Movie Night

The white-haired boy - well, teenager now - breathed a sigh of relief, tinged with a hint of exhaustion. He was finally at the door to his apartment. It'd been a long and harrowing day at college, having faced neverending lectures and working on the many assignments being piled onto him by his less than likeable professors.

His body noticeably slumped against the door, fatigue quickly overwhelming his senses. He twisted the doorknob lazily and threw open the door, throwing his backpack haphazardly onto a nearby chair. Before he knew it, his mind had subconsciously guided him onto the couch, and soon enough, his world went dark.

….

"Hey.."

He felt a hand ruffle the top of his head, followed by the sensation of a finger booping the tip of his nose. Whoever it was doing this sure wanted to yank him out of his relaxing afternoon nap.

"-coln.."

He let out an exasperated groan as his eyelids slowly fluttered open. His ears, asleep seconds ago along with the rest of his body, quickly picked up the sound of a feminine and familiar voice right above his face.

"C'mon, wake up Stinkcoln," the voice said just as Lincoln felt his head being ruffled again, this time a little rougher than the last. He grumbled, pushing himself up from the couch before stretching his arms into the air.

"Mhm.. I'm up, I'm up.." he yawned.

His eyes, although heavy from his sleep just seconds ago, relaxed at the sight of the person in front of him; his roommate.. and sister.

"Hey Lynn.." he greeted sleepily.

"Took you long enough," the brunette chided. "Now get your butt off the couch cuz' I got us some chinese takeout."

Lynn Loud; star athlete and a student of sports science. At 20 years old, she stood tall, but still noticeably shorter than Lincoln's height. She still wore her hair in the usual ponytail, but in the house, she'd let it down and let her hair flow freely. Of course, she still wore an article of clothing with the number 1 on it, this time being a red jacket rather than her old white and red jersey from her middle-school days.

Lincoln's eyes trailed his older sister as she walked towards the kitchen. He scanned the room, noticing that the bright day had turned into night. How long had he slept?

"Uhh, Lynn.. what time is it?" he asked.

"About 8-ish.." he heard her say from the kitchen.

"8 'o' clock.. Shit.." he grumbled. As he stood on his two legs, he could feel the blood rushing from his head to his feet, and his entire world went tipsy for a few seconds. He absolutely hated that feeling.

With his feet lazily grinding against the floor, he made his way to the kitchen to find Lynn already gorging down into her box of chow mein. He grabbed the other white box on the table, sitting down and opening it up to find a piping hot serving of General Tso's chicken - his favourite.

"Thanks Lynn.." he said with a smile.

"No problemo," she replied. She hadn't changed much compared to her 13 year-old self when it came to eating; she still gobbled it down like a starving wolf.

He watched her eat, his eyes relaxing at the familiar sight.

"It's nice to finally see you back, Lynn," Lincoln said before digging into his delicious chicken.

He could see his sister cock her eyebrows from across the small table. "What are you talking about, bro? You're acting like I've been gone for ages," she said while letting out a small little chuckle.

"It has felt like ages. I don't think we've actually had dinner together like this since.." The gears in his head started spinning trying to remember the last time they'd done something like this. "Since.. two weeks ago I'd say," he said as he rubbed his chin.

He could see Lynn's previous look of disbelief quickly disappearing once she realised that he was actually right. "Shit.. it really has been that long, hasn't it?"

"Yea.. yea it has.."

Their conversation slipped into silence as they continued to eat their food. Still, it was nice to finally have her company again. She'd been really absent from the apartment for all he could remember, and for all those days, he'd felt like a big part of him was missing. But this was nothing compared to the hollow emptiness he'd felt when Lynn first left for college.. but that was a story for another time.

Speaking of college, he could still remember when he got the offer to his university, and funnily enough, it was the same one Lynn was going to. Their parents, in a bid to save some money, made the decision to rent an apartment for both him and Lynn to share together. If Lynn was ever reluctant about the whole idea, she didn't show it, and instead she seemed quite enthusiastic about it as Lincoln recalled. As for Lincoln, well, he'd been Lynn's roommate once in his life, so it wouldn't hurt to be her roommate again. But he'd be lying to himself if he didn't admit that he was a little more than enthusiastic to bunk with Lynn..

His trip down memory lane was cut short when he heard Lynn let out an audible, deep sigh.

"Sorry about.. being away for so long. I've just been having a pretty shitty two weeks..," she said as she poked the remains of her food. "Those stupid professors keep giving me so many assignments. And to add even more shit to my plate, I have another match to prepare for next week.." She sighed even heavier this time.

Lincoln felt bad for her. If he thought he had a shitty week, then Lynn must've had a double serving of shit. "You don't have to apologize, Lynn. You know that.."

"Yea, yea I know. It's just-," she sighed again before continuing, "I feel bad for leaving you like that."

"Lynn.. C'mon, you shouldn't feel bad about that.."

"Look, I-I don't even know what I'm saying.. My brain's all wrecked with stress and shit, but I guess I just.." For a moment, he swore he could see her cheeks quickly flush red. "I just.. I've missed you, dork.."

'She missed me?' Did he hear that right? "Aww, Lynn.."

However, Lincoln's heartfelt moment was cut short when Lynn fisted his shoulder.

"Oww.." he groaned as he rubbed his shoulder, but thankfully this time she hadn't hit as hard as she normally did.

"Two-for-flinching, Stincoln," she snarkily said. "And don't think you'll ever hear sappy crap like that from me again."

'Yup.. this is the Lynn I know alright..' Lincoln chuckled internally. But he still couldn't bear to see his sister so stressed like that. There had to be something he could do to make her day - wait, there was!

A smirk grew on the edge of his lips. "Y'know Lynn, I think there is something we can do together that'll get you to relax."

Lynn raised her eyebrow as she looked at him curiously. "Oh, and what could that be?"

"Two words. Movie. Night."

The gloomy look on Lynn's face quickly turned into a small grin. "Now, that doesn't sound too bad."

"It isn't bad at all. C'mon, why don't you relax on the couch while I go and prepare some popcorn for us, eh?" Lincoln proposed with a genuine smile on his face.

That grin on her face turned into the sweetest smile he'd seen on her in awhile. "Thanks, Linc." She began to walk away to the living room before she stopped in her tracks. "Wait, what movie are we watching?"

"Hmm.. That's a good question," Lincoln said as he rubbed his chin.

"I'm pretty beat to choose. So I'll let you decide."

"Alright, umm.." he tried searching his mind for a good idea. "Ah! What about Tropic Thunder?"

"Never heard of that one. But I guess if you think it's good, then it should probably be good," Lynn said, chuckling a little at Lincoln's excitedness.

"Oh, trust me! I know that this'll help get that stress outta your system," he said almost matter-of-factly.

"Well, whatever you say Linc," she said, shooting Lincoln a soft smile.

Lynn made her way to the couch while Lincoln prepared a bowl of popcorn.

Ah, he finally felt happy today! The exhausting grind of college work had been eating away at his soul for the past week, but tonight was the night he could finally relax and spend time with Lynn! This night couldn't possibly get any better.

"Yo hurry up Lame-O!"

"Alright, alright, calm down!" Lincoln chuckled to himself, 'Some things never change..'

Now, they were both at the couch ready to commence the weekly ritual of movie-watching. With a bowl of cheap popcorn in Lincoln's lap, they were all set.

"Let's get this started!"

Tropic Thunder was always a movie that Lincoln could rely on to turn his shitty day into a decent day - and tonight was no exception. The both of them laughed till their sides felt like falling out.

"Oh, oh god! That's hilarious!"

The particular scene with Tom Cruise had Lynn busting her guts out in hysterical laughter. She'd always been one to giggle at the occasional curse-filled outburst, and this scene was that but on steroids.

As the movie went on, they hadn't realized how close they huddled to each other. They were now shoulder-to-shoulder, and whatever space there was between them before this had been closed. They had never felt so relaxed in all these two weeks apart, and now, laughing their throats out together like this was the highlight of their terrible weeks of torture.

Soon after, he felt a weight settling onto his shoulder. Turning to his side, he found Lynn comfortably resting her head there, giggling to herself as she watched the movie. It soothed his heart to see her so happy. But something about the position they were in reminded him of something.. he just couldn't put his finger on it.

He felt Lynn relaxing deeper into his shoulder, hearing her let out a sigh. He then felt a set of warm fingers setting themselves onto his knuckles - it was Lynn's. It hit him then; the position they were in - it reminded him of a couple..

'No.. No, that's wrong! We- We don't look like a couple, r-right?'

If only he could take a look at himself, then he'd see how closely his cheeks resembled the colour of a ripened tomato. Thankfully Lynn didn't bother to turn to his side, because if she did, then she would totally notice how red his face was. But it didn't help the situation when Lynn began interlacing his fingers with his, her palm resting directly on the back of his hand and all her five fingers nestled comfortably between his.

By now, Lincoln's attention had been averted away from the movie and instead towards controlling the heat rising to his cheeks. Sure, they'd held hands before, but that was when they were kids! And this.. this felt totally different.

He glanced at Lynn, hoping to see some sort of look on her face so that he could decipher her intentions. And he did, in fact, notice in the dim light of the TV her reddened cheeks.

Whatever it was she was trying to do, he didn't try to think too hard about it, and instead he eased into it. This time, he moved his arm from atop the frame of the couch and rested it gently onto Lynn's shoulder. As gently as he could, he pulled her in closer, letting her body rest deeper by his side.

His heart was beating fast, and for all that was good he didn't want to know why. But it sure did beat faster when he felt Lynn moving around beside him. Expecting her to move away, instead, she relaxed even deeper into him, her whole body leaning comfortably against him. He could feel her looking up at him, and with that, he turned and shot her a sweet smile.

"You feeling comfortable there, Lynn?"

Even through that raging blush on her cheeks, Lynn managed to answer, although barely hiding that stutter in her voice. "Oh shut up, Stincoln. You're just naturally warm, a-alright?"

Just to hide any nervousness she was outwardly displaying, she momentarily lifted herself from Lincoln's shoulder and fisted it, although way softer than usual.

"Geez, if you say so," he chuckled. He didn't have the opportunity to rub his fisted shoulder like he usually did, since Lynn had gone back to leaning her head very comfortably against it. Not that he minded it in the least.

He heard a low little chuckle from Lynn. "And besides, this gives me a lot more access to the popcorn you've been hoggin' to yourself all this time."

"What the heck are you talking about? I haven't been hogging the popcorn," Lincoln snarkily replied back as he used his free hand to stuff his face full of the puffy yellow goodness.

"Oh-ho, so that's how it is, huh?" Lynn playfully snatched the bowl from his lap, earning her the (pretend) ire of Lincoln. "Not anymore, Stincoln!"

"Now you're the one hogging it!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Yes-uh!"

They scrambled at each other and laughed while they did so, trying to gain dominance over the sacred popcorn bowl. It felt like ages since they'd fooled around like this.. And Lincoln couldn't have been any happier.

Shortly after, they settled back into their comfortable positions once Lincoln had established his dominance over the bowl, much to Lynn's (pretend) sulking. They turned back their attention to the movie and watched in silence, relaxing into each other again.

"Y'know Stink- Lincoln.." he heard her voice break the comfortable silence.

"Yea?"

"Thanks.. really."

"For what?" he asked with obvious confusion to his voice.

"For.. y'know.. helping me relax. This is just what I need after the rough weeks I've been having," she sighed.

"Don't mention it, sis. I mean, what are siblings for, amirite?"

"Other than annoying the living hell out of each other? Yea, maybe you have a point there," she laughed.

But right after that, he swore he could hear her mumbling something under her breath, but it was too soft to hear.

He didn't have much time to ponder on it though once Lynn spoke again, "And Linc.."

"Mm?"

"I've missed you.."

He let out a deep sigh, one full of relief and content. "I've missed you too, Lynn.."

Ironic, they lived under the same roof, slept a room apart, and yet it felt like they hadn't seen each other in eons. But alas, college life has a tendency to do that sometimes..

They say nothing for the remainder of the movie. Lincoln doesn't know what to think of the whole situation that he's found himself in, but there is one thing that he is sure of; he's never felt so comfortable being with Lynn ever before in his life.

The movie continues on, and once the credits roll, he hears a light snore coming from beside him. He doesn't need to look beside him to know that it's Lynn, but he does so anyway. She looked so peaceful, her face showing content and peace as she slept on his shoulder. It was kinda infectious actually, since now he was starting to feel sleepy himself. He rested his head gently onto Lynn's, and before he knew it, the lights were out once again.