Chapter Eight
Lincoln kissed Jordan tenderly, wrapping his arm around her waist. She shivered slightly. She loved how special he made her feel, like she was the only girl in the world. The fact that he was dating a second girl didn't seem to make him any less attentive to her. She moaned happily as he kissed her neck, sitting down on a park bench with her, gently holding her by the waist.
"I love you, Jordan…"
"Who do you love more? Me or Lisa?"
"You mean Lucy." Lincoln said. "I love both of you. You're both beautiful and elegant and perfect in every way. Who do you love more? Me or Lucy?" Lincoln asked. Jordan smirked.
"Lucy, of course." She said, giggling when Lincoln looked hurt.
"I'm joking. I barely know Lucy. I just called her 'Lisa'. Don't you have a sister named Lisa?"
"Yes. She's the nine year old scientist… Almost ten, as she'll tell anyone who will listen" Lincoln said, laughing lightly at how she was able to artificially create new heavy elements, but she still acted like a nine year old in so many ways. He pulled Jordan closer.
"She's part of why I'm so athletic now. I never used to be. But Lisa gave me regeneration pills and nanomachines. Neither actually make me stronger on their own, but they help my physical fitness advance faster. I'm not at Lynn's level just yet, but with practice, I could be."
"Are you gonna try to join the Olympics?" Jordan asked. Lincoln laughed.
"No. That's Lynn's thing. She's already come in second in the triathlon. She only lost out on first because she sprained her ankle. I'd rather be a comic book writer and artist or a video game designer." Lincoln said. Jordan snorted in laughter. Lincoln was such a nerd. He had an amazing body. He was strong and athletic and handsome. But he still preferred video games and comic books to exercising.
Still, he got out to the gym almost every day and took a run every morning with Lynn. Sometimes Jordan tried to run with them. But she always fell behind in the first mile.
"Is there any chance that Lisa could give me some of those treatments?"
"I think she'd appreciate another test subject outside her own family. She's tested them on herself, on her friend, Darcy, on Lynn, Francisco, though Lynn's relationship with Francisco lasted about a month.
"None of us have quite the natural talent in athletics that Lynn does. But Lisa has become a formidable break dancer because of her strong tummy…" Jordan giggled.
"Did you just say the word 'tummy'?" She asked. Lincoln blushed. That was what Lisa called it when she wasn't speaking Science Nerd. He had just gotten used to calling it that.
"Uhh… Yeah, I guess… I guess I did." Lincoln muttered. Jordan laughed.
"That's okay. It's kind of cute." She said, kissing Lincoln, her fingers weaving through his hair, which had grown longer over the years and somewhat unkempt. He kept it clean, but it was shaggy and he liked a slightly wild look… She liked it too. He smiled sheepishly at her, kissing her back until his attention was drawn by someone calling his name.
"Hey, Lincoln!" Clyde yelled.
"Hey, Clyde! Fancy seeing you here." Lincoln said. Jordan scowled. He was interrupting their date.
"Hey, Girl Jordan." Clyde said cheerfully.
"Hey, Clyde… You out on a walk through the park?" Jordan asked, smiling to hide her annoyance.
"Yeah… I'm here with my dads. They wanted to go butterfly catching." Girl Jordan stifled her laughter. Lincoln and Clyde were perfectly suited to each other. There was a time when half the girls in the school thought they were in a relationship with each other… Clincoln McLoud.
"I'm actually here with Haiku as well. She doesn't like the sun much, but her mom said that she needed to get some color in her skin. So she came out to the park with me."
"That's great… Are you and she dating now?"
"Yeah… She gave up on her Vampire fantasy boyfriend and I gave up on Lori. She's getting married soon, right?" Clyde asked.
"Yeah, actually. Bobby proposed to her just a week or so ago. How'd you know?"
"Word travels fast. Plus my house got an invitation to the wedding. I'm not sure why. Lori never seemed to like me. But that's okay. I'm happy for her."
"I uhh… Gotta get going, Clyde. Never keep a beautiful lady waiting." Lincoln said, winking at Girl Jordan, who blushed slightly and stood up with Lincoln.
"See ya later, Clyde!" Lincoln said. Jordan waved politely as well, heading off with Lincoln.
"He's a lucky guy, eh Haiku?" Clyde asked.
"She's okay… For a living girl."
"I do enjoy doing Vampire the Masquerade LARPing with you though, Haiku."
"Claudia Alonsa DiSarti, the Tremere Lord…" Haiku said with a smirk.
"And Lorcan Finnian Ranulf Blackwood, the Malkavian alienist who treats the patients in the asylum he works in as toys, convincing them to go off their meds, causing them to retreat further into their delusions and whatnot. But in exchange, he always has a pool of free blood that has no recourse against his depredations." Clyde laughed. Haiku smirked.
"Ooh, you're so depraved." She teased.
"Only at night. During the day, Lorcan is very reclusive and even shy… or at least that's how he portrays himself. His Ghoul servants answer the door for neighbors for obvious reasons. They're always greeted politely if not warmly, and sometimes they're even invited in for tea. Lorcan is always sadly indisposed when they're there. But his servants are always quite hospitable." Clyde said.
"Sweetie…" Harold asked. "Do you understand what they're talking about?"
"I lost track after the word 'vampire', Hair Bear." Howard said. "I think this may be flirting for them."
"You know, Linc… I've always wondered what their LARPing sessions were like." Jordan said interestedly. Lincoln shrugged.
"I've joined in on a few. They're fun. I usually play a Ventrue or a Malkavian of some sort. I've been known to play an Anarch Emissary, though." Lincoln said.
"I have no idea what any of that means." Jordan said teasingly.
"Only that I'm even more of a nerd than most people know."
"Well… You're a pretty big nerd. Doctor Who, Dungeons and Dragons, LARPing, dressing up in superhero tights… Have I missed anything?"
"Magic the Gathering, boffing, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and video games.
"Yep. You're officially the Nerd Lord of Lancelot." Lincoln laughed at this.
"You mean Camelot? Oh, speaking of Camelot, don't forget anime and manga." Lincoln said. Jordan giggled. "How does Camelot bring anime and manga to mind?"
"There's an anime character named Road Kamelot. I know. Weird name, right? Maybe it was a thing back in the late 1800s when the anime was set to have names like that. Or maybe the name is just plain made up. Still… I agree that I'm a nerd. I'll have to bring you to one of Clyde's and Haiku's LARPing sessions. Lucy often goes to them, so I'm sure she'd be happy to introduce us into them."
"Are you sure there's room for us? Don't roleplaying groups usually only have five or six people?" Jordan asked, not wanting to be a nuisance to a group that already had enough people
"You're thinking of tabletop RPG groups. Tabletop RPG groups have a size limit because of the pervasive need for dice rolling and because of the central focus being an established plot.
"LARPing primarily doesn't have dice rolling and there may be a basic theme for the plot, but it's largely made up as they go along. Like a normal conversation, it's a lot of improvisation." Lincoln said. Jordan nodded, laughing at how cute it was that he was so into these things. Lincoln kissed her again. Jordan sighed, kissing him back.
"It's a pretty warm day. Do you want to get some ice cream?" Lincoln asked. Jordan smiled.
"I'd love to." She said, standing and heading to Stewball's Creamery.
"What would you like?" Lincoln asked. Jordan blushed slightly.
"I'd… I'd like a root beer float please." Jordan said. Lincoln smiled.
"I guess I'll take a float as well." Lincoln said. The two got their floats and sat down. Jordan smiled at Lincoln, smirking confidently.
"So… How's Lucy? You and she are doing well together?" Lincoln nodded.
"Yeah… I still feel a little guilty about… Well, she's my sister." Lincoln muttered. Jordan seemed to wave this off. Lincoln was still surprised that Jordan was so casual about this.
"Hey, I mean… As long as you don't knock her up, I don't see the problem. You're not forcing her to do anything. And she adores you." Jordan said with a smirk. Lincoln sighed.
"Yeah… But she's only thirteen. I worry that she'll fall out of love with me, but the stigma on her for her affair with me will be too much for her to overcome. Lucy is beautiful. She's talented, she's smart, she's sensitive. She deserves a great partner who can give her everything she wants in life." Lincoln said.
"Or undeath if she gets her way." Lincoln added, chuckling. Her fondest desire was still to be a mortician by day and a vampire by night. How she would balance that, Lincoln didn't know, since Vampires couldn't go out in the sunlight. Still, he was always charmed by how passionate Lucy was, even in her understated way. He really did love her. He just didn't ever want to hurt her. Jordan could tell Lincoln was still a little conflicted. She kissed him gently.
"Linc, Lucy is smart. If she wants to break up or if the relationship isn't working for her, she's smart and she's strong-willed enough to end it. For now, don't worry about it." She said.
"Does anyone else in the family know about you and Lucy?" Jordan asked. Lincoln sighed.
"Some of my sisters do, but they've been sworn to secrecy, and the older ones all seem to support my relationship. The younger ones might be a little young to understand why it could be bad in the first place.
"Well, Lola and Lana might. They're eleven, so they might have a hint that it's not ideal to be in a relationship with your sister. But Lola watches enough princess movies that she probably doesn't see the harm in a relationship with someone you're 'not supposed to be with', and I doubt Lana would care. Lisa is more likely to want to help Lucy and me have a healthy child despite being immediate family and Lily is 6. I doubt she fully understands what incest is in the first place." Lincoln said.
"It's the possibly that one of them will accidentally let something slip in passing that will alert our parents to our situation. Jordan nodded. She was a little concerned about that as well. She wondered what Lynn and Rita would do about it if they found out. Possibly send him away to military school or something crazy like that or send him out of state to live with extended family. Either way, she was sure that they wouldn't just allow him to have a sexual relationship with his thirteen-year-old sister.
Jordan didn't really mind and she was sure that at least some of Lincoln's friends would be supportive, if not all of them. Haiku, real name Noriko would probably support the forbidden relationship. Liam might. She wasn't sure how his southern country background would work with that. Clyde would at least try to support him. Undoubtedly Rusty and Zach would accept it as something that was happening, though they might not actually approve. It would be interesting to see what happened if and when Lincoln told his friends. They sat and drank their root beer floats and then went to play video games at the arcade.
-0-
Lincoln and Jordan got up at Dance Dance Revolution and did Rock Paper Scissors to decide who chose the song. Lincoln won and chose You're Gonna Go Far Kid. It wasn't quite old enough to be Classic Rock. Classic Rock was for songs that were 30 years old or more. But Offspring was definitely Classic by then. So did that make all their songs Classic Rock or was just the band a Classic Rock band? Luna would know the answer to that. Lincoln sure didn't. Anyway, they danced to the song, enjoying the intense beat and doing well enough at it that they drew a crowd to watch them.
By the time they got through their third song, they were accepting people who would pay for both their dances in exchange for the challenge. So Lincoln would dance against a random person and the random person would put in the money for both of them. This went on for hours, by which time Jordan was sweating bullets and panting for breath due to exertion. Lincoln was clearly a bit out of breath and sweating heavily. His heart was racing, but he wasn't nearly as out of breath as Jordan was. Jordan decided to sit out the rest, resigning her title, having won ten dances in a row.
Lincoln stayed up for a few more times before resigning his championship, having won fifteen in a row. Instead of just giving up though, he deliberately lost a game, dancing well enough that it didn't seem suspicious, giving his opponent a good battle, but ultimately losing. Even still, he only lost by 100 points. He took Jordan back to her house and then went back to his own, signing happily as he walked inside. He'd had a great day and he'd really enjoyed just hanging out with Jordan.
He walked into the house, seeing Lucy sitting on the couch, actually smirking at him. He never saw her this confident. He wasn't sure what reason she had to be so confident. But it was either really good or really bad.
"Come up to my altar and we can talk." Lucy said, referring to the attic, which she had taken over as a spot that she could run her rituals, both privately and with the Young Morticians' Club.