Author's Notes:
king Ks: As always, thank you for sticking around for this story and i'm glad to know the shift in "Orange" was well received!
AlexianBlithworth: Well, that's a bummer... Thanks for the honest criticism regardless, it's likely that you won't ever see this reply but it would still help me greatly as a writer if you could provide any sort of detailed feedback as for what about the story felt detached from reality (Within Loud House in-universe logic that is) and Soap opera-like.
Disclaimer: I don't own The Loud House, the brand, as well as all of its characters and settings belong to Chris Savino and Nickelodeon, all rights reserved.
Chapter 72: Pink.
A roaring round of applause is heard, followed by a few screams from a varied assortment of fans who were just coming off of their high of seeing the promising contestant: Lola Loud, dressed in a tight, pink bikini with sparkles everywhere and diamonds incrusted an the borders, walking with the grace and style of an absolute professional and threatening to seduce even the most serious of judges with her natural pose.
The noisy praise alone should be a metric on its own; Lola already had this pageant in the bag, her performance at the swimsuit section, aided by the incredibly gorgeous dress designed provided by none other than Leni herself proved to be way too much to handle for any other contestants, leaving even the judges speechless.
Regardless, the show must go on.
- What a delightful presentation by none other than the legendary queen of Royal Woods, Lola Loud! - The famous pageant reporter, Dana, announced live on TV - And with that, we should be ready to see these beautiful girls~ show us the prowess of their brains in our last competition - She said with soft singing in between, as per the presentation commands.
This was it, Lola only had to answer her question eloquently and the title would be hers, she looked at her competitors for one moment, only one know personality was there: Lindsey Sweetwater.
She waited for the other girls to answer their questions, some were fairly good, others made her cringe internally due to the sheer scripted nature of their answers.
Now it was her turn.
- Ok Lola darling, are you up to the challenge of asking this question? - Dana confided in the competitor with a teasing smirk.
- With all due respect and excusing my inappropriate wording, I say, bring it on! - Lola exclaimed bravely, earning some interesting looks from the judges, her strong personality was always a part of her charm.
- Such confidence darling! Let's not delay it then, here goes the question: We've seen you showcase and compliment all of your varied wonderful performances with the color Pink, what would you say about this color that identifies you so much? - Dana presented the question, indulging a little more on Lola's personality as a whole, for she had been proven to ace all sorts of logical questions with ease.
- That is indeed a very deep question, but to answer it, I think we might need to delve on the esoteric aspects of that color and how people perceive it as a whole - Lola prefaced sophisticatedly, making sure to take advantage of her increased lexicon - Pink, for many, is aesthetically speaking a color of femininity and cuteness, which are exactly the visual attributes that I take of the color for my performances, but, there is deeper meaning for the color than meets the eye - Lola continued speaking confidently while paying attention to the chronometer - It also means to love and be loved, I display it proudly with my love for all living beings and my appreciation to the daily struggles that all the hard workers in this country go through for a better future, and as we all now, in other to love others, to have the energy to devote yourself for the betterment of society, you also need to love yourself, and it's because of all these reasons that I think pink is a color that suites m-
Suddenly, Lola's tongue twirled around in an involuntary movement, stopping her from finishing the sentence, making the reporter by her side change her expression to that of unease.
- I mean, that pink is the color that I identi-
Again, something kept stopping Lola from finishing the sentence, and alien sensation of deep discomfort arose, making her almost puke right there, a feeling that Lola hadn't felt since the time that she tried to say the word "Lose", for it brought excruciating pain.
- … Sorry, pink is just a color that I really li-
*Beep*
- Oh, I'm extremely sorry sweetheart, it seems that the timer ran out, but we all got your point perfectly, an applause to Lola Loud! - Dana proceeded to move the masses, passing over to Lindsey's question.
With all of the competitions over, it was time for all of the contestants to line up in front of the cheering crowd while holding hands, as the award ceremony began.
- Ladies and gentlemen, the results are in, can we please give our biggest round of applause for these beautiful girrrrls?~" - Dana sang to the audience - The second runner up to Miss Teen Southeastern Michigan is... Claudette! - She exclaimed happily as the second girl in the line stepped in to bow to the audience - - The first runner up is... Jackie! - The reporter announces happily, as the girl third in line repeats the motion of the previous contestant.
Perfect, Lola was now on her way to claim her price.
- And, our next Miss Teen Southeastern Michigan queen is… - Dana created suspense, as the other contestants began sweating visibly, safe for Lola - … Lindsey Sweetwater! Another round of applause for this incredible giirl~ - The crowd cheered excitedly, as the girl first in line moved over to take her new tiara and the price money, bowing to the audience and sending a kiss to the cameras.
And just like that, Lola lost her smile for a second, before quickly giving in and clapping alongside the other participants for Lindsey's success, she actually found herself surprised that she felt neither rage nor resentment.
She lost, again, and that's okay, not the first time ever, heck, not even the first time this year, now that she was the age to qualify for the "Teen" division, having turned 16 a while ago, Lola came to the harsh hit of reality that the competition was only going to get tougher from here on, her performance was highly trained and magnificent, but she figured that she still had ways to go when it came to the interviews.
After the closing of the curtain, Lola calmly sat on a bench near the dressing rooms, chatting in her phone.
*How did it go darling?*
7:32PM
*I guess I'll try next year :(*
7:33PM
*Dont worry Lola I know you'll do great next time*
7:35
*Thanks cricky! How are the nationals*
7:36PM
*and absolute nightmare love, the judges are ruthless :(*
7:38PM
*u will ace it no probs, don't worry gorgeous ;) *
7:39PM
*aw thx! See u soon baby, I know you'll make it with me next year :3*
7:41PM
She locked her phone after the exchange, seeing good people like Cricket succeed warmed her heart, and it was sweet of her to at least talk to her like a friend.
(Not hard to pretend when you are at the top).
Yet, Lola wasn't jealous of Cricket or anything, despite the fact that she was already debuting in the Miss Teen United States pageant, while Lola was still stuck on regionals, she felt neither rage nor resentment whatsoever, she earned it fairly, beating Lola as soon as her career took a… dive, shortly after a certain… incident, losing her drive to continue and missing out on competing on the Miss Pre-Teen nationals.
Things weren't as easy for her on the sponsoring side either, as brands avoided her like the plague after another known "incident" back in Royal Woods, so she had to go back to home training as well, making her performances a little more… inefficient, but at least Leni was still willing to assist her with her incredible clothing designs, and well… Gil DeLily's books were a thing, so she could always study proper pose and etiquette.
She was slowly picking the pieces back up, now all she had to do was to avoid the awkwardness of the questions, she used to deal with them like a pro, but she was seriously starting to despise this recent trend of "introspective" questions.
What kind of question was that anyway? The color pink? That was the dumbest question she's ever had to answer!
Lola promptly exited the studio soon after, of course, a bunch on fans awaited for the participants, which were barely retained by the security guards.
Despite the fact that Lola lost, she was still incredibly popular within the pageant circle due to her unparalleled beauty, so a lot of people turned their attention immediately after seeing her.
- Marry me! - At least six guys were screaming in the background.
- Guys, check my twister bio, I'm aro/ace! - Lola heard the screams and decided to address it quickly, feeling slightly annoyed at that unwanted attention.
Some of her fans left disappointed, she felt bad for them but she wasn't about to fake her sexuality or start a somefans account for them, she would rather take the direct approach.
At last, she reached the parking lot, where her mom was awaiting for her on old Vanzilla, they were a few kilometers away so she could take her time to talk to Rita about her experience today.
Instead, she decided to sleep the whole way through.
Reaching the destination, Lola took a quick glimpse at her mom, hair whitened and unruly, heavy eyebags and a falling attempt of a smile aside, she still tried her hardest to be supportive of her daughter, the teenager acknowledged that, so she at least dedicated a small "thank you" to her, before pulling over and walking into the house.
Her time was running over, she knew that the "symptoms" were starting to kick in, so she quickly rushed upstairs, not even bothering to check if Lily was somewhere around, she turned to the door leading to her room and quickly slid in, hoping to make as little noise as possible.
Success.
The pageant entrepreneur closed her door, made sure to lock it, and turned off her phone.
There she was, her saccharine, pink room, almost an exact replica of how it used to be for the last 5 years, Mr. Sprinkles, Eunice, and her other plushies still sitting expectantly on her old tea table, and her long collection of trophies and crowns was still proudly displayed in her wall along side her ever bold "Princesses Rule!" poster.
Although, it hadn't grown much since then…
(Because you are a loser.)
Oh no, now she needed to hurry up, they were coming back.
(They are already here.)
Lola threw her purse and her clothes on her princess bed, then rushed over to the bathroom of the house.
She hoped dearly to not see Lily, Lisa or Lucy in the way, she didn't want them to inquire on yet another loss of hers.
(You want to speak to no one.)
She slipped in successfully, now in the common Loud bathroom, she searched for her special medicine in the drawer, the one that had been specifically prescribed by Lisa to assist her thorough all these years, given that those first three months of forced therapy did nothing but to make her loath the idea of going to those places ever again.
How dare those so called "Sex therapists" call her a "victim of child sexual abuse"!?
She wasn't finding it, she was growing desperate, the thoughts were coming back.
(Pink, you don't deserve to wear that anymore, you can't love anymore, specially not yourself.)
She thought that maybe they were in her purse, she headed back to her room.
She pondered if what Lisa had told her was true.
"Because Oxytocin not only regulates affective responses, but also segregating and hostile functions, you are also now unable to feel hatred"
She certainly though that the substance worked on the love side of things, granted, its effects weren't immediate, it took her at least six months to even breath without spelling his name in her heart, but once she was able to stand back up, she felt a certain rejuvenating aura of freedom, for once, her actions weren't wired towards appealing to him anymore, nor did she feel the need to devote her existence to him.
And… perhaps most surprisingly, any and all hatred was also gone, towards Lynn Jr., Towards his group of "friends".
… Towards Lana, even, despite the fact that not a single word was spoken between them until the day she simply exited that door to never come back.
Taking love out of her system seemed to take hate alongside it.
(Weird, because you still hate yourself.)
Lola reached over to her purse, perhaps she thought about taking a tablet before the contest, but ultimately, she forgot about it.
(You could always just eat the whole thing you know?)
She finally found it, now she just had to take her daily dose of 200mg, which amounted to… 2 tablets, but what if she had 3 this time around?
(More.)
The feelings were starting to overwhelm her, Lola ultimately made the decision to go back to the bathroom and fill out a glass of water in the sink, then, she took 3 on the spot.
Problem solved.
A few minutes later, her heart rate was stabilizing, her mind was not running in overdrive anymore, her eyes were not swelling with tears anymore, she was now able to focus on greeting her dear sisters.
But it would be a little rude now…
Lola simply got back into her room, she had better things to do anyway, she got under her bed and retrieved a few books to read.
Well, actually, Light Novels, she had really gotten into the type of condensed story telling of Japanese stories, she was now reading through the comedy-oriented Oreimo series, which she had casually found in a bargain bin, and for some reason, she was finding some hilarity at the crazy antics of the bratty "otaku" little sister to get her brother's attention.
Everything felt better now, Lola Loud was on her safe, pink, space again, accompanied by Mr. Sprinkles, laying on her princess bed with the novel in hand, and with her new found love.
Antidepressants.