When Leni had clocked in for her next shift at Reininger's, her job was actually the furthest thing from her mind; as much as she loved to work in this department store, help customers shop for clothing, and interact with Miguel and Fiona throughout her shifts, she was far more preoccupied with the anticipation of meeting Chaz in the food court during her break. The text she had previously received from him was such an invitation during their break periods, telling her that he wanted to 'talk about things' with her. It was an incredibly vague text, but she was just excited simply to hear from him again after a lengthy period of silence – her sisters were even cautiously optimistic about what this could possibly entail, given the timing of his correspondence.

Sure enough, come break time, Leni immediately raced over to the food court, which unintentionally and unwittingly blew off Miguel and Fiona in the process. Grabbing a bite to eat for herself was of no concern as she examined the entire food court like an explorer scoping out ancient ruins before her eyes, until she finally spotted the short and round teen boy in the striped shirt and backwards ball cap sitting at a table right outside a little Chinese restaurant, with a huge tray of food in front of him – he seemed to really be putting the food away rather quickly, something that other people would assume would be the way he normally eats, given his rather generous proportions, but in actuality, he was stress-eating in an attempt to ease his nerves over the impending conversation he was due to have with Leni.

The blonde teen girl rushed over to his table, where she immediately grabbed a seat across from him, and addressed him in a manner that seemed indicative of ingesting far too much caffeine...

"Hey, Chaz! I got your text the other day, but I guess you already knew that, cause I already replied, but I was so totally excited to get your text and you saying you wanted to meet up at the food court during our breaks, which I guess it totally a good thing that our breaks are around the same time, cause that'd make it, like, super hard for us to get together when it's break time, but now we can finally talk about things, so what kind of things were you wanting to talk about? Good things? Bad things? Ugly things? I hope not ugly things, I def don't like talking about ugly things."

Leni resisted an urge to reach over and pull the couple of loose lo Mein noodles that were dangling from Chaz's bottom lip as he sat in stunned silence for a moment, as the bubbly blonde's babbling and blathering seemed to overwhelm his nerves all over again.

"Ugh… well…" began Chaz.

Before he could even get another word in edgewise, Leni suddenly jumped into the conversation again: "Say, why haven't you been talking to me all this time?"

"Ugh... well..." Chaz repeated.

Leni was still very much eager to get the answers she had been wanting from Chaz: "Why have you been avoiding me all this time?"

Chaz hesitated a little before he finally answered the questions that were pressed on him, "Because… I… I didn't think I was… good enough for you…"

Leni looked terribly confused as she asked, "Huh? What do you mean?"

As he lost his appetite over the uncomfortable discussion they were having, Chaz slid his tray aside, folded his hands atop the table in front of him, and confessed his insecurities to the girl who sat across from him: "Well… remember the last date we had?"

"Um… no, I really don't…" said Leni; short-term memory was definitely another one of her biggest weaknesses, and as such, she really could not even remember the last time she and Chaz had gone out on a date.

"Figures…" sighed Chaz. "Well, on our last date, you were telling me about all these other dudes you had dates with..."

The boy entered flashback territory as he described the last date they had to the blonde girl: neither of them had anything particular idea in mind of what they wanted to do, so they had decided to just spend a day at the mall together, though it seemed no matter where in the mall he took her, some memory tucked away within her cavernous mind was prompted of a previous date she had with certain other boys from school, of which she would casually bring up in conversation without giving much thought to what she was saying, though it didn't do much to help Chaz's self-esteem, or lack thereof.

"It didn't really surprise me too much…" continued Chaz with another sigh. "I mean, you're so pretty and popular…"

Leni couldn't help but blush and demure at the compliment Chaz paid her, as she gushed, "Awww! Thank you!"

"I thought there was no way I could compete with any of that…" confessed Chaz.

Leni was once again confused, as she asked, "Wait, compete with what? What kind of competition were you even in?"

Chaz followed up with another sigh before he resumed his explanation: "Like I said… you're so pretty and popular… and… I'm nobody… you could have your pick of any dude at school, and any of 'em would be better than me…"

Leni was still confused. "Better than you at what? Like, this one boy I had a date with plays on the football team – is he better than you at football? Wait – I didn't even know you played football!"

By this point, Chaz grew just a tad frustrated and began to wonder if maybe trying to have this conversation with Leni was even a good idea to begin with, since it had become quite clear that the more he tried to explain himself, the more he confused her.

Still, he tried to press forward: "I mean… a girl like you could date any guy you want… why would you wanna waste your time with… with a fat nobody like me?"

Leni gasped at hearing Chaz put himself down like this. "Chaz! Don't talk about yourself like that!"

"It's true!" Chaz insisted. "I've seen some of those other guys at school you talked about, you've dated some really cool dudes… they're exactly the kinda guys a girl like you would go out with; not a loser like me… I honestly thought the chance another dude came along and wanted to go out with you, you wouldn't even wanna keep seeing me anymore."

Leni looked even more crushed over hearing this confession. "But, Chaz… you're the only boy who wanted to keep going out with me… none of those other boys ever wanted to… if anything, there must be something wrong with me if nobody wants to keep going out with me…"

"There's nothing wrong with you!" Chaz insisted. "There's something wrong with all those other losers for not wanting to keep seeing you!"

Leni wasn't so sure about that, but she was still curious about one little thing: "Why did you want to keep going out with me, anyway?"

Chaz sighed yet again; he finally made full eye-contact with her and said, "Because I love you, Leni…"

Leni blushed all over again as she squealed very much in a teenaged love-puppy manner, "Aww! I love you too, Chaz! I was so sad when you stopped texting me and started avoiding me!"

"But, why would you love me?" Chaz asked in genuine curiosity.

"Because you're so sweet!" Leni squealed, as a flood of happy memories involving the two of them miraculously returned to her mind. "Remember the time you helped me pick out that totes cute sweater? The one with the pink and purple stripes?"

"Yeah…" nodded Chaz in amazement. "I'm actually surprised you remember that…"

"Or the time you wanted to take me out to dinner and you didn't even know you took me to my dad's restaurant?" Leni asked.

"Oh, yeah…" Chaz mumbled over the memory, "I remember your dad even offered us that special date night discount, too…"

"It's like you totally get me! And my siblings too! You're the only boy I've dated who didn't run away screaming like some do whenever they see my siblings, for some reason…" Leni said; she was unaware that it was seeing the sheer number of siblings she had that scared away many of her potential suitors.

"Hey, your fam's cool with Chaz!" The namesake boy exclaimed. "Lincoln's like the little bro I never had… Luna's music's really rockin'… Luan cracks me up… and Lola's always running over and giving me big hugs whenever I visit your house."

Leni giggled, "She likes you! She thinks you're all cuddly like a big teddy bear! And she's so right!"

Reminiscing about Leni's family brought a small smile to Chaz's freckled face, but he gradually frowned again as he resumed his discussion, "So, anyway… when we were having lunch at school the other day, Lori told us about how you were feeling bummed because you weren't in a relationship, and… well… I got the feels for you… I really couldn't believe a pretty and popular girl like you couldn't keep a steady boyfriend, and… I guess I also felt like it was also partly my fault…"

Leni gasped yet again and asked, "How could it be your fault?"

Chaz was getting to that: "Like you just said… I've been avoiding you all this time… I mean, I didn't really think you'd be too upset not hearing from me anymore since you have so many other guys wanting to go out with you… I didn't know it was because they didn't wanna keep going out with you like I do…"

"Wait…" she cut him off. "You mean you do want to keep going out with me?"

Once again, Chaz just looked into Leni's big, green eyes. Outside of his school and working environment, his social skills may be somewhat lacking, but he also knew that Leni was not the brightest star in the sky; he wanted to make sure he got his sincerity through to her loud and clear...

"How could I not want to keep going out with the coolest, sweetest, kindest, nicest, prettiest, most amazing girl I've ever met in my life?"

Leni's smile grew so wide it could have practically broken her face, and her eyes shimmered like a pair of precious emeralds.

"Oh… Chaz… that is totally the sweetest thing anybody has ever said to me!" She practically dove across the table to wrap her arms around him, which garnered more than a few awkward stares and glances from other customers who tried to enjoy their meals in the food court.

Chaz just could not believe this twist of fate; he was so sure the way Leni always had so many guys who wanted to go out with her was simply because of the fact that she was so pretty and popular that, of course, she would draw a lot of attention from other cool and popular guys – and who was he? A short, stocky, cat-loving nerd who works in a clothing store… why would any girl want to waste her time with somebody like him? Then again, Leni Loud wasn't just any girl, and it had become clear that despite what her outer appearance would project, she was not at all a shallow or superficial high school bimbo who would string boys along like a chain of fools – she actually wanted something meaningful to share with somebody she likes who likes her the way she is… and that somebody turned out to be Chaz. He could care less if other strangers were staring at them; at that moment, he felt like this was his crowning moment of glory to have the one girl he admired like him the way he is. He too wrapped his arms around her, as they both embraced each other tightly… something that Miguel and Fiona happened to witness from another part of the food court as they both had huge, warm smiles across their faces.

Throughout the rest of the week, the situation between Luna and Sam continued to remain incredibly awkward; just about the only time during the week the two even saw each other was during music club after school, and even then, there was a lack of playfulness, cheerfulness, or camaraderie in general. Sure, the band had taken her back, and she was making an honest effort to use her bandmates to their fullest potential and the best of their abilities, but her personal relationship with Sam remained unclear; it was eating away at her, and she really needed to know something. All Sam had said was that they would talk about it later… well, when was later going to be? The Loud rocker had thought things over and theorized that, perhaps, Sam wanted a more private setting where the two of them could speak their peace alone, as opposed to a crowded music room full of other students and musicians.

When the weekend had arrived, Luna decided it was time to clear the air once and for all, and sojourned to the Sharp residence for that very reason. Unlike previously, where she was able to build up her confidence in trying to smooth things over with the band, Luna lacked any sort of confidence or courage that this boisterous rocker usually possessed; her shoulders and back were slumped, her knees nearly buckled, and a look of dread was written all over her freckled face. She brought up a shaky hand and inched her index finger ever closer to the doorbell, until she heard a pair of voices off in the distance that sounded like they were approaching closer and closer.

"… So, I finally picked up tips on how I can get through Dr. Baron's castle faster," said one of these voices. "That level always gives me so much trouble."

"Wow, that's amazing," said a more mature-sounding, yet familiar voice, in a tone that suggested this other person was not entirely interested, but still humoring their companion nevertheless.

Luna turned around and saw Sam and Simon make their way down the sidewalk and turn onto the walkway in front of their house; the blonde bassist and her little brother were returning home after she had picked him up from another one of his gamers club meetings.

The chubby little boy was the first to see Luna standing at their front door, as he pointed out, "Hey, look; it's Luna! Hi, Luna!"

"'Sup, little dude!" Luna said playfully, as she bent down lower to make eye contact with the shorter boy approaching her. "What are you up to?"

"I was just at another meeting and I finally figured out how I can get through Dr. Baron's castle a lot faster," Simon explained, even though Luna had no idea what he was talking about. "Maybe now, I can finally complete Adventures Through Hyper Space III!"

"Whoa, that's hardcore, bro!" Luna said to humor the little boy, while she offered him a fist bump.

"Yeah!" Simon agreed, before he changed the subject to satisfy his curiosity. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I just popped over to see Big Sis," explained Luna, as she looked up at Sam and realized she had an awkward smile screwed on her face.

"Yeah, Simon, how about you go ahead inside, while Luna and I have a little chat?" Sam suggested.

"What about?" Simon pried, while Luna had a silent little chuckle.

"About big kid stuff that would just bore you to tears, now come on…" Sam escorted Simon into the house, although he resisted a little.

"Aww, why can't I ever hang out with you guys?" Simon asked while he was easily shoved into the house. "Luna's so cool!"

Luna smiled as she stood up straight and watched the taller girl send her little brother into the house.

"Some other time, Si; go finish your game or something," said Sam in an unusually strict-sounding tone to assert a little first-born authority over her younger sibling. After she shut the door behind him, Sam turned to face the other girl who had dropped by to see her, with a slight eye roll. "Sorry. He gets so nosy sometimes..."

Luna weakly chuckled, "I got used to that long ago; I deal with it tenfold!"

Sam merely stood before Luna on the front porch with her arms folded in front of her chest again, and a very serious look on her face, which only made Luna feel even more nervous and uncomfortable about their impending discussion.

"So, Luna… to what do I owe this pop-over?" Sam asked.

Luna finally sighed; as uncomfortable as this entire situation made her felt, she knew there was no sense in beating around the bush, so she got right down to business: "Sam… I… I want you to be upfront and straight with me…"

Sam merely cocked her eyebrow.

"Are we cool?" Luna asked. "Are… are you taking me back?"

Sam stood in silence for a brief moment - although this moment felt more like an eternity to Luna, as she waited for the blonde girl to say something -anything- just to give her some kind of answer or closure.

Finally, Sam spoke up: "I want to, Luna… but, there's still something else that I've been wanting…"

Luna's eyes widened as she asked, "What? What is it, dude? I'll give ya whatever I got, even if it's shirt off my back!"

"I want an apology," was Sam's blunt and simple response.

Luna now looked confused. "What do you mean? I have apologized, dude!"

"No, you haven't," insisted Sam. "You explained your side of the story, and you made things right with the band, but you never apologized for the way you spoke to me when I tried to carry on a civilized conversation with you… and, if I'm bein' honest, I didn't think you'd be able to swallow enough of your pride to say, 'I'm sorry.'"

"Dude, I'm swallowin' more than just my pride…" Luna continued to insist. "I am sorry, Sam… can't you see that? I never would intentionally lash out at you for any reason, brah… and I am sorry for my little ego trip… I've felt like absolute rubbish knowin' I shot you down when you're the single most important dude in my life outside my fam! I've been kickin' myself knowin' I hurt you when I never meant to…"

Sam's face gradually softened as she listened to Luna's apology.

Meanwhile, moisture lined the bottom of Luna's eyelids and a single tear rolled down her freckled cheek, as she silently mouthed, "I'm sorry, Sammie… I'm sorry…"

It was abundantly clear that Luna was deeply genuine and sincere in her apology – that was all that Sam needed. The blonde bassist finally relaxed her arms, as she stepped over to brunette rocker standing before her, and used her thumb to wipe the single tear away from her freckled cheek, as she cupped her hands around her face.

"Let's just… pretend this never happened, and forget about it… okay?" Sam offered.

A cautious smile quivered from Luna's lips. "You… you mean…?"

"But, Luna…" Sam continued, still with that rather serious tone in her voice to ensure her girlfriend that she was not playing games. "If we're gonna make things work between us as a couple… we have to keep the channels of communication open… and respectfully so."

Luna's chin continued to quiver as she nodded, "Swear on my life, brah…"

"Come here…" Sam said softly, as she wrapped her arms around Luna and embraced her tenderly, while Luna returned the gesture and squeezed her as tightly as she could, much to the blonde's discomfort. "Gosh, Lunes… Where'd you get such a strong grip from?"

Luna pulled away and laughed, "I grew up with ten sibs, dude… that's a whole lotta lovin' goin' on!"

The two girls chuckled before Sam made her girlfriend an offer: "Speaking of sibs, my folks are gone for the day, so I'm having to watch Simon… you wanna stick around and hang with us? I think he kinda likes having your company around."

Luna chuckled, "I'm game, brah!"

The two musical darlings wrapped their arms around each other's waists and proceeded to enter the house… little did they know that Simon had actually been eavesdropping on them from behind the front door all this time, as he suddenly made a mad dash away from the door just as they stepped into the house. His annoyed big sister called out to him in a faux threatening manner, as she shook her fist in the air comically.

"Oh, I'm gonna get you for this, you little sneak!" The two girls shared another chuckle, as Sam lowered her voice to spill a little gossip to the brunette who stood next to her. "If I'm bein' honest, I think Simon's got a little crush on you…"

Luna blushed just a little and repressed a snicker at the idea of a boy around the age of her little brother possessing such a precocious crush on her. "Not gonna lie, that's actually kinda sweet, brah…"

The two musical darlings shared in another warm laugh with one another, while Simon continually peaked into the living room from his partially opened bedroom door.

Afternoon gave way into the evening hours, and in the living room of the Loud House, Luan sat on the couch watching Lori and Leni continually circle around the coffee table; they paced nervously over the prospect of how things were going on between Luna and Sam all this time.

"You two keep this up, you're gonna wear a hole in the floor and fall right through the basement," said Luan. "I don't think Lucy would appreciate you ruining her coffin collection like that."

Lori groaned, "How can you even make jokes at a time like this?"

"Wait… what was the joke?" Leni asked.

"Let it go, Leni…" Lori sighed.

Finally, the front door swung open, which revealed that the third-eldest Loud sister had returned home, and was absolutely beaming. "Evenin', dudes!"

The resident rocker found herself nearly mugged as her two older and immediate younger sisters all rushed over to her, practically tackling her as they clamored for details about how things went with Sam.

"You were gone for so long!" Lori exclaimed.

"We thought you were gone with the wind!" Luan exclaimed.

"So, what happened?" Leni asked.

Luna gently shoved her sisters away to give her a little more breathing room; in spite of their worry, the rocker sister felt far too euphoric to let their siblingish behavior diminish her mood.

"It's all good, dudes! I made things right with Sam and she took me back, so we're cool again!" Luna explained.

Leni threw herself around her little sister and bounced up and down with her, which jostled the brunette. "EEEEEEEEEE! You and Sam are back together! Goody!"

"That is literally all we could ever hope for!" Lori exclaimed, while she also reached over and rubbed Luna's shoulder.

"Two hearts beat as one again!" Luan also exclaimed, using the moment to share in her roommate's penchant for quoting song.

"Thanks for the moral support, dudes…" said Luna, as she freed herself from Leni's grasp. "I don't know how I could live with myself if I couldn't make things right with Sam."

"Well, I, for one, am never concocting a scheme like this ever again!" Lori proclaimed. "That was literally the dumbest thing I have ever done."

"And you've done a lot of dumb stuff over the years!" Luan pointed out, only to have Lori snap her head and strike her down with a look of ire at her comment.

"Say, what time is it?" Leni suddenly asked.

Lori looked over at the clock sitting atop the mantle in the living room. "It's almost seven."

"O-M-GOSH! I'm gonna be late!" Leni exclaimed as the palms of her hands met her cheeks, before she dashed up the stairs.

"What's the rush, dudette?" Luna asked.

"I've got a date with Chaz tonight!" Leni called back down to her sister, as the three of them exchanged smiles with one another.

Just before seven o'clock, Leni stepped out onto the front porch, dolled up in a cute powder blue dress with little poufy sleeves, and as she was about to meet up with Chaz, here he came down the walkway, the boy having also made himself look a little more presentable in a nicely pressed yellow polo shirt, and his curly hair combed as best as he could.

"Hey, Leni!" Chaz called out to the blonde beauty.

"Hey, Chaz!" Leni replied before an item he had in his hands caught her eye. "What's in the bag?"

Chaz handed her the gift bag he had brought with him and said, "A little something I made for you."

"Ooh, what is it?" Leni asked as she excitedly reached into the bag and pulled out a blouse that was a nice shade of mint green. "Oh, what a cute blouse!"

"There's more; turn it around," instructed Chaz.

Leni did as instructed and discovered the back of the blouse had a large and carefully stitched sequined number six; as dazzling as this number looked, it was also a tad puzzling, as the blonde girl queried, "Six?"

Chaz nodded with a smile, "For our sixth anniversary."

Leni's eyes widened. "Our sixth anniversary?"

"Yeah; it's been exactly six months since Lori first introduced us!" Chaz explained with a nod; he had quite a knack for being able to remember little details such as this.

Leni's eyes were not only widened, but also began to sparkle at this point; she never celebrated an anniversary with anybody before, and this just felt so special to her as she squealed, "O-M-GOSH! I can't believe it's our six-month anniversary already! It feels like just yesterday we had our first date!"

Chaz's smile grew as he added, "That's why I thought, for this occasion, I'd take you back to where we had our first date..."

Leni Loud was a great first date, and because she has had a number of first dates, she could not bear to tell Chaz she could not even remember where they went on their first date - why not instead just pretend as though they are having a first date all over again? That seemed like such a wonderfully romantic idea; she wrapped her arms around his round girth and planted a big kiss on one of his freckled cheeks, as he tried so hard to maintain his composure and not pass out.

One could say that in spite of the mess that it ended up causing, the results of Lori's crazy scheme may actually have been better than what she had anticipated. Sure, her intentions were to get Leni to stop obsessing over not having a steady squeeze like her other sisters, and perhaps Leni could have accepted that if she had to… but knowing that she and Chaz still really care very much about each other, and are willing to make things work seemed like an even bigger achievement for everyone involved. Of course, there still is no absolute certainty for anything in life – whether or not Leni and Chaz can stay by each other's side in the long run remains to be seen, but it would seem that the fact that he is willing to deal with her absent-mindedness was exactly the kind of sign the other Loud sisters hoped for that somebody out there can and does, indeed, love Leni just the way she is.

I was working on this story before "Undercover Mom" aired, which has since confirmed that Leni is no longer dating Chaz while also having a new crush on a greasy-lookin' dude; once again, this is another one of my stories that has to be classified as retroactively AU. Ho hum.