Chapter 15: Life Is Better Loud
Lynn Sr and the Loud sisters sat mere feet away from Rita. Nobody wanted to move at the chance that something might go wrong. Bobby and Ronnie Anne were worried to say the least. Bobby had walked into the Mercado to get back to his job stocking some canned foods when he had noticed the dead silence in the store. Ronnie Anne was also fearful as she had known Rita's personality for a good few years at this point. And it was a line that she never wanted to cross.
Rita had took noticed of the emotions showed on her family and Lynn Sr's in particular. Lynn Sr had a more fearful expression on his face as he had never bothered to call his wife to inform that him and the sisters were good. Lynn Sr wanted to walk towards his wife and comfort her but found it difficult to even move his body.
Rita took a sharp inhale to process what was going on around her.
"Listen, I know you guys left to go find Lincoln and that's okay. But why didn't anyone of you try to call me? I had been worried about Lincoln for the past 3 days and it pained me to know he was missing. Out there walking the streets of Royal Woods searching for a better family. Did you think I wanted Lincoln to leave us? BECAUSE I DIDN'T WANT HIM TOO. AND NOW HE HATES US. HE HATES ME!" Rita proceeded to cry in her hands as Lynn Sr walked over to comfort her.
"Now honey, we all know Lincoln doesn't hate us. But I think he's unsure about our current situation."
"What do you mean?" Rita asked looking up from her hands, while mascara was running along her face.
"What I mean is the things our daughters did to Lincoln really made him upset and hurt about his sisters. You know about the whole Sister Fight Protocol, the Bad Luck Incident, and a few other things. Things even I myself am not proud of. I think what Lincoln wants more than ever is the family back."
Rita had understood her husbands' words as her tears had dried up at this point. She gave him a strong and loving hug and they shared a kiss.
Rita then turned her attention over to her daughters. A gut wrenching feeling was still brewing inside of her as she had never apologized to her daughters for saying those disgusting words that she never wanted to remember. All their faces read remorse and guilt at the same time. She had even noticed Lisa and Lucy were showing signs of emotion as well, something she took a mental note of.
Rita had cleared her throat as her hands were trembling a little.
"Girls..." Rita started already feeling the tears start to build up again. "...I know what you did with Lincoln that day was awful and I know you guys don't always get along...but I'm glad you guys went looking for him. It makes me happy to see you guys go after your brother like that. B-but I do wanna address what I said to you guys. I-I'm really sorry a-about the words and just know I l-love you girls very much..." Rita stammered through tears. Finally able to let out the words she had been waiting to say ever since the family left.
"Mom..." Lori started "we all love you. You know we wouldn't trade it for the world."
"Yeah!" Leni said "without you, how would I be able to know the difference between my summer and fall outfits!"
"You are a rockin' Mom" Luna said "you're the reason for me to pursue music and I couldn't thank ya enough for that!"
"And while not as much as Dad, you still laugh at my jokes! And I'll always appreciate that!" Luan said.
"Sigh, and since you have wrote some books in your life you were able to give me ideas for my other poems. Thank you." Lucy spoke with her usual emotionless tone.
"And you've been such a big help making me mud pies. And did tea parties with Lola, ew" Lana said, with the last sentence uttered under her breath.
"Whatever. Mommy, you are the best in the whole world I wouldn't never trade you for anyone else. You or Daddy!" Lola exclaimed.
"Female parental figure, aka Mom, while my genius is undoubtedly overshadowed by our family or your familial needs, I do understand that you love each and every one of us, and that does apply to me as well." Lisa said with a smile on her face.
All of her daughters giving her such praise and integrity made the tears break free from her eyes as she gave her daughters a group hug.
Lynn Sr had admired the scene in front of him not before joining in the hug himself, while Bobby and Ronnie Anne sat from afar watching the scene take place.
"Hey Ronnie." Bobby said.
"Yeah?" Ronnie Anne questioned.
"Have you seen Lincoln today? I never heard him once get up this morning. And I would know because he wakes up early."
"Well, no. I had came down here at around 7:00 AM this morning so I'm not sure."
"Well just let me know if you hear from him. I'm getting kinda worried about that kid."
"Yeah, I kinda am too."
Once everything was all settled down, Rita had wiped the tears from her eyes after finally reuniting with her family again. It felt good spilling out all of her emotions as she had kept them bottled up for a few days. The guilt was too much for her to take and she needed to confront her family pronto.
The thing that struck Rita as odd was the lack of Lynn or Lily. But one quick look at Luna's arms showed she was peacefully napping. It had looked as if Lily was asleep for an hour at that point. But she was certainly confused about Lynn's absence from the family which prompted a quick response from Lynn Sr.
"Oh yeah, she's planning for her big game tonight."
"What kind of game is it?" Rita asked.
"I think it's baseball or something." Lori replied.
Rita knew all of her daughters very well. Knew them inside and out. But even she was perplexed why Lynn had a game tonight and didn't even bother asking her own mother. But she decided to brush it off, not wanting to dwell on the information.
But she also knew that was still one more Loud not present in the Mercado. And she knew exactly where they were. It was one of the reasons she even came here in the first place.
Lincoln Loud.
She needed to find him as soon as possible because there were a few things that she needed to get off her chest as well. But for Lincoln, it was going to be a lot more awkward for her. She hadn't seen Lincoln since the day before he left and she was planning on doing fun things with the family during the summer, but all of that had to be put on hold.
Lincoln was her main priority.
Rita had ran up to the front counter to ask Bobby where Lincoln is. She knew Bobby had already told her that Lincoln was with The Casagrandes but she didn't know where he was specifically.
"How about you check upstairs? That's where he usually stays." Bobby suggested, pointing outside of the door as that's where the household is located.
"And before you forget, here's our room number. It should make things easier for ya." Ronnie Anne said, giving Rita a small piece of paper with a sincere smile.
She thanked them both and made her way out the door and inside the apartment to go find Lincoln. There were a plethora of doors leading to other rooms but needed to find the right one. She glanced at the piece of paper and scanned the rest of the apartment looking for the exact room.
And she found it.
The door was closed, and it sounded like nothing was on the other side. But Rita knew better. Lincoln has had his door shut plenty of times back home and it's almost always quiet in there, so she knew this was normal.
She thought about knocking on the door, but wanted to try opening it first. And to her surprise, the door opened first try. A long creaking noise drowned out Rita's heartbeat pumping in her chest, as nervousness covered her whole body.
Creaaaak
Rita had peered though the door noticing the room she was looking in was dark, the light from the windows being the only light source. She had took notice of a video game system plugged into a widescreen TV and an empty bowl on the dining table right next to a box of store-brand cereal. She knew these were Lincoln's stuff. She just couldn't believe that Lincoln was actually staying here. And not giving his family a single thought. A slight shiver ran through her spine as she quietly shut the door. Lincoln wasn't here.
Rita was left dumbfounded as her own son wasn't even in the area where she thought he would be. She slowly made her way back down the stairs to go back to the Mercado, still having the thoughts of Lincoln running through her mind.
By the time Rita had entered through the Mercado doors, everyone in the store had already had their eyes glued to her, waiting for a response that was surely soon to come.
"He's not there." Rita said bluntly.
"What do you mean he's not there?" Bobby questioned. "I totally saw him right before I left the room. There's no way."
"You literally can't be serious Mom." Lori stated with concern in her eyes "I talked with him last night. We had a heart to heart moment. Are you sure you didn't check harder?"
"Honey please tell me you're lying." Lynn Sr said clasping his hands together, praying that Lincoln was still in there."
"I'm sorry." Rita admitted "I checked the living room but the lights were out and it was really quiet in there."
Everyone was disappointed that Rita wasn't able to see her son, and so was Rita. But that also brought up another question:
Where is he?
They thought Lincoln couldn't go far at this point since he had only left the room about an hour at this point. So there was only one option left that made everyone turn.
"I will go find Lincoln!" Rita said, pointing a finger up in the air to prove her point.
"Are you sure? Don't you want us to go with y-?"
"No Lynn. I need to find my baby." Rita stated.
As Rita once again left the Mercado, she was now on a mission. A mission that she won't soon forget. One thing and only one thing was on her mind at the time.
She needed to confront her son.
Royal Woods, Michigan 12:00 PM
Lincoln made his way down the streets of the place he's all too familiar with. He carried his backpack over his right shoulder as he was making his way to his friend, Clyde McBride's house. He hadn't seen him in quite some time and was wanting to play the new Ace Savvy game they had been talking about for the past 2 weeks.
He had thought about letting Clyde visit over Ronnie Anne's place to play but he had thought about Ronnie Anne's big family and shook of the idea. All he wanted was to visit his friend for a few hours and go back to the Casagrande household.
Lincoln knew his family was down at the Mercado, but didn't want to go down there in fear that some of the sisters would berate him for not attending to their needs. Especially Leni. But he knew it was an endeavor that he would have to be willing to face sooner or later, but he still was unsure. He had made amends with his Dad, Lola, Lori, and somewhat Lynn. But he would just have to see.
But the idea of Lynn's game popped back up into his mind. He knew it was later on this night. He knew he agreed to go watch her play, but a part of him was still uneasy about the consequences. He remembered about the Bad Luck Incident, and that's kinda how it all started. Lynn lost her game and she blamed it on Lincoln. He was just hoping that it would never happen again.
Lincoln proceeded to walk on Clyde's sidewalk to knock on the door.
Knock Knock Knock
...
After a few seconds Clyde opened the door.
"Hey Lincoln what's up?"
"Hey Clyde. Listen, I was wondering if I could play the new Ace Savvy game with you?"
"Of course buddy, come on in. My dads actually made me some oatmeal cookies."
"Sweet! Sounds awesome!"
As Lincoln shut the door behind him he had a lot of catching up to do with Clyde.
And Rita had a lot of catching up to do with Lincoln.
A/N: Well, didn't expect a chapter so soon did ya? Neither did I! This chapter took some time. I was actually busy babysitting for a couple of hours but found time to get around and finish this. Anyways, in Chapter 16 we'll see Lincoln and Clyde hanging out and hopefully Rita's confrontation with her son. Be sure to favorite, follow, and leave a review! Hope you all have a good rest of your day! Bye :)
