clyde could even get a word in, Lincoln was off down the hall, swallowed by the mass of partyers.

"…Nice talking to you, too."

Glum wasn't a word Clyde often used to describe himself. But right now? In this festive, costume themed bash? Glum was the perfect word for him. He felt like shit. Like the shadows in the room had clung to his back in a cape befitting a villain. He felt cold, like the heat of his body had left him and all the remained was his cool corpse and ever moody brain.

Honestly, he felt like Haiku, or at least what he imagined her to feel like on a good day.

This suddenly weird turn of thoughts was interrupted by walking down the hall, bobbing his head offbeat to the dance music in the background. Now Clyde might not have been an expert on human health, but he was one hundred percent certain that dude was on some stuff. Looking down at the tray carrying a batch of brownies and well, he assumed he wasn't wrong.

Now normally, Clyde McBride would have ignored such acts of tomfoolery, never wanting to inhibit his body too much in any way. Yet with the trajectory his night started off on his sprit was far from keeping himself composed. More than anything, he just wanted to feel good.

"Hey man, mind if I have one?"

"Damn, I didn't realize how nice Lincoln's place was."

As Lola and Stella climbed the stairs past buzzed young women and men, the came upon the second floor which surprisingly, seemed even cleaner than the first. The gray carpeted floor softly absorbed the sounds of their steps. Now that Lola thought about it, she was even more shocked that with so many drunk people around, there wasn't a single noticeable stain on the white walls.

"Oh, yeah. Lincoln told me once he left your house, he became ultra aware of how messy he used to lived. Said he wanted to present 'his best self' to the world so he ended becoming as much of a neat freak as Clyde."

"Those two are more alike than they know. I sometimes think Lincoln was adopted too and they happen to actually be twins with how in tune they are."

Stella flashed a grin. "Ha, well a twin would know, wouldn't they? In here."

"Damn, even the bathroom is nice."

Lola stepped after Stella into a small but fresh, smelling bathroom at the end of the hall. It reminded Lola of their family's bathroom back home, minus the dozens of kids having to use it of course. Stella opened the mirror above the sink, revealing a compartment with a few toiletries and items neatly lined up. Lola was about to question where Stella's supposed backpack was before noticing that she was going through the items on the shelves like she'd used them before. She also noticed a familiar bottle of hair shampoo from her childhood.

"Uh, isn't this Lincoln's stuff?"

Stella paused. A moment passed with her back visibly tensing. A second later, she turned around and gave a sheepish smile. There was a look in her that Lola was familiar with, one she often saw in her sisters when trying to cover their blunders up. "Hehe, funny story…"

"Wait a second…you live here?!"

Lola freaked.

Stella put her finger on her lips in a quieting gesture. "Shhh! Keep it down!"

"Keep it down?! Keep it down that my only brother is living alone with a girl?"

"Yes!"

"How do you expect me to do that?!" Lola whisper-shouted.

"Look, Lincoln decidedly didn't tell anyone about this until he started inviting people to this party. Hell, he hasn't told anyone in your family, or his friends back home."

"Why the hell would he do that?!"

Stella threw her hands up in anger. "Because maybe they'd react as crazy as you!"

"Oh…"

"Well, well, well. Looks like it's my lucky day. Empty line at the food table. Perfect."

With dart like movements, Lana stuffed her mouth with snacks high in carbs, not seeing the need in a plate because, well, she was Lana. In her peripheral vision, a figure came to be next to her.

"I'm surprised to see you using your hands to eat these days."

Lana spun around, cheeks stuff with cheese and crackers, to come face to face with a familiar face from these recent days.

"Lindsey? What the heck are you doing here?"

Lindsey shrugged, grabbing a cookie off the table and nibbling on it. "I happen to live with one of Lincoln's coworkers. I know, small world and all. Lincoln invited all his her who in turn asked if I wanted to be her plus one and I figure, why not?"

Lana cocked an eyebrow. "Wait, Lincoln has coworkers? I thought he just sat all day in front of his desk here drawing."

"Ah, I wish it was that easy sis."

Lincoln strolled up from behind Lana, hand lightly squeezing her shoulder in familiarity. "I'm lucky if I can have a quarter of my time devoted to drawing. Most of the time I'm editing the more popular works under our label. We usually work in small teams or pairs."

Lana pouted. "You never mentioned any of that before!"

Lincoln crossed his arms and met her eyes with his own. "Yeah well, if you had an office job, would you talk about all the boring paperwork you filled out?"

"First off, you wouldn't catch me dead at an office. And second, I'm your sister! I want to know everything you've been up to!"

"Alright look, there's a lot I've been wanting to tell you all…"

Lindsey's eyes darted between the siblings. "Um, this seems pretty personal."

"I just haven't been able to decide if you guys would take it all well."

"So, it's a matter of trust?"

"Yeaaaah, I think I'm just gonna…"

"Come on, Lana. Take it from my point of view. History has shown that you and the rest of the family don't take all my independent ventures very well."

Lana snorted. "Come on, man. You're overreacting."

"Luan and Lynn literally drove to my dorm and blackmailed the RA when I joke texted Lori about feeling targeted by room checks."

"Sooooo, there may or may not be a few isolated incidents."

"A few?"

"But do you seriously believe we'd intervene that heavily these days?"

"…"

"Lincoln?"

"Oh this is the worst."

"I…don't know."

"Lincoln…"

"Oh Lana, don't take it personally."

"I know you all mean well, but it can be hard to see over all the chaos. Seriously, it's like trying to speak over a tornado sometimes! On those days you just get lost in the flow with people."

"Anyways don't sweat it. I will talk to you guys. And soon. Promise."

"…okay."

"Okay."

"Aaaand it looks like one of my coworkers just vomited on the grass. I should probably look after him. See ya soon?"

"Yeah..."

Of course, by the time she replied, Lincoln had already headed out the backdoor.

"Ouchhhh."

"Well, I definitely saw something I shouldn't have.

Lana snorted. "As if that makes any difference. You heard it yourself. Or maybe not. I am the type to 'get lost in the flow' after all."

"Lana?"

"In fact… I may as well get lost in the flow now. This is a party after all! There's nothing better to do. Hell, there's nothing else to do at all!"

"Lana, wait!" Lindsey grabbed her arm and pulled her back. A combative look crossed the tomboy's face, one which had Lindsey shrinking in on herself.

"What?! What is it? Gonna tell me calm down, huh? Ask a Loud not to be loud? Is that it?"

"No, I wanted to ask you…"

She wouldn't be able to argue against Lana in a state like this. Doing so would just isolate her further. No, Lindsey reasoned the best thing was to get on her side. Be her buddy, for lack of a better word, and be by her side through the night.

Like lightning, Lindsey snatched Lana's rum bottle and took a big gulp before asking.

"Do you prefer shots or beer?"