(The following is a nonprofit work of fanfiction and is outside of the original canon. All names, characters, businesses, places, events, and/or incidents of any kind depicted within this story are being used for entertainment purposes only.)
(The Loud House and all related characters were created by Chris Savino and all rights belong to Nickelodeon.)
- Chapter Five -
One Thing Leads to Another
Saturday, mid-afternoon...
Unlike most kids, who went off to stay at summer camp for six weeks, I was fortunately spared from having my name signed up on that checklist, much to my great relief. Our own neighborhood—perhaps if not the entire town of Royal Woods itself—already served wonderfully as our campground, and our own house was our main cabin. So, why waste time being miles upon miles away from civilization in a dank and miserably humid forest when everything you wanted was right here at home?
This meant that we thankfully did not have to worry about bloodsucking mosquitos, wear matching uniforms, put up with an overbearing camp counselor or two, or follow along with a tightknit curfew. Okay, that last part still applied to all of us here at home, but you understand what I meant. Don't think that just because our mom and dad chose not to make us go, it did not mean that we were going to spend most of our entire summer being all cooped up inside and around our house.
Do you know how boring and uneventful that would have been for all of us? Like, very majorly. And besides, I had already made some plans for what I was going to do for the summer, plans that definitely did not involve spending time at some dirty old campsite. And today just so happened to be part of those plans. I was going someplace that involved two of the many things we would often jump at the chance at whenever we were free on the weekends after having to survive a full week at school: arcade games and mouthwatering pizza.
And luckily for me, there was one of two fine establishments right here in town which served as the picture-perfect combination of those very two beloved categories.
The feeling of anticipation basically consumed by entire body as I sat in my usual spot in the middle back passenger seat of Vanzilla, with Mom riding behind the wheel. I looked out my window and saw that we had just parked right up against the curb of the concrete sidewalk in front of Clyde's house. Mom honked the horn three times after having done so. As we waited patiently for my friend to come out, I glanced over to the vacant passenger seat next to me, eyeing my clear plastic bag that was filled with a huge number of quarters.
After nearly a minute or two of waiting, the front door finally opened, and out came Clyde making a quick beeline for Vanzilla with a very ecstatic look on his face. As he came running for the van, I noticed that he was wearing a pink and blue neon-colored fanny pack, its black straps buckled securely around his scrawny waist. Even over from where I was sitting inside the van, I could just faintly make out the sound of his own stash of quarters jingling inside as he hustled.
And judging from just the sound of it alone, I would say that Clyde must have made himself quite a load himself like I had. I unbuckled my seatbelt, grabbed my bag, and scooted over to the left empty seat, allowing easier access for my best friend to open the slide door and climb inside. After he had done so, I looked up and suddenly noticed two grown men now standing outside on the front porch, waving after Clyde with cheerful smiles on both of their faces.
The one on the left appeared to be around in his early forties. He was tall and skinny as well as fair skinned and he had a full head of golden red hair, with the addition of a Tom Sellick-style moustache. He was dressed in a sleeveless light red shirt with a small V-neck and was neatly tucked underneath his light blue jeans.
The other man that was on the right side was African American, just like Clyde. He also appeared to be in his early forties, and he was of an average height, making him a bit shorter than the other man. He was also quite rounded too, had short curly black hair, and he was dressed in an all-blue neon Adidas tracksuit.
"Have a good day, kiddo!" the black man said.
"I will, Uncle Harold!" Clyde responded, waving back at them.
"Y-You sure you won't be n-needing your inhaler or anything?" the redhaired man asked, worry beginning to creep up in his voice. My best friend shook his head and smiled kindly.
"No, Dad! I'll be fine!"
"N-Not even your allergy m-medication or your—?" Mr. McBride began to stammer a bit. Harold placed a calming hand on the red-haired man's left shoulder, and he gave him an assuring smile.
"Now, Howard. Just calm down." he said calmly to his best friend. "He's just going over to Gus', is all. I mean, it's not like they're going to have a sleepover or anything." Mr. McBride's bottom lip began to tremble, and he wiped away a tear that started to appear in his left eye.
"I know! I-It's just that...!" he whimpered rather humorously.
"Don't you worry, Howard!" Mom called out from Vanzilla. "We'll be sure to bring Clyde back home right before seven! Promise!" The single McBride father sniffled and began to wipe his nearly wet and pointy nose with a clean white handkerchief that he had just pulled out from his pants pocket.
"T-Thanks, Rita!" he said with an appreciative smile. "You h-have a good day, little buddy!" I lightly shook my head and smirked unnoticeably. So dramatic, that man. And with that, after waving goodbye and stuff, Mom adjusted the steering wheel, and we were off on the road once again. Just as we were about to do so, he took one last look over and I noticed Mr. McBride hugging Harold all the while crying heavily on his shoulder.
"I LOVE THAT BOY SO MUCH!" he cried, tears pouring down his face. Eventually, they both finally disappeared from view as we headed deeper down through the upper north side of the neighborhood.
"Sorry you had to see that, Lincoln," Clyde said to me, feeling quite embarrassed.
"Nah, don't be sorry, dude," I assured my best friend.
Okay, so in case you haven't already noticed by now; my best friend Clyde was an adopted child. Of course, I never actually knew that until I finally came over to his house one day five years ago, which was around the following weekend after I met him for the first time on that Halloween night. When I finally came face-to-face with Mr. McBride on his doorstep, I thought for a few short seconds that I had come to the wrong house. I looked at the bronze-plated numbers that hung on the white-painted walls and realized that it was indeed the correct address.
It had never once occurred to me at the time that my new best friend was actually adopted. And when I also met Harold's uncle figure, Harold, on that same day as well, I became even more confused. I quickly mistook both him and Mr. McBride for being a married couple, but they assured me that there was no funny business at all going on between the two of them. They were just really close childhood friends who lived in the same house together. They also told me that I was not the first person who thought they were a couple as well.
It turns out, a lot of people in town falsely believed them to be a couple too, so it took them a lot of time and hard work to clear up this big misunderstanding. Oh, and one other thing I should also point out, Harold was not really Clyde's uncle, despite referring to him as such. In fact, even though the two of them were clearly African American, they were not blood related to begin with, which silly little me had not realized before. In truth, Harold was actually Clyde's godfather. I did not know what that meant at first, until Harold explained it to me.
"Ooohhh..." Five-year-old me uttered in fascination.
"I know, sounds pretty clutch, doesn't it?" I remember him saying to me that day with a smile.
So anyway, as Mom drove us deeper into the downtown area, heading closer and closer to our main destination, Clyde and I got to comparing just how much money we made for our current haul. I managed to collect about twenty-five quarters, something I worked very hard to acquire in the last two months, while Clyde said he made about thirty. After that, we got into talking about movies, music, and all that stuff. It was here that I finally got to tell him about the upcoming Garbage Pail Kids Movie. He looked at me with a dumbfounded expression.
"Wait, seriously?" he questioned with a raised yet intrigued eyebrow. I nodded my head in confirmation.
"I asked Lana the exact same question," I said to him. "And it's going to come out this August."
"Oh man! You've got me all amped up now!" Clyde nearly exclaimed.
Yes, he too was also a big fan of the original Garbage Pail Kids trading cards. Though at first, his dad was not too keen on the idea of his adopted son owning anything related to them, given the series' not-so-positive reputation. But he eventually got around and approved. But it still didn't stop him from fainting nauseously at the sight of the gross pictures. In the midst of Clyde's excitement, his demeanor suddenly changed, and he looked at me with a big smile.
I knew from this very expression alone that something just came to his mind.
"Since we're now on the subject of movies," he began. "Did you know that Universal is going to release a fourth Jaws film?" Hearing that made me furrow my brows, and then I blinked confusingly a few times at him.
"Wait, they're what now?" I questioned, now unsure how I should feel about this new information. "Universal is actually making another Jaws movie?"
"Yep," Clyde nodded confirmedly.
"Where'd you hear about that?"
"Oh, I saw a commercial for it just this morning." he explained to her. I looked at my friend unsurely until I shook my head in mild disbelief.
"Come on, dude," I uttered with a slight whine, leaning further back into my seat. "Haven't they beaten the franchise to death already?" After the absolute disaster known infamously as Jaws 3-D, one would think that that was finally the end of it. But if Clyde's words were to be considered, it would seem that I was dead wrong.
"Obviously, Universal doesn't seem to think so," Clyde answered, before shrugging his shoulders. "Whatever makes them a lot of money, I suppose. I mean, I'm probably still going to go see it regardless. But hey, maybe they'll get a lucky break this time around."
"Yeah well, let's hope it does," I grunted, folding my arms across my chest. "The last Jaws movie left a very awful taste in my mouth. So, what's the name of this one? Is it just 'Jaws 4' or something? And when is it supposed to come out?"
"They're calling it, 'Jaws: The Revenge'!" Clyde said in a dramatically scary tone, his hands raised up in front of him to help further emphasize the drama. "And it's going to come out this July."
"Huh. That's only one month before the Garbage Pail Kids Movie." I explained. "Well, here's to hoping for the better, I guess."
"My fingers are crossed, dude." Clyde declared. Right after we finished having our conversation, Mom turned right into another street that intersected between two opposite sidewalks. We eventually found ourselves about to pull up next to the curb in front of one building. Huge smiles grew across our young faces when we recognized where we were. We had finally reached our main destination.
Whereas most teenagers, who went spent their time at the mall, younger kids like Clyde and I, on the other hand, choose to hang out over here at Gus' Games & Grub, our little home away from home, so to speak. It was the town's residential arcade/pizzeria, located right here close to the center of downtown. The building itself stood proudly in front of us, the roof reaching about fourteen feet high above the ground. The red brick walls made up a lot of the exterior, giving it that classic New York-style pizzeria look.
From inside Vanzilla, we could scarcely make out the many arcade machines through the building's large glass windows. Wasting no time, Clyde and I did not bother in waiting for Mom to shut off the van as we unbuckled our seatbelts, opened the side door, and excitedly climbed outside with our respective hauls of change closely in our hands—or inside a fanny pack in Clyde's case. As we entered through the windowed double doors, we were greeted with the warm aromas of garlic and tomato sauce that wafted straight up into our noses.
One Thing Leads to Another by The Fixx could be heard playing in the background at a balanced volume. There were tables and booths lined up against the windows located to our right, and a twenty-two-inch 1985 Mitsubishi TV set with a cable box hung right above the snack bar, the screen aiming right at us. And out in front of us was none other than the Promised Land itself. There were large rows of arcade games—the best ones they had—either lined up against the fake wooden paneled walls or in a circle around each other.
There was even a smallish number of other kids spotted around, which was kind of a surprise to me since I half expected the place to be pact at its maximum capacity possible. Today was Saturday, after all. Clyde and I stood there all caught up in our excitement about what we were going to do that we did not notice Mom walking inside behind us and moving over to the register to order us a table. From here on out, today was going to be nothing but two and a half hours of pure fun.
"You go on ahead and enjoy yourselves, boys!" Mom said to us. "I'll order us a pizza!"
"Can we make that into a large?" I asked.
"Of course, sweety!" she accepted.
"In a New York style thin crust?" Clyde added.
"Absolutely! Whatever you boys want!" Mom said with a smile. Oh, just the magic words I love to hear.
"Thanks, Mom," I said to her. And so, the two of us immediately headed off, leaving Mom behind to order our food from the front desk. In my excitement, I had some trouble trying to figure out which one to play, until Clyde pointed to one that was the closest to us. I could always count on him to navigate for me.
But just as we were about to make a beeline for that nearest game, I noticed from the right-side corner of my eye one kid with a familiar-looking head of blond hair.
"What are you standing around for, Lincoln!" Clyde called out to me. "Come on, let's go, dude!"
"Uh, y-yeah! You go on ahead, Clyde! I'll be with you in a minute!" I spoke. After Clyde looked at me weirdly for a second, but then decided to let it go and went off without me, I stalked over to the smallish blond-haired kid, who appeared to be racking up a large number of points on Out Run. But when I got much closer, I immediately recognized who it was.
"Yes! New high score!" he exclaimed excitedly. I stealthily moved behind him and looked over his shoulder and at the game's pixilated screen, watching his choice of vehicle race down the track, dodging other obstacles in his path. I smirked impressively at how surprisingly great he was doing.
"You keep this up and you'll get your driver's license in no time!" I commented. Simon yelped in surprise, almost jumping right out of his seat, and he whipped around to face me. He relaxed and a smile grew across his chubby face.
"Hey, Lincoln!" he said, climbing out of the arcade game's driver's seat.
"Hey there, Simon!" I said back. Simon Sharp was a tad shorter than me, his age ranging somewhere between eight to ten years old, and he was a bit on the pudgy and rounded side. As mentioned earlier, he had short blond hair. His choice of clothing mainly consisted of a pair of suspenders, a white button-up checkered shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbow, and a bright green padded down vest. Simon reached out and shook his hand in mine.
"What're you doing here?" he asked curiously.
"The same reason any other kind would come to Gus'," I explained, holding up my plastic bag of quarters. "What about you?"
"My mom said that if I did really well in school, she would take thus over here to celebrate," he informed me. I smiled and gently padded him on the shoulder.
"Well, congrats on that, little dude," I said. "Where is your mom and dad right now?" Simon gave me a very odd look before blinking.
"Well, first off, my mom is over there at one of the booths," he said, pointing to the front of the arcade. With the yes of an eagle, I spotted the Sharp mother over at a lone booth in one corner. Strange... How did I notice her until now?
"And second," Simon continued, "my dad couldn't come with us because he woke up sick with a cold this morning." I furrowed my brows in confusion before turning to face him.
"But you just said the 'three' of you," I questioned.
"Yeah," he said as he nodded his head. "Me, Mom, and Sam."
Upon hearing that part, I felt a sense of dread beginning to creep up inside of me.
"S-S-Sam...?" I stuttered almost nervously. "Y-You mean... your sister is here t-too?"
"Yep," Simon confirmed, not even once noticing my abrupt change in demeanor. I gulped down a lump that got stuck in my throat, the palms of my hands starting to sweat, so much so that it felt like my bag was going to slip through my grip.
"A-And where is she right n-now?" I asked.
"Oh, she went over to use the bathroom really quick. She should be back in a minute or so." he told me. But then, he turned to his left side and his chubby face perked up. "Hey look, there she is now." My eyes widened, and it felt like butterflies were now crawling around inside of my stomach.
Do I dare look? I thought to myself, feeling uneasy.
Feeling like I had been possessed for that one moment, my head and body automatically twisted over to the direction where Simon was facing. And lo and behold, what I saw out in front of me made my heart skip a beat inside my scrawny chest. Having just walked out of the girl's bathroom and wiping her wet hands on the sides of her burgundy-colored pants, Simon's older sister Samantha—or just Sam for short—spotted us. But when she laid her pretty eyes on me, I felt like my white-haired head was going to explode all over the arcade.
Sam Sharp was sixteen years old, and she went to the same high school with three of my older sisters: Leni, Luan, and Luna, the third of whom she was very close friends with. Her blond hair appeared soft and feathery, reaching down to the length of her shoulders, and she had a dyed, teal-colored streak in her bangs. Circling around her forehead was a turquoise blue headband, and her clothes came with a white Van Halen T-shirt, a blue acid-washed jean jacket with a small number of rock band buttons around it, and a pair of burgundy-colored pants that had little rips at the knees.
In an overall nutshell, she looked oddly enough like a teenaged punk rock version of Farrah Fawcett.
"Hey there, Lincoln!" she said to me, as she approached over to her little brother and me. The closer and closer she got to our location at each step her boot-covered feet took, the more nervous I was starting to quickly become. It had gotten to the point where my legs were practically shaking like a leaf.
No! Please, no! Not here! Not now! Of all places, why here? I thought to myself. Remember how earlier I talked about Clyde having an unwavering crush on my older sister Lori? Well, I am afraid that I have a confession to make. I wasn't quite sure if my best friend had rubbed off on me or something, but I too found myself feeling the same way for somebody that was older than I was. And that very somebody was none other than the teenage girl who was walking straight towards my direction.
I remembered it so perfectly when it happened. It all went down about a year ago towards the middle of April, I was sitting there on the living room couch watching some good old MTV. But just when things were about to get interesting, the front door of our sung gently open, and in came Luna and a small group of only three of her friends, who were also her bandmates. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention one other thing; Luna was also in a rock band. Moon Goats, they called themselves.
Here I got the chance to meet Sully, the band's keyboard player, and at the time was also Luna's boyfriend. Tall, thin, and he had short brown hair with a near shoulder-length mullet. Next there was Mazzy, the drummer. She too had brown hair, only it was thicker and curlier, and her hangs covered both her eyes. And from the moment I first laid my eyes upon Sam, who stood there close to the doorway, I felt something happen inside of me.
It was a strange feeling, and yet it also felt very familiar. I won't lie when I say that I've had a lot of crushes on other girls in my school. But the crushes I had were now absolutely nothing, mere child's play, compared to what I was feeling that very day. It seemed to have turned all the way up to eleven when Sam and I made first eye contact. I felt like I was staring straight into the beautiful eyes of an equally beautiful angel that came down from Heaven above.
Eyes that seem to have also put me in a hypnotic trance. But then, from out of the blue—and I mean from out of the ding dang blue—Chicago's You're the Inspiration started playing nice and loud on the old Zenith, which did nothing to help my situation whatsoever. Talk about perfect timing.
"You know our love was meant to be!" Peter Cetera sang from the TV screen. "The kind of love to last forever!"
"You must be Lincoln," I remembered her saying to me, reaching her hand out. "Your sister's told me a lot about you."
"Y-Yeah, t-t-that's me," I muttered, struggling to lift up my own hand, which seemed to have become a hundred pounds heavier. "I'm Linka—I mean LINCOLN! It's Lincoln, yes! M-M-My name is Lincoln!" While everyone else just stared at me weirdly, Sam let out a cute little giggle, which made my heart shoot straight up into my throat.
And then when I felt the bare skin of her hand envelope around mine into a handshake, an electrical current ran through my entire body, and I felt like I was going to dissolve into a little puddle right then and there in a matter of seconds. After what felt like an eternity of uncomfortable silence, I finally let go of Sam's hand. At that point, I just needed an excuse to go somewhere more private and think straight. Any excuse at all. So, I very awkwardly walked over to the stairs,
"W-Well," I stammered, nervously adjusting the neck of my shirt. "I d-don't know about y-you guys, but I-I-I just realized that I n-need to use the bathroom! S-So I'm g-g-gonna go upstairs and h-headed on up r-right now! T-To the b-bathroom, I mean! Cause, y-you know! For bathroom s-stuff! Nice t-to meet you guys!" Without a moment to lose, I ran straight up the stairs like the Road Runner and sharply turned to the right side of the hall.
"Um, the bathroom's the other way, bro!" Luna called out to me. Realizing my mistake, I quickly turned around and headed in the other direction.
"R-Right! T-The other way! T-Thanks, Luna!" I stammered again before heading on inside. I leaned my back against the bathroom door, hyperventilating like mad and my heart pounded very fast, almost matching the speed of a jackhammer. I remember putting my hand to my heaving chest until I had calmed down and my heart was at a normal rhythm again.
What in the world just happened back there? I remembered thinking to myself.
Well, I will tell you what had happened, and there was no possible way for me to come up with any other rational idea except for one undeniable truth... I had fallen completely head over heels in love with my sister Luna's best friend, Sam Sharp. And even after a year later, right here in the middle of Gus' Games & Grub, in the beginning of summer vacation no less, it still had a very strong grip on me. I mentally palmed my hand against my face.
Now I know just how Clyde feels.
"Whoa! Hey there, Sam! Simon!" my aforementioned best friend spoke up from out of nowhere, walking over to the three of us. Speak of the devil. "Fancy seeing you guys here!" Yeah… Fancy.
"Hi, Clyde," Sam said. She then looked down and noticed his fanny pack. "Wow. You plan on staying here long too?"
"Oh, absolutely," Clyde confirmed. "Lincoln and I are gonna be here until we're flat broke. You guys are more than welcome to join us." I turned to face my best friend, wide eyed and mouth almost agape. Dude, what are you doing?!
"Can we, sis?" Simon asked his sister. "Pleeeease? Please, please, please can we?" I looked back over to the blond-haired punk rocker, who appeared to be deeply contemplating Clyde's offer. I will admit that a part of me actually did want her to join us and have fun. But at the same time, the other half was straight up begging for her to say no just so I could enjoy myself without any distractions. After what felt like an eternity, Sam looked at us with that cute-looking smile of hers.
"Sure, I don't see any problem with that." she said, shrugging her shoulders, while mine just sagged in defeat. Simon then turned to us with a gleeful look in his eyes.
"What are you guys waiting for?" he said before taking off. "Come on, let's go!"
"Wait up a moment, dude!" Clyde called out to him as he started to give chase.
"No—Clyde, wait!" I half exclaimed. But it was too late, and he disappeared into the small crowed other kids along with Simon, leaving me behind with my teenaged crush. I gulped again and looked over to Sam, trying not to lose composure at the very heavenly sight of her.
"So, what do you want to play, dude?" she asked me cheerily.
"Um, I-I don't know," I admitted. "What g-game do you wanna play?" She then looked around the arcade until she spotted the one that appeared to catch her eye.
"How about some Donkey Kong?" she offered. I quickly nodded my head, my still racing heart beating like a hummingbird's.
"S-Sure, l-let's go and d-do that!" I said.
"Radical, dude! Race you there!" And with that, Sam immediately darted over to the Donkey Kong arcade machine, making sure that she had not to bump into anybody along the way. I took a slow deep breath and then exhaled all the air out of my lungs before I slowly stalked over to Sam's location of the arcade.
Oh man… I mentally said to myself. This is going to be a very interesting day for me. Not quite sure if that's a good thing or not though. Guess I'm gonna have to wait and see what happens then.
It was like people always say; one thing leads to another. And that Saturday afternoon was definitely it.
