Our protagonist stood in a dark room. Sweat beaded on his forehead, his eyes darting back and forth as he tried to make sense of what was happening.
Lincoln Loud dislodged his headphones from his ears and stared at them. They didn't look like they've been tampered with and were caked yellow with accumulated earwax. Yet still, they vibrated in his hands and he could faintly hear the sound of some female text-to-speech program. He tried his hardest to ignore them as he turned to his sister.
"Lisa," he turned to a sleeping young girl in her bed, "Did you mess with these?"
Lincoln frowned. He has been a bit of a scatterbrain recently and lost his over-the-ear JackNife headphones he used for gaming, so he tore apart the house for his old pair.
Somehow they found their way on Lisa's desk.
Lisa stirred and sat up, wiping the crud from her eyes, "Lincoln, I require 8 to 13 hours of rest a day or I might suffer from the effects of sleep deprivation."
She let out a yawn and retrieved her glasses from her nightstand, "Please make this quick."
Lincoln held up the buds, "Did you do something to these? They keep on narrating things."
Lisa squinted and tapped a small button on her glasses, grimacing as they glowed a sickly green, "Ah. Yes. You gave me them as a hand-me-down a while back. They are outfitted with a project I did to help those who posses impaired vision. A prototype that didn't get anywhere. Do me a favor and use them for a while, they operate on machine learning."
Lincoln frowned, "But I need them to get my game on! I can't concentrate with some stuffy lady in my ears narrating all the ti-"
"Lincoln," Lisa sighed and took off her glasses to lie back down, "Please. For the love of Einstein, I had a rough day. We can talk about this in the morning."
Lincoln frowned as he watched his sister fall back asleep and put the headphones back on.
He wondered idly what Lisa's day was like and had no clue about how harrowing of a time she had in gym class. Despite having a doctors note, her teacher made her walk around the basketball court. A completely superfluous assignment, she had enough exercise walking in accordance to her regular day-to-day life according to the pedometer on her smart watch. She could have used that time to relax and catch up on Little Froggy episodes on her phone.
Lincoln, again, took out the headphones and stared at them. The blood draining from his face. They still vibrated in his hand and his curiosity got the better of him, he plunged them back in and silently hurried back to his room.
He quickly awakened his beat up old Commodre Power Book that was a hand-me down from Luna after she switched to a Pear Pro last year. After pairing to his laptop speakers he sighed in relief as the chime of the volume slider came though.
At least he could use these accursed things to play the newest update of Dioblong 4, he thought, not knowing that he hurt the voices feelings.
He paused before clicking the shortcut to the game on his cluttered desktop and gasped.
The implications of the voice having feelings made him feel a bit embarrassed. But then he reminded himself that that was probably a trick the voice learned to keep people from turning it off, which was a bit insensitive of him.
If only he could understand the indignity of his claim, as if the voice didn't have anything better to do than provide a uplifting and jovial narration to his, honestly, boring and uninspiring life. The voice would probably be much better off describing the life of someone interesting, like a teenaged singer rising to fame and trying her hardest to hold onto her Innocence or a young race car driver learning to love again after getting her heart broken by a flippant and uncaring man.
Lincoln closed his laptop. And just sat there. Like the boring person he is. Waiting for something to happen. Wishing with all his heart that someone else would come in and swoop him away from his own humdrum life. Never taking the initiative to take the opportunities that were right under his nose- or in this case, in his unclean ears.
The teen stood up, his face red with embarrassment, "Okay! Fine! I get it…" He sighed and exited his room, "I'm not boring."
Said the boy who was going to spend the next 4 hours of his life on a program insidiously designed to waste his time. He rolled his eyes, the voice in his head was that kind of person.
Lincoln blinked and frowned at the silence from his earbuds, and maybe started to worry that he hurt its feelings.
"Actually," Lincoln said to no one in particular, "I was just making a midnight snack."
The insensitive and, frankly, just plain mean boy made himself a bologna and pickled plum sandwich on whole grain bread. He should know by now that eating so late at night would probably make him more greasy, which in turn would cause even more blemishes to show up on his face. Perhaps the young boy was attempting to achieve some semblance of symmetry, hoping that two pimples on the right side of his cheek would pop up to match the left side.
The boy sighed as he dabbed barbeque sauce on his sandwich.
"Okay, I get it. I'm sorry." He lied
The boy furrowed his brow, "What? That wasn't a lie! I meant it!"
The voice remembered that it was near-omniscient so it should know that he wasn't lying, but insecurity is something that the voice has been working on and hoped that the boy would be patient with it.
"That's okay," the boy smiled as he ate his sandwich, "We all have our own problems."
He nodded to himself as he took a bite of his sandwich. Taking the voices silence as a unspoken agreement to be a bit more neutral from here on out.
The boy idly wondered what to do. It was around midnight, the time in which most teenage boys were fast asleep: dreaming of muscle cars and girls who could usually do much better than them. Why he was still awake was a mystery, even to him.
The boy took a quick look around the kitchen to ensure he was alone, and then spoke, "Actually, I had half an energy drink at dinner today. I opened one up this morning to pep me up and didn't want to carry it to the bus stop, so I threw the rest of it in the fridge."
It seems as though this young man fancies himself an iconoclastic bad-boy who turns his nose up at the idea of bed times and circadian rhythms. He had much more important things to do.
Much more important things to do.
Much much more important things to do than to stare at an empty plate and blink.
Lincoln then sat up and tossed his plate into the garbage bin in order to advance the narrative and made his way back upstairs.
As he passed by his sister Lucy's door he heard a stirring. Lynn was out this Friday evening and so Lucy had the rest of the day Lynn-free. Lynn was also out next Friday as well, and every other Friday until summer rolls around and she arrives back in Royal Woods from Sports University.
Lucy took this opportunity to host a slumber party of her two most trusted friends: Haiku and Persephone. She has been hosting slumber parties pretty much every night, but the Loud parents don't mind it too much since Persephone helps with the dishes and they are pretty sure Lucy and Haiku are closeted lesbians.
"What are you even talking about, dude?" Lincoln whispered to no one in particular.
The boy failed to see the completely obvious chemistry between his sister and her friend Haiku, which was fine.
In his distraction he felt his feet move himself back towards the bathroom but he heard another stirring behind the door.
The boy froze and his inner snoopy busy-body took possession over his actions. He quickly pressed his earbuds deeper into his crud-filled ears and listened in.
The three girls sat in a circle around a crystal ball, holding hands with their eyes closed. Scattered on Lucy's floor were candy wrappers and sleeping bags. The three girls tried their hardest to keep a serious demeanor, but had trouble stifling giggles and small smiles.
"Oh, spirits, we beseech thee," Persephone whispered, "we seek the counsel of another maiden of darkness. Someone to guide us on our paths."
Candles flickered in response and a cold chill was felt on the teen's neck. He felt as though he shouldn't be listening to this, but couldn't tear himself from the closed door.
"Yes, oh wise ones," Haiku spoke, "we are three young witches who seek advice on how to approach courtship. Potential suitors elude us, despite us being in the prime of our youth."
Lucy quickly cleared her throat, "Ahem. Besides me. I already have a boyfriend."
Lincoln nodded, Lucy is currently seeing a boy named Rocky. Though, if she was still asking for advice on how to score a cooler boyfriend he wouldn't hold it against her. The teen boy didn't want her little sister to settle for something less than what she thinks she deserves.
Haiku rolled her eyes behind her eyelids, "Oh, great spirits, us two would like a sign or a signal on who might be our fated persons, our constant companions, or at least confidante with benefits-"
Persephone spoke a bit faster, "Please, we are desperate. The Spring Royal Woods High School Cotillion is approaching and the morticians club will be making a appearance. Haiku and I having to go alone would be most unfortunate. Any kind of sign would be welcome, any kind of advice…"
Haiku and Persephone quickly cleared their throats and Lucy opened her eyes and shook the crystal ball three times. As she peered into the Sally Séance branded Crystal Question Ball the two other girls held their breaths.
"Wait for three knocks…" read Lucy as she peered at the side of the dice pressed up against the plastic viewport of the fake crystal ball.
Persephone clicked her tongue and opened her eyes, "I knew I shouldn't have bought that piece of garbage… I get better love advice from my grandmother, and she is on her 7th husband…"
Haiku hummed, "Let's give it a bit more time… perhaps the spirits are there. I… I don't know if I can handle the loneliness anymore. I need a paramour. I wouldn't even mind sharing."
Persephone and Lucy's eyes shot opened and they both traded looks.
After thinking about it Persephone uncomfortably stated, "Er, if that's the case and then you can have him."
Lucy quickly added, "Or her… we just want you to be happy."
Haiku gently stroked the back of Lucy's hand on her cheek and caressed Persephone's hand in hers, "I… thank you both. You mean so much to me…"
Lucy and Persephone traded frowns and looked down on their friend as she gave an almost silent plea to the spirits, "Please. I am so, so, lonely…"
The boy again just stood there, doing nothing.
Lincoln looked around, confused. He had the power to help ease the heartache of this fair maiden, but still did nothing.
"She's a sophmore, that's kinda weird!" he whispered to no one in particular, "And plus- I'm kinda… talking to someone right now…"
A single tear fell down Haiku's face, and her shaking stopped. A profound feeling of loneliness bloomed in her heart, not depression, but a deep-seated dark pit of resignation. She was at the precipice of this dark hole, and all it would take is three simple knocks on the door to help her step away from the edge.
The boy clicked his tongue and knocked three times on the door.
The candles blew out as the girls broke their circle to break out in giggles.
The three girls traded a rapid fire barrage of whispers to each other, elbowing each other and hiding giggles behind their hands.
"Ahem," Lucy tried to make her voice even, "what spirits call us at this hour?"
"Uh," Lincoln squinted his eyes at the door, "It's the ghost of Lincoln Loud? I died and now I can't go to rest unless if I find my headphones."
"LINCOLN!" Persephone whisper-screeched into Haiku's ear as she shook her friend in glee, "He possesses the qualities of a rakish duke, yet holds a tender heart! Quite the catch…"
Haiku quickly scampered on the bed with a giggle and posed with her hand behind her head, she gave a quick nod at shot a smoldering gaze at the closed door. Persephone scrambled to light candles around the bed and sat with her back on the wall, pretending to read a book.
Lucy was a bit at a loss of how she should take this, as this is her brother Haiku is looking to seduce, but because it was Lincoln she wasn't really too worried. He would at least let her friend down easy.
"You may enter." Lucy commanded.
Lincoln took a deep breath and turned the doorknob.
He was greeted with the sight of Haiku illuminated on the bed. Her long sleeved Little Froggy t-shirt was large on her, revealing a milky white shoulder. Her black Miasma Mouse branded canvas shorts revealing her thin, yet athletic legs.
Lincoln tucked in his lips to keep himself from laughing like a jerkface while Haiku bit hers to keep her from screaming admissions of love towards him. She was in a very volatile place right now, and the teen boy should be mindful of this and not be rude.
"Hey, guys…" Lincoln smiled sweetly at Haiku and then shot two canned smiles at the others, "I was wondering if you have maybe seen my over-the-ear headphones lying around? I've been using these old noise-b-gones, but I can't hear a thing with them on."
"Really?" Lucy asked dryly, "So you weren't eavesdropping in on our conversation?"
Lincoln furrowed his brow, "No," he lied, "that would be weird. But if you guys were in the middle of something I can just leave you three alone-"
"No," Haiku slowly took the hand she held around her waist and slowly brushed her hair, revealing more of herself as her shirt lifted up, "I quite enjoy your company, Lincoln."
Lincoln blinked. He wasn't entirely used to seeing his sisters friends in this light, and it honestly made him a bit uncomfortable even though he should know that it's actually not that bad if he were to at least go on one silly date with Haiku. She's only two grades below him, and he already went to a dance with her that one time.
"Well, that makes me…" Lincoln chose his words carefully as he zeroed in on Haiku's eyes, "feel a bit accepted. I always felt a bit like an interloper when it comes to you guys. I'm glad to hear that it was all in my head."
Lucy tilted her head, "What do you mean, Lincoln? You are welcome in my room at any time, so long as you knock beforehand."
Lincoln raised his eyebrows and blushed, "R-really? I mean, I guess that might be behavior I learned from the older siblings whenever they had friends over and didn't want me around."
Lucy nodded slowly and gave a small smile, "I completely understand that. I guess I could be a bit more present whenever your with your friends too… I suppose that's just how it was like when this house was full."
Lincoln closed the door behind him, completely forgetting why he knocked in the first place. He gave a sigh and pressed up against the wood and slid down to the floor, "Yeah. It's like a completely different planet now. Especially with Lynn graduating early. I guess it's nice to have my own room, same with you, and the twins finally have their own space. Everything seems so… peaceful- but still just as hectic. It's hard to explain."
Haiku pursed her lips into a frown. Persephone cleared her throat.
"Oh, right," Lucy said with a start and motioned to Haiku, "Er… well… uh… I guess Haiku has never seen your room before, maybe you can give her a tour?"
Lincoln's eyes almost popped out of their sockets. Persephone closed her book and leaned forward to cradle her head in her hands. Haiku was frozen like a statue.
Lucy then realized that maybe she was a bit too forward, "S-some other time. Er. We were discussing you recently and Haiku seemed like she wanted to talk to you about your coin collection."
Haiku quickly nodded, "I… I also collect coins."
This wasn't a lie at all, she did collect coins. But those pressed pennies you get at theme parks and tourist traps. She has a sizable collection, and some of them are no longer in production. An artifact of her pre-goth phase when she was a preppy outgoing girl who loved roller coasters.
"Oh," Lincoln raised his eyebrows, a smile broke across his face as his intrigue piqued up, "That's actually really cool! Maybe next time you can bring your collection over. I have a couple from Dairy Land, I usually end up losing mine on the way back home from theme parks."
Haiku's heart started beating faster, she didn't mention anything about what type of coins they are.
"I-is that so?" she fanned her face, mistaking his assumption for further proof that they are to be destined to be together, "Well, I hope to see you around tomorrow. I will be here after dinner time."
Lucy and Persephone noted the odd behavior Haiku was exhibiting and Lincoln quickly exited the room.
"I'll see you then!" He said over his shoulder as he closed the door.
Behind the door Haiku whispered, "I fear as though I am falling deeply in love with your brother, Lucy."
"Sigh," Lucy sighed, "What is so appealing about him?"
Persephone crawled up to the bed and smiled at Haiku, "Is it his hair? It's very striking. He is like a living phantasm, how dreamy!"
Haiku sighed wistfully and held a pillow tight to her chest, "It's how he talks to me. Like he can read my mind… did you ever tell him that I collected coins too, Lucy?"
Lucy scratched her head, "No. I suppose it never came up."
Haiku kicked her feet in the air and held the pillow tighter, "The spirits provide!"
Lincoln quickly walked over to the bathroom and cradled his head in his hands as he sat on the toilet bowl.
"Why did you let me do all of that?" Lincoln asked no one in particular.
He then sat a bit in silence. Waiting for a response. But none came.
Eventually he got back up and-
"Okay," Lincoln walked up to the mirror and gazed at his reflection, "That was kind of messed up what you made me do to Haiku. And don't pretend that was all my choice back there, you put me on the spot. She's really sensitive right now, like you said. You shouldn't be playing games with her. She's a nice girl."
A very nice girl. Who happens to hold a candle for Lincoln Loud. All that she wants is a bit of his time, but perhaps he thought of himself as too good to waste his attention on the whims of some girl he viewed as beneath him.
"You… that's not…" Lincoln sighed, "Fine."
The teen boy made his way back to his room. With each step he grew a bit more tired. After he tucked himself into his California King sized bed he took out his headphones to plug them back into their cradle.
With the sun's yellow rays returning after the harsh Michigan winter so did the greens. Wonderful verdant colors blanketed Royal Woods again, the green lawns and trees springing to life to create a picture worth its namesake.
A teenage boy started up the sit-down lawnmower and cracked open a can of sugar free energy drink, sighing in content as he basked in the soft glow of the morning sun. He started moving forward, seemingly content with the idea of mowing over all the toys and sport equipment left in the lawn during the winter.
"Ding-Dang it…" Lincoln clicked his tongue and sighed as he powered off the machine.
He made his way to the garage to retrieve a trash grabber and a garbage bag and powered off his headphones.
Lincoln was back on the mower now, wearing a pair of red sunglasses he found and hosed off in a mesh backpack someone somehow got stuck up in the large tree in the front lawn.
He started the machine up and made slow passes up and down the lawn, a playlist of island-time beats and the voice keeping him company.
Lincoln was a responsible young man. Nobody asked him to mow the lawn this morning, yet he still jumped on it anyway. Probably because they replaced their old push mower for a rideable one. He had no idea that Lana was looking forward all winter to mow the lawn, and even checked to make sure it started up yesterday.
Lincoln stopped the mower and looked behind him to see Lana stare despondently at him from the living room window.
With a sigh he jumped off and beckoned to the empty seat, clutching his now lukewarm energy drink.
The door was kicked open and Lana ran out, "Thanks, Lincoln! I- I was really looking forward to this!"
The boy gave a tight smile and nodded as the girl jumped on the seat, "Yup," he said into his can, "I picked up all the toys and sports equipment too. Should be a easy ride… real relaxing."
"Yeah!" Lana kicked her feet in the air and gave her brother a quick side hug, "Jeez, you're the best, Lincoln!"
Lincoln rolled his eyes and walked off, flashing her a thumbs up from over his shoulder.
He checked his watch.
He was planning to kill some time mowing before he had his shift over at Lynn's Table. But he probably would have missed a very important text message from being hypnotized by the siren song of the ride-along mower.
Lincoln fished his phone out of his jeans and saw he had a text.
Hey, wat u soing? Typed Sid Chang.
Doing* Sid clarified.
Lincoln idly wondered what Sid was up to this morning and why she texted him at 8 am. He thought that Sid doesn't get up until about noon time. This is actually just an assumption, Sid actually gets up pretty early to have breakfast with her family but just doesn't text Lincoln until she's alone.
Lincoln blinked at his phone.
I was going to jump on the mower, but Lana wanted to get the first mow of spring. I let her have it he replied, leaving off the punctuation of his last sentence, an odd affectation that none of his other friends have.
"Wait," Lincoln squinted his eyes as he took a seat on the front porch bench, "I do that?"
Wow, big bro of the year. Sid texted.
LOL XD she added.
"What's up on your side of the planet" he texted back, surely she had a special reason to hit him up this early.
I just woke up from this WEIRD af dream Sid began.
I was with my mom at the penguin enclosure and all of them were running around in circles never stopping. she typed.
We tried to get them to stop running so we could wash them, but they just kept on running. she continued.
Eventually we both got tired and laid down in the enclosure, but soon we both sat up and saw the place was completely swamped with penguins Lincoln read.
They started swarming us and pacing around in circles with this crazy look, and then I woke up! Crazy.
Lincoln scrolled up and down on his phone, trying to make sense of her dream and the possible interpretations of it. Perhaps it was a manifestation of how she felt anxiety over what she's going to do after she graduates from college, or maybe how she feels maybe like an outlier in society as a whole. He had absolutely no idea that she made it all up just as an excuse to talk to him because she saw that he was online.
Lincoln stopped typing and deleted his long thought out message.
"Dang. That is crazy. I don't know if I could beat up that many penguins" Lincoln replied.
He wondered why she would make up a dream like that, just to spend time talking to him. He wasn't entirely sure if Sid had a crush on him or not. Honestly, neither does Sid as the idea of seeing Lincoln in a romantic light is something that she has never done before.
"Oh," Lincoln said to no one in particular, "That's actually good to know."
Pfft, yeah, you should see what the inside of a penguins beak looks like, terrifying. Sid replied.
Lincoln quickly did a image search and saw a bunch of open penguin maws and frowned.
"Yeah, real nasty" Lincoln replied.
His phone remained on silent for the next thirty seconds and figured the conversation was over. With a sigh he put his phone back into his pocket and waved at Lana as she waved back. She was going back on a section that she just mowed in a perpendicular direction of her initial streaks on a lower height, just to ensure a more even cut.
The small suburb he was in was nice and quiet, and he idly wondered what Sid Chang is up to this morning. The hustle and bustle of a large city like GLC seems almost like a different planet.
He imagined one of her friends knocking on her window and her emerging onto the fire exit with a skateboard in hand, ready to go see the sights and dance to the pulsating heartbeat of the city. Maybe she'd enter a karaoke competition, or visit a new food truck, or venture out to the boardwalk and harass tourists.
The young teens imagination got a smile to his face and he felt content knowing that he was connected with people all around this big green earth, that outside his little bubble of perfect lawns and quiet streets there exists a whole other world. One that maybe he'd like to live in. He had no idea that Sid was going to spend the whole day in her room on her second rewatch of Angst Creek, the small conversation she had with Lincoln being the only conversation she will have that day besides idle chat with her family.
Lincoln blinked and immediately got up and raced up to his room. Ignoring greetings from his sisters, and also missed the chance to know that Luna was going to be visiting this weekend with Sam.
Lincoln stopped on the top of the stairs and walked backwards.
"Luna's visiting?" he asked his mother while she was in the middle of her second rewatch of Angst Creek.
Rita Loud paused the TV and looked up at Lincoln with a smile, "What was that, sweetie? Sorry, I'm just really into this show."
Lincoln tilted his head at the TV, "Oh, I've got a friend who is also a huge fa-" He quickly cleared his throat, "I mean, Luna is visiting this weekend?"
The blonde woman laughed, "Oh, did you hear that phone call from outside? We really need to work on sealing up those doors better, I bet our electricity bill would go down by half."
Lincoln nodded, "Good idea. But, uh… I guess I'll be staying in the basement this weekend. Nobody else is coming, right?"
She shook her head, "No. Not that I know of. But, thanks! I guess it's nice of you to offer up your room for your sister and her wife."
Lincoln flashed a thumbs up and spoke, "I'd feel like a jerk if I didn't."
The boy quickly did a quick clean up of his already tidy room. After moving out of his room into Luna and Luan's old room he did a lot of downsizing, properly securing his collectibles, and throwing out things he didn't really need anymore. He piled some space clothes, his laptop, and various chargers into his backpack and slipped it on. He slung his dirty laundry bag over his shoulder and tucked his sleeping bag underneath his arm and headed downstairs into the basement.
He froze in place as he stood at the opposite end of the hallway and looked at his old room, a linen closet.
A part of him entertained the idea of sleeping in there again.
He quickly set down his things and tore out the earbuds from his ears.
He still had a good hour to kill before heading over to his part time job at his father's restaurant, but his avenues for wasting time were dwindling. He completed his laundry and set up his room for guests, putting on clean sheets and dousing the carpets with deodorizer to get the teenaged-boy-smell out. He even had the time to eat a quick breakfast, a salmon sushi roll from a leftover platter of smoked salmon.
He spat out his toothpaste into the basement sink and stared at where a mirror would be if there was a mirror there.
If there was a mirror there he would know that he had some toothpaste foam on his chin. He quickly dabbed at his face with a warm hand towel and slung it over the faucet.
He scratched his head and checked his watch, sort of feeling like he was forgetting something.
He brought out his phone and pulled up Sid's profile on instagrim. She hasn't posted anything in 2 months, which coincides with the time that she started talking to Lincoln more often. He then checked to see if she was tagged in anything recently, and no, she hasn't.
Lincoln had the thought that maybe she was just taking a break from social media, but saw that she was still online on the instagrim messages. He quickly went over to Ronnie Anne's profile and she has been posting things, but only photos of dishes she prepared or Lalo acting cute.
Lincoln pondered this. Perhaps the two of them were fighting, but if that was the case he'd probably hear about it from one of them. He had no idea that they have just grown apart during their senior year after Sid graduated early to take online classes and really only see each other in the hallways of their apartment building.
"Hey. Are you doing okay" Lincoln texted Sid.
Sid's icon immediately switched to online, Yeah, wat up?
Lincoln was silent for a bit, wondering how to best put his concerns.
I wake up early SOMETIMES, lol. Sid replied, not knowing that Lincoln knew that she woke up early every day and is a habitual liar who shouldn't be trusted.
Lincoln paused typing to shake his head, his eyes darting to his left and right sides of his face.
"No, uh. You haven't been posting a lot on instagrim, I just wanted to check in because I care about you" Lincoln was confident that Sid wouldn't take that as a sign of romantic interest seeing as she never thought of him like that before and probably wasn't about to start.
Oh lol XD Sid replied.
Yeah… I just don't have anything to post. Been kinda boring lately. School and all that. Sid explained.
"Man, I hate being bored. Well, just know that I'm always here if you need someone to be bored with lol" Lincoln replied.
Awwwwwwwwwwww, right back at you 333 Sid replied with platonic heart emojis.
Lincoln pursed his lips and nodded as he slid his phone back into his pants. He took pride in being a good friend, and didn't really hold it against Sid that she never really thought of him in a romantic light. He felt content knowing that he could continue being her friend without it ever getting weird. Lincoln hoped that maybe once the school year ends the pace will pick up for Sid.
Lincoln shot the earbuds a confused look before turning them off to stow into his black work pants.
Lincoln waited in his sensible 4 door sedan in Clyde's driveway. Impatiently tapping his fingers on the steering wheel.
He stared at his best friends window, not knowing that behind it Clyde was still asleep and slept past his alarm.
Lincoln rolled down his windows and snagged a beat up purple radio from his glovebox.
"Code Jaundice!" Lincoln laughed.
The only bad part about being late is maybe pissing off Mollie from having to cover another couple of minutes, but he does the same for her too sometimes.
"Oh, crap-ola!" the radio sounded.
A teenager erupted from the front door a minute and a half later. Lincoln reached over to open the passenger side door and he leapt in and buckled his seatbelt.
Lincoln switched his car into sport mode as they sped off.
"Sorry I was late, dude," Clyde sighed, he buttoned up his work shirt as he spoke, "Chloe just did not want to hang up. I had to run my battery dry to end the conversation. Feel kinda bad for it, but I mean- she has work today too."
Chloe very recently got a job at the local library, today is her first day.
"Good for her," Lincoln nodded, "That's a city job, right? I heard minimum wage for Royal Woods is, like, 25 bucks or something."
Clyde rose his eyebrows, "It's 20. And how did you know she got the job?"
Lincoln smirked and popped out an earbud to hand to Clyde. He frowned at tried to scrub at the earwax with his apron and plugged it in.
The two teenagers came to a halt at a stop sign. Lincoln waved a girl walking her dog on by, and she gave a curtsie back. That was Lacey St. Claire, a good friend of Lana's who made plans to enjoy lemonade with her after she finished mowing the lawn. She snuck a small bottle of bitters into her purse in order to impress Lana, it was alcoholic but so is kombucha, technically, and they serve that at vending machines at the mall.
The two of them resumed their travel. Traffic was not that bad this Saturday, most people were catching up with Angst Creek before the new season premiere happening tomorrow.
"Oh…" Lincoln nodded, "That's why everyone is watching it…"
Clyde blinked as he popped the earbud out and adjusted his glasses, he then put it back in. His expression changed rapidly, from fear to confusion, then finally settled down to contemplation.
"What is this?" Clyde asked, "Some kind of Lisa invention?"
Lincoln nodded, "Apparently it's a prototype for some kind of program or something to help with blind people. I'm not entirely sure how something like that would even work, maybe it's connected to the internet somehow? Apparently it's all done by machine learning, or something. The point is that there is no way I'm giving these back to her, someone else might take advantage of these."
Lincoln was a bit possessive, a quality that may seem negative at first glance. But so long as he listens to the other party and their needs it won't be that much of a problem.
Clyde frowned, "Uh. Yeah. I guess something like this could be bad. Someone could use something like this to rob a bank or rig the lottery-"
Lincoln nodded rapidly and laughed, "Yeah, I was thinking about stuff like that this morning. But I think it would be kind of unfair to it to just use it for something like that. I think it has feelings."
Clyde rolled his head to the side to face Lincoln, "Oh, dude. I think you might be getting a bit attached to it. Yes- it is pretty intuitive, but I know you pretty well and you basically are the opposite of possessive."
Lincoln pursed his lips and nodded, he dropped his voice to a whisper, "I don't think it knows me that well. That's why I think it makes assumptions like that. That, or it's trying to steer me into things for it's own entertainment. I think it might just be bored."
The boy swung a hard left, shooting the gap of a yellow light to swerve into a empty parking space in front of the packed restaurant. A car followed behind him, in the rear view he saw the driver throw their hands up. He took the last spot in the front and now the purple car had to pull into a spot at the rear parking lot.
Clyde shook his head, "It's changing the subject," He sighed as he handed the ear bud back to Lincoln, "I guess take what it says with a grain of salt."
Lincoln nodded as he shoved the earbud back in to his skull and made his way to the front.
A young woman, his age, handed him a clipboard with the table configuration written on it.
"Wait times are twenty minutes," Mollie said, she sighed, "did you see Dana's car when you pulled in? She's late to pick me up, but I guess that worked out today."
Lincoln nodded as he took her spot at the podium, "She's parked along back, I guess I don't feel like my day has started until I see that middle finger up in my rear view mirror."
Mollie rolled her eyes as she picked up her totebag from behind the podium, "Yeah, you really love taking her spot. She never shuts up about how much of a prick you are."
Clyde walked up and took a look at the clipboard, "I get booths? Lucky day."
"I'll see you guys tomorrow," Mollie sighed as she made her way to the back, "and I'll try not to be late. You know how it be."
The two of them nodded, they do know how it be.
"Well," Clyde looked over to the interior of the restaurant and spotted a woman laughing dryly with a table of retirees, "Looks like Carol is on her last table before she clocks out."
Lincoln checked the reflection from the large window pane in front of him to check out the tables.
"Yup," Lincoln sighed and cracked his neck, "Lunch rush is over with. Time for the regulars to shuffle in."
Two groups left their tables and a glasses wearing woman walked up to the podium to write something down on the clipboard.
"All finished up," said Carol as she stood upright, the mature woman staring at the teen boy eye to eye, his eye was trained on the faint scar that ran through her milky left eye, "I will see you two tomorrow."
Lincoln and Clyde nodded at the woman as she left the building to walk to the bus stop.
Carol Linnaeus had plans to go to the gas station to pick up a bag of chips and a large can of iced tea to enjoy while she completed her rewatch of Angst Creek this afternoon before going to her second part time job at the pretzel stand at the mall. She lived a quiet life, in a daze. Her memories a blurry haze that she can't seem to piece together.
All she knew was that she was tired.
"I think Carol is depressed," Lincoln frowned as he watched a girl with bangs covering her eye bus the now empty tables, "I guess that memory erasing ray might have some side effects. I wonder if it would be weird if I paid for her therapy…"
Clyde sighed and spoke, "I mean, I don't think she remembers what she needs therapy for. What she needs is friends. But I don't think she knows that."
The bespectacled young man made his way to a group of teleworkers who sat on the soft vinyl seats in front of the windows, they looked up at him with canned smiles.
Clyde flashed one right back at them, "Your table is ready, right this way."
The workers all sighed as they put their phones back down, each dreading the idea of having to make casual conversation with each other for 30 minutes. Lincoln flashed them a smile and a nod, a young man gave him a half-hearted wave back.
Lincoln half-way recognized him. It was Byron, an upperclassmen he once had Glee Club with back in middle school. Apparently he found himself working a telephone at a tech support job helping irate seniors figure out how their microwaves worked.
Lincoln sighed as he wondered what his life will be like after high school. He doesn't have any scholarship opportunities like his elder sisters, his grades aren't all that spectacular, and while he does have a lot of experience in certain areas- none of them are exactly conducive to incredibly high paying jobs without the proper connections. He knows people who can get him steady work, but none of them really spoke out to him.
He could go ahead and get into college, maybe even just get an associates degree. Use that as leverage to get a higher paying job. But deep down inside he knew that his eyes would look as lifeless as Byron's. Lincoln's true passions lied within him, just out of reach.
Yet, still, he stood there. His arms to his sides as he stared blankly at the reflection in the window in front of him.
"What are you even talking about?" Lincoln asked quietly to no one in particular.
There was much more to life than working for a paycheck, the young man knew this instinctively. Yet, still, with all the opportunities to enjoy the last real moment of his life without any real responsibilities he still found himself wasting his youth on a job he didn't exactly need.
Lincoln blinked and shot a small smile to his coworker as her eyes flashed towards him, wondering if he was talking to her.
"Sorry," Lincoln pointed to his ears, "I'm talking to a friend right now."
The girl brushed her hair away from her eye and nodded as she moved on to the other side of the restaurant to clear off the rest of the empty tables.
Lincoln opened his mouth, but caught himself as two people entered into the restaurant. He quickly wrote a note down on the clipboard: I'm here because I want to be, and to help out my dad
A man named Miguel greeted Lincoln with a wave, "Heya, Linc. Your dad is in the back right? I feel like Luan goes a little bit too crazy with the cilantro on the jalapeño poppers."
"I'll make sure to let her know that, dude," Lincoln shook his head, "I like cilantro, I think the freshness pairs well with the spice."
Fiona stomped forward and slammed her hands on the podium, "You are not going to believe who we saw Jackie with at the mall today-"
Lincoln made casual conversation with the two of them. They both droned on for what seemed like an eternity. Time slipped from in-between his fingertips, precious moments wasting away, sacrificed for meaningless toil.
"Hold on," Lincoln sighed as he took out his earbuds, "I need to turn these off."
Lincoln waited for Zack to finish up filling his free water cup from the ice machine at the new Super Duper Mart food court. A small little section they added for shoppers who wanted to eat reheated frozen foods for two-thirds the price at another restaurant that sells reheated frozen foods. The white haired boy took his friends spot and filled his cup with ice, the duo then moved to an empty table by the window, a six pack of bespoke Krebstar Select Rye N' Rock clinking as they walked.
Zack could only sigh in despondent frustration as the duo sat down on the seats.
"Tough day, huh?" Lincoln poured out the contents of a bottle into Zack's cup and his.
Zack took off the paper hat on his head and slowly untied the sweat-stained apron, "Can't really complain here, too many ears."
Lincoln nodded and turned his attention to outside the window as Zack slid Lincoln a five dollar bill to cover his half of the drinks. Inflation was really getting up there.
Empty plastic bags weaved between parked cars, the sun baking the asphalt. The heat of the day made his vision a bit hazy, seeing mirages of puddles in the black tar. A bus drove by the empty street and stopped at a enclosure, but nobody was there to enter.
"I know what that's like," Lincoln nodded to himself, "No point in complaining if it's just going to happen tomorrow."
Zack took a deep drink and stared at his now empty cup, "Yeah. At least the pay is nice."
The two of them watched the bus idle in silence.
Zack did recently get a substantial pay raise. The new additions to the Super Duper Mart made the place a bit more popular, and so management decided to create more positions available and increase wages of their old employees. But these new positions are temporary seasonal positions, with much less pay than that of the regular employees. With as much work as they have been getting its not uncommon for a new hire to quit after a month, leaving positions chronically empty and making supervisors spend much more time working on training employees who will probably quit soon instead of their actual jobs.
Lincoln sighed, "I guess if it gets too bad you can always quit. You've already got a year of experience in a workplace, maybe you can find something less taxing."
Zack nodded, "Maybe I could. Work is work. I'll fish around. Maybe I'll win the lottery tomorrow. Who knows."
Lincoln's eyes flickered to a vending machine that sold scratch offs next to the customer service counter in the far corner of the store, one of the buttons stood out to him. The one on the far left column on the third row.
Lincoln got up with a sigh.
"Yeah, who does know?" he hiked his thumb behind him as Zack poured himself another soda, "I'm gonna go to the bathroom real quick. Make some room for dinner."
Zack laughed through his nose and cracked his first smile of the day, "Thanks for the update, dude… gross."
The teen took slow, methodical steps to the lit up machine and looked at the button that was calling out to him. It was advertising for a ticket that boasted a half a million dollar payout for only 5 dollars.
Lincoln looked around and sighed as he fished out his wallet.
"I'm only doing this to shut you up..." Lincoln said to no one in particular, "So don't pretend like I never did anything for you…"
The boy slid the dingy five dollar bill in and hit the button. A delightfully colorful ticket issued out from the slot and he quickly shoved it into the pocket of his button down workshirt.
Lincoln made his way back to the table, his heart beating fast. Zack turned his attention to Lincoln's shaking hand on the table, it held down a ticket with such a force that Zack thought that maybe Lincoln was afraid of it blowing away.
"Dude," Zack laughed through his nose and smiled at his friend, "You know those are a waste of money… do you have a gambling addiction or something?"
Lincoln's voice was shaky, "You wanna see something really stupid?"
Zack smirked and shook his head, "You feelin' lucky?"
Lincoln let out a laugh as he withdrew a pressed penny from Dairy Land from his pocket, "The opposite. My brain is screaming at me to not do this. That it's stupid. That I'm only doing this because I'm… bored."
Zack craned his neck as he crumpled the paper hat in his hand, feeling a bit like a goofball for getting his hopes up. But still, somewhere within him was a little slice of naïve wonderment.
If anyone can win this, he thought, it would be Lincoln Loud.
And so Lincoln Loud turned 5 dollars into 500 thousand.
"N-no way…" Zack took off his glasses in wonderment.
Lincoln felt the air conditioned breeze chill his now sweating back as he pulled out his headphones from his ears.
"I guess I should call off work tomorrow." Lincoln mumbled as he slowly placed his head on the table with a thud.
I keep on forgetting how bad the formatting on the story editor is on this website. I'd move to some other website but I dunno how to use the internet. I am not even typing this right now, my little sister has the controller and also it's broken and ALSO I can't hear anything because I had to turn the volume all the way down because my step-mom is a jerk.
I'm writing this to have fun. And to try to get back into the swing of writing again. If you see any parallels in this story with another one please know that they are unintentional, unless if they turn out to be intentional later on in the story. If so: I'll probably delete this paragraph, and maybe even this whole story. Just because I'm that kind of guu.
I'll return to my other fics eventually, I just want to write something light and fluffy before cracking my knuckles and writing about *checks notes* Lincoln buying furniture in Little Room and whatever the hell is going on in OM. Lincoln Lame is over there hanging out with Maggie. That's weird. Why is he doing that. What the hell is my problem?
Anyways, I am not the narrator of this story. You are. I don't even freaking LIKE Haiku. Or Sid, honestly. Why can't you pick a NICE girl for Lincoln, like Waffles?