Hi! At last, we've reached the last of the initial first few chapters of this unexpectedly epic saga, should you call it such.
This chapter features Lori and the flashbacks are based on "Get the Message", "One of the Boys" and "Party Down".
Enjoy!
The Loud House is the exclusive property of Nickelodeon and Viacom. The usage of the setting, characters and such is based on nothing more than a pure affinity for everything and is not being used for monetary purposes.
"Well...this has been certainly quite the day we've had, huh, Lincoln?"
"You could say that, Lori..."
This exchange between the Loud family's eldest sister and the sole brother may have been an understatement and then some.
At the moment, Lori was driving herself and Lincoln back home from Great Lakes City following a visit with Bobby, Ronnie Anne and the whole Casagrande clan. But as implied from the aforementioned back and forth, it was far from a typical trip down there.
From the start earlier in the morning, Lori and Lincoln's trip almost nearly didn't happen at all due to some catastrophic problems on the part of Vanzilla. The combined efforts of Lynn Sr. and Lana working everything out resulted in a near two hour delay from the initial moment of departure. Because of that, it was suggested to Lori and Lincoln that they might want to push back their trip to another day, but Lori stubbornly refused to change plans and went through with it once Vanzilla's troubles had been fixed.
Thankfully, the actual journey to the city went smoothly and upon arrival, five hours later than initially planned due to the earlier two hour delay and the three hours it took to get there, things sort of got a little better. After settling in, Lori and Lincoln split off to hang out with Bobby and Ronnie Anne, respectively. But the good times weren't going to roll on much longer, as both outings came to a screeching halt due to Lori suffering a sprained left ankle and in Lincoln's case, he got the unpleasant experience of having a softball making contact in his nether regions by Ronnie Anne, which she insisted was an accident, though Lincoln did have the tiniest of suspicions to the contrary knowing her proclivities of playing and just being on the rough side.
Due to their injuries, most of the rest of Lori and Lincoln's time was spent cooped up at the apartment as opposed to experiencing the sights and sounds of the city. After a few more hours, the time had arrived for them to leave. But just to compound the luck they've been having, Vanzilla ended up being towed away, much like during a previous trip to the city before, and if that wasn't enough, more mechanical issues were also discovered, resulting in another two hour delay. Given that it was past 5:00 in the afternoon by then, the Casagrandes had generously offered Lori and Lincoln to perhaps stay the night, on top of paying for all of Vanzilla's troubles and even offering a little more for gas, but much like when she insisted in pressing onward with the trip in the first place, Lori figured that she and Lincoln can make it home well enough.
At the time that sounded manageable. Now? With each passing town and mile after mile of rural countryside as the sun was setting, there were serious doubts about making it before dark. At the very least they made it past the Michigan state line half an hour ago, but were still a good hour and a half away from Royal Woods.
With a heavy sigh, Lori pulled over to the side of a barren stretch of road.
"Uh, what are you doing, Lori?" Lincoln curiously asked.
"Well, if it hasn't been made obvious by now, Lincoln, we're not going to make it back home before sunset, let alone in time for dinner." Lori responded.
"I don't know about that." Lincoln disagreed, "I'd say we can make it. Besides, I'm not sure why making it home before the sun sets is something that's important to you."
Lori sighed again, "Well...to tell you the truth, the idea of me driving after dark while we're still pretty far from home or not even within the city limits of Royal Woods does literally make me feel pretty uncomfortable."
"It does?" Lincoln inquired, getting a simple nod from Lori as he also noted the uneasiness in his oldest sister's face, "And you didn't say so earlier? If you did, that could've made staying with the Casagrandes for the night all but a lock."
"You're telling me..." Lori said, dryly chuckling, "Yet in my infinite wisdom I assumed we could make it. It's been one thing after another with us today, huh?"
She shook her head and had been so caught up in thought over all the insanity that's occurred over the day for a few seconds, she inadvertently bonked her head on the car horn, and the subsequent blare of said horn put a startle to her and Lincoln.
"Ow..." Lori muttered, rubbing her forehead, "As if having a sprained ankle earlier wasn't enough. Good thing it wasn't the right one that got hurt too badly, otherwise we'd have even more troubles getting home than we already have. You know, because it would be harder to put pressure on the gas pedal and all."
She exhaled through her nose and rubbed her temple with her fingers a little more, then she looked over to Lincoln.
"Speaking of getting hurt, how you doing with your...ahem, issues, Lincoln?" Lori asked, trying her hardest to stifle any laughing, which didn't go unnoticed to him.
"I'm glad to hear you're getting some kind of amusement in asking that, Lori." Lincoln said deep in sarcasm, "That was some of the worst pain I'd ever experienced. Do you realize how much ice was needed to soothe everything?"
"Oh, relax, I wasn't trying to sound like I was amused or anything...mostly." Lori teased.
That didn't help with Lincoln's mood at all, if that was even the intention.
"But really, all joking aside, are you doing okay, Lincoln?" Lori reiterated with a more compassionate tone.
Lincoln sighed, "Yeah, I think so...and I know you weren't trying to have fun at my expense. At the same time, though, it is kind of difficult talking about any...discomfort down there...to a girl, even a sister of mine."
"No, I understand. I mean, not literally like that, but you know what I mean." Lori said as she patted her brother's shoulder, "Anyway, that's enough musing about bodily harm. We really need to figure out now what we're going to do for tonight. It's not like we can turn around and make it back to the city or anything like that knowing again how uneasy about driving after dark I am at this time."
"Well, I guess the most obvious thing we can do is find someplace to stay overnight." Lincoln suggested.
"Yeah, that seems like our only option right about now." Lori agreed, "In fact, do me favor, Lincoln. While I call home and fill in everyone on our situation, go look up and see if you can find a relatively cheap hotel or motel worth staying in."
Unbuckling her seatbelt, Lori stepped out of Vanzilla with her phone at hand to make that call, while at the same time Lincoln brought out his own phone to search for affordable hotels in the general vicinity. There were a decent amount of options around, but affordability wasn't quite as commonplace. Plus, there was this niggling question about the current situation that he and Lori were in the middle of, so Lincoln took a moment to look up an answer for that.
A couple of minutes later, Lori stepped back in and buckled herself up again, but if the fact she was rubbing her eyes and emitted a low groan in annoyance, something clearly was up.
"Everything okay, Lori?" Lincoln asked.
"Ugh...this day just keeps getting better and better..." Lori grumbled sarcastically.
"Well, not to upset you any further, but I've got some bad news to share on my end." Lincoln said disappointingly, "The cheapest hotel I could find was only about $50 a night and I don't think we have enough money between us for that. Not only that, but I did a quick check and found out that generally speaking, you have to be at least 18 years old in order to check in to one in the first place."
"Yeah, I got told literally the same thing just now from Mom..." Lori said in a similarly distressed tone, "Still, I told her we'll figure something out and we will."
Both released a sigh, but that wouldn't be the only sound shared between them. Though temporary shelter for the night was still a big question mark, one other urge that could be solved in the interim was casually reminded upon both of their stomachs growling.
"Well, since as you said before that we're not going to be home for dinner, might as well grab something to eat for ourselves now, right?" Lincoln said following a laugh.
Lori smiled lightly in return, "Sure, I suppose so. I'm thinking once we reach the nearest town we just go for whatever fast food joint we can find. Better to get something cheap and fulfilling in the situation we're in. Sound good?"
Lincoln nodded, "Yeah, I'm down with that."
With their next step settled on, Lori resumed in driving in search of satisfactory evening sustenance for herself and Lincoln.
"Hey, Lincoln?" Lori spoke up following a period of silence, "I know we've had a long and pretty rough day, but I must commend you for handling things so well. Lesser kids of your age would've cracked by now, but not you. You can really be of the patient sort."
"Heh, thanks, Lori. And similarly, you've held up good on your end, too." Lincoln complimented his sister in return. "The only time you really came close to losing it was right after when Vanzilla got towed and then there were found more problems with this old, yet lovable heap. For a second there you almost looked like you wanted to give the mechanics one of your signature human pretzels."
Lori laughed, "Maybe, but I've said before that those days of doing just that are long behind me, especially after that little talk we had when I came close to doing the same to you..."
A hectic afternoon had come and gone for Lincoln and he assumed that he found sanctuary within his bedroom.
Part of that afternoon for Lincoln was spent trying to prevent Lori from hearing a less-than-courteous voicemail he left on her phone directly following him writing a letter declaring her the 'worst sister ever' when she appeared to intentionally destroy his pair of virtual reality gaming goggles. However, much to his surprise, Lori ended up buying a new pair of goggles for him and even apologized for breaking the original pair, though her apology did come off fairly disingenuous. Thus, the clandestine operation to delete the voicemail before Lori listened in was a go.
Ultimately, it came off like a complete waste of time because Lori deleted the message herself before much could be heard. She did, on the other hand, discover the 'worst sister ever' letter in the bathroom and she absolutely lost it, declaring her intent in turning Lincoln into the shape of a pretzel of the human variety.
In the time since, Lincoln holed himself up in his room and hoped that Lori had lost interest in such physical retribution, though there was that small part of him that worried she was biding her time until he least expected her to then come along and strike.
He feared for the worst when heard his bedroom door being firmly knocked rather suddenly. There were no guesses in Lincoln's mind as to who was paying him a visit.
With an anxious gulp, he reluctantly reached for the doorknob and opened it. Sure enough, Lori was standing before him, although in a bit of change she bore a stern expression on her face, which was admittedly better than the full blown sense of outrage she gave out moments before.
"Oh dear...hey, Lori." Lincoln said, chuckling sheepishly, "Well...looks like you're here to collect on something of a debt, right? All right, I'll accept that..."
Shutting his eyes, he shakily extended out his arms and awaited the feeling and sounds of his limbs and joints snapping and being twisted.
He tensed up when Lori gripped onto his wrists and yanked him up in the air. But instead of getting all tied up, Lincoln felt himself being carried over and placed onto his bed. He opened his eyes to then see Lori close the door and then joined over next to him. In addition, the sternness of her face disappeared and in its place was a much more softened look.
"Lori? What are you doing? Aren't you going to turn me into a human pretzel like you planned to?" Lincoln questioned.
"Maybe I did for a little while..." Lori conceded, then she let out a big sigh, "But in the time that's passed, I took a moment to cool off and instead it might be better to just have a simple talk about...this."
She reached into one of the pockets of her shorts and pulled out a crumpled up piece of paper, which turned out to be the ad-libbed letter that unleashed Lori's original bout of rage in the first place.
"Now, I'm just going to ask you straight up: is this how you really feel about me, Lincoln? Am I literally the worst sister ever?" She asked, sounding genuinely concerned about such an unseemly descriptor.
Lincoln wasn't sure how to take this. To see his oldest sister in a more calm and even distressed disposition in comparison to her fury from earlier threw him off a little. There was a small, paranoid and conspiratorial part within him that worried this might be a facade to lure him into a false sense of security before she'd have her way with him. But regardless, he quashed any internal fears, because for any faults of hers, Lori wasn't someone who'd straight up lie and deceive anyone in order to deliver physical harm shortly thereafter.
Exhaling, Lincoln looked straight up to Lori, "No, you're not the worst sister ever. I'd never see you or the rest of our sisters in such a way. I only wrote that in a spur of the moment while I wasn't thinking clearly. You do have your faults, but who doesn't? We all have our issues, but none of those matter in the long run, because at the end of the day, we all love and respect each for who we really are."
Heartened by both those words and the fact that he didn't sound like he harbored much in the way of animosity on his end, Lori put an arm around Lincoln and drew him close to her for a brief moment. At the same time, she glanced over to his dresser where the new pair of virtual reality goggles she got him were placed.
"Hey, out of curiosity, have you tried out your new gaming goggles yet?" Lori asked.
"Huh? Oh, not yet. Between trying to make sure you didn't hear that voicemail I left you and avoiding your wrath for a little while, I didn't have the time to do so yet." Lincoln answered, again chuckling nervously.
"Guess that would keep you a little bit occupied." Lori said regretfully.
Lincoln agreed, "Maybe. But allow me to ask you something, Lori. What changed? I mean, you were intent on doing me harm not too long ago for my own transgressions. Why have you seemingly reconsidered?"
Lori took a deep breath before giving her response, "Well, besides the fact that talking is literally a much better way to handle things, I also did some comparing and contrasting over everything that's happened today. Ultimately, what's worse: you accidentally going into my room without my permission, writing a scathing letter you now admit isn't based on your true feelings towards me and leaving a voicemail which I bet was based on that letter, or me threatening you with harm over going into my room, me deliberately destroying your original pair of gaming goggles after I rudely shoved you out of the bathroom while I was on the phone and then finally again threatening you once I found that letter? If you ask me, there's simply no comparison as to who was more in the wrong today."
Before Lincoln could give a response to what he heard, Lori wrapped him up into a tight hug and resumed speaking.
"Also, since I wasn't genuine at the time, I want to tell you right now that I really am sorry for breaking that first set of goggles of yours. No matter how upset I might've been at you in that moment, I shouldn't have used that anger as an excuse to wreck something of yours, particularly something that expensive. I do hope the new ones I bought for you will suffice and again, I'm sorry."
Following her apology, Lori sighed once more, filled with a great amount of sorrow and regret for her actions. But soon after, she did feel a little better upon feeling Lincoln returned the hug she initiated.
"It's okay, Lori, I forgive you." He said warmly, "And though you feel they aren't in the same category as what you did, I'm sorry too for everything on my end. You said it and I told myself this as well a little earlier, if I have any problems with you, I'll come up and talk to you about them, too."
"Sounds like a deal." Lori said with an upbeat chuckle.
Soon after that, both let go of one another and faced each other.
"Oh, by the way, in case you were curious, you probably wouldn't have heard much of what I said in that voicemail because for whatever reason of convenience, Luna happened to barge into my room playing her guitar wildly as I was on the phone going off. In any event, you would have gotten an unpleasant earful of something, just not entirely from me." Lincoln said.
"Is that so?" Lori said sounding mildly amused, "Speaking of phones, another thing I've thought over is that there shouldn't be any reason for me preventing you from calling me on my phone should you ever need to, like for emergencies of anything like that. That's another thing I now regret saying to you and take back."
Lincoln was surprised to hear that, but nonetheless smiled, "Oh...well, thanks, Lori. I'll keep that in mind."
As their talk winded down, Lincoln shifted closer to Lori and leaned his head along her shoulder, while Lori in turn brought her arm back around her little brother affectionately. Talking really was the greatest option for settling issues as they both agreed on. It's certainly a lot better than threatening to turn one into that of form resembling a salty bowtie shaped treat, an anatomical impossibility if there ever was one.
"Yeah, talking always the least risky and most fulfilling manner of dispute resolution." Lori said with a grin before getting more serious, "Also while we are on the subject of that discussion we had at that time, I want to emphasize again that if you are ever in some sort of emergency or anything similar and I'm the first or only option you have, don't ever hesitate in calling me. I'll drop everything and come straight to you."
"Would you?" Lincoln said very hopefully, "Even if you're doing something like going on a date with Bobby whenever he's in town or you're in the middle of some major game of golf?"
"If it literally means ensuring the safety, security and well being of my one and only little brother...yes, of course I would. Sure, Bobby, golfing and the like are important, but as long as I'm still living at home, my first and truest responsibility is to be there for all my siblings, you included, Lincoln." Lori answered with absolute determination and sincerity.
Fewer things said to him in recent memory mattered more to Lincoln than that ironclad promise signed, sealed and delivered by Lori. Had he not been constrained by the seatbeat over him and that little convenient fact that she was driving at the moment, he'd leap right over and hug her as tightly as he could. Alas, perhaps such affection will wait for another time.
In the time that since passed, the pair had arrived at the nearest town, where soon after they were treated in finding a very familiar eatery within.
"Hey, there's a Burpin' Burger right over there. How about it, Lincoln?" Lori asked.
"Sure, I'm down with that." Lincoln replied, "Though I must say I'm surprised there is a location all the way out here. I always thought they were mainly based around Southeastern Michigan."
"Actually, I don't think it's too much of a surprise when you think about it. After all, would Bobbie Fletcher have them as her sponsor if they were only a small time regional burger joint?" Lori pointed out, "And before you ask, I only happen to remember that because of the time Lana dragged us all along to one of our local Burpin' Burger locations where we also got snowed in briefly, not because I'm some secret racecar enthusiast."
"Yeah, I guess that can be the case." Lincoln said.
As that exchange wrapped up, Lori pulled up close to the burger joint.
"So, how should we do this, Lincoln? Shall we head inside and eat there, or should we use the drive thru and have everything on the go?" She asked.
"You know, let's head on in." Lincoln suggested, stretching out his limbs. "I think we both deserve to limber out the joints."
With that decided, Lori and Lincoln got on out of Vanzilla and made a path to the restaurant. But before getting too far, Lincoln came right up to his sister and gave her a big hug.
"Oh, what's this for, Lincoln?" Lori said taken a little off guard, though still pleasantly surprised.
Lincoln looked up at her, "Just my way of saying thanks for what you said earlier about coming to me if I ever needed to call you."
There were a lot of things Lori could say in response to those grateful words and the heartfelt gesture attached alongside with it. Instead, she took the simpler route of having a big smile on her face while she gave as much in return in her own hug as Lincoln had already done.
Following this moment of sibling affection, they let go of each other and headed on inside, where they observed only a handful of additional customers dining.
"How about you go and find us a table while I get our order?" Lori suggested to her brother.
"Yeah, sure." Lincoln said with a small nod.
As Lori approached the front counter, Lincoln claimed a booth over at the corner and sat down. Not too long after getting situated there, he checked over his phone and saw he got a couple of texts from Ronnie Anne, both teasingly asking how he's been holding up since his...incident from earlier in the day. With a scoffing chuckle mixing a little bit of derision and amusement, he responded in an equally playful manner.
Right as he was finishing sending his response, Lori came along and sat down with a tray holding their evening meals, consisting of a pair of Double Belchers, some fries and a couple of sodas.
For the most part, their meal was conducted in relative silence, though Lori was a little curious as to what Lincoln was doing on his phone just as she had arrived.
"Mind if ask what you were doing if it isn't much trouble?" She inquired.
"Well, if you really must know, Ronnie Anne had texted me in her typical fashion about, you know, that moment when she claimed to 'accidentally' cause great harm down there." Lincoln answered, still having much discomfort, verbal and otherwise, about the incident.
Lori released an unintentional giggle that she tried to suppress, "Ah, you mean her little love tap?"
Lincoln raised an eyebrow, "Excuse me? 'Love tap'? For one, who in the world says that? Second, it was hardly a 'little' anything no matter what you call it. Third, I thought you weren't trying to find amusement in this. And finally, how do you deduce love from any of this?!"
"Lincoln, relax..." Lori said somewhat dismissively, then she brought forward a humorous smile, "Though your denials are rather cute. They make me think you share the same feelings for her that she might've been expressing."
"Ugh...Lori, how many times must I explain this to you? Ronnie Anne and I are just friends!" Lincoln stated, frustration being raised in his voice, "Do you hear me? Friends! And we may ever only ever be friends! You even suggesting that me getting hit down there by her, accident or not, in being some kind of sign of love is actually even worse than when you and our sisters claiming that her bullying me in the beginning was a sign that she liked me. I don't even care that ended up being true, the logic behind that still never made sense to me! So can you just drop it, already?!"
When he concluded with his rant, Lincoln groaned and soon experienced his own inadvertent bonking of his head, in his case making contact with the table.
"Ow, dang it…!" He grumbled.
Without giving it another second of thought, Lori shifted over from her side of the booth to where Lincoln was in order to check up on him.
"Lori, I'm fine if that's what you're about to ask." He said mixed in annoyance and admittedly in pain.
His insistence on being okay being declared, stubborn as it may have been, Lori left Lincoln be and moved back away from him.
"Okay..." Lincoln started saying, taking a deep breath. "Look, maybe I shouldn't have went off like that and once again, I don't think you were trying to get a rise out of me from...that. But regardless, be it that or with anything involving Ronnie Anne, how about we just let it go and move on?"
Lori's response was to simply give him a small smile and nod of the head in the affirmative before both resumed in finishing up their respective meals.
Once they were done, Lori took a quick glance at the watch she was wearing. Hoping to defuse any lingering tension and looking for an excuse to have a more pleasant topic of discussion, Lincoln seized on the opportunity.
"I'm surprised you still wear that." He commented.
"Why not? Knowing you're the one who got it for me, of course I still wear it and give it quite a lot of use." Lori said, chuckling a little, "And to think you got me this as a result of one of the strangest experiences you've been through in recent memory..."
It was approaching 3:30 in the afternoon and Lincoln had only just now returned home from school. He opened up the front door and saw all his sisters gathered around the living room.
"Hey there, you guys." He said, "Sorry I'm home a little late. Had to take care of some...uh, personal business."
"Eh, no big deal. It's not like we were waiting up on you or anything like that." Lynn said.
Lincoln flashed a little smile in the direction and was going up the stairs, only to stop a quarter of the way up when he was addressed to.
"Actually, before you head up, Lincoln, do you mind if we talked to you for a moment?" Luan asked.
"Uh...okay, I guess." Lincoln answered a little bit confused.
He changed course and went over to the living room, then he put down his backpack near the side of the couch before sitting down.
"So, what's up?" He asked.
"Well, while you were gone, we though it'd be a good idea to ask you a little more about what happened the other night, dude." Luna said.
"Yeah, we never actually knew why you were screaming and such. Did you have a nightmare?" Lana wondered.
At first, Lincoln wasn't entirely sure about discussing the previous night's events, not so much because of what he dreamed about, but over what lead to him having that dream in the first place. He didn't think his sisters will take kindly to it, but ultimately, they did sound like they genuinely were curious as to what went on, so perhaps it won't be too much of a challenge.
"Well, yeah, I did have something of a bad dream. I wouldn't go as far as calling it a nightmare, but it far from pleasant, too." Lincoln admitted.
"Aw...what was it about?" Leni asked maternally.
Lincoln took a deep breath, "I guess I may as well start from the beginning. I was in my room and woke up to find Lisa saying she'd been pondering over something I said about wondering what it would've been like to have ten brothers, so she gave me a watch that allowed me to travel to another dimension so I can experience just that."
"Hmm...fascinating. A watch with the power to travel through different dimensions? Might be worth looking into for future research..." Lisa said contemplatively.
"Uh, I'd argue against that, Lisa. Time is something you'd really don't want to mess around with." Lincoln advised.
Lisa shrugged, "Eh, you never know."
"So, ten brothers? What were they like?" Lucy asked, getting back to the main matter at hand.
"Essentially, they were all boy versions of you guys." Lincoln explained, "They all had similar looks, hobbies and mannerisms. However, they were much more obnoxious, rude and rougher than any of you at your worst combined."
"Whoa...like how?" Luna inquired.
"Well, it's interesting you ask that, Luna, because the boy version of you, Luke, was probably the nastiest of the bunch. Not only did he apparently flush Bun Bun down the toilet, but one morning when I went to use the bathroom, it was an absolute horror show because of how dirty is was and he did offer to assist in cleaning it...only for his definition of 'cleaning' turned out to be sticking my head down the toilet." Lincoln said, shuddering over recalling that last part.
"For real? Yikes, that's way harsh." Luna said, cringing in disgust over such actions, "You know I'd never do something like that to you, right, bro?"
"No, of course not!" Lincoln agreed assuredly, "I wouldn't think you guys would ever do some of the awful things these brothers did to me, like another example I'll bring up with you, Leni. At one point in the dream, your boy version, Loni, laughed at me over a cramp that I got in my thumb."
"What?! That's, like, so mean!" Leni said following a horrified gasp.
Lincoln nodded, "Yeah, and if that wasn't bad enough, Lily's boy equivalent named Leon bit me right on that same thumb. Some other highlights, or low lights if you prefer, included getting punched by Lynn and Lucy's brother variants for waking them up in the morning, having my pants pulled way up to my torso by Luan's far less funny male version Lane and probably was by far the worst thing that happened, having all ten of the brothers piling on me and giving me a simultaneous Dutch oven."
"Eww, gross! Talk about no class!" Lola said in utter revulsion.
"Yeah, I'm not gonna disagree with that. Even I can admit that ten Dutch ovens sounds like overkill." Lynn added.
"You're telling me." Lincoln dryly remarked, "Anyway, after some more tomfoolery, I finally escaped out of that dimension and thought everything was back to normal. Instead, I walked into a completely different were I still had brothers, but this time they were really nice and caring towards me...but only because in this time around I had become a girl named Linka."
The moment Lincoln mentioned that part, the sisters tried their best in containing some giggling that was just begging to be let out. A brief struggle failed and it transformed into full blown laughter for a few seconds.
"Yeah, yeah, I figured you'd get a more than a chuckle out of that." Lincoln said with a roll of his eyes, though he too spared a small laugh on his end.
After getting the laughing out of their systems, the sisters let out a group sigh.
"Okay, since you're done, might as well wrap things up." Lincoln stated, "So once that little disturbing moment came and went, that's when I woke up screaming and when you guys came rushing in to check up on me. And that was just before I said that I'd never complain about having sisters again, too."
"Yeah, not to mention when you stomped on Lori's watch, which I'm guessing was because you thought it was that watch Lisa gave you at the beginning of your dream, right? Then you really got Lori ticked off at you!" Luan joked around, "Get it? Ticked? Tock? Watch?"
A groan was shared among everyone, except curiously for Lori, who largely remained silent over the duration due to being focused solely on her phone the whole time.
"So anyway, as odd as this might sound, I kind of owe you guys an apology, because the only reason I think I had this dream in the first place was the fact I complained privately with Clyde wishing I had brothers because of some annoying things you did to me recently. Those include like when you all unanimously rejected ideas of mine when we discussed ways to spend the day together, or when you all smothered me in primping after I said that I was about to hang out with Ronnie Anne and that time when you went over the top in taking care of me all because I got a cramp in my thumb from playing a handheld video game of mine." Lincoln said, smiling a little, "Actually, I'll admit to the last one not being annoying, just kind of more like an overreaction of sisterly care."
The smile on his face got just a little bigger as he slipped off from the couch so he could turn around and face all of his sisters.
"And sure, you can indeed get on my nerves, but then again, I probably do the same to you all as well. But by comparison to all that went on in my dream from those terrible excuses of brothers, I'll take my current life with my sisters and all their foibles every time and every day of the week with no excuses. I wouldn't want it any other way."
Much like their brother, the sisters also now bore smiles on their faces upon hearing those words from him, and adding to the sentiment, he came on back towards them while being welcomed into a signature group hug of theirs.
Once the hug ended, most of the sisters got up and left so they could attend to their own business. But again, Lori remained in place still glued to her phone like the whole preceding discussion never even happened. Despite that, though, this was the perfect opportunity for Lincoln to do something very special for her.
"Hey, uh, Lori?" He inquired to her.
"Hmm?" Lori uttered, turning to her brother.
"I know you must've heard some of what was talked about just now despite you not paying attention that much..." Lincoln started off with, "But there's is something I wanted to talk to you specifically about last night. It's about that watch of yours I stomped on and destroyed..."
Lori put her phone away and sighed, "You know, I wanted to do the same as well. Truth is, I've been thinking for a bit, and this may come as a shock to you, but I'm kind of going to literally let you off the hook for that. Yes, I'm not happy about it happening in the first place, even if it you didn't know it was mine in the first place. But maybe because I'm in a better mood now compared to then or whatever, I'm no longer demanding you pay me back for that watch and instead I'll get another one sometime later."
Lincoln was taken by surprise by that, but then he started laughing nervously, "Well...what if you don't have to wait until then?"
As Lori looked confused by that statement, Lincoln went over to his backpack, unzipped it and reached inside. He pulled out a small box and handed it over to his sister. She took it into her hands, staring at it curiously, then she opened it.
When she did, her eyes grew wide as she saw a brand new watch within.
"I know it's nothing special, but it's what I could get with the money I had at hand. Hopefully it's enough to act as an apology for me breaking your old one last night." Lincoln said, mixing regret with some hope.
It didn't take too long for Lincoln to get his answer. Calmly putting the lid of the box back on top, Lori put it aside for a second so she could bring her little brother over into a hug.
"It is special knowing who gave it to me." Lori said gratefully, "Thank you so much, Lincoln."
"And I have used it almost every single day since then." Lori said, lifting her arm up to proudly show off the watch in more detail, "Thank you again for getting for me, Lincoln."
Lincoln smiled, "It was the least I could do."
Both shared a quick laugh between them, then figured it was high time to leave and try to figure out what to do with regards to any possible overnight accommodations.
"Well, I don't know about you, but before we head on off, I got to make a trip to the restroom." Lori said as she began sitting up.
"Actually, since you brought it up, I might as well do the same." Lincoln mentioned, "Here, I'll also take care of our trash and the tray, then once we're both done we'll meet back at Vanzilla."
With those plans settled, Lori went off to take care of her business, with Lincoln soon doing the same once he disposed of the trash and put the tray away like he just said. A couple minutes later, they both returned to Vanzilla and got settled in.
"Well, that takes care of our food situation, but there's still the matter of what to do about where to stay for the night." Lincoln said.
"Yeah, but you know, I think I might have an idea with regards to that." Lori opined, "It came to mind while I was in the restroom after I just realized what town we're in."
"Oh, really? What is it?" Lincoln asked.
"Well...you'll find out." Lori replied cryptically, all the while grinning.
With that mysterious response leaving Lincoln confused, Lori started the engine and resumed in driving.
The drive took them just past the town and back along another series of largely barren roads as the sun had all but set in the distance.
"You know, now I'm kind of beginning to have the same uneasy feeling about being out in the dark far from home." Lincoln said, looking out the window at the rural darkness taking shape.
"Join the club..." Lori added with a nervous laugh, "But don't worry, we're almost at the place I said that I remembered earlier."
Though still figuratively left in the dark, Lincoln trusted Lori with whatever she had in mind.
After a period of time, a change of scenery came about when Lori took a right turn onto a dirt road leading into a forested area. It took a few seconds, but something clicked in Lincoln's mind. Even in the burgeoning darkness, this was starting to look familiar to him.
Then another minute later, it all came together as Lori pulled Vanzilla near a more grassy locale where a lake was prominently featured several feet further to the left.
"Oh, hey, I remember this place now!" Lincoln said once realization kicked in.
Lori smiled, "Yeah, this was the place we stopped by briefly when we were on our way back home from our previous trip to the city. Consider what I'm thinking here as something of a camping stop, except in lieu of tents, sleeping bags and such, we're going to make due with spending the night in Vanzilla. Might not literally make for the most comfy of accommodations, but hey, it's cost effective."
"Well...it's better than nothing, I guess." Lincoln said with a small shrug and a laugh.
Just as Lori shut off the engine, her choice of nighttime arrangements seemed all the more timely as a distant, low rumble of thunder made its presence known.
"Make that way better than nothing." Lincoln reiterated.
"No kidding." Lori agreed.
Unbuckling her seatbelt, Lori ever so briefly stepped out of Vanzilla so she could then quickly go through the passenger side door and climbed back inside, all while a gust of wind was picking up. Meanwhile, Lincoln opted for simply climb around the front passenger seat and join up with his sister at the furthest seat in the back of the van.
As a rain shower plus more thunder rolled on, it gave Lincoln the incentive to get a check on the weather forecast on his phone.
"Well, aren't we just lucky?" He said sarcastically.
"Let me guess, a thunderstorm?" Lori guessed.
"Make that an entire squall line of them." Lincoln answered with just a hint of worry in his voice.
He held up his phone to show Lori the radar imagery in one of the weather apps that featured a menacing line of thunderstorms coming right over them. As if that wasn't enough, both of their phones chimed with a notification informing them that a severe thunderstorm warning had been issued for the general area they had chosen for their overnight stay.
"Just what we needed after today, huh?" Lori said with a mild chuckle, trying to find the slightest bit of humor in everything.
"Yeah..." Lincoln replied, trying to force a laugh from himself.
A gushing, torrential downpour arrived rather suddenly mere moments later. It would be joined soon by a bright flash of lightning that acted as a precursor to a booming roar of thunder, strong enough to shake Vanzilla's foundation and caused Lincoln to leap out of his seat and onto Lori's lap. He also latched his arms around her waist and held on tight, which he assumed was something she was not prepared for.
"Heh...sorry about this, Lori. I'm not typically scared of thunderstorms, but given the context of our current situation where we're pretty much in the middle of nowhere at night, with only the two of us as our company, all while the only thing protecting us from the elements is the aging family wagon...it can cause the nerves to get a little wild." Lincoln said, a nervous laugh coming from him in an attempt to conceal his rising anxiety.
Far from taking any issue with this, Lori was more than welcoming in her demeanor. Smiling down at her brother, she put her own arms around him and held him close.
"It's okay, Lincoln. I don't mind at all." She told him comfortingly.
A strong gust of wind came through next, enough for a creaking noise to be made as Vanzilla shifted around ever so slightly. The subtle movement, plus more thunder rolling on, made Lincoln tense up and snuggle up closer to his sister, prompting her to tighten her grip on him even firmer. Admittedly, Lori was pretty unnerved herself with the intensity of the thunderstorm raging on just beyond, but she put on enough of a brave face for the sake of her brother. She also happened to have an idea that could ease them both.
"Hey Lincoln, how about we try forgetting about the storm by just talking, okay?" Lori suggested.
Lincoln looked up and faced his sister, "Talking? About what?"
"Anything, really." Lori responded, running a hand down her brother's back a few times, "It doesn't matter, as long as it can help take your mind off everything...and mine, too, I'll freely admit."
After exhaling, Lincoln took up his sister's offer and tried to think of something worth talking about. The amount of time he used might've mainly been an excuse to take in all the warm and soothing comfort that Lori gave out, but he did come up with something, as random a moment as it may be.
"Well, one thing that did come to mind was that party you once held." Lincoln said following the few minutes of thought.
Lori chuckled, "Oh right, that snooze fest of a 'sophisticated' party where I everyone left, then you invited me upstairs to another one you and our sisters were having once I realized how silly the whole 'sophisticated' part of everything literally was."
"Hey, I'd say it was a hit because you eventually joined in on the fun." Lincoln said smiling, "But the other reason I'm remembering this was due the conversation we had afterwards before bedtime..."
As the clock was striking 10:00 PM, Lincoln had entered the final stages of getting ready for bed. But despite using the facilities and putting on his pajamas, he didn't feel like going to sleep just yet. Whether he wasn't tired yet or just wanted to squeeze in one last activity into his schedule, he got out of his room and headed downstairs.
Whatever his plans were, they came to a halt when Lincoln arrived at the bottom of the stairs and saw Lori sitting on the couch. However, a closer inspection showed that she was actually asleep, with her head being propped up by her hand as her elbow rested on the couch arm.
Curious as to what she was doing here, Lincoln carefully approached her, took a seat next to her and prodded her arm.
"Lori?" He inquired to her softly.
Not much else effort was needed after that as Lori's eyes fluttered open, then she rubbed them and finally looked over in his direction.
"Lincoln? What are you doing still up? Shouldn't you be in bed by now?" Lori questioned a little drowsily.
"I was, but thought maybe I could squeeze in a little TV or grab a quick snack or something else." Lincoln replied, "But enough about me, what about you? What were you doing down here still?"
Lori let out a little yawn, "I don't really know…one moment I was simply resting my eyes, the next I appear to have literally dozed off."
She stretched out her limbs and took a deep breath. Meanwhile, Lincoln kicked back further against the couch himself and put his hands behind his head.
"Boy, some party we had, didn't we?" He said.
"That's sounds like that was pretty much the case." Lori agreed, "Though things only really started kicking off after my own dumb little 'sophisticated' party turned out to be a bust."
"I'm not sure you should go so far as saying it was a 'bust'…" Lincoln said, trying to look on a brighter side, "You did manage to have a sizable guest list show up for your shindig and they did stick around for a decent amount of time, so there's that."
"Yeah, but none of them really were hooked on anything that I had lined up for the occasion. I mean, it had to have been dull enough for one of those guests, Joey, to get seemingly more fulfillment from getting his homework done. Not to mention I kicked out the only people that actually did provide entertainment value. Between Luna, Luan and even you in that disguise of yours, the three of you really knew how to provide a good time compared to my failed, stuffy efforts at sophistication." Lori countered with.
She sighed softly for a moment and then recounted one...particularly unusual moment.
"Speaking of which, even though I still find it to be kind of gross, mind if I ask how you pulled off that trick with your underwear?"
"Heh...well, I'm not so sure if a master of his trade should reveal such methodology so easily. Sometimes a little mystery is necessary." Lincoln answered, sounding so proud of himself.
Lori scoffed, "A trade? Is that what you're calling it?"
"Hey, you're the one who admitted that it got more of reaction than most anything you had set up. You asked and you got your answer." Lincoln followed up with cockily.
"All right, I think I've contributed enough to enlarging that ego of yours for tonight." Lori said while she mussed around his hair.
Lincoln giggled lightly, as did Lori, then she kicked back in a similar manner as he did.
"But in all honesty, Lori, once you did realize that sophistication isn't always a guaranteed road to party success, you really did get the hang of things and now you know what to do should you want to pull off a such another function." He said, scooting a little closer and patting her shoulder.
Flashing a grin, Lori reached her arm out and drew her brother over to her, "Thanks, Lincoln. That actually does mean a good deal to me."
"No problem. Glad to be a confidence booster in that respect." Lincoln expressed gratifyingly, more so than with his self-satisfaction over his party trickery.
For a little while afterward, nothing else was said between them, only taking in the little late night moment of bonding being shared in the time that went on. But soon, weariness started getting the better of them.
"Well, I don't know about you, Lori, but I'm finally ready to shove off for bed." Lincoln said with a little sleepiness.
Concurring with that sentiment, Lori yawned, "Same here for me. Guess we should literally be on our way. Mind if I walked you up to your room in the meantime?"
"I'd like that." Lincoln responded and nodded affirmatively.
Withdrawing her arm from around him, Lori allowed Lincoln to sit up from the couch first and then she got up and stretched briefly. Next, she followed him up the stairs and into his room, where he crawled underneath the covers of his bed and got comfortable. While he settled in, Lori sat down on the edge of his bed.
"You know, instead of a snack or TV, looks like all I needed was just to have a quick talk with you to get the whole sleeping thing into motion." Lincoln said, following that with a yawn.
"Whatever works, I guess." Lori expressed with a soft laugh, "Anyway, good night, Lincoln."
"Good night, Lori." Lincoln replied in kind.
After grazing his hair and a light kiss on the cheek, Lori got up and let Lincoln get to sleep as she exited his room before next going to her room to start her own bedtime preparations.
"While I did kind of ask you at the time, I never really found out as to what you were doing before you dozed off then." Lincoln said.
"Well, I was largely taking the time in putting away the party props and such. Typical, the host having to do most of the cleanup." Lori explained, chortling at the end, "Anyway, once I finished up with that, it was then that I sat down and relaxed, only to then as you mentioned did I doze off until you came along."
As both shared a little smile, they also noticed that in the time they've talked and reminisced, the conditions outside dramatically improved the storm was departing and losing some of its punch. The winds were dying down, the thunder had become more distant, lightning was pretty much a non factor now and no longer was the rain a torrential downpour, but instead became a lighter, yet still steady sort.
"Lori?" Lincoln said, breaking a brief period of silence that followed the storm's passing.
"What is it?" Lori wondered.
"This shouldn't be weighing on me more than it should, but I want to apologize again for the way I acted back at the restaurant. It was pretty uncalled for on my end." Lincoln answered, sighing and shifting around a little.
Lori squeezed him a little tighter, "Don't worry about it, Lincoln. Truthfully I'm not exactly blameless myself for that. Perhaps I shouldn't have asked what was going on. Whatever was texted between you and Ronnie Anne should've remained between you and her, and I suppose that I didn't need to pry into any private details being shared. Also, I shouldn't have tried implying something that likely wasn't there with regards to your, um…incident from earlier today. That was literally really dumb on my part."
"It's...uh…it's okay...Lori..." Lincoln said, grunting a little as his eyes were starting to droop.
"Hey, you're getting sleepy already? It is still kind of early in the night, being...just a little past 8:00 PM and all." Lori observed after a quick glance of her watch.
"Yeah, but what else can we do to kill time in our current situation?" Lincoln asked, "We could keep talking about whatever else some more, but I feel at some point we'll get bored of that. Plus, maybe this long day has finally caught up with me and its making me want to get a jump start on sleeping if it's no trouble."
Lori simply shrugged, "Well, if that's the case, then go ahead, be my guest."
Smiling at her, Lincoln snuggled up just a little bit closer within the arms of his oldest sister and nestled the side of his head along her chest. Slowly, his eyes closed and he sighed contently. Meanwhile, Lori leaned back further along the seat and she too released a content sigh as well. It took a little while longer, and perhaps thanks to the more soothing pattering of the current rain shower outside, she gently rested her own head on that of Lincoln's and began drifting into her own slumber.
Several hours later, as the crack of dawn occurred, Lori found herself stirring awake. She blinked a couple of times and let out a small yawn. She looked down to see Lincoln still asleep in her arms, a sight she found super adorable. Speaking of sights, she turned to look out the window and saw the sun just barely beginning to peek over the horizon, casting a pinkish orange hue in the sky and a shimmering reflective effect on the lake, making for an absolutely gorgeous visual worth waking up to. So taken in by this, she gently took out her phone and took a couple pictures of it.
The clicking of her phone's camera shutter did, however, also have the effect of causing Lincoln to wake up. His act of shifting around caught the attention of his sister.
"Oh, hey there, Lincoln." Lori said, "Sorry, did I wake you up just now?"
Lincoln laughed weakly, "Maybe a little, but that's okay."
"Well, since you are awake right now, why don't you take a look outside? You'll literally love it." Lori recommended to him.
Taking a couple of seconds to get himself more awake at first, Lincoln looked out the window like he was advised to. If he wasn't already, the picturesque early morning scene he witnessed got his senses woken up.
"Whoa! Look at that!" He said in wonderment.
"I know, right?" Lori added with similar zeal, "In fact, I have an idea. Bring your phone with you, too."
As Lori was stepping out of Vanzilla, Lincoln followed along with his phone at hand. She positioned herself facing away from the sunset and motioned for Lincoln to come by her side. When he did, she put her arm around him and held her phone out in front of them. Now understanding what she was wanting them to do, Lincoln put his arm around Lori's waist and also held up his phone so they could take a simultaneous selfie with the sunset in the background.
"All right, together in 3...2...1!" Lori shouted.
At the end of that countdown, they both smiled and their respective camera shutters on their phones went off to capture this beautiful moment.
"Well, looks like I found my phone's newest background image for the next while." Lincoln said, sounding very satisfied with what he sees.
"And I'm definitely posting this on my social media accounts!" Lori added exuberantly, "It's literally so perfect!"
With their impromptu selfies taken, Lori and Lincoln returned inside Vanzilla.
"Well, ready to finally head off for home, Lincoln?" Lori said.
"I'd say so, though it is still a little bit dark out. Won't that be kind of a problem based on what you told me last night about driving at or close to dark?" Lincoln curiously asked.
Lori shook her head, "No, no this time around. Here at least it'll get more light out as time goes on, so I'll be good."
With that being said, she turned over Vanzilla's engine and began driving herself and Lincoln off to resume their journey back home. Aside from a quick trip to a convenience store for restroom breaks and grabbing a little something to eat and drink, the drive went along with no other interruptions.
Finally, at long last and after all the trials and tribulations they went through, Vanzilla pulled up onto the driveway of the Loud house, bringing its two missing inhabitants back home as they both let out heavy, but relieved sighs.
"We made it..." Lori said with a little spent laugh.
"Indeed we have." Lincoln added, "A lot has happened, but honestly, there's no one I'd rather have went through everything with than you, Lori."
"Aww...how sweet of you." Lori expressed kindheartedly, leaning over to gently kiss him on his cheek, earning a cute giggle from Lincoln.
Next, they got out and headed into their home where they were immediately welcomed by their awaiting family through a tight group hug. Following being in such an embrace for a while, they allowed Lori and Lincoln to head upstairs to recoup for a moment in their rooms.
Within her room, Lori sat down on her bed and took a minute to post her sunrise selfie with Lincoln to her various social media accounts, complete with the following caption.
"Literally such a precious sight...and a wonderful sunrise, too!"
And with that, we're done with the first five chapters! Next we'll alter the format for the last three and I'll see you then!
