Part 12
Lynn Sr beamed with pride as he watched, and recorded, his baby girl dancing like a pro in front of several cheering people. The adorable tyke was currently doing the many steps from the Cha-Cha Slide, a favorite of hers. And while it was enough fun by itself, she also loved having so many people watching her. It only made her want to keep going and going as long as she could.
A bit of movement to her side caught Lily's attention. She turned to see what it was and discovered that she had somehow obtained a dance partner. Another baby, one Carlitos Casagrande, had joined her on the dance floor and was copying her moves perfectly. She stopped and watched him, tilting her head a bit. He then also stopped and tilted his head too.
Lily wasn't sure how to feel about this situation with Carlitos. Was he making fun of her? Or just trying to have fun? She decided to see by giving something else to copy. She started to shimmy a little and then stopped, smiling at him. He quickly began to copy her movement, stopping after the same amount of time as her. Lily then started to pop and lock, her dance partner not missing a beat and joining her immediately.
"Aww, that is just precious!" Lynn Sr. fawned, eyes welling up with joyful tears.
"¡Son tan adorable!" came an emotional voice from nearby.
Lynn turned to find that he wasn't the only proud parent watching the two little ones dance. Frida Casagrande was standing right next to him, her eyes equally moist as she saw her baby boy dancing with his little friend.
"Would you like me to send you the video when I'm done recording them?" he offered.
"Are you kidding me?" Frida asked. "I would absolutely LOVE it!"
The two continued to watch and adore over their youngest until the music changed. The DJ began to play some songs better suited for slow dancing and a few couples began to enjoy each other's company. Lincoln began to look around the VIP area for Ronnie Anne, not wanting to keep her waiting. His earlier talk with Carlota had peaked his curiosity and he was hoping to talk to the feisty latina about it. Which would hopefully not result in a fist colliding with his...anywhere.
After a quick look around he managed to find her. She and Carlota and CJ were at the buffet table, enjoying some of their grandmother's cooking. Lincoln walked up to them, waving at Ronnie a little and giving her a smile.
"Hey." He said. "There you are. After you finish your plate, how about we have that dance you wanted? If you want, I can ask the DJ to play a song for us too. I'm sure he won't mind a last minute request."
"Nah." Ronnie Anne said. "Don't bother."
"Oh. Okay then. So we can just go and dance whenever you finish eating. No need to rush though, we have plenty of time."
"I don't think you understood me. I changed my mind. I don't want to dance anymore. So if you'll excuse me, I would like to eat in peace."
Lincoln stared at her for a moment before he started to rub the back of his neck a little.
"I see. That's alright. I'll just grab something to eat and hang out around here. Let me know if you change your mind...again."
"I won't." Ronnie Anne said flatly, taking another bite.
She walked off while he grabbed a plate and found a spot further from the speakers so she could enjoy the rest of her food with less noise to distract her. Carlota and CJ followed, the older girl looking a bit annoyed at the moment. She put her hands on her hips and tapped her foot while giving Ronnie an expectant look.
"What?" the girl asked.
"You changed your mind, huh?" Carlota asked. "And when did that happen?"
"Does it matter?" Ronnie Anne asked in return. "He didn't seem bothered by it, so let it go. Dancing like that is stupid anyways."
"No it isn't." CJ said. "It's really nice and kinda fun!"
"So why don't you go and dance with someone then?" Ronnie asked.
"Okay." CJ said, walking off.
The girls watched as he went around the dance floor, making his way towards a girl who was sulking in the corner. He spoke to her, gaining her full attention and making her blush a little bit. Then he held out his hand, which she took after hesitating for only a moment. The two joined the others dancing to the soothing
"Well that's a nice surprise." Carlota said, smiling at the sight. "Looks like my little brother is quite the charmer! See Ronalda? It's not as hard as you're making it out to be."
"Yeah, whatever." Ronnie Anne said, returning to eating her food. "Then maybe you can go and dance with someone too."
Carlota frowned at her. But then an idea popped into her head and she looked back towards the buffet table. She smirked and started to head back in that direction, giving Ronnie Anne on last quick look over her shoulder as she went.
"You know, that's a good idea. And I know just who to ask."
Lincoln made his way through the crowd of slow dancing couples over to the staircase back to the livingroom, intending to play another video game, only to feel someone tap him on the shoulder. He looked behind him to see Carlota smiling at him sympathetically.
"Hey, sorry about Ronnie Anne." she said.
"It's cool." Lincoln said with a shrug. "I know she can be pretty surly, so I figured she could back out."
"Well if you still want to dance." Carlota said, holding out her hand to him. "I'd be happy to step in."
Lincoln looked over at Ronnie Anne, who seemed to be preoccupied with her plate of food.
"Do you think she'd mind?" he asked.
Carlota chuckled. "Oh Lincoln, I'm positive she'd mind."
Before Lincoln had a chance to ask her what she meant, Carlota grabbed his arm and pulled him over to the dance floor. She placed his hands on her waist, and then put her hands on his shoulders. They began to slowly rock back and forth to the music.
Carlota took a few steps back, trying to position herself perfectly across from the table of food. She turned around slowly, making sure Lincoln could see Ronnie Anne hungrily digging into a plate of chorizo with habanero sauce.
Ronnie Anne looked up from her food and spotted them. Her jaw dropped and the fork fell from her lips as she watched her older cousin dance with Lincoln. Carlota winked at Ronnie Anne, who's cheeks were going pink, before deepening to a reddish tone.
"Someone's looking a bit hot under the collar." Carlota thought. She quickly turned her attention back to Lincoln. "It's her loss you know." she said. "If she wants to miss out on a slow dance with a guy as sweet as you, then that's on her."
"If you say so." Lincoln said.
"Aww." Carlota said. "Don't be like that. Any girl would feel lucky to dance with you!"
"You mean it?" Lincoln asked.
"Of couse I do." Carlota said. Then she bent down and kissed him on the cheek
Lincoln's hand slowly rose up to the area Carlota had kissed, before it was grabbed by another hand. Lincoln turned to see Ronnie Anne's face beside him, her cheeks red and her eyes moist. She glared at Carlota, who simply smirked at her in return.
"Mind if I cut in?" she asked.
"But I thought you said you weren't gonna dance." Carlota said.
"Well, I changed my mind." Ronnie Anne said.
"But you also said you weren't going to change your mind." Lincoln said.
"Well I changed my mind about changing my mind!' she said hotly. "Now come on!"
Lincoln didn't argue with her any further than that. If she really did want to dance now, he wasn't going to complain. Especially not when Ronnie Anne seemed to be in a bad mood already. He wanted to ask her what was up, but knew she'd only change the subject or just flat out say it wasn't his business. So instead he would just focus on the dance.
The next song began to play and Lincoln took Ronnie's right hand in his left, lacing their fingers together. She blushed and averted her eyes while placing her other hand onto his shoulder. Her gaze went to focus on his right hand, watching as he held it up as though he wasn't sure what to do with it.
"Don't put it anywhere weird, Lame-O" She warned him.
"Oh, okay. So not on your waist then?" He asked.
"No." Ronnie Anne flatly replied. "Not unless you want my fist in your eye again."
Lincoln hesitated for a moment. "Well, how about this?"
He reached around her and placed his right and on her left shoulder, pulling her in close. Ronnie blushed more as the space between them all but vanished. Their faces were next to each other, the warmth of his cheek on her own. She felt her heart skip a beat and then she moved her face away a little, having some trouble finding her voice.
"T-This is fine, I guess." She said.
"Yeah, it's kinda like we're hugging." Lincoln said, starting to sway gently back and forth with Ronnie following his lead. "And don't worry about stepping on my feet. I don't mind, as long as it isn't like earlier."
"That was on purpose." Ronnie Anne said. "I wouldn't do it by accident, Lincoln. I can dance just fine."
No sooner had those words left her mouth than did she feel Lincoln's toes beneath her left foot. He winced as a sharp pain shot through them and she found herself blushing again as she heard him let out a small hiss as a result.
"Sorry."
"It's okay." Lincoln said. "It was just an accident, right?"
"Shut up."
-Meanwhile, outside in Vanzilla-
"Aww!" said Leni as they watched the camera feed from Lisa's phone. "Aren't they cute together?"
"Leni." Lola said crossly. "Aren't you forgetting something?"
"What's that?" Leni asked.
"WE'RE MAD AT HIM!" Lola shouted. "THIS IS NO TIME TO GUSH OVER HOW CUTE HE LOOKS WITH RONNIE ANNE!"
"But just look at them, Lola." Leni said. "How can you not love this?"
She showed the screen to her sisters, who crowded around it. Lucy frowned an even deeper frown than she could normally manage.
"Seems Haiku is enjoying her slow dance with Clyde." Lucy grumbled.
"And there's our mother and father dancing togther." Lisa pointed out huffily. "The traitors."
"And isn't that Ronnie Anne's cousin Carl dancing with Lori's friend Carol?" Lola asked.
Lana snorted with laughter. "How can you dance with someone who is barely tall enough to reach your knees?" she asked aloud. "Hey Lori, you gotta see this!"
Lori was sitting in the drivers seat of Vanzilla. She had lay her head down on the steering wheel about twenty minutes ago, and hadn't moved an inch. She hadn't said a word since their parents had gone into the house and left them outside.
"And it looks like Bobby found a dance partner too." Leni said.
Lori's head snapped up from its position on the wheel. The tears that had gathered at the corners of her eyes had quickly stopped and her eyes went wide. Then, the shock faded and she gritted her teeth so hard it almost hurt.
"WHAT?!" Lori spat, face darkening red with rage. "WHO?! I will literally...DESTROY! HER!"
Lori clambered into the backseat and snatched the phone away from her sisters. Looking into the screen she saw her beloved Boo Boo Bear...dancing with his mother.
" ...oh. He's just dancing with his mom." Lori said, anger instantly gone. "That's actually really sweet of him."
"So does that mean you won't be destroying her?" Luan joked.
"None of you are ever to mention that." Lori ordered. "Now be quiet while I watch my Boo Boo Bear. At least I can get something out of this whole stupid mess."
Lori kept Lisa's phone in her grasp, smiling just a tiny bit as she gazed at the image of her boyfriend on the screen. Leni leaned over to watch the screen a bit more, as did a few of the other sisters. Some of the others just sat in their seats, moping or trying to patiently wait out however much longer the party was going to last.
The minutes passed by and after a few more slow dances, the DJ began to pack up his equipment. The girls who had been watching the screen all perked up and alerted the others. From what they could see on the screen, all of the guests were starting to head up out of the basement. They changed the view to the kitchen and saw all of the guests crowding into the living room, their brother working his way through all of the people to get to the coffee table. As he got closer he found himself dealing with another group of his guests who were gathered around his dance pads, watching the current player or players. He caught sight of his friend Zach just as the current song ended. The red haired boy fell to his knees, gasping for breath. His wiped the sweat from his forehead as Giggles, who had been his opponent, helped him back to his feet.
"Wow." he said in between gasps. "I've had people beat me at this game before, but I dunno how you can move so fast wearing such big, floppy shoes."
Giggles smiled. "Oh, it just takes practice." she said.
Zach stepped off the dance mat, wiping sweat from his brow. "I'm done. So who's challenging her next?"
"I'll take her on!" Becky said as she walked up.
As Giggles selected a new song, Lincoln stopped to watch. Shortly after Becky Giggles began their game, the Casagrandes and Santiagos walked up behind Lincoln. Ronnie Anne slapped him on the back, surprising him enough to make him jump.
"Hey Lame-O." she said, barely holding back a laugh. "Just wanted to tell you this was a great party before I head back home."
"Leaving so soon?" Lincoln asked.
"Wish we could stay longer." Bobby said. "But we've got a long drive back to Great Lakes City."
"Mom says I can play one more round of Dance Battle." CJ said. "But then we have to go home."
"That's okay." Lincoln said. "I'm just glad you made it to...hey CJ...what's that's on your shirt?"
The Casagrandes all looked at CJ, who merely shuffled his feet around a little with a smile on his face. Frida turned her son around to get a good look at his front. Someone had indeed written on his shirt with a black marker.
"You're the least fake person I met today." she read. "Text me sometime. 366-4475. Maggie. Mijo, who is Maggie?"
Carlota grabbed a corner of CJ's shirt and turned it, revealing a glittery purple lip print. She touched the lip print, and then licked her fingertip.
"Well whoever she is," Carlota said. "She wears blackberry lip gloss."
"My baby has a girlfriend!" Frida gushed with joyful tears starting to stream from her eyes. "Oh I'm so happy for you! ¡Mi querido hijo!"
"Wow. I didn't see that coming." Ronnie Anne said.
"Doesn't really surprise me. CJ is a great guy, I'm happy for him." Lincoln said. "But are you sure that you can't stay around for just a little bit longer? I had something special planned for the end of the party and I'd hate for you guys to miss out."
"Sorry Lincoln." Maria said. "But we've got a long drive home and we're hoping to avoid rush hour. It's pretty bad in the city, even on the weekends. We need to leave now if we want to make good time."
Lincoln frowned a bit, his shoulders slumping. But his disappointment was shortlived however as an idea popped into his head. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and looked at Ronnie Anne, smiling again.
"I know, how about I livestream it so you can watch? Would that work?"
"Okay, I guess. But what exactly is it that you had planned?" Ronnie Anne asked.
"You'll see. I'll text you when it's about to start." Lincoln answered. "Have a safe trip back and I'll see you later, okay?"
Ronnie Anne reared back to punch Lincoln shoulder. Lincoln braced himself for the strike, only to feel her grab his arm and pull him forward into a hug. Then after the hug was over, she frowned a little. As if she could sense the feelings of her family, she quickly turned back to face her family.
"Not. A. Word." she said crossly.
Her family looked around at each other, pretending not to know what she was talking about. And with that, the Santiago and Casagrande families left the Loud House. The group headed to their cars, happily chatting about the time they had.
"This was so much fun!" Carlota said. "His VIP room was like a real dance club! There's nothing like shaking your booty to techno."
Frida frowned at her daughter. "What have I told you about those dances?" she asked "You'll be giving boys the wrong idea!"
"Does that mean you gave dad some wrong ideas last week?" CJ asked.
Carlota snorted with laughter, covering her mouth with her hand.
"I...I don't know what you're talking about." Frida said with a blush spreading across her face.
Bobby pulled his phone out of his pocket as he got to the pickup truck and sent a text to Lori "Hey Babe" he said as he texted. "Heading home now. Can I see you one more time before I leave?"
A few seconds passed before he got her reply. "Sorry Boo-Boo Bear." he read. "Not feeling up to it right now."
Bobby's face fell as he noticed the frowning emoji at the end of the text. "Are you mad at me?" he texted.
"Not at you." Lori texted. "I'll call you when I get back in the house. OK?"
"OK" he texted before stuffing the device back into his pocket.
-Back in Vanzilla-
Lori put her phone on the dashboard and slumped back over the steering wheel. The girls were whispering amongst themselves, not wanting to disturb their older sister.
"Is she okay?" Lola whispered.
"I dunno." Lucy whispered back. "It's like someone pulled out her spirit, smashed it to pieces, and them smashed those pieces to pieces. I've never seen her like this before."
"I have." Leni said. "Back when Carol Pingrey beat her in selling the most Bluebell Scout cookies...and beat her in that golf tournament...and beat her for homecoming queen..."
"At least Boo-Boo Bear was there for me that time." Lori mumbled. "I still can't believe that he went to Lincoln's stupid party and didn't even try to get me in. And our parents..."
Leni put her hand on Lori's shoulder assuringly. "It's okay Lori. I'm sure they didn't do it because they wanted to hurt our feelings. And look, the party is over now, eveyone is starting to leave." She said, holding Lisa's phone up so Lori could see. "We can finally go back inside!"
Lori looked at the phone, a very tiny smile coming to her lips. But then it vanished and she looked more closely at the screen.
"Wait, they aren't going through the front door." She noted. "It looks like all of them are going into the backyard. What's going on now?"
Taking the phone again, Lori switched the screen display to show the view from one of the yard cameras that Lisa had installed. Every guest who was still at the party was gathered behind the house, all of them either seated on the grass or standing by the fence or garage. Lincoln, along with Hank and Hawk were setting up something at Lana's mudpit while the DJ Lincoln hired was standing to the side with his phone in hand. It seemed like the DJ was either recording or streaming whatever was going on.
"What the heck are they doing with my mud pit?" Lana asked, scratching her head.
"It looks like he's trying to cover it up." Luan pointed out.
Lincoln was indeed covering the pit. He was pulling a piece of plywood across it, Hank and Hawk working with him on the other side. Once it was in place, he had his cronies set down tarps on the grass surrounding the pit while he added water to it using the garden hose. After they all finished their tasks, Lincoln had Hank and Hawk go into the garage and bring out a large box. They carefully set it down onto the center of the plywood and removed the upper half of the box, revealing a firework setup. Not skyrockets or anything else like that, but rather a small series of roman candles, spinners, whistlers and snakes.
"Can I have your attention everyone?" Lincoln announced to the crowd. "I just want to take a moment to thank all of you for coming to my party today."
"Thank you for throwing it!" Becky shouted, getting many others to cheer in agreement.
Lincoln waited for the group to settle down again before resuming. "Thanks, I'm glad you all had a good time today. As many of you may have noticed, I have something special planned for the finale of the party. And I want to thank Giggles, who not only helped me set this up but also got her dad to oversee this event. How about a quick round of applause for them too?"
The crowd clapped, cheered and whistled for the little clown girl and her father, a burly man in a firefighter outfit with a clown nose and make-up. Once their ovation came to an end, Giggles began to hand out sparklers to the little kids at the party while her father took a minute to look over the setup Lincoln had put together. He gave a thumbs up and stepped back to the side while Lincoln got ready to start the show.
"Okay, here we go. Are you streaming yet?" He asked the DJ.
"Been streaming since we got out here." The DJ replied. "You can start whenever, man. Your girlfriend will have a great view of the lights."
"She's not my...oh, whatever."
Lincoln looked over at the clown dressed in firefighter gear and gave him a thumbs up. The firefighter nodded and reached for a large cardboard box on the ground beside him. Lincoln pulled a long nose lighter from his pocket and began following Giggles, about to start lighting the sparklers that she handed out to the kids until someone put their hand onto his shoulder.
"Hold on a second there Lincoln." said Lynn Sr. "This may be your party, but I don't want you playing with fire. Let me do that for you."
Lincoln handed his father the lighter, and he began lighting the sparklers in Lincoln's place "You can trust Lisa to mix chemicals." Lincoln grumbled. "But you can't trust me to light a sparkler?"
"To be fair we don't trust her with metal cutlery." Rita said as she walked up with Lily in her arms. "But we did trust you to host this little party of yours, for what it's worth."
Lincoln looked up at his mom. "I know that, Mom." he said, "And I...I just wanted to say thanks for letting me do this. Thanks for letting me have my party."
Rita bent down to kiss her son on the cheek. "It's no problem."
"Mom!" Lincoln whined. "Not in front of everybody!"
"Relax sweetie." Rita said. "It's getting dark out."
Lynn walked over to his wife and son, spinning the long nosed lighter on his finger. "That was the last one."
"Great." Lincoln said, looking out over the sea of sparklers. He then looked back at the firefighting clown, giving him another thumbs up and a wink.
The firefighter clown gave a node and held a Catherine Wheel firework in one hand and his own long nosed lighter in the other. The entire group of people had their eyes set on him. He set the firework into place on a pedastal of sorts above the rest. Then he set the tip of the lighter to the fuse and pressed the switch...only for the lighter to emit a spray of confetti and thin streamers instead.
There was a burst of laughter from the crowd of party guests, from Lincoln and his parents. Even the firefighter himself had an amused look on his face. He laughed with a resigned shake of his head and turned to look at his daughter.
"Very funny, Giggles" he said firmly. "Now please hand it over."
Giggles walked over to her father and handed him an identical looking lighter. "Sorry dad" she said with a wide smile on her face. "I couldn't resist."
Now with the actual lighter in his possession, Giggles's father cleared away the confetti and streamers, letting them fall into the mudpit below. Then he attempted to light the fuse again, this time with no surprises. Once it was lit, she stepped away from the setup quickly and carefully, never taking his eyes off of it should anything go amiss.
Every set of eyes in the crowd watched eagerly as the fuse grew shorter and shorter, until at last the Catherine Wheel was set off. It began to spin and emit colorful sparks that were soon followed by the many other fireworks as they began to also go off one after the other. Everyone 'oohed' and 'ahhed' as the display grew more dazzling with each passing second. And then to add to their amazement, the colors of the many different fireworks began to change, going through each color of the spectrum one by one for about five or six minutes until they all finally fizzled out.
With the show now over, the collective guests all politely clapped in appreciation of Lincoln's enjoyable final event. Lincoln waited for them to finish before stepping out again to address them all one last time that day.
"Well, that's it everybody! I just wanted to thank you all for coming again. Get home safely and have a good night, unless anyone wants to volunteer to stay and help me clean up."
A chorus of laughter sounded from the crowd. Shortly afterwards people began to disperse, all of them going around the house and toward their cars. When all of them were gone, Lincoln went back inside, followed by his parents. They made their way into the living room where they saw Pop Pop at the bottom of the stairs.
"There you are." he said. "Say Rita, you don't mind if your old dad uses the shower, do you? I got a little muddy when I wrestled that pig and they won't let me back onto the senior bus like this. Myrtil is on the way to get me a change of clothes right now."
"Not at all, Dad. Go right ahead." Rita said.
"You wrestled Virginia, Pop Pop?" Lincoln asked.
"That I did, kiddo. And I took it to her!" Albert said, letting out a proud laugh. "Best party I've been to in a long time!"
He went up the stair to start running the shower while Rita and the two men of the Loud House got situated in the living room. Lincoln called in Hank and Hawk, to give them the other half of their payment before they had to leave as well. The two dug into their newly gained stash of chocolate bars the minute they got their hands on them.
"Thanks kid." Hawk said. "Pleasure doing business with ya."
"Yeah, feel free to hire us again the next time you throw a party." Hank added. "This was a pretty sweet deal, no pun intended."
"Before you go, do you think you could do me one last favor?" Lincoln asked. "Just let my sisters know that they can come back inside now."
Hank pulled a chocolate bar from the box and chomped down onto it. "Sure. Do you want us to spray 'em one more time?"
Lincoln laughed "Nah. Funny as it might be...I think they've been through enough tonight."
Hawk and Hank walked out of the Loud House and made thier way up the street, up to the ramshackle van where nine angry girls sat. Hawk walked up to the drivers side door and tapped the window with his knuckles. Lori kept her head on the dash, rolling down the window without even looking up at the boy.
"What do you want?!" Lynn shouted from the backseat. "Come to shoot us with soda again?"
Hawk smirked. "No. Just here to give you a message. Your brother says you can come in now 'cause the party's over."
Lori quickly sat up in her seat. "Finally!" she said, starting up Vanzilla.
She drove the short distance up to their house, only to have to stop and wait for the other cars parked in front to leave. Lori impatiently drummed her fingers on the steering wheel as her sisters talked.
"I hope he enjoyed his party." Lola said. "Because when I'm through with him, he'll wish he never let us back inside!"
"Get in line Lola." Lynn said. "He's gonna be my new kickboxing dummy when I get inside. You can what's left of Lincoln after I'm done with him."
"You mean after I get back to Great Grandma Harriet's book of spells." Lucy said. "Then he'll know the meaning of revenge."
"But first I'm gonna hogtie him and toss him in my mudpit." Lana shouted "He owes me a mudwrestling match!"
"Don't you think that's a little mean?" Leni asked.
"MEAN?!" said the other Loud Sisters in unison.
"After what he did to us?!" Lola said. "You think we're being too mean?!"
"I know you're all upset that we missed Lincoln's party." Leni said. "He hurt my feelings too. But two wrongs don't make a right."
"Tell that to our brother." Lori said. "Because he's the one who decided to kick us out because he wasn't getting his way. So let's go and see what he has to say for himself."
Lori got out of Vanzilla and made her way to the house, followed by her sisters. As they neared the door, Lincoln opened it for them, having been watching from the living room window. Lori gave him a cold stare and walked right past him and into the living room. She saw her parents seated on the couch with Lily and almost went to join them. But she still felt too hurt by the fact they just left her and the other girls outside and instead chose to make herself as comfortable as she could on the carpet.
As Lori sat down she looked over to where her brother was and saw he was being advanced on by Lynn, backed up by the twins. The three almost managed to get their hands on him, but as to be expected, Lynn Sr. and Rita intervened.
"Girls, leave your brother alone." Rita warned. "I don't care how mad you are with him, not one of you is to harm a hair on his head!"
"Not unless you want to be grounded for a week." Lynn Sr. added.
"But that's not fair!" Lynn stubbornly protested.
"We can all decide what is or isn't fair after your brother has explained himself. Now all of you, take a seat." Rita said. "When he's finished, then you can let him know how you feel. But only by using your words."
The girls did as they were told, some of them still giving Lincoln a dirty look as they found a place to sit down. Lincoln gave them all a minute to get situated before taking his place standing in front of them all. He smiled at them, only making the ones who were glaring at him seem angrier.
"So..." he began. "Just in case you were wondering, I had a lot of fun today. And I'm not just talking about my party. Some of the tries you made to get in were just...hilarious! Hey Luna, just how did Lola convince you to play the role of her manservant, Butch?"
"I don't want to talk about it." Luna said. "Also, not cool little bro. Keeping us out was bad enough, but thinking it's funny? Do you have any idea how we felt?"
"Fair enough. So...how did all of you feel about not being allowed in the house while I threw my party? Don't be shy, just say it the way it is."
"How did I feel?" Lynn growled. "I'll tell you how I felt! Angry! Frustrated! Stabbed in the back! And don't get me started on hiring those creeps to chase us off!"
"I concur with Lynn." Lisa said. "Their presence was most unappreciated. I do not care how badly you desired to keep us away. The fact that you employed someone to forcefully banish us from our home was as hurtful as it was cruel."
"And they made me clean!" Lana added, crossing her arms. "I already have to take a bath once a month. That's enough!"
"Plus you had all of those people over here, I bet someone was going through our stuff too!" Lola spat. "If I see anything in my room out of place, even a teeny-tiny bit, I'm gonna...!"
Lincoln held up his hand, stopping Lola. "About that. I made sure to keep the doors to your rooms closed and told everyone to stay out of them. Even your friends. The only rooms they were allowed in upstairs were either the bathroom or my room to use the ball pit slide." He said before turning to look at Lori. "Your room was locked up tight the entire time."
"Gee, thanks. I feel so much better now." Lori said dryly.
"Do you have anything else you want to say?" Lincoln asked. "I know that my biggest sister probably has a lot she wants to get off of her chest. Go on, Lori. Tell me."
"You really want to know how I feel about all of this?" Lori asked bitterly. "Well, for starters I was shocked. I could not believe my little brother would ever go so far as to keep us out of our own house. I felt so angry and confused that it made me a little sick inside. I was so mad at you for that little stunt where you let me in the house for one measly second, it made my skin crawl. And knowing that the entire time we were stuck outside, you were having fun without a care about how we felt, only made it all worse." She stood up and stepped in front of Lincoln, towering over him as her anger welled up inside of her. "But more than anything else, I hated it...and I literally mean HATED it to know my baby brother was the one doing all of it. That he could just shut us out like we meant nothing!"
Lincoln didn't flinch at all while Lori vented. If anything, he seemed like he was expecting it. To the surprise of every one of the sisters, he let out an exasperated sigh, as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
"Thank you!" he said, sounding completely sincere.
"What the literal what?!" Lori blurted out, completely flabbergasted.
"I've gotta admit." Lincoln went on. "When I started this up, I was worried that I might not get my point across. I was starting to doubt myself, starting to think that maybe I was just being a jerk to you guys for no reason. But you actually got the point."
"Now Lincoln." Rita chimed in. "You need to give your sisters a bit more credit. They're very smart girls."
"Yeah kiddo." Lynn Sr said. "Cut them a break here. Even the smartest people need to experience some things for themselves in order to learn about them."
Lori raised and eyebrow and turned to look at her sisters. They all wore the same look of confusion, save for Luna who merely looked sad.
"Learn?" Lori repeated. "What do you mean, learn?
"All we learned is that our brother is a big, selfish meanie!" Lola said. "And I think someone owes someone else an apology!"
The Loud Sisters all chattered in agreement, to which Lincoln responded with a shrug.
"I guess you're right." he said. "I should apologize." Lincoln reached out to his father, motioning for him to hand over his youngest sister. "I'm sorry Lily." he said as he took her in his arms "I wanted to teach my sisters a lesson, but I guess you didn't really do anything to deserve it. Will you forgive me?"
His other siblings stared at him blankly as he apologized to the baby. Lily cooed happily, snuggled against his face and kissed him on the cheek.
"I'll take that as a yes." he said.
"Seriously?" Lola said. "You're apologizing to Lily? Just Lily? What about us?"
Lincoln snorted. "What about you? I'm not sorry for keeping you out of my party. If anything I'm just happy to know my plan worked."
"Plan?" Lori said What plan?"
Luna groaned in irritation. "Oh come on Lori!" she complained. "Wake up! Don't you get it? Lincoln locked us out of his party to get even with us for being kept out of our meeting last week!"
"You're partially correct." Lincoln said. "It's also got to do with how I, more often than not, end up being ignored by all of you. Being outvoted stinks, there's no question about that. But when I don't even get a chance to do something I like or even get to say my piece sometimes, and it happens again and again? That is just the worst. It's almost like none of you care what I feel or think."
"Oh please, that is literally a load." Lori said, rolling her eyes. "You get to do the stuff you like all the darn time!"
"But do I ever get to do something I like with all of my sisters, all of the darn time?" Lincoln asked, narrowing his eyes at Lori. "And I don't mean sitting in the living room and watching The Dream Boat or something like that. I'm talking specifically about our weekend plans. The stuff we plan out as siblings so we can spend time together as siblings. The same planning we do at our meetings, which I was not included in last time."
"Toldja." Luna said.
"Luna, I heard you the first time." Lori said before looking back at their brother. "So now what? You got to have your great big revenge party against us. Does it really make you feel better?"
"Oh, I haven't gotten to the best part yet." Lincoln said, a knowing smile on his face and cocky look in his eyes. "Are you ready for this? Because you may not like what I'm about to say."
"I literally haven't like a lot of what you've said and done today." Lori said. "So go ahead, try me."
"You only have yourselves to blame for not getting to be at my party today." Lincoln said.
"Excuse you?" Lori growled. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"Exactly what it sounds like. You weren't invited because you didn't want to know about the party in the first place."
"What the heck are you talking about Stinkoln?!" Lynn spat. "We were trying to get into the house for hours!"
"I know. And again, hilarious."
"That's enough Lincoln." Rita said. "Please just stick to the point of this meeting."
"Sorry." Lincoln said. "Anyways, like I was saying...yeah, none of you wanted to know about my idea to throw a party this weekend, so I just didn't include you at all."
"None of us wanted to know about it?" Lori repeated. "Where the heck did you get the idea that we didn't want to know about it?!"
"Take a minute to try and figure it out yourselves." Lincoln said, folding his arms behind his back.
Lori fumed silently, but did as her brother said and tried to figure out the meaning behind his words. Many of the other sisters did so as well, all of them drawing a blank save for one. Lisa pieced it together quite easily, having been paying very close attention to everything from the start.
"You were planning this party much further in advance than we thought." She said. "You were going to propose the idea at our sibling meeting. It was originally meant to be something for all of us, wasn't it?"
Lincoln tapped his nose with his finger. "Bingo! Thank you Lisa."
"What?" Lori asked, raising an eyebrow. "Well why didn't you just say...Oh..."
She trailed off, realization dawning on her. The other sisters looked between Lincoln and Lori, who was standing wide eyed with her mouth frozen mid-sentence.
"Because you never gave me the chance to share my idea." Lincoln said. "I didn't get to go to that meeting because you had it without me and didn't even tell me until it was already over!"
Lori's face fell at Lincoln's words. She didn't have anything to say in reply, so he continued on.
"All of you were so mad at me for not inviting you to the party. Well why would I? I didn't even get a chance to share my idea, so that pretty much was a NO from you all, wasn't it?"
The Loud Sisters all began to look around at each other nervously.
"Well..." Lola piped up. "You still went to the mall with us last week."
"Yeah!" Lynn chimed in. "We still let you be a part of our weekend plans!"
Lincoln gasped dramatically. "Oh wow, that's right! I had completely forgotten about that. Last weekend, I got to spend time with my sisters and have fun. After all, I didn't get forced to look after Lily."
"But, like, you did watch Lily for us." Leni said
"And I wasn't going to be made to do a bunch of heavy lifting back and forth to Vanzilla?" Lincoln asked.
"Well...its not like it would've been too heavy for you." Lola said with a slight crack to her voice.
"At least I got to go to a store that I liked." Lincoln said. "That's something, right?"
"No." Lucy said. "You had to try and sneak away and then Lori got mad at you."
"So I guess I should've invited you to the party." Lincoln said sarcastically. "I mean, it was wrong of me to treat you so unfairly, when you all treated me fairly this whole time."
He said the last part with a definite edge to his voice
Lori bit down on her lower lip. "Well..." she struggled to get her answer out. "I mean...It's not that we..."
"Oh, but it's not so bad." Lincoln said. "I mean, it was only one weekend. After all, it's not like I get outvoted, dragged to the mall, forced to watch Lily and help carry your things every weekend, right?"
Lori looked around at her younger sisters. Each one wore a similar look on their face, a mix of guilt with just a hint of shame. For some reason, now it really did seem a bit unfair from the way Lincoln described it. "Look" she said "I...I can admit that not getting to do what you want on the weekend..."
"Every weekend" Lincoln corrected flatly
"He isn't wrong you know." Lynn Sr. said. "You girls have been going to the mall each weekend for a pretty long time. We let you pick out what you do on the weekends because we trust you to find an activity you all can enjoy. Not some of you, not most of you, not the majority, ALL of you"
"The fact that you won't even try to find a way to include him bothers us." Rita said "You sacrifice his chance to have fun so you can have your own. That's bad enough. But to completely disregard him...I never thought my daughters could be so insensitive to their brother."
"Why not?" Lincoln asked "I could"
Lori bit down on her lower lip again "Every weekend" she repeated, the words tasting sour on her tongue "Yeah, I guess we've sort of fell into a rut. And...we make you watch Lily while we shop each and every time...and help us carry our things back to Vanzilla. I get how it might seem a bit...completely unfair."
Lincoln cocked an eyebrow at Lori, as if he expected her to keep going.
"And in hindsight." she said. "Maybe not letting you come to our last sibling meeting...on the grounds that we would've outvoted you anyway was...kinda mean...or...inconsiderate."
Lincoln rolled his eyes. "I sense a 'But' coming."
"But..." Lori said. "Well...we never meant to hurt your feelings. It wasn't personal, we just wanted to get to the mall faster and...and I guess..." She turned to her sisters "Can I get a little help here?"
"Sorry sis, I got nothing." Luna said while giving a shrug.
"I'm afraid that I also have no contributions to make in our defense." Lisa added.
"Yeah, well I think..." Lynn junior began. "We...You!" She grinded her teeth as she trailed off and then threw her arms up angrily. "Okay, fine! So we weren't exactly being fair to you! You were being completely left out and ignored! Is that what you wanted to hear?!"
Lincoln sighed. "Yeah, not that it really makes too much of a difference now. I mean, I already knew it. But having you admit it is a nice start." He said before glancing at his parents. "I've said all I wanted to say. I know I have to clean up the house, but is it okay if I just lay down for a little bit first? I'm pretty tired out between the party and everything just now."
"You go right ahead sweetie." Rita said. "Just make sure to start with the trash, I don't think all of your guests knew how to find the garbage cans."
"And we'll take care of the leftovers for you." Lynn Sr. added. "I for one plan on getting myself a nice big plate of that food in the buffet downstairs!"
"Help yourselves. It looked like there was still plenty last I checked." Lincoln said, heading for the stairs. "Now if you'll excuse me I will be going to my room now."
The sisters watched as their brother left the room. Lori waited until he was out of sight and then listened for the sound of his bedroom door closing before standing up and turning to face the others.
"We literally need to have another emergency sibling meeting right now." She said.
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