There's something about sports that brings out raw emotions. In the course of a few hours, you can feel the highest of highs, the lowest of lows, and form bonds with other people because of what team they happen to root for. For years, Francisco has been aware that Lynn's mood depends on how her team performs in a game, and with the Wolverines winning streak and an upcoming Lions game, her excitement is through the roof.
Lynn rests her head on Francisco's chest and takes a deep breath. She always feels a sense of comfort being next to him like this, especially with her arms around him as she takes in the smell of leather, sweat, and motor oil.
She looks up at him and asks, "So…is there any chance that we'll get the house to ourselves next weekend?"
With Thanksgiving around the corner, the couple has the weekend and the upcoming week to themselves. Francisco is saddened that it'll just be the two of them, though he hopes that it can be livelier with some of her family members around.
He leans his head and rests it upon her's, "Probably…they said that they were going to be in Florida and won't return until the Sunday before school."
"Well, at least we'll have Christmas to look forward to," she reminds him.
Lynn looks over him sees the time on the digital clock. She has one more thing planned and sees that they have a short time until they have to leave. She turns over to him, "Get up," she orders.
He groans, "Can I at least get a sports drink or something?"
She gently shoves, "Not like that," she jumps out of bed and heads to the dresser to grab some clothes, "I'm going to take a shower first, we're going out and then we can get something for dinner."
Francisco lifts his head up a bit after hearing her close the bathroom door. He isn't sure what Lynn has in store for the rest of the afternoon and their evening, but she does make a point, they can't spend the rest of the day indoors.
When Lynn comes out of the bathroom, she notices that Francisco is still laying down in bed, "Seriously? What's wrong with you?"
He shrugs his shoulders, "I was waiting for you."
Lynn grabs his hoodie from the closet, "Well, whenever you're ready, princess." Francisco gets up from bed, and sees her adjusting the hood to cover her neck, "Do you really have to leave me with a bite mark nearly every time we get in bed?"
"I'm just returning the favor from all those bruises you give me," he laughs. "It's gonna be a long time until we're even."
Lynn rolls her eyes, "I'm gonna get some fresh air, call me when you're out," she says as she walks out the door.
As Lynn steps out to the backyard, Jackson, who spots her from inside the house calls out to her, "Hello, neighbor-ette."
"Hey Jackson, what are you up to today? Alphabetizing your rock collection?"
He chuckles, "No, that was yesterday. I was actually cleaning up some old boxes from the basement, and I came outside for some fresh air."
"Did you find anything good?"
"As a matter of fact, I did. Do you want to see it?"
Lynn pulls out her phone; there's still plenty of time until she and Francisco have to leave, so she decides to jump the fence and see what he found.
Jackson leads her inside, and asks her to wait while he goes down to the basement to grab the box. After spending a few afternoons talking with Lynn and Francisco, he has learned a few subtle things about the couple – she doesn't like to sit bored out of her mind and will look for any excuse to do anything, he alone is probably keeping Grand Slam Gum in business, and neither one seems to like delving too much into anything that it bothering them emotionally.
Lynn taps her foot in frustration and yells down in the basement, "Jackson, can we hurry this up? Francisco and I have plans and I don't want to be late."
He steps out of the basement with a box in hand, "Well don't worry this should only take about fifteen or so minutes. Tell me, Lynn, do you like video games?" he asks after pulling out a headband and a remote control.
Lynn's ears perk up. While she doesn't have a console herself, she does enjoy the fun that comes from blowing up virtual tanks and airplanes. She looks at the computer and then turns to the door, if she isn't careful, she is sure that she'll lose herself playing, but if Jackson is around then he can remind her to leave.
"It's only fifteen minutes? It can't be that fun of a game," she says in an effort to keep herself from playing and missing her appointment.
"Are you afraid of competing against me?"
He said it – the C word, and Jackson knows that she'll accept based on that. While Lynn debates with herself on whether or not she'll play, he sets up a camera and the control to the computer.
Lynn looks over at him and nervously balls her hands into fists in an effort to fight the temptation, "Only fifteen minutes?"
Jackson nods his head, and Lynn quickly takes a seat in front of the computer. He places the headband over her head and hands her the remote. He instructs her to only press the button when she sees the green diamond. Lynn is a little confused by the equipment; neither Lincoln nor Lily have ever mentioned a sensor on the head, maybe goggles, but never a headband.
"Is that all? I thought that it was going to be more fun. And what's with the headband?" she asks as she tries to pull it off.
He keeps the headband back on, "Nothing important, it's part of the game." Jackson begins to step towards the door, "I'll be back in a bit, just concentrate like you would in school," he says as he walks out of the room.
As soon as he said that, Lynn begins to think about how she did when she was in school – how she would struggle reading almost everything, the nights with her parents, the constant notes from teachers about her poor grades – she hated it. It makes her wonder what would have happened if she didn't start playing sports, at the time it was her only motivation for caring about school; she worked hard to be great on the field, the last thing she wanted was to be benched.
While Lynn is lost in thought, the screen displays a variety of shapes of different colors. With the help of her peripheral vision, she is able to get some of the green diamonds, but the occasional sound of Jackson in the kitchen running water, the creak of a chair and tea kettle keeps her from getting all the diamonds.
Lynn looks at the screen; she can't see her score anywhere. Jackson mentioned that they were 'competing', but she can't figure out how he'll know her performance. Rather than take a chance, she takes another attempt at playing this game right, until the clanging of a teacup in the sink made her face away from the screen and miss the last diamond.
Jackson steps into the room, "Is the game over?"
She crosses her arms and scowls at the screen, "Yeah…can I see your score?"
"I haven't played this game myself; I've only seen others play."
Lynn frowns, "Only seen others? Then why did you want me to play?"
"Sheer curiosity," he says.
From outside, the two hear Francisco calling out for Lynn. She sighs, "Can I see my score before I leave?"
Jackson looks over towards the door, "I'll try to get them for you as soon as I can, now go, Francisco is waiting for you."
Lynn puts on her helmet. In a few short minutes, she and the football team are going to run onto the field and play against Hazeltucky, but today is special – it's her first high school football game. She has worked hard, practiced, and she's sure that her experience on the middle school team will pay off in victory.
She looks around the empty girls' locker room – the cheerleaders were already outside pumping up the crowd and she's a few minutes away from making her high school debut as a football player.
Lynn looks around for the clock to see how much longer she has to wait, but when she notices that there are still ten more minutes, she sits back down on the bench, "What is taking so long? I want this game to start already," she whines.
The silence begins to bother her. Normally, when she is getting ready for a game, she has her teammates around so that they can motivate one another, but being all alone in the locker room, she has no one but herself.
Lynn steps out of the room and walks towards the tunnel leading to the field. She can hear the crowd roaring in excitement for the first game of the year, but she can also hear her heart racing. The young athlete wants to do well, not just for the win, but to prove to the coach that she belongs on the varsity team.
When she first tried out, the coach refused to let her go straight to varsity, but after the middle school football coach spoke up on her behalf, the high school coach decided that she would give her a try, assuming that she can do well during a real game. This game is too important, and she knows that she has to give it her all to move up to where she knows she belongs.
The rest of the team steps out of the boys' locker room and surround her as they wait for the announcers to call them onto the field. The cheerleaders run towards the tunnel with a paper banner for the team to run. This is it, it's almost game time. Lynn is nervous, but as she looks up at her teammates, she can't see a hint of stress on their faces. She shakes her head, now isn't the time to be nervous, now is the time to dominate and make the Hazeltucky football players wish that they chose tennis instead.
The speaker comes on, "Everyone, let's welcome our Royal Woods junior varsity football team!"
The team runs through the banner and onto the field, Lynn looks up at the crowd and she feels right at home.
Lynn leads Francisco to the passenger seat of her car. He is currently blindfolded at Lynn's insistence and she is refusing to tell him what she has up her sleeve. As Lynn starts the car, he makes an attempt at removing his blindfold, but she immediately slaps his hand to stop him.
"Not until we get there."
"What happens if Dutch dies on the way?" he asks sarcastically.
"Then I'll be your eyes and you be the brains that tells me how to fix it," she easily answers.
He sighs. He should have known that she wouldn't answer him, but doesn't hurt to try. Lynn speeds out of the driveway and Francisco puts a tight grip on the grab handle. He can feel her swerving between lanes, presumably speeding through yellow lights, and clearly ignoring the speed limit.
"If I ever needed a reminder of why you struggled to get your driver's license, this is it," he says.
She smacks him in the arm, "Hey! I'm a great driver," she tells him, before turning her eyes back onto the road as she narrowly misses another car in the other lane.
The sound of a car horn surprises him, "What was that?" he asks, feeling the sudden swerve of the car.
"Nothing, just relax, we'll be there soon," she assures him.
A few minutes later, the car begins to slow down and he asks, "Are we almost there, or is Dutch dying?"
"Just a little longer. Besides it doesn't start for a few more minutes, and it's still my day, so put up with it."
He doesn't know what to expect from that – Michigan and the Red Wings aren't playing today, and the Lions don't have a game until Thursday. For months, the two have gone back and forth every weekend doing something that the other likes with an open mind from fishing to rock climbing and even class on home repair, which he insisted on after she broke the door off its hinges.
"What doesn't start for a few more minutes?"
"Don't worry about it."
The lights of the casino appear and Lynn pulls into the parking lot. After she finds a spot, she quickly steps out of the car and walks over to Francisco. She wraps her arm around his, and leads him towards the entrance. Along the way, he can hear patrons mentioning strategies, games, and restaurants and from those conversations, he knows exactly where Lynn dragged him to.
Without taking off his blindfold, he asks, "Are we at DieselCity? Lynn, you know how I feel about gambling."
"I know, but it isn't going to cost you anything and it's not like we're going to do much playing," she says as she takes off his blindfold.
Francisco looks up at a big banner by the entrance which reads, 'Thanksgiving at Ford Field – Raffle Tonight!' Now he knows what Lynn was planning for her family. He knows that she is lucky when it comes to games of chance, but she can't seriously believe that she's going to win the grand prize.
"You want us to spend Thanksgiving at Ford Field?" he questions.
As she pushes him towards the entrance, "You make it sound like it's a bad thing. Edgar goes all out for his prize winners, especially for the Thanksgiving Classic, I'm talking turkeys, desserts, sides – all catered by Corbett's Lodge, and we're gonna get swag bags, one of those Premiere Suite boxes to ourselves, VIP parking, we get to step onto the field before the game, take pictures with some of the players, the cheerleaders, and Roary and we get to take a tour of the place; you can't tell me that that doesn't sound great!"
He will admit that it does sound nice, heck, even half the prize sounds great, but based on the amount of people going inside he can't imagine that it's going to be easy to win such a prize.
A security guard calls out to them, "Hey Lynn, are you finally going to try to win that Thanksgiving Classic prize pack?"
"Try?!"
Ken chuckles, "I shoulda known. Good luck!"
"You should be telling that to the losers," she says loud enough for everyone around her to hear.
As they walk inside, they are met with a long line of people buying last-minute raffle tickets, the patrons trying to get through the crowds to play the games, and the smell of food coming from the restaurants.
Lynn leads Francisco towards the stage, "I'll be right back. I'm gonna go buy a ticket, wait for me here," she says before walking towards the empty restaurant space with the booth.
He nods his head, and when he's alone, he takes the time to look around at the people around him. Two women in large hats and sunglasses seem startled when he looks at them, and Francisco quickly looks away from them to avoid their attention.
He looks over at the raffle drum; it has hundreds of tickets inside, and clearly Edgar has made his money back for the night, and probably more. From what Lynn told him, he owns the box for the sole reason to raffle it off during concerts and games for his customers, and occasionally hold a meeting, but mostly to let others enjoy it.
The owner gets on stage, reminding everyone that the drawing will start in a few minutes and to buy their tickets before the booth closes. The people manning the booth move as quickly as possible as the guests get more inpatient to buy a last minute ticket for added measure.
Lynn walks over and hands him a raffle ticket, "Here you go. Good luck."
He looks over at her as she notices that she isn't holding a ticket, "Don't you have a ticket?"
"You're holding it," she says. "I can't win too much for myself; it's bad luck, even if we are going to give away the other eight tickets."
Francisco looks around at the patrons, some of them have multiple tickets and Lynn is confident that the one measly ticket in his hand is going to win the grand prize. At twenty dollars a ticket, he's at least glad that she showed restraint, but one ticket versus the hundreds of tickets in the hands of others, don't show the odds in Lynn's favor.
The older man walks back onto the stage to formally greet everyone, "Thank you all for coming. Every year, as the holidays approach, I love to give back to my loyal customers and people of this fine city, and one of the most beloved prizes – the Thanksgiving Classic package will be awarded to one lucky winner to share with their loved ones."
The tension in the room gets heavier as everyone stares at Edgar, who is spinning the raffle drum. He pulls out one ticket and walks over to the microphone to read out the number, "Six-eight-one-three-nine, who's got six-eight-one-three-nine?"
The people in the crowd frantically look at their tickets, but Francisco waits around for someone to scream in joy at having won the prize. Lynn points at the ticket in his hand. Francisco looks down and notices that the numbers match the ones that Edgar called out.
All he can mutter is, "Holy…" how he wishes that he had Lynn's luck sometimes.
Lynn grabs his arm and raises it so that she can wave it around, "Stop looking, everyone, 'cause we've got a winner here!" she boasts.
Groans can be heard from the crowd around them. Francisco, who is still stunned, is pushed by Lynn towards the stage to collect their prize. He can't believe that Lynn managed to win the grand prize with one ticket, one measly twenty dollar ticket.
Francisco looks around for Margo. A few days ago, the two promised Lynn that they would be at her first football game and despite assuring her every single time, it never stopped her from asking the two every day if they were going to be there. He understands her excitement; it isn't middle school anymore, the three of them are expected to compete with upperclassmen, some of which are much larger than the tiny quarterback in the girls' locker room.
Margo spots Francisco and waves to him in order to get his attention. He makes his way past a sea of fans dressed in red and yellow, and takes a seat next to her.
"There sure is a lot of excitement today," he remarks, as he stares at the crowd around him.
Margo munches on some popcorn, "It is the first game of the season. They're excited, even if it is J.V. football."
"I'm surprised that Lynn didn't make varsity."
She chuckles, "She probably tried. I know that Lori made the varsity golf team as a freshman. However, I don't think that the coach was going to let Lynn try, especially when she hasn't proven herself on the field against other high schoolers."
While he tries to remember which one of Lynn's sisters is Lori, the two football teams are introduced to indicate the start of the game.
Francisco pulls out his phone. Despite having ample time to learn about the sport he is about to watch, he neglected it in favor of his actual schoolwork. He never has been into football, and even highlights didn't make the game too appealing to him, but he promised her that he would be here at her first game.
The teams set up for the opening kickoff. As they run across the field, Francisco looks around for Lynn, who is currently sitting on the sidelines, "I thought that Lynn was starting? She kept bragging about it all week."
"She's an offensive player, the defensive players are the ones on the field."
Francisco scrolls through his phone. Lynn has talked about football before, but he didn't retain the information well enough to understand everything and she wouldn't stop talking long enough for him to ask any follow-up questions.
After the Hazeltucky player is tackled at the nineteen, the teams set up the line of scrimmage. Hazeltucky runs the ball for three yards. On the next down, they throw the ball and are stopped five yards down.
Francisco looks over at the clock and then at his watch. Despite over five minutes passing since the start of the game, the game clock shows that only a minute has passed. He's sure that the clock is broken, but no one seems to be saying anything.
Hazeltucky continues their march down the field until they cross the fifty into Royal Woods territory. At the next snap, the quarterback holds onto the ball for too long and a defensive player tackles him before he is able to throw the ball. The crowd roars with excitement, but Francisco is lost and Margo quickly notices.
He leans over to her, and asks, "What's going on?"
"Our defensive player sacked the quarterback."
Francisco is confused as to why that is exciting.
"You know how the snaps start where the ball starts, by tackling the quarterback, Royal Woods sent Hazeltucky back six yards."
"Okay…" he says.
"That's a good thing," she assures him.
The players walk off the field as Royal Woods prepares to send out their offensive team. The two friends can see Lynn doing her lucky rituals. Despite all of them knowing that she is more than capable of doing well on the field and despite practicing harder than anyone else on the team, Lynn can't seem to shake the habit of performing a ritual before each game.
Francisco turns to Margo, "You've known her longer than I have, do you remember when she started those silly rituals?"
She shrugs her shoulders, "No, she's been doing them for years, although they seem to get worse when she gets in her own head."
He chuckles at his friend's ridiculousness, but doesn't say anything to Margo, though he knows that she is thinking the same thing. She has mentioned that Lynn sometimes forces her good luck rituals onto her teammates, and doesn't let up until the game is over. The stories seem to be rarer nowadays, but Francisco isn't sure if it's because her teammates have stood up to her, because they learned to put up with it, or because Lynn stopped on her own.
The ball snaps and while Lynn is in the pocket, she tries to look around for a catcher, but she can barely see over the offensive line. It wasn't as much of a problem last season in middle school, but it seems as though everyone went through a growth spurt except her. As the defensive line tries to push their way towards her, Lynn begins to feel the pressure; there isn't enough room for her to make a run for it herself, and she decides to throw it where she assumes the tight end will be.
Everyone in the crowd watches as the ball flies through the air, into the hands of the opposing team's outside linebacker.
Lynn paces back and forth as waits for the mailman to bring her the passes for their suite. She has waited patiently, and Edgar even said that the tickets would be delivered shortly, but it's already Tuesday and that's long enough.
Francisco passes by her as she looks out the window to see if the mailman was in sight, "I haven't seen you this anxious about a postal worker since we were teenagers," he remarks.
She closes the curtain, "You weren't there. How would you know about it?"
"It's a small town, Lynn, news travels. Also, you don't hear a story like that every day," he jokes.
"One time!"
"You were lucky that they didn't file charges. I hear the federal government can be a pain when it comes to punishment."
She rolls her eyes and draws the curtain one more time to look outside. The mailman passes by the house and Lynn immediately opens the door, surprising him as he closes the mailbox. As he walks away, he silently hopes that Lynn has received what she is looking for, because he can't handle those scares anymore.
Lynn grabs the mail and tosses everything that doesn't interest her onto the ground, "Bill, bill, junk, store ad, coupons, yes! The passes are here!" she says as she triumphantly raises it up like the Stanley Cup.
Francisco picks up the mail that she dropped, and asks, "Why didn't you just do a will call instead?"
"Because, I won't be able to…do…this…" she says as rips open the box to reveal the passes. She pulls one out and places it around her shoulders.
Francisco looks at her admiring the pass; she is clearly excited for Thursday and he can't blame her one bit. Ever since they won the tickets, he could feel her tossing and turning in bed, she constantly checks highlights for the Lions and Packers, and her conversation is entirely centered around the game. On any other occasion, that would be normal for Lynn, but he can tell the difference from her normal excitement to the one that she's felt since winning that Premiere Suite box.
Lynn grabs a pass and places it around his shoulders, "And one for you too."
He looks down at the pass and then at her, "What are we going to do about our two extra tickets?"
She shrugs her shoulders; Chuy and Jackson don't like football, there is no way that she's going to invite Kiké, Elena is out of town, and everyone else that she knows is busy. It makes her wish that she had more friends who would be willing to go to a game during a holiday, or even if she could get another sibling to stop by, but she has her three, so she's happy.
Francisco takes the box from her, "I don't know if I can trust you with these passes," he says with a sly smile. He knows that Lynn would guard that box with her life, but he also knows that she'll probably get too consumed if they stay in the house for too long.
Lynn pulls box from him. She can't get him to release it, but she assures, "It'll be fine! I can handle it."
He pulls back, "Then let it go."
She wants to, but something in her doesn't let her do so. She can't let go of those passes, they're too valuable; they're a symbol of the greatest Thanksgiving that she can get with the few family members in town and she doesn't want to lose them.
Lynn eventually lets go, and Francisco takes the box to the garage, "I'm taking them to your sisters."
"What?! Why? We can keep them here."
"Lynn, you're prone to losing things–"
"Not when it comes to sports," she reminds him.
He sighs, "Fine, did you tell them that you won?"
She stops to think about it, and while she is distracted Francisco walks to the truck. He knows that Lynn won't let any harm some to the package, but he doesn't want her going crazy with all ten, plus, if the others have their passes then no one will be in a rush to leave as early as Lynn probably wants.
He takes a drive to the Loud house to drop off Lisa and Lily's tickets. Francisco doesn't know if they know that this is how they will be spending Thanksgiving, and while they made not enjoy football as much as Lynn, he's sure that they can appreciate a suite with a catered dinner from one of the best restaurants in the state.
Upon arriving, Francisco walks up to the front door, he presses on the doorbell, and is immediately shocked, "How long is it going to take until I remember?" he asks himself.
He sees the curtains shuffling, which baffles him. As far as he knows, everyone should be home, especially with Vanzilla in the driveway, but no one seems to answer the door, "Probably just their cat."
Francisco knocks on the door, and he immediately hears Lynn Sr., "Coming!"
From inside the house, Lily yells, "Dad! The oven thermometer isn't working!"
"I've got the door, Lynn," says Rita. She walks over to the door and sees Francisco, "Hello, Francisco…what are you doing here?"
She knows why he's here. After Lisa and Lily returned home on Saturday, they told her and her husband that Lynn won a box at Ford Field presumably in an effort to invite them. It's a very nice gesture, but Rita wishes that her daughter could have picked a different time to attend.
He pulls out the tickets from his jacket and shows them to Rita, "I know that you and Mr. Loud are heading to Indiana for Thanksgiving this year, but Lynn won these box tickets in case you guys knew someone who might want them or even if you may want them. She said something about a catered dinner, swag bags, and a bunch of other things during the football game, which she thought that you guys might enjoy."
Rita is considering it after hearing the package; while she doesn't mind the drive to Indianapolis, there's something unsettling about eating a turkey in a zoo surrounded by other animals watching them. Lisa, who is crouched by the door out of Francisco's sight, pulls out a tablet and shows her pictures of how Lynn behaves at sports games. Flashbacks of good luck rituals, fights, and her excitable daughter begin to haunt her and immediately cement her heading to Lana's place.
"That's really sweet, Francisco, but most of our friends have a prior commitment, and we already told Lana that we would be there. I hope you understand."
"I do. Are Lily and Lisa around? I can leave you their tickets."
Rita glances down at the floor and sees Lisa signaling her that she doesn't want to go either, "They decided that they wanted to come with us a week ago," she lies. "And Lana can't get a refund for her Thanksgiving at the zoo."
"That sounds fun," Francisco says before pocketing the passes, "I understand. I'll let Lynn know."
Rita closes the door and she and Lisa sigh in relief. It feels terrible to lie to him, but the Louds have attended enough games with Lynn to last a lifetime; they can't take one as big as the Thanksgiving Classic, they just can't.
Lynn Sr. walks towards to the living room with a broken oven thermometer, "I don't know why this says that my oven is freezing, but I can assure you Lily, that everything is fine," he looks over at Rita and Lisa, "Who was at the door?"
"No one," they quickly say.
Francisco heads to the truck and decides to make the next delivery to Lucy and her family. Lynn mentioned that Lucy wasn't at their usual Saturday breakfast, and when they tried to call, it went straight to voicemail. Lisa mentioned that it was possible that she was at a doctor's appointment and thus wouldn't get the message, but after a couple of days, she should have answered back.
After the drive, he pulls into Lucy's driveway, he can see that there is someone in the house, so Lucy must be home, though he doesn't recognize the other truck parked nearby, "Whose truck is that?" he asks himself.
Francisco knocks on the door and is met with a red-haired man and a small brood of chickens exiting through the door, "Howdy, Francisco."
He can't recall who the man at the door is, "Hi…are Lucy or Rocky around?"
Liam shakes his head, "Nah, they went up north a few days ago, I'm house-sitting."
He's confused, "They asked you to housesit?"
"Nope, they asked Rusty first, but he wanted to go the family cabin with 'em, so he asked me to do it."
"Oh…do you know when they'll be back?"
Liam tries to recall the date, "I reckon they said Saturday or something."
Francisco takes a deep breath. He is frustrated that he missed all three of the Loud sisters, but he tries not to dwell, it's not their fault. With Thanksgiving a few days away, it should be expected that everyone would have already made plans, especially since Lynn didn't tell anyone about what she was planning, but it still stings, knowing that no one nearby will be able to attend.
Rather than wasting the tickets, he takes one out an offers it to Liam, "Do you want to go see a football game this Thursday?"
Liam takes his head, "Sorry, but I already got plans with my family, maybe next time."
"Sure."
Francisco walks back to the truck. He doesn't know how he'll tell Lynn that her sisters aren't available to go with them to the city. She was looking forward to them being there, but now they can't attend due to their own plans.
He doesn't know what to do. He doesn't want to see her moping until the game, but maybe once they're at Ford Field she'll forget about it and enjoy the game. Francisco takes the tickets out of his pocket and places them in the glove compartment before driving back home.
The crowd boos. Bags of popcorn are tossed onto the field after Lynn threw that intersection. After the Hazeltucky player is tackled, the offense heads back to the sidelines, but the two can see their friend kicking the field in frustration after making such a rookie mistake. It's her first throw, and it ended with the Royal Woods team handing their opponents an advantageous position on the field.
"She should have thrown it out of bounds," Margo says.
"Quarterbacks can do that?"
She nods her head, "Yeah, though I doubt that Lynn would have, it's not her style to quit like that."
Francisco chuckles; he can't argue with that. For as long as he's known Lynn, he's noticed that she would rather push through than find an easy way out.
As the game continues, Margo and Francisco spot Lynn, who is still sitting on the bench. They can tell that she is itching to get back onto the field, but the coach hasn't given her many opportunities, especially since her replacement has been doing well.
Lynn scowls as she looks at her team doing well. She isn't mad that they are succeeding without her, she's mad that nearly every time she gets back into the game, she's holding her team back from doing well. At practice, she was almost unstoppable; she could make the catches, kick like no one else, and had great accuracy with her throws, but after begging the coach to give her a shot as the starting quarterback, she screws up.
In the fourth quarter, Lynn gets back on the field. She knows that after a rough three quarters, she going to have to prove herself and to everyone that she deserves to finish the game with her teammates. Little by little, she is able to lead the team to favorable enough position, but time is running out. The team sets up at their forty. There is one minute left on the clock to get the ball across to the end zone so that they can score enough points and win the game. Lynn is sure that that's more than enough time to score so that they can get the lead and win the game.
The ball snaps. She knows that the coach told her to throw to the running back, but she notices an opening and she takes the gamble so that she can run it. All game, she has struggled to throw without worrying about an interception, and while it was the slower option, running has definitely kept the team moving forward.
She moves quickly as she avoids the opposing team. The world begins to go silent and all she can hear is her ragged breaths as she sprints towards the end zone. With every passing white line, she can see her destination, and like a horse with blinders on, she moves forward ignoring everything around her.
Lynn doesn't notice the three Hazeltucky players on her tail, until two of them tackle her to the ground. She looks up and notices that she wasn't able to reach the end zone. The referee's whistle goes off and the game is over – Royal Woods lost.
She looks around at the crowd, the fans in red are clearly upset at the loss, but no one is more upset at her than she is. She tries to get up to go get cleaned up, but she feels a pain in her ankle as she walks away.
Lynn slowly limps towards the locker room. She steps inside and luckily for her, it's empty. She doesn't know where the cheerleaders are and she doesn't care, all she wants to do is get out before anyone gives her crap about her performance.
All her good luck rituals and it came to nothing, she knew that she should have told Margo and Francisco to do a few from the stands, but curse her cockiness at thinking that she didn't need more luck on her side.
After taking a quick shower and getting changed into her street clothes, she walks out of the locker room to head home. As she passes the boys' locker room, the coach steps out and asks to speak with her.
Francisco pulls into the Ford Field parking lot. It is surprisingly crowded. He assumed that because of the holiday that people wouldn't actually go to watch a football game, but the line to get in, made it clear that holiday or not, people will still watch a football game in person.
He looks over at Lynn, who looks like she's ready to leap out of the truck and storm the entrance past everyone in her way. She reaches over to the steering wheel and rapidly presses the horn to get people to move, not that it does anything to move the line.
He takes her hand off the wheel, "Today's going to be a good day," he reminds her.
She looks over at him, "Why do you keep saying that? Ever since you gave away the passes, all you do is keep reminding me that today is going to be good."
"It is, but you're the forgetful type."
Lynn rolls her eyes. She knows that she can forget things, but it isn't so bad that she'll forget him constantly saying the same thing over and over again. She can't imagine how bad he assumes her memory to be, if he had to keep repeating every day since they got the tickets.
"So did you find anyone to give the two extra tickets to?"
Francisco shakes his head, "I guess we could give it away to a tailgating fan or something."
"I guess, if not, we can keep them as a souvenir."
"What about the one around your neck?"
"I'm gonna find someone to make it into a plaque," she jokingly says.
As soon as he pulls into a parking spot, she jumps out and heads towards the entrance without much regard to anyone blocking her.
Francisco watches her from the truck, and tells himself, "I knew it."
Lynn looks back at him as he slowly strolls into the stadium, "Are you serious?!" She runs back towards him and grabs his arm and pulls him through the crowd, "You've gotta be more aggressive, Francisco. In a few minutes, we're gonna meet with our tour guide so that we can go see the players getting warmed-up before the game." She stops and looks around, "Where is everyone? They're going to miss the tour."
He takes her hand and walks her past the crowd of people. It isn't going to take much to get Lynn to temporarily forget that her siblings aren't coming, but he hopes that the box can distract her a little longer. Francisco didn't like lying to her for the last couple of days, but didn't know how to tell her that no one wanted to come to the game with them.
The couple follows the signs to directing them to the Premiere Suite boxes, each door is numbered and some have logos from various business owners who own the box for the year. When they see the door with the DieselCity logo, they walk in and are left speechless. The room is tastefully decorated in the Lions' colors with leather couch in front of a tv, a table of hor d'oeuvres, drinks, and ten swag bags, and the view of the fifty yard line that would make anyone jealous.
Francisco steps in, but Lynn is almost rendered paralyzed as she takes in everything. For years, she complained that suite boxes are ruining football, but being inside one, tossed her belief out the window.
He turns around and notices that Lynn is still standing by the entrance, "Are you coming in?"
As if those words turned on a switched in her, Lynn runs in and grabs a swag bag to see what Edgar gifted them, "We got a cap, an ice scraper, a keychain, lanyard, a commemorative coin, a mini football, and twenty dollars off anything in the gift shop," she looks up at him, "We're getting jerseys after this! Wait! Let's go now before the game starts!"
"But our tour is going to start soon," he reminds her, "and twenty dollars will only get us a T-shirt."
"That's plenty of time to go and we can pay the difference, but first, take a picture of me in this room," she says, as she tosses her phone at him.
He complies with her request. She then pulls him in to take a selfie in front of the Lions logo and in their seat by the field. With each passing picture and amenity that she takes in, he can feel the dread building up in his throat for what's to come.
The couple hears a knock at the door, "Knock, knock, are you…ready for your tour?" she asks, slowing her speech as she notices that there are only two people in the suite.
Lynn walks over to her, "The others should be here in a few minutes, they're probably just looking for parking."
The tour guide looks at her watch, "We can spare a few minutes, but we do want to get started so that you can get down onto the field to see the players."
Francisco suggests, "How about we go now? I mean, the others aren't going to appreciate it as much as we are and we can spend a little more time down on the field before the game."
Lynn thinks about it; he's right, her sisters and Rocky aren't going to appreciate it, the twins might get fussy, and everyone might complain about all the walking. She sends everyone a text letting them know that she and Francisco are on the tour and that they'll meet in the suite later.
As the three commence the tour, Francisco notices that Lynn keeps checking her phone for a response from her sisters. He knows that they might not respond or they might tell her that they aren't coming, and he wishes now that he planned out what he would tell her. He assumed that for months, Lynn has had this idea of what today would be and how she would spend it with her sisters, and here he is, witnessing her as she slowly comes to the realization that it's going to be the two of them.
After going through the facility, the tour guide leads them to the field where the players are warming up. Francisco glances over at Lynn, who assumes would be ready to pounce at her chance to talk to the players, but is instead looking at her phone.
He speaks up, "C'mon, take it in. We only have a few more minutes until the game starts."
She nods, "Yeah, you're right." Lynn steps towards the tunnel to send a quick message to her sisters and then heads back to the field.
With the tour over and Lynn finishing her little pep talks with the players, the two head back up to the suite.
Lynn feels her phone vibrating, she looks at the message on her phone and frowns – her sisters aren't showing up.
Francisco and Margo wait around by the exit. The Hazeltucky team is happily getting on the bus, with some of the players mocking some of the Royal Woods fans that they pass. It was one game, and they only won by a few points, but it didn't stop some of the players from getting inflated egos.
"One game and they're on top of the world," Francisco says.
"Sort of like someone we know."
He snickers. She's right, though, if Royal Woods had won that game, everyone would be able to hear Lynn from the locker rooms.
The crowd begins to die down and Francisco looks around, "Where's Lynn's family? Didn't they come to the game?"
Margo shrugs her shoulders, "Sometimes they aren't able to come, especially when her other siblings have things scheduled on the same day too, besides, they'll probably come to her next game."
"At least they try…"
The two see Lynn limping towards them and facing the ground as she walks away from everyone. Margo calls out to her, but she doesn't say a thing and instead keeps walking away from the stadium.
Both teens know that Lynn is a sore loser, and while she has calmed down from her usual destructive temper tantrums of her childhood, she pouts and snaps at anyone who bothers her during her cool down period. Margo has learned to leave Lynn alone, but Francisco doesn't seem to learn and keeps playing with fire.
Francisco compliments her, "Good game, Lynn."
She doesn't say anything and instead walks in the direction of her house. Both teens follow her, and while Margo wants to leave her alone, Francisco isn't going to accept Lynn's attitude without giving her a little reality check.
"You know, Lynn, we all lose every once in a while."
Margo cannot believe that he still hasn't learned to leave Lynn alone after a loss. She's happy that Lynn hasn't said anything, and even though Francisco may try to talk, she at least has an out since her house is nearby.
Shortly after Francisco's little 'pep' talk, Margo can hear Lynn muttering under her breath, and she knows that her friend is about to blow up. Rather than risk being around, Margo starts moving a little faster, so that they can reach the corner where she would have departed anyway.
Lynn and Francisco continue to walk in silence, and when he is about to say something, she immediately interrupts, "The coach wants to demote me to kicker! Can you believe that?! I've spent years playing football, and now I can't play quarterback because I'm 'insubordinate' and 'too small' or because I 'might get hurt'. Who the hell is he to talk?!"
Francisco understands the coach; Lynn didn't listen to coach's orders and the way Lynn looked out there compared to all of the other players would make him want to place her in a different position too. However, he knows that no one would want to hear that and instead opts for telling her, "Well, look at it this way – you can still be on the team."
She groans, "That's not the point! I don't want to be some lousy kicker! If I wanted to kick the ball, then I might as well play soccer."
"Then do that!" he complains. He wants to be helpful, but if Lynn is going to throw a tantrum, then there isn't any point in being rational. "You play every sport in the book, why does it matter if you're not the superstar on a football team?"
Lynn gets in his face and through her teeth explains, "Look, I am good at football. I have won trophies, M.V.P. awards, and I've done it as a quarterback, I do not want to be some anonymous kicker just because I'm not as tall, or can't throw as far or as high as the guy who was supposed to be second banana to me. So leave me the fuck alone!"
Francisco doesn't say a thing as she talks, but he can hear her voice breaking as she loses out on a sport that she loves. However, despite her sadness, he can't ignore that she's going to be okay even without football. In every other sport that she participates in, she's the star player, and she never likes being anything less than captain or of equal standing, but sometimes that isn't how things work out, and she needs to learn that.
He steps in the direction of his house, and tells her, "Fine then, I'll leave you alone," he says with a little spite in his voice.
"Let's go home…"
Francisco couldn't believe it. Ever since they won these tickets, she has been bouncing off the walls with excitement and now she wants to leave, "Why? I thought they were coming."
Lynn drags her feet towards the table. She notices the bottles of alcohol nearby, but doesn't realize how long she is staring at them, or that Francisco noticed her staring. She bites down on her bottom lip, closes her eyes and grabs some of the bags off the table.
Without looking over at him, she tells him, "Well they aren't, so let's go."
He blocks the entrance, "No, we're doing this. I get that a few people can't come, but that doesn't mean that we should give up on the whole day."
"They aren't coming, they all said so," she says.
Francisco opens his mouth to tell her that it probably has to do with them winning the tickets a few days ago, long after everyone made plans, but the look of disappointment on Lynn's face tells him that it's better that he keep quiet. It isn't her fault that the raffle was held a few days ago, and it wasn't even a guarantee that she would win, but he can't stand seeing her upset that no one was able to come today. He pulls her into a hug and Lynn lets the bags drop to the ground. She turns her head back towards the table, and Francisco, in an effort to get her mind off the tempting alcohol, leads her towards the couch to let her calm down.
The game is about to start.
On the speaker, the announcer asks that everyone stand for the national anthem, and despite her sadness, Lynn gets up and pulls Francisco up with her. He looks over at her and notices the serious look on her face. He can't blame her for being upset, but he never thought that it would get to the point of wanting to leave a live sporting event.
As everyone takes their seats, the referee and the captains of both teams run onto the field for the coin toss. Rather than stay seated, she lays down on the couch and rests her head on his lap.
Francisco is taken aback by her action, "Do you want to get up? I can't imagine that you can see from there."
Lynn doesn't say a thing. She knows that she can't see, but she doesn't care. As the game begins, Francisco looks down onto the field, but he can't ignore Lynn, who is missing out because she is upset. He can't think of a way that he could have avoided this, except for finding other people to take her sisters' places, but unless any of her other siblings were willing to put their plans on hold, it probably wasn't going to happen either.
"I always wanted them around when I watched a game," she says, surprising Francisco. "They didn't mind going when I was on the field, but whenever we were at home or went to a stadium, suddenly everyone couldn't. I know that my parents and Lori would take turns taking me, and it was fine until Bud and I would go together, but I always felt like my team would be a little luckier with family around…"
Francisco asks, "Why your family? Couldn't anyone else be just as lucky?"
She shrugs her shoulders. It is possible that anyone could have worked, but there was something about seeing other kids with their family that made her long for that. She knows that her dad likes sports, but he was never as into it as her, and Pop-Pop lived too far away for her to visit without someone taking her. Lynn was happy to have had Bud next door, but it wasn't the same as having a sibling or parent around.
"I could be a lucky charm if you want?"
She smiles, "Any chance that you know two more people?"
"Seriously?"
"It works better with three other people," she defends.
Francisco sighs, "How did that get started?"
"The three people at a game with me or the good luck rituals? 'cause I don't remember either."
He should have expected that answer; Lynn has been at her good luck rituals for so long that she probably doesn't remember why or where they got started. He can't deny that he believes in luck too, but not to the same extent as her.
"It's fine, it doesn't matter," he assures her.
She can feel him running his hand through her hair. She bites down on her bottom lip and in the strongest voice that she can muster, asks, "Am I really such a bad person that my own family doesn't want to be with me?"
"What are you talking about? You're a good person, you–"
"If I'm such a good person, then why do they avoid me?"
Had Lynn asked that question when they were teenagers, he could have easily answered and pinned the blame on her superstitions, but over the years, she's become much tamer about them during a sporting game. From what he could recall whenever they would compete against each other, she would always have a ritual in hand, so many, that even the announcers called them her 'signature good luck rituals'.
"Even before I played sports," she starts, "they wouldn't want me around, or they would get annoyed with me and want me to go away, they wouldn't take me seriously, or they would just get mad at me."
Francisco can hear her spiraling. He knows that she's upset, but hearing her speak so ill of her family isn't like her. Growing up, looking at the Louds sometimes felt like watching those cheesy old sitcoms, and he could sense the love that the family had for one another, but Lynn has never said anything about them like she is doing now.
"I just felt alone sometimes…" she says as tears begin to form in her eyes. "like I was being left out because there was something wrong with me…"
She sounds vulnerable.
Francisco wishes that he knew the right words to make Lynn feel better about today, but instead, he can only say, "There's nothing wrong with you, and it's okay to be mad, but you know that at the end of the day, you love them like they love you, right?"
"Yeah…I know…"
"Just don't punish yourself for something that you couldn't help."
For the rest of the game, Lynn stayed still, relying on the announcer to explain the game to her, and during halftime, Francisco looks down at Lynn and runs his hand through her hair, "It's almost dinner time, are you hungry, or do you want to head to the gift shop?"
"I could eat."
He smiles, "I swear you have an appetite on you." He looks down at his watch, "Well, we've got a few minutes until the caterers come by."
She sighs, "Just tell me when they get here."
"Alright, then," he says. Francisco leans his head back and notices a hint of blue out of the corner of his eye. He turns his head and notices that Roary is standing by the table, "Hello."
"Hey…is this a bad time?"
I've said it before, I'm shy, so reviews give me a case of the cold sweats, but, I want to thank my reviewers for their kind words, and the YouTube commenter that I'm sure is reading this and possibly brought over some new readers.
To answer the latest review, the titles of the chapters were actually based on CBS's Mom, it has the same style, and it was sort of a hint that alcoholism was going to appear in the story. Though, if you don't watch it, then it was also to make it easy to look for something in a specific chapter. The casino scene was inspired by Malcolm in the Middle, and the past shots were inspired by NBC's This is Us, which was only incorporated because I figured that no one reminisces as much as I was planning to make Lynn and Francisco do originally, and as another hint as to what was to come. They were also supposed to be linear as well, but when I was prewriting, I felt limited by the age restraints (12-18) and if I wanted to add a detail, but didn't, then it would be lost, so I decided to expand it to nearly their whole lives while jumping around. Also, I am keeping track of the order of the past shots so that they can be read in order if you guys want to after this is all over.
I have only seen the first episode of MHA, but surprisingly after seeing a picture of Eri, she was sort of what I pictured Elena to look like as a little girl, minus the white hair, red eyes, and horn of course.
The time gaps, I will admit are a weakness of mine, and a leftover of the original Olympic storyline that I mentioned back in chapter 3 and the original shorter outline version of this story. However, since I haven't celebrated Lynn and Francisco's birthdays in a while, nor do I mention their ages much, getting lost can happen, so I was using holidays and Elena as sort of a beacon to say how much time has passed, since she was seven at the start of the story and she's already fourteen as of this chapter.
As for the Tres Leches cake, I've never seen or heard it be translated, so that's why it was kept it in Spanish
Also, I'm glad that I was able to get a feel for the Loud House into the fanfic, I thought that by going down a darker path it would be lost, but at least all those hours of 'research' didn't go to waste.
I hope that everyone enjoyed the chapter, and thank you for reading
