On a warm summer day in Royal Woods, Lincoln Loud was currently in his room packing his backpack while being excited about his journey. Before summer started, he and his friends decided to go camping in the woods, which was him, Clyde, Rusty, Liam, Zach, and Stella. It took a lot of convincing to make it happen but in the end, his parents finally agreed and would even give them a ride there.
He packed down his swimming trunks, comics, flashlight, tent, and other important things. He glanced at a list he had made for the stuff he needed to pack down, mentally began checking the list off. After finishing checking everything off he was prepared to go on his trip.
After zipping shut his backpack, he picked it up and began to walk downstairs with it. While walking he thought about the plans that he and his friends made up for the camping trip. They would make smores, go swimming in a river, and read comics along with many other things.
"Hey Stinkcoln, need a hand?" Asked Lynn who played football inside the corridor that connected the Loud siblings' rooms and led up to the bathroom. Lincoln weight his backpack before coming to a conclusion.
"No thanks, Lynn. I'm pretty sure I got this." He said confidently. Lincoln then made his way down the stairs and placed his back next to the entrance door. Then the boy looked around the living room and kitchen seeing only his mother there.
"Hey mom, where is Lori? She said that she would drive me and the guys to camp." Lincoln asked his mom. He was surprised because it was supposed to be Lori who drove him and his friends to camp but she wasn't here.
"Well, Lori is on a date with Bobby and asked if I could drive you guys instead. Mentioned something about Clyde and nosebleed." Rita responded. Lincoln facepalmed when he realized that he hasn't told Lori that Clyde doesn't have that stupid crush on his sister that made his nose bleed every time he would see her.
"Alright, mom. All we have to do is wait for the guys and Stella to arrive." The young boy sat down on the couch in the living room and scrolled thru the channels looking for something interesting. Lincoln stopped clicking the channels away when he came across a dream boat on tv, while it was a rerun it did remind Lincoln of something his mother said moments before. 'Well, Lori's on a date with Bobby.' That thought set of a chain reaction that led Lincoln to think about his own relationships.
He was a normal thirteen-year-old that was single. Before that wouldn't bug the teen but at his age most of his friends had someone. Clyde and Chloe had just started to date, Rusty is still attempting to hit on Polly Pain with good results for the first time, and even Liam has a girl interested in him. And with all of that around him, it made sense that he would feel a bit out. And if you asked him, the only reason why Clyde didn't invite Chloe along was that Clyde would think that it would make Lincoln and his friends jealous, knowing Clyde the best, that was probably it.
And some might say that he and Ronnie Anne were a thing, but it wasn't true. Sure, he did have some feelings before she moved out when he was 11 but when she started dating Sid who was her neighbor Lincoln learned to let his feelings go.
Not realizing how deep in thought he was, time began to fly by. And with a sound of a bell coming from the door, he snapped out of it and walked over opening the door. It revealed his friends all having their respective backpacks and smiles.
"Hey buddy, ready to go camp?" Lincoln asked Clyde.
"Sure am. We all are!" Clyde responded exited. The gang all responded showing their excitement for the trip.
"Dude, girls love men who can survive in the wilderness." Said Rusty. The guys chuckled at Rusty's point before Stella spoke out.
"If that's how you are expecting to get Polly to like you, then I'm surprised at how you came this far with her." Said Stella turning the chuckles into laughter.
"What are you excited about Lincoln?" Stella asked. Lincoln thought about it for a moment about what he was most excited about and responded.
"Hanging out with you guys!" He responded. The boy watched as all his friends smiled at him.
While the gang was talking Rita picked up the keys for Vanzilla and went out, she opened the car up and waited for the gang to throw their stuff. The white-haired boy picked up his bag and threw it over his shoulder and went to his mom along with his friends to put their stuff in the back. After 5 minutes of playing car Tetris, they managed to fit everything and sat down in the car.
Rita began to drive while Lincoln's friends talked inside the car, meanwhile Lincoln stared out the window reflecting on about his relationships. He tried to not let it annoy him or ruin the trip, but it kept bugging his mind. While looking out the window he didn't notice that someone looked at him with a small bit of worry.
"Hey Lincoln, are you alright?" Asked Stella. After she spoke to him the others began to notice that Lincoln hasn't said anything in a while.
"Yeah, I'm fine just thinking about some stuff." Lincoln said with a smile. Almost all his friends shrugged it off thinking that it was probably nothing and continued to talk except Stella who was still a bit worried.
"Are you sure? You're normally the one who talks about the plans for this kind of stuff." Stella said. Lincoln gave her a heartwarming smile before assuring that he was fine.
"I'm fine, really Stella I promise." Stella moved closer and examined the Loud boy's face looking for any sign of lying. But after a while Stella didn't move away leaving Lincoln a bit uncomfortable, wondering what she was doing.
He waved his hand in front of her face making her snap out of the trance she was in. Realizing that she had been staring at the boy she turned her face away from him hiding the blushing that began creeping up on her. Now it was time for Lincoln to ask the questions.
"Are you okay Stella?" Lincoln said as he smiled from the irony. At first, she didn't respond and was still turned away, but it only took a couple of moments for her to answer.
"Yeah I'm fine. Thanks for asking." Stella responded softly. Taking that as his answer Lincoln left it at that and continued to stare out the window.
After 15 minutes Rita drove up to a parking lot next to a forest. The gang all went out and smelled the air and felt it's freshness, after grabbing their bags and thanking Rita they all made their way towards a path leading them deeper into the forest covered by trees.
"Guy's do you think we'll see bears?" Asked Zach while walking.
"Doubt it. It says that there are none dangerous animals here." Said Stella while waving a pamphlet. All of the guys let out a small sigh of relief knowing that there were no animals that would eat them.
"Wait you're the one who picked this forest?" Asked Lincoln. He looked at Stella expecting her to turn around and answer him but instead, she didn't bother turning around and just responded.
"Uhmm…yeah, do you like it?" She asked him with a hopeful and unsure voice. Lincoln glanced around the forest looking at the gorgeous nature around him before responding.
"It's beautiful Stella." Lincoln said. Luckily Stella was turned away else he could have seen a blush placing itself on her face along with a large smile. Meanwhile, the rest of the guys listened in on the conversation and looked at Lincoln before looking at Stella in suspicion, but soon they decided to ignore that something was going on and continued walking.
Soon the gang found themselves following the path all the way to an open area with even ground, the open area was surrounded by trees making a circle shape around the open place. Stella walked into the middle and placed down her stuff.
"Well, we're here." Stella said normally. The guys all looked around before walking over to their respective parts and placing down their backpacks. Everyone began setting up their tents and after about 20 minutes of the guys struggling, they managed to set it up only to see that Stella had set her own tent up in about 5 minutes. They all placed their stuff in their respective tents and closed it.
After everyone's tents were set, they met up to discuss what they should do first and since Lincoln was the man with the plan, he already had an idea of what they should do.
"How about we all start off with some swimming." Suggested Lincoln. The gang thought about it for a moment before agreeing and going off to get their swim clothes.
"So, Stella lead the way." Rusty said motioning Stella to take the lead and walk them to the river. She nodded before taking the lead and walking towards the river with the guys behind her.
They all made sure to remember where their tents were so that they wouldn't get lost and began walking into the forest once more. The gang walked for 10 minutes before finally seeing the river.
"Alright Stella, we'll split off so that we can put on our swim trunks." Liam said. The guys split off from Stella walking into the woods for some privacy so that they could change into their swimming trunks. After switching their clothes and only wearing their swimming trunks the boys made their way back to where they left Stella.
And when they returned Lincoln's cheeks glowed redder than ever before. In front of him stood Stella wearing a purple swimsuit bikini, he looked around to see if his friends were affected but to his surprise, they were not.
"Hey, Stella!" Zach shouted wanting to get Stella's attention. Knowing that she would see him staring at her with a blush Lincoln made a decision and quickly ran into the water in his only attempt to hide the blush.
"WhatAreYouWatingForGuysComeOn!" Lincoln said hastily before jumping into the water making a huge splash that hit Rusty.
"Ohh, you're on now Loud." Responded Rusty before jumping into the water thinking that Lincoln was challenging him. After Rusty went in the gang spent no time outside the water and jumped in along.
Upon entering the water Rusty started a water war with him, which distracted him enough to make his blush go away. Meanwhile Clyde was floating in the water with the floaties that his dads gave him to use, Liam and Zach both tried to see who could go deeper underwater, and Stella stood at a distance relaxing but also keeping her eye on the Loud boy.
"You're really head over heels for him?" Said Clyde who floated silently beside Stella while she wasn't looking. Stella jumped from the scare before calming down enough to speak.
"What pfft, no Clyde. We all agreed that I wasn't interested in any of you." Lied Stella.
"Yeah, it's not like that was two years ago." Said Clyde sarcastically before continuing. "Stella most of us have already moved on, like me with Lori. After I started dating Chloe, I managed to get over my silly crush." The point did make sense, and Stella knew Clyde well enough for him to keep a secret. So, she decided to tell him the truth.
"Alright fine, I do have a crush on him." Stella admitted as she continued staring at Lincoln who was winning against Rusty. With that admitted it only left one question in her mind. "What gave it away?"
Clyde smiled before explaining what made it obvious. "Well for starters you barely spoke to any of us except Lincoln." Started Clyde before continuing.
"Then there was when you asked if he liked the place, you lighted up like a red lightbulb when he called it beautiful." Clyde continued making Stella realize how obvious it was.
"And lastly you have been glancing at him the entire day." Finished Clyde. Stella took a deep breath and decided to ask the question she only hoped one right answer from.
"Do you think he likes me back?" As Clyde continued to float, he put his hand up to his chin entering his thought before coming up with an answer.
"Well, from what I suspect. Yes, he does." That short answer made Stella light up with encouragement. Meanwhile, Clyde thought about something 'She only cared about his opinion about the place. Interesting.' After that thought passed, he came to a realization.
"You are going to ask him out today, aren't you?" Clyde asked. Stella turned to him with the courage in her eyes.
"I wasn't sure before. But now, I will do it today." She said to herself. Clyde smiled at his friend before looking at Lincoln.
"We should head back to the guys. It's kinda boring here." Clyde admitted. Stella grabbed Clyde's arm and dragged him along the water to the rest of the guys.
"Hey Stella, want to join the water war? It's me and Rusty versus Liam and Zach." Said Lincoln to Stella.
"Sure, which team?" Asked Stella. And she secretly hoped that she would be on the same team as Lincoln.
"Well, it's up to you. Just make sure it's even, don't want to kick their butts to hard." Lincoln mocked Liam and Zach who both put on a game face. Before Stella could even say which team she wanted, Clyde spoke out.
"I'll be with Liam and Zach." Said Clyde which surprised everyone since Clyde usually liked to be on the same team as Lincoln.
"Alright, Stella then you're with us." Lincoln said with Stella realizing why Clyde did that. Both Clyde and Stella split off to their respective team.
And moments later war broke out between the two teams, water was being splashed at everyone. Everyone was having fun laughing and making bad one-liners while splaying water.
But then an unexpected surprise hit. A large wave had formed far along the river and was heading towards the teens. Nobody saw it until last second when the water pushed everyone back and even Stella who couldn't stop herself from being pushed by the wave, she crashed into someone and was put back on the shore along with the other guys and when getting up she realized that she was laying on top of someone. Looking down she saw the Loud boy on the ground staring up at her with a blush. Her face immediately grew a blush and she quickly got up from that awkward situation.
"Sorry Lincoln." She apologized quietly even though she enjoyed being that close. She watched as Lincoln got up scratching the back of his head with a blush before responding.
"Y-yeah don't worry, it was nic- I MEAN IT'S FINE." Lincoln freaked and catching himself from saying something really awkward. But Stella knew what he said and was about to say something before being interrupted by the guys walked up to them.
"Hey fellas, that wave sure hit hard." Said Liam while knocking some water out of his ear.
"I think we should head back. If there was one wave there would probably be more." Suggested Clyde. And without saying anything else the gang picked up their stuff and changed back before heading back.
The whole walk was quiet between Stella and Lincoln, neither of them daring to say a word. Lincoln was afraid of making the situation bigger than I needed to and Stella didn't want Lincoln to feel uncomfortable. Lincoln would catch Stella glancing at him sometimes and sometimes he would be the one to glance at her.
After making their way back Lincoln instantly made his way back to his tent and laid there for a couple of minutes. 'Ughh…She must think I'm weird now.' Thought Lincoln as he put both of his hands on his face. Feeling completely embarrassed from what happened he could only imagine what Stella thought of him.
Meanwhile, in Stella's tent, she was blushing from the memory of her being on top of him. She then remembered seeing the boy blush which added even more courage to her. 'I can do this, I can do this.' She chanted to herself for more motivation. 'But when and how?' Stella panicked a bit to that thought. The girl knew where she would tell him since she already planned it but the thought of what she should say threw her for a loop.
Then a light knock on her tent could be heard coming from the outside. She unzipped the entrance and looked out being met by Clyde who had a chef's hat on him.
"Just wondering if you wanted spaghetti or meatballs for dinner." Wondered Clyde. After a short moment she decided and chose spaghetti but to her surprise, Clyde didn't walk away.
"Let me guess, you're trying to figure out how to tell him." Said Clyde with a smirk blowing Stella away as to how he knew.
"How do you know these things? First, you figure out that I have a thing for Lincoln and now this." Stella asked amazed. She really wanted to know how he was able to figure all of this out.
"Let's just say that two years with learned me something about psychology." Answered Clyde vaguely. Then it became clear to her and she facepalmed herself mentally for not figuring it out sooner.
"Anyways, yes I am trying to figure it out, but I don't know what to say to him." Stella asked with some panic in her voice.
"Lincoln's a simple guy. Just say it plain out and wait for him to answer. It's really that simple, no need for something mind-blowing or amazing. Just a simple 'I love you' and just like that." Clyde said.
"Clyde, Lincoln isn't some simple guy to me. He makes me feel special and makes my heart move like no one else can." Explained Stella. Clyde smiled at her before responding.
"Don't tell me that, tell it to him." Clyde pointed towards Lincoln's tent. Stella gulped and she froze for a moment before snapping back to reality. 'Come on Stella you can do this. Just like a math test. Except the test is verbal and it's you confessing your feelings for someone.' Stella thought as her breathing became more rapid.
"Look, you will know when it's the right time to tell him. Just don't stress about it." Said Clyde calming Stella a bit. Stella took some deep breaths before calming down completely.
"CLYDE! I THINK WE MIGHT BURN THE SPAGHETTI!" Shouted Zach. Then Clyde realized that he had been here for too long and wished Stella luck before walking off.
"Good luck Stella!" Stella was now left alone with her thoughts and this time she was the girl with the plan, as she began plotting how she would do it.
15 minutes has passed since Stella talked to Clyde and the place already smelt of spaghetti and meatballs. With another tap on both Stella's and Lincoln's tent they knew that the food was ready, they both left their tents at the same time glancing at each other as they left before sitting down on the ground along with the rest of the gang. As the gang continued to eat and talk Stella kept her eyes secretly on the Loud boy as did, he also.
Nothing had been said between them for a while until Stella dropped her plastic fork on the ground covering it in the dirt. But to her surprise, Lincoln offered her his fork joking "I can always eat with my hands." Making Stella laugh. But really the Loud had finished his dinner and didn't need it anymore. And since someone forgot to bring extra plastic cutlery 'Looking at you Rusty' she happily accepted his offer.
She took his fork and began eating, while eating she blushed a bit knowing she was having an indirect kiss with Lincoln because of the fork. Luckily nobody noticed her blushing, after a couple of minutes Stella was done eating and was kind of disappointed by that.
"So, what now fellas?" Asked Liam. Lincoln thought back to his plan for the day and decided to move on.
"We could read comics." Lincoln suggested. Everyone else began to agree before heading to get their own respective comics. But before they start reading everyone notices Stella with a guilty look on her face.
"I don't read comics. Sorry guys." Stella said apologetically. They all remember that Stella wasn't a comic book fan like they were and mentally scolded themselves before Clyde got an idea.
"Why don't you read with Lincoln? He brought the best comic out all of us." Suggested Clyde making Stella look at Lincoln with hopeful eyes.
"Y-yeah sure." Lincoln said. And withing seconds Stella already sat besides Lincoln watching over his shoulder. Meanwhile, Clyde smiled while the other guys looked confused.
More time passed as Stella and Lincoln were both invested in reading, they both could hear each other breathe. Stella got more comfortable sitting besides Lincoln and soon enough found herself resting her head on his shoulder. Meanwhile Lincoln was panicking over if this was a friendly gesture or something more. Both of their hearts were beating heavily but yet they both remained calm on the outside.
After reading a couple of comics the sun managed to sneak down, Stella looked at the other guys who were deeply invested in the comic books. She smiled and told herself 'Now's the time.' She moved her head away from his shoulder making Lincoln look at her. Stella then got up before taking his hand much to Lincoln's surprise.
"Follow me." Stella said as she pulled him away. While this was happening, the guys looked at them in even more confusion and started to stand up to follow them.
"Let them be." Clyde said calmly while reading his comic book. The guys looked at each other before shrugging it off again and sitting back down continuing to read their comics.
Back at Stella and Lincoln, she held his hand and pulled him through the woods leading him to the place where she was going to do it. Meanwhile, a small part of Lincoln knew what was going on, but he dismissed it. Walking past trees and an endless amount of rocks they started walking uphill with Stella never letting go of his hand.
The duo soon arrived at the top and Lincoln's eyes widen as he sees the whole city of Royal Woods from here, buildings with glowing lights coming from the window lighting up the view, cars passing by that are barely visible. The boy could even see his house from here, but right now that wasn't important. What was important was a question that came to the boy's mind.
"Why did you bring me here?" Lincoln asked with wide eyes looking at the city. But after not receiving a response Lincoln turned to Stella and saw her blushing as he realized what this all was.
She grabbed his other hand with her and looked him in the eyes melting his worries away along with her own worries.
"L-Lincoln, I wanted to tell you that… I love you." Even if Lincoln expected to hear those words, he still felt the effects of what she said. He looked at her and gave a heartwarming smile before repeating those words to her.
"I love you too." And with that, the gap between their lips was closed as they kissed. And from that point on, they both knew that their destiny was to be together.
From what started as a short and simple idea became larger as I got more and more invested in writing this. Hope you enjoyed my try at a romantic story. Anyway, thanks for reading, c0ffeee out.