Lynn+1
Chapter 1: "Expectations."
"So much for 'instant results'..." the jock girl said as she impatiently fidgeted. For the past week, Lynn Loud had been faced with a dilemma. Day after day, she made stop after stop at Flip's Food n' Fuel, spending her allowance into the deficit all because of one night with her boyfriend, Francisco. Test after test, she checked in disbelief how one night could lead to spending nearly one hundred dollars in six days; at a convenience store no less.
"Come on Lynn! Let someone else use it!" Lana exclaimed as she hopped in place, fighting against her bladder. Lynn, unintentionally ignored the calls of her siblings on the opposite side of the door.
"Do you literally think that you're the only one with bathroom privileges!?" Lori shouted as she prepared to knock the door down.
"Come on! I can't leave this masque on. It'll dry my skin out!" Lola explained.
Lynn looked at the plastic stick in dissatisfaction. Hearing her family waiting for her outside of the bathroom after twelve tests and a gallon of orange juice with the outcome unchanged, she sighed and tossed the last test aside.
"There, have at it," she said in a down-hearted manner.
"Outta my way!" Lana shouted as she slammed the door behind her.
Lynn grabbed her baseball bat and stormed out the front door, making her way to the batting cages. After the line to the bathroom slimmed down, it finally came to Luna, who stopped at the sink to brush her teeth. She glanced down by the bathtub to see a long white and pink piece of plastic and picked it up to see the tiny screen readingpregnant. Luna's eyes widened at the discovery of the test.
"Lori! Leni!" Luna shouted for her older sisters.
"Like, what's what's wrong Luna!?" Leni replied in her usual innocently sweet tone.
Luna, standing by the doorway of the bathroom held the test in her nervously shaking hands, soon she was met by Leni who was reluctantly followed by Lori.
"Oh my god! Luna! You're pregnant!?"
"Hell no! I thought this was yours!" Luna exclaimed, more confused than before.
"Don't look at me!" Leni shook her head quickly.
"What are you two doing?" Lori queried as she continued texting Bobby. The two other sisters looked at their eldest sister with knowing eyes and cheeky smiles.
"What?" she growled.
"Care to explain?" Luna said as she flashed the pregnancy test at Lori. Stunned, Lori shoved both of her sisters into the bathroom without a single word of warning, then slammed the door behind her.
"Where did you get that!?"
"You're asking us!?" Luna asked in a cautiously raised tone.
"We thought you and Bobby were gonna make us aunts!" Leni gleefully commented.
"That's literally impossible! Bobby and I have been extra careful," Lori said confidently.
"Well if it's not yours, and it's not ours, then whose…" Luna peeked out the door to see Luan, of whom she stealthily pulled into the bathroom.
"Hey, I didn't know I had to go that bad," she said with a chuckle. Lori then held the test up to the jokester's face, invoking a toothy grin.
"Well, looks like this is turning out to be a positive experience!" she giggled loudly at her own pun. "Get it!? Get it!?" Her older sister's groaned at the cheesy joke, which Luan took pride in. "Well, Lori, I assume Bobby's the father."
"You know what assuming does right?" Lori asked with a raised eyebrow. Luan pondered for a moment, then a smile sprawled wickedly across her face.
"Makes an ass outta you and me?" She doubled over with laughter as her sisters groaned louder.
"Luan is this yours or not!?" Luna interrogated.
"You're kidding me right? I'm not lucky enough to get to second base." She chuckled briefly at her pun as she took the test from Lori.
"Well, that only leaves one. And she's not here." The sisters looked at each other with knowing eyes.
"Is it Lucy?" Leni obliviously asked.
"No, Leni. It's Lynn," Lori sighed.
At the batting cages, Lynn waited for the next fastball to fire from the launcher, her frustration increasing steadily, mind dwelling on one nagging thought. Why won't he talk to me? The launcher hurled the ball at great speed. Lynn swung her Louisville Slugger, making a direct hit with the high velocity orb. The bat underwent much more abuse than it had seen in some time. Half-way through her nearly two hour session, she heard what she believed was a crack but passed it off as a joint popping from constant swinging during the day.
Her slugger took its final swing as it exploded into splinters when it knocked the ball back toward the launcher, halted by the net behind it. Lynn looked down at the remnants of her bat, frayed and shattered, much like her nerves. Behind her, Margo had appeared, her best friend and baseball teammate, sporting their team's colors. She set her duffle bag aside and went up to her obviously troubled friend.
"Hey dude! What's– Whoa!" Margo ducked quickly as Lynn hurled her broken bat at the chain link enclosure.
"Fuck!" Lynn screamed as she kicked the fence to her left. "That was my favorite bat!"
"Hey! Hey! Cool your tits girl!" Margo said as she attempted to help Lynn calm down. "Now what's up?"
Lynn shot a look of aggravation at her best friend as she took a deep breath. "What's not up!?" She exclaimed as she leaned against the gate. "Wanna talk about it?"
Lynn walked back to the spot with the duffle bag and sat, Margo joining her and sitting on the duffle bag. Lynn's knees were drawn into her chest and although she felt comfortable with her friend, she only questioned how she could tell anyone what she discovered during the week and the fact that the one person who needed to know wasn't responding to her texts.
"Francisco hasn't talked to me in over a week and I really need to talk to him." She sighed in frustration, as she cupped her freckled face in her hands, her focus wavered she fell into a daze.
"So what brought that on?" Margo asked.
"Promise not to tell anyone?" Lynn asked quietly.
"Lynn. Who do you think you're talking to?" Margo said with a smile, allowing Lynn to lower her defenses. She took a deep breath, then exhaled as she looked for the right words to say.
"Me and Francisco... we... we kinda..." Lynn said nervously, her cheeks burning red. Margo leaned in closer. "We had sex last week…"
Margo's eyes widened at Lynn's revelation, only to gain a devilish grin.
"No way! You two did the horizontal tango!?" she exclaimed as she mentally squealed. "What was it like?"
"Kinda weird at first... then before long... unbelievable..." Lynn said with a smirk.
"You'd think that he wouldn't stop texting you! Ya stone cold fox!" She nudged Lynn knowingly.
"Well that's the thing. He's been avoiding me and... I had something come up."
"What? Your lunch?" Margo asked, her curiosity piqued by her statement.
"Amongst other things..."
"So, what's been eating ya?" Margo queried.
Lynn looked off yet again as she readied to tell her friend the news of her conception and wondered how she'd take having a friend who was now expecting.
"I'm pregnant."
Margo's mouth agape, she sat silently for a few seconds before she pulled out of her daze.
"Seriously!? Pregnant!?" Margo exclaimed. Lynn, saying nothing, nodded in confirmation.
"Prego? Preggers? With child?"
"Yes..." Lynn said with agitation strong in her throat.
Margo looked at her bewildered friend and gave her a sharp pat on her back. Lynn turned to look at Margo and saw a smile on her face.
"Hey, no matter what I've got your back," Margo said proudly.
"I'm in for a shit storm from my mom and dad," Lynn chuckled nervously.
Margo looked around in thought trying to figure out how to help Lynn with her anxiety and remembered the duffle bag under her posterior.
"Hey, let's go to the skate park. Get some rounds in before we call it a day." What Margo said made Lynn's smile grow brighter.
"Brought the equipment?" Lynn asked.
"I'm sitting on it," Margo scoffed
Both girls stood up and left the cages, taking their leave to the skate park across town. Lynn, walking beside her best friend, tried to brave the trial that she faced, and the impending punishment her parents would have in store for her.