Another Saturday morning could only mean one thing; Clincoln McCloud were on the move.
This time, though, the two boys weren't alone. Then again, how else could they expect to arrive at Great Lakes City by twelve o'clock without Lori driving them there? Thus, Clyde McBride found himself in a place where he often wasn't—in the backseats of Vanzilla with his best buddy literally by his side.
"You excited about seeing the big city for the first time?" Lori asked, her question posed in the obvious direction.
"Sure am!" Clyde said, his huge grin beaming, before she shot a look over at Lincoln. "And I bet Lincoln's just as pumped!"
The boy in question raised up his hand. "You know it! Clincoln McCloud's gonna hit the city big time!"
Clyde knew what to do from there, and gave his best friend's hand a hearty slap, followed by a rapid-fire series of hand motions that connected in perfect sync. With the last of their signature handshake completed, it was the perfect time for their one-woman audience to chuckle at their antics, along with an eye-roll.
"You guys are such dorks," Lori teased, lightness laced in her tone. "I don't know how Ronnie Anne's gonna handle you two."
The mention of his not-co-close friend made Clyde flinch, a cold feeling of uneasiness murmuring in his gut—it was easy to forget that his big venture into brand new territory wouldn't be without someone else tagging along. As quickly as he tried to tamp down his flash of anxiousness, it didn't go unnoticed from Lincoln, who already knew where Clyde's head was.
"Relax, Clyde," Lincoln said, placing a hand on Clyde's shoulder. "It's like I said before−you're not gonna get brushed off. I'm sure Ronnie Anne'll be happy to see you, too."
Regardless of his friend's best intentions, Clyde still had his doubts. "You think so? I mean, we weren't exactly close before she moved, y'know."
"Look at it this way. I've had plenty of bumps on the road with with h-WOAH!"
On cue, the ride suddenly became bumpier, nearly jostling the two boys out of their seats.
"Pothole," Lori grumbled irritably. "Seriously, when is Mayor Davis gonna do something about them? I've gotten five flats in the past month because of those stupid things."
Seconds after the burst of adrenaline wore off, Lincoln picked up where he left off.
"Like I was saying, things between me and Ronnie Anne weren't always the best, but we worked 'em out. But you? You've always have a clean slate with her and that was back when she poured food down my pants on a regular basis."
Clyde's eyebrow popped up. "Doesn't she still do that?"
"Not as much. The point is, she's not as rough around the edges anymore and you don't have a bad history with her. She's gonna want to catch up on old times again with you. I just know it."
Like the other times Lincoln tried to talk him into feeling better about seeing Ronnie Anne again, Clyde had to admit that his apprehension was put to rest a tiny bit. There was a still a better part of his rational side, however, that was firmly in the camp of "seeing his believing".
And now that he had room to think about things, there was also the matter of Ronnie Anne's new friend to consider as well. Sid, was it? Lincoln hadn't mentioned much about her whenever he talked to him about his video chat sessions. They were both in the dark about her beyond her first name. What was she gonna be like? Clyde guessed that she would tag along with them at some point. He could only imagine what kind of awkwardness would unfold from him not knowing what to do around a total stranger while trying to get to know Ronnie Anne better AND get as much bro time down with Lincoln as he could before they'd have to leave the city at six.
He could find a measure in comfort in the fact that, like most of life's most tense situations, Lincoln would always be there to see him through to the end. If the time came for panicking and spiraling, it'd be when the journey to the city was over.
In the meantime, there was still plenty of time before they reached their destination, which presented the perfect opportunity for the ultimate time-passer: several rousing ARRGH!-centered sessions of 20 Questions.
As usual, Lori was far from interested in joining in.
Cities weren't new to Clyde, thanks a commute to his grandmother's house from time to time for a weekend visit, but he couldn't help but keep his face and hands plastered to the window in wide-eyed wonder as the towering buildings, bustling sidewalks, and colorful billboards of Great Lake City passed him by. While Lincoln wasn't about to do anything to break his buddy's trance, Lori was quick to cut in once she saw what he was doing.
"Clyde, I wouldn't do that if I were you," Lori advised. "Lily threw up on that window yesterday."
Immediately, Clyde peeled back and retched, sputtering as he tried to spit out whatever residual specks of baby vomit he might've accidentally ingested. Despite his friend's peril, Lincoln couldn't help but chuckle.
"Sorry," he said. "I should've warned you about that myself. It was just nice seeing you digging the city scene so much."
Clyde was put back in a good mood simply by remembering where he was and what he had seen.
"You're telling me!" he said. "I haven't seen a Burpin' Burger advertisement that big in my life!"
Lori jumped in with some bad news. "Too bad its false advertisement. The last time I was here, Bobby and I tried to find one for our lunch date and wound up wasting half a tank of gas in the process. We were literally just driving around for hours."
"Who knows?" Lincoln said. "Maybe we'll find one once we meet up with Ronnie Anne."
"Without a GPS by your side? Good luck."
The thought of mouth-watering burgers came to and end once Lori pulled up to a stop in front of what Clyde could tell was just an ordinary apartment building.
"Welp, we're here," Lincoln said as he unbuckled his seat belt. He spared a look at Clyde and smiled at him before he got out of Vanzilla.
Clyde began to fiddle with his, too, but halted in his tracks as his driver's high pitched squealing pierced his eardrums. He didn't even need to look up to know what that meant.
"BOO-BOO BEAR!" Lori cried as she hastily scrambled out of her seat and exited the van.
Clyde's imagination took over from there as he looked back down at his seat belt to undo the clasp, visualizing the image to go along with all the bubbly conversation and kissy sounds that were going on within his range of hearing. Although he wasn't hopelessly in love with Lori anymore, he couldn't help but feel his heart get pricked with longing jealousy whenever Lori and Bobby were together.
Once he was free, he looked out the window and sure enough, there were the lovesick teenagers in a tight hug as Lincoln and...and…
Clyde swallowed nervously. 'Ronnie Anne'
She still looked the same as always, minus the new bags under her eyes she was sporting. Her friendly shoulder jabs also looked the same and probably felt the same, too, something that Lincoln could vouch for after getting smacked with one just now. Ironically, now that he had a right mind to just sit back and watch the good vibes go on without him, if anyone needed a good smack—preferably across the back of his head—it was him. He had Lincoln's word to lean on. He could at least respect his confidence by getting out of the car.
Without about as much bravery as he could muster, Clyde freed himself from his seat belt and before he knew it, had left the comforting seats of Vanzilla for the scene of friends before him. It only took a few approaching steps before Bobby took notice of him and broke out of his hug with Lori to greet him.
"Yo, man!" he said. "It's been a while!"
He mussed Clyde's hair for a bit, the jostling motions getting the boy to laugh a little.
"And it look like you got a little taller. That's probably because you eat your veggies instead of trying to pass 'em off to the dog." He looked back at Ronnie Anne and teased with with a knowing smirk. "Like a certain little sister of mine does."
Ronnie Anne blushed. "One time, Bobby! It was one time!"
"Sure was. And later that night, you found out why letting Lalo eat broccoli is not a good idea, especially if you let him sleep in your room."
"Ugh. Don't remind me." She turned around when she heard stifled laughter and sure enough, Lincoln was trying to hide his snickering smile behind his hand. She cracked a smile of his own. "And just what are you laughing at? You asking for a headlock or what?"
"I'd like to see you try!" Lincoln challenged and made a break for the stairs with Ronnie Anne in tow.
Soon, the two friends were laughing and running about, teasing each other with light barbs and mocking threats. Unbeknownst to them, Lori was having the time of her life looking on at them as she recorded the scene on her phone while trying her best not to squeal and ruin the footage. When she felt that she had enough, Lori put her phone away and tugged on Bobby's arm.
"C'mon, Bobby," she urged. "We've only got about a few hours to enjoy ourselves before you have to go back to work at the bodega."
"You got it, babe," he replied as they walked hand-in-hand to Vanzilla. "Is there anything in theaters you wanna see before we eat?"
"I couldn't care less. Just sitting in a dark room with you for two hours is enough for me."
"Me too!"
With that, the teenagers were off, leaving the three kids behind in a cloud of dust as they sped off in Vanzilla. Clyde was left with nothing to do but wade through choppy waters as he closed in on Ronnie Anne, who had finally caught up with Lincoln and had him in a vice-grip headlock, accompanied by noogies to pile up on the "torture". She looked up just in time to see Clyde waving at her.
"H-hey, Ronnie Anne," he said with a nervous smile. "What's up?"
He took pride himself for getting through that with minimal stuttering, but he was caught off guard when Ronnie Anne's smile dropped, leaving him to deal with her confused expression as she let Lincoln go.
"I'm sorry, do I...know you from somewhere?" she asked warily, her eyes squinted.
Without missing a beat, all of Clyde's fears toppled over him like mounds of dirt, rendering him into a state of hurt and disbelief. He sighed pitifully as his shoulders drooped, his throat suddenly swelling. He expected her to brush him off in favor of Lincoln, but was he so unremarkable that he couldn't even leave a lasting impression on her?
Before he could feel any worse, he was suddenly brought down to Earth with a big slap on the back. He recoiled in the shock of the impact and the sound of Ronnie Anne...laughing? What on Earth? He blinked, and was surprised when the sight didn't leave him, as if his mind had been playing tricks on him.
"I'm just kidding!" she said. "C'mon, now, did you really think I'd forget about Clyde McBride, aka Lame-O #2? Please."
Clyde sighed again, this time in relief, as he straightened up and rubbed the back of his head. "I-I guess we lame-os are hard to forget, huh?"
"You betcha." When she paused to laugh at his joke, Clyde could see Lincoln looking at him with an unmistakable "Told ya so!" look on his face, complete with a sassy wiggle of his eyebrows and his hands on his hips. "But honestly, I thought I'd never see you in person again."
"Really? Why's that?"
"Aren't your dads the kind of people to cover you in bubble wrap before you take a shower? I never thought they'd let you all the way out here without them."
Clyde had to chuckle at that one, both for the funniness and because it was yet another sign that Ronnie Anne remembered enough about him to matter.
"Well, they still made sure to give me three rules to stick to—don't talk to strangers, don't go into any dirty alleys, and try not to pass out where no one can help you."
"Those sound pretty reasonable. Sounds a lot better than the times when they'd give you twenty rules of precaution for licking envelopes."
"They still do. Paper cuts on the tongue are serious business."
From there, the trio headed out, with Ronnie Anne leading the way. Though all three friends were more than happy to entertain themselves with stories about what they had been up to, in order to bring the other party up to speed, there was one item of business that Ronnie Anne was directing them towards.
Lunch.
"Shut up!" Ronnie Anne said with a smile, looking at both Lincoln and Clyde with incredulity. "You're both liars, and terrible ones at that!"
Lincoln shrugged. "It's true."
"You had to be there," Clyde said.
Ronnie Anne shook her head. "There is no way that you went around school wearing a cheese hat! No way!"
Clyde was wondering if they'd ever be able to get the story over with her at this rate. It had been five minutes and she still hadn't budged. He decided to drop it, however, when he remembered that this trio was going to be a quartet once they met up with Sid. He didn't know if they'd see her once Ronnie Anne took him to that Full-n-Buster restaurant she had been hyping up or somewhere else. Either way, Clyde figured it'd be a good opportunity to get to know what to expect before their inevitable encounter.
"So," Clyde said, cutting into Lincoln and Ronnie Anne's conversation, "when're we gonna meet Sid?"
Lincoln's eyes widened as he snapped his fingers. "Oh yeah! I almost forgot!"
The boys were thrown for a loop when Ronnie Anne suddenly sulked and frowned. She kicked a nearby pebble out of her path as she stuffed her hands in her hoodie pocket.
"Not today," she said. "Yesterday, she got bit by one of the lemurs at the zoo and got rabies."
Clyde winced. "Ouch. I hope she's okay."
"Same," Lincoln said. "That really stinks."
Ronnie Anne sighed. "Yeah, I'll say. We'd be having a lot more fun if Sid was here. Besides my family, she's been the best part about moving here."
Clyde was about to say something to lighten the mood, but Lincoln made his move first—he put his hand on Ronnie Anne's shoulder and squeezing it. She replied by smiling and shuffling just a little closer to him. Soon, his arm was around her neck, and to Clyde's shock, she didn't flip him over and put him in a sleeper hold for being "too mushy" with her.
He was too shocked and elated to feel like a third wheel looking on. He had always had his suspicions about the two of them, and it was nice to see that after all this time, their distance had seemed to only draw them closer together.
He let them have their moment together while he quietly trailed behind him, letting the new sights of the city and his friends cozing up together allow the anticipation of a great day to bubble up inside him.
…
And then, those same bubbles turned to chilling ice and blasted at his nerves as a hand quickly slapped over his mouth. Beads of cold sweat seeped out of his skin, and his head swiveled about, looking around for anyone who could help him escape from this unknown assailant. Before a muffled cry could come out of him, he was quickly yanked backwards and dragged around a corner. His flailing and struggling failed him as before he knew it, he was surrounded by the dirty, grimed-stained walls…
...of a tight, damp alleyway.