A/N: I'm not playing favorites. I know I have other stories to update. Rest assured, I remember them and I am working on them. I will be updating them after this. I just had this finished, and couldn't resist the urge to post it.
Also, expect the rating of this story to change soon.
Ronnie Anne had thought the ride to Royal Woods would be the most awkward of her life. It was a mixed blessing for her to find out the ride back home would take that honor. Her irritated parents in the front seat, her in the back seat still in trouble, and Lincoln sitting far across from her feeling meek and out of place.
She'd never seen it in person until today, but Lincoln could really talk. Not in the way a scummy salesperson or a manipulative asshole would, but like someone speaking passionately about their beliefs and intentions.
He'd spoken for both of them, saying how sorry they were for disappointing them and causing them all this stress and claiming full responsibility for their screw ups. He admitted they had good reasons not to be so trusting after what happened. But urged them to do so anyway since the two of them wanted nothing more than to make it up to the adults and would do everything in their power to do so.
In hindsight, it was a really simple argument. Ronnie Anne thought what really sold it was the emotion he put into his words. Maybe on some level that was manipulative, but it was the angle they really needed now. Ronnie Anne could feel humility, but in this whole affair so far, she'd been unable to keep her defensive agitation in check. Lincoln was really saying what she wanted to but couldn't get out on her own.
So, Lincoln made his proposal. And the adults that had been listening to his emotional appeal hardened for a moment, but not completely. They retreated to discuss something among themselves, and then split the two of them up to talk privately. Ronnie Anne had found herself out front with her parents while Lincoln stayed trapped in the house with his mom.
They didn't grill her about the proposal, but they did ask her about her insistence on not making a decision. Then they'd asked a really serious question, one that had thrown her off balance: Was she threatening to keep the baby to force them to let her and Lincoln keep in contact?
Ronnie Anne had denied that vehemently. That idea was scummy as hell, not to mention that she didn't want a baby. The circumstances didn't matter. It ruined the whole part of staying friends. The fact they thought she'd do something like that had honestly hurt.
They believed her- and had told her to wait for them to consider the idea with Lincoln's mom.
But they hadn't left Lincoln and her alone. Her parents had her go wait in the car and Lincoln stay in the house while they went somewhere else to talk. The loneliness must've gotten to Lincoln though, because she eventually noticed him peeking out the window at her. They'd stared at each other, forlornly, until their parents came back.
The plan would go forward, but with some modifications. They would let Lincoln go back to Great Lakes City with them, but he wasn't staying with Lori and Bobby. He was going to stay in Bobby's old room at the apartment. Maria was going to stay at home on Saturday and watch them all day while they settled whatever was left to settle. One day and one day only, and Lincoln was leaving either Saturday night or Sunday morning. They hammered that into the two of them: This was the only extension they were getting.
They had one chance.
Ronnie Anne and her parents went back out to their car while Lincoln hurried to put together an overnight bag. They all watched as Lincoln had some unheard exchange with his mom on the front porch before coming down. No one said he had to sit as far away from Ronnie Anne as he could, but he did it anyway. It was going to be a long ride back to the city.
But that three hour ride back home had a downside: forced interrogation. Her mom had questions for both of them, and unless they intended to bail onto the highway at 60 miles per hour, they had to endure it.
What she mainly wanted to know was how the two of them interacted: hugging, kissing, and that kind of mushy stuff. Neither of her parents knew about Lincoln kissing her out of the blue at his sisters' urging, or him literally sweeping her off her feet at Jean Juan's back in Royal Woods, and neither of them were going to tell.
But there had been other instances besides those. They'd kept their distance from each other after that because of all the teasing at school, but they'd revisited the idea when they were 13. That was about the age all their classmates were starting to get into dating. But the main draw was they'd keep it a little private thing. The first time had been at a big get together for both families to celebrate Bobby and Lori's first daughter: A quick peck on the lips while they were alone. And after that, it was short instances on the cheek or a hug whenever they happened to be together, which they could count on one hand.
And while it did sound bad to jump from that to rutting in the basement, Lincoln was able to explain it with surprising eloquence. Even if they hadn't seen each other a lot, they still grew closer and closer because they were talking to each other so much. They still saw each other every day, pretty much.
But both of them still vehemently denied being boyfriend and girlfriend. And rather than argue with them on that, it seemed to irritate Ronnie Anne's mother enough that she stopped questioning them for a while.
But it gave Ronnie Anne time and quiet to think, probably Lincoln too. She wasn't lying to her parents or herself. They really weren't. How could they be, when they didn't physically see each other often? It was 2019, social norms were different. Her grandparents were old fashioned, but her mom had always been more liberal than them, even after they moved in.
So, why did having to keep denying it make her feel sick to her stomach? She swore it wasn't just the pregnancy. This was obviously a subject her parents were going to keep pressing her on. It was going to come up between her and Lincoln; either he was going to ask her about her parents insisting on it, or she'd bring it up because it was bothering her.
Maybe her parents were right, maybe it was stupid.
She eventually had to ask her parents to stop somewhere so she could pee, which was a lot more embarrassing with Lincoln in the car. It was just another symptom, and apparently the one that got worse and worse the longer it went on.
Just great.
Her mom went with her, and she tried to hurry up to avoid any one-on-one questioning and because Lincoln had looked terrified at staying alone in the car with her dad. She made it out of the bathroom only to have her mom grab her arm and steer her away from the parking lot and towards a spot down the sidewalk where no one else could listen in. She had one question for her.
"About what we talked about earlier: Are you scared?"
"Fucking terrified." Ronnie Anne repeated the same thing she'd said to them that morning and watched her mom's mouth get thin.
"I mean-" Maria stopped and sighed. "You and Lincoln. Are you scared of being something besides friends?" Ronnie Anne didn't know how to answer that, because she wanted to figure it herself, but she couldn't do that until she had time to think without the constant presence of her parents.
The stress must've shown on her face, because her mother stopped waiting for an answer and reached out to pull her into a hug. "You know what? Nevermind. You don't have to answer that right now. I'm not going to ask you any more questions tonight, and I'll tell your father not to either." Ronnie Anne relaxed and put her arms around her mother. "We don't want you to get stressed out. That's dangerous."
"I know, Mom."
"I am proud of you." She told her. "For being honest about everything and wanting to make it right. I know you don't believe it, but it's important for us to know." She didn't answer that. She let the hug play out and let her mom walk her back to the car with a hand on her back. Lincoln was still alive, fortunately. Her mom volunteered to drive for the rest of the journey since they were only an hour away from the city now. While both her parents were out of the car to switch seats, Ronnie Anne suspected her mom passed on the promise she'd made to her daughter.
Without the oversight and the with the knowledge she didn't have to worry for the rest of the day, she slid over to the middle seat so she could sit beside Lincoln. He looked a little worried when she did it, but her parents didn't say anything when they got back in the car. They definitely looked at them through the rear-view mirror, but they didn't say anything.
By seven that evening, they were just getting off the highway and into the city limits when Lincoln's cell phone started ringing. He fished it out of his pocket and Ronnie Anne caught the name on the screen, as well as hear Lincoln's breath hitch in his throat. With a shaking hand, he swiped a thumb across 'accept' and held the phone up to his ear.
"Hi Dad." He said meekly. Ronnie Anne watched, even though she could only hear one end of the conversation. "We just got into the city." He listened for a few seconds, the color of his face draining the whole time. "I know, Dad. But I'll fix it, I swear." His eyes glanced over at her. "We need to figure it out." He started to sound a little choked up. "I know, Dad. I promise." She listened to Lincoln end the conversation and watched him end the call looking as dejected as he had earlier that day in front of his mom.
She was going to make this up to him, somehow.
They had to drop Arturo off at his house before going back to the apartment. Ronnie Anne got out of the car and said her goodbyes to her dad there. He hugged his daughter tightly. "Please, Ronita, think carefully about your life tomorrow. You have a bright future, don't ruin it."
"I will Dad, I promise." She was promising to think carefully. The other part was up in the air.
Even though the passenger seat was open, she got into the backseat next to Lincoln. On the final stretch back to the apartment, Maria told them the final part of the plan.
"Bobby is going to make up a story for Abuela." She revealed that she'd roped him in. "We'll go up first, and Bobby will bring Lincoln up after half an hour. He's going to say Lincoln was supposed to stay at his house, but something came up and ask if Lincoln can spend the night here. Do you understand?" She was mainly asking Lincoln.
"Yes ma'am." He nodded, although looking apprehensive. Ronnie Anne was too.
"Mom, did you really have to ask Bobby to lie?" Hadn't he been put through enough? Now he was being made to spend time with Lincoln and lie to Abuela?
"He offered to." She answered with a hint of sharpness. "She doesn't need to know about this. I'll take care of her tomorrow. Play. Along." She should've guessed Bobby volunteered.
"Bobby's not going to be mad at you." Ronnie Anne leaned over and talked to Lincoln in a hushed voice.
"I don't think he will be." Lincoln whispered back. "But it's going to be weird."
"Yeah, and it was weird for me to have him drive me to a doctor's appointment. You'll be fine." She told him.
She said he'd be fine, but Lincoln was having a hard time thinking he was anything but in constant danger. He was miles from home, in a city he'd visited but still didn't know that well, and he didn't know the directions to get back. There was only a single person here on his side, and the rest were either hostile or ignorant. It was a very daunting setting to be in, but one he'd put himself in intentionally. There'd been more than one instance during the ride where he wished he'd kept his mouth shut or the adults hadn't listened to him.
He didn't think anyone in Ronnie Anne's family would kill him, but it was one of those things that got joked about so much, you started to believe it. To him, her parents had been nothing but angry all day. His mom had been mostly angry too, except for when she questioned him alone. She'd sounded closer to desperate then, asking him, pleading with him that he wanted nothing to do with having a baby. He swore up and down that he didn't, and how much the idea terrified him.
It might have been the only time Dad was the less emotional parent. The call had been pretty short, only long enough to remind Lincoln of how important this was and let him know both of his parents trusted him to do the best thing; Dad wasn't going to tell him off yet. It had been so short, maybe he just hadn't had the time to get emotional.
He got the sense he wasn't wanted here, and once he did get home both his parents would be able to lay into him for this tremendous screw up. There was not a place on this Earth he could find peace right now, and that made thinking a lot harder.
When they got to the apartment, Lincoln climbed out the backseat with his bag. The sun had set, but all the artificial lights meant it was still easy to see. It was a lot colder up here than Royal Woods. Ronnie Anne scooted over and climbed out after him. She moved like she was coming to stand beside him, but her mom came around the back of the car and moved in between the two of them before that could happen.
"Come on." She grabbed her daughter's hand and Lincoln by the back of his jacket and started steering them towards the bodega. Both of them turned their heads to try and look at each other past the adult woman in between them. She took her hand off Lincoln's jacket to pull the door open before pushing him through the doorway. "Bobby!" She called through the open doorway, using her foot to stop it from closing. The man in question-Lincoln's brother-in-law-leaned over the counter, and Lincoln's heart leaped into his chest.
"Lincoln. Hey bro!" Bobby waved at him, sounding cheerful. Lincoln waved back weakly.
"Half an hour." Maria reminded her oldest.
"Got it." Bobby affirmed.
"Bobby-" Ronnie Anne tried to say something to her brother, but her mom dragged her away before she could say it. The door closed, leaving Lincoln standing there by himself. There was no one else in the store that he could see; it was just him and Bobby.
"Come around the back, little bro. I got a stool back here you can sit on." He invited him behind the counter. Lincoln stayed rooted in his spot for a couple of seconds before slowly making his way over. Part of him did realize it was stupid to be scared of Bobby of all people, but Lincoln couldn't help it.
The door opening and a customer coming in actually made Lincoln jump bad enough to run the rest of the way behind the counter. Bobby acted like he hadn't noticed. Chest thumping and legs shaking, Lincoln sat down on the stool Bobby had offered without a word and tried to collect his nerves. Bobby saw the customer off, and it was just the two of them alone in the store again. The silence was deafening.
"I knew you and nini liked each other." Bobby said out loud without turning to look at him. "I didn't know you guys liked each other that much." Lincoln looked down at his clasped hands. "I guess it isn't something I should really be surprised about." He admitted. Then he sighed. "She's growing up. I didn't think of that." He sighed again. In his periphery vision, Lincoln saw the man's shoes turn around, and he finally looked up him. Bobby was looking down at him, weary but still smiling.
"I get it, bro. I'm a guy too." He jerked a thumb at himself and leaned back against the counter. "I remember what it's like. If I'd met Lori when I was your age, I'd have gone for it too."
A series of unpleasant images popped into Lincoln's mind, and he gagged and shuddered at the same time. "Now you know how I felt." Bobby did a finger gun gesture while smirking. So far, it was the only break from how Lincoln usually knew him to act. "But, uh…seriously." His good guy vibe faltered for a moment until he got it back. "I'm not mad about it. I'm not happy about it either." He clarified. "But…you guys already got everyone else breathing down your neck about it. I don't want to add to it." He leaned forward. "You're not looking so good." He walked past Lincoln to another part of the store and came back with a bottle of water. "On the house, bro."
"Thanks." Lincoln unscrewed the top and took a refreshing drink.
"It's no problem, man." Bobby said positively. "Besides, I want to help Ronnie Anne. Telling you was the one thing she wanted to do first after she…ah…found out. So, I figured the best thing I can do is just be cool with it." There might have been animosity behind those eyes after all, but he was suppressing it because he just wanted his little sister to get what she wanted. He was considerate of his family over his own thoughts.
Or maybe he really wasn't mad at all. Maybe he really did have that good of a heart.
"Thanks." Lincoln said it again.
"It's no problem at all." Bobby turned back to the counter. "Just make sure to help her out if she needs it." He talked seriously. "She doesn't depend on a lot of people, but you're one of them."
"I will. I promise." Lincoln nodded.
"I know. I got faith in you, bro." Bobby looked back at him and smiled. "Oh, but there is just one thing." He said humorlessly.
"Y-yeah?" Lincoln asked timidly.
"You're on your own when babe finds out." He told him straight, and then turned back to the front, leaving Lincoln to sweat in fear at the looming threat of his sister.
Thirty minutes could pass by fast. Bobby served a couple of customers who were still coming in this late, and Lincoln thought about Ronnie Anne. In particular, he thought about what her mom had asked him back at his house-about seeing her as a friend.
He wasn't stupid. He knew that they behaved more like boyfriend and girlfriend, at least when they were together. Lincoln thought she had a great and fun personality while still being a good person. Lincoln thought, at the risk of personal injury, that she was really cute and pretty.
His 14-year-old brain thought she was sexy too.
He thought she was amazing on all fronts, really. He was glad he knew her. He would like to have her as a girlfriend, absolutely, but he was fine with the way things were. That was really it, because it was pretty much the only way things could be when at this point in their lives when they barely saw each other. Things could always change, but certainly not soon, so they stayed that way.
Ronnie Anne's mom seemed to think the two of them should just drop that and say they're the real thing. A part of Lincoln liked that idea, but the rest of him was apprehensive. If Ronnie Anne was okay with it-she'd sounded like she'd think about it-he was willing for that the change. But he still wasn't sure how it would work, and the idea created mixed feelings in him. Besides, the idea of them being something special and unnamed had a kind of appeal to it, something that made him feel distinct.
"Come on, man. Let's get you upstairs." Bobby broke Lincoln out of his thoughts. Feeling stiff, he stood up from the stool and followed Bobby as the man put up a little sign saying he'd be right back and they exited the store. It'd gotten darker and colder since earlier, but the entrance to the apartment was only a few feet away.
Lincoln actually had to step up his own reluctant pace to keep up with Bobby, who confidentially climbed the stairs up towards the apartment. He let himself in without knocking, and Lincoln hung outside the doorway, leaning half in. Ronnie Anne's grandpa was sleeping in a chair in the living room, and her grandma was in the kitchen.
"Bobby!" The old woman said enthusiastically, coming out to meet him. "Did you want some leftovers to take home?" She leaned slightly to the side, and noticed Lincoln trying his best to blend in. "Oh, Lincoln, what are you doing here?"
"He's with me…can I talk to you for a second?" Bobby motioned towards the kitchen. Lincoln stepped into the apartment and closed the door, but stayed leaning against it. He glanced down the hallway where Ronnie Anne's room was, but the door as closed. He kept watching it while Bobby and Rosa had their conversation, but it never opened.
"Of course, Bobby, it's no problem!" The old woman said loud enough to be heard, reaching up to put her arms on her grandson's shoulders. She walked over to Lincoln. "Of course you can stay here for tonight." She said kindly. "I'll get the guest room ready. We have leftovers in the fridge." Rosa suddenly stopped, and squinted. "Lincoln, you don't look so well." She spoke. Lincoln knew he didn't; Lincoln was sure he hadn't stopped sweating ever since he got home from school.
"Car sickness." He mumbled. Then his stomach rumbled loudly. He hadn't gotten anything to eat after getting home and they hadn't stopped for dinner on the ride here. He hadn't eaten at all since lunch at school. Just the mere mention of food had set him off, and it fortunately distracted the elderly woman from anything else.
"Oh my goodness, eat!" She commanded, getting behind him and pushing him towards the fridge.
"I still got an hour left on my shift and then I'll head home." Bobby moved out of the way. "See you around, bro." He patted Lincoln on the shoulder.
"Thanks." Lincoln watched him go. He still felt bad, but his stomach was starting to ache from the knowledge food was so close. Lincoln really needed a bite to eat.
"Mija, you should come out here!" Lincoln heard hammering on a door down the hall. "'Your friend is here. Don't worry, it's fine." Lincoln was walking over to the table with a full plate when Ronnie Anne came down the hallway, still in the same clothes.
"Uh, hey Ronnie Anne." Lincoln tried to play along with the ruse. "Surprised to see me?"
"I've had worse surprises." She shrugged, looking disinterested.
"He's spending the night." Rosa brought her up to speed. "He was visiting Lori, but something's come up at their house, so he'll be here for just tonight."
"Oh yeah?" Was she acting? Her performance seemed strangely genuine.
"I thought you'd be more excited." Even her grandma noticed.
"I'm tired, abuela." Ronnie Anne pulled out and sunk into the chair across from Lincoln.
"Oh, of course dear." She came up behind her and put her hands on her shoulders. "Sorry," She spoke to Lincoln. "She hasn't been feeling well these past few days." Lincoln didn't try and bluff concern or anything, he just nodded.
Lincoln kept eating, and the whole time Ronnie Anne sat across from him, watching him. It was a little unsettling, if he was honest. At one point, she reached over and started stealing from his plate, something her grandmother saw and admonished her for. "Ronnie Anne, if you're still hungry, you should get your own plate!"
"It's fine." Lincoln said quickly. She did need to eat more now… The food Lincoln had just swallowed threatened to come up again. That was hard to think about.
"I fixed up Bobby's room for you. Come see." Rosa offered, and both the teens got up to follow her. It was sparse-just a bed and a desk. But it didn't look like no one had lived there for a few years like one might assume. The woman had cleaned it up and made the bed in seemingly record time. It looked cozy, in spite of its bareness.
"Thanks, Mrs. Casagrande." Lincoln set his overnight bag down at the end of the bed.
"Come on," Ronnie Anne grabbed his hand and dragged him back into the hallway. "Let's hang, Lincoln."
"Ronnie Anne's bedtime is 9:30." The elderly Mexican woman informed him. "You too. Our house, our rules."
"Abuela." The embarrassed girl said through gritted teeth.
"Got it." Lincoln showed he understood. It was only 30 minutes earlier than his bedtime back at his house.
"Good." Rosa nodded. "You two have fun."
"Thanks." Lincoln yelped that out as he started to get forcefully pulled down the hall to Ronnie Anne's room. Lincoln was very surprised to see Sid in there when Ronnie Anne pulled him in and closed the door, and he had a new idea why Ronnie Anne hadn't come out as soon as he walked into the apartment. The other girl leaned in towards him-the room was pretty small for just three people to be in- and scrutinized him with narrowed eyes.
"I know what you did." Sid poked Lincoln's chest, causing him to go a deep scarlet color.
"Sid, knock it off." Ronnie Anne told her friend. The Asian girl backed off, suddenly looking more affable.
"You guys need some space?" She asked.
"It'd be nice." The Latina answered. Sid nodded.
"You guys got this." She gave both of them a thumbs up. "I'm sure it's going to turn out fine." She backed up to the window and opened it to climb out onto the fire escape. She was halfway out when Ronnie Anne's bedroom door was pulled open, causing all three of them to spin around and freeze like deer in headlights despite doing nothing wrong.
It was only Maria, coming to check up on her daughter and Lincoln. Her gaze went to each of the three teenagers, settling finally on the one halfway out the window and letting the cold drift in.
"Hi, Ms. Santiago." Sid broke the silence.
"Does she know?" She asked bluntly.
"She found out first." Ronnie Anne answered. "She's the one who convinced me to tell Bobby."
"Yeah, I've been here for her to talk to." Sid admitted. The adult woman seemed to lean on the door a little. She'd barely had a pleasant expression on her face all day, but it was easy to tell when she was feeling a fresh wave of annoyance or anger.
"Ronnie Anne's grounded. She's not supposed to have friends over. You shouldn't be here." She told the girl.
"Um…right." Sid acknowledged awkwardly. "I'll see you around." Her and Ronnie Anne gave halfhearted waves at each other, and Sid left, closing the window behind her.
"You are still grounded, no matter what your abuela says. Don't forget that."
"I won't, mom." Lincoln watched the two of them talk to each other.
"Good." Maria reached out and grabbed Lincoln's arm to pull him away from Ronnie Anne. "Now get ready for bed."
"What?!" Ronnie Anne sounded indignant. "It's only 7:30!"
"And it's been a long day." Her mom responded in an even voice. "We'll pick everything back up tomorrow."
"We can get to it now!" Ronnie Anne became argumentative.
"Don't." With one word of warning, mother pointed a single finger at daughter. "I said tomorrow. I'll get your abuelos out of the apartment." She pushed Lincoln behind her, into the hallway. "And while I have you two together, I'm only going to say this once: I better not catch either of you doing anything, understand?"
"Yes, ma'am." After being manhandled, Lincoln wasn't going to say no to an adult that had already been intimidating him all day.
"Yeah, I got it." Ronnie Anne had turned her back on her mother, crossing her arms.
"Both of you better." Maria Santiago warned, and she pushed Lincoln further down the hall, towards Bobby's old room.
Left with no other real option, the young teenager did what he was told and went back into his temporary room and changed into the pajamas he'd packed. He seriously debated for a while if it was worth leaving the room just to brush his teeth, but he reasoned that he wouldn't be faulted for such a mundane thing. He still recoiled in shock when he stepped out of the room and realized Ronnie Anne's mom was still standing in the hallway, almost directly in front of Ronnie Anne's door. Lincoln meekly presented his toothbrush as an excuse, and made his way into the bathroom with eyes watching each of his steps. When he came back out, she hadn't moved a foot from where she'd been. Lincoln went back into the guest room, and didn't come out until the next morning.
But he didn't sleep. He was too shaken up for that. Instead, he laid there staring up at the ceiling with no real concept of time passing. Too much had happened, and too much was going to happen.
One of the first clear thoughts he had was a twinge of regret for his regular friends back in Royal Woods; they were all supposed to hang out this weekend. Not now, obviously. Should he send any of them a text message? He'd have to make something up, because he wasn't going to tell them what had really happened. How would they react if they knew the truth? Rusty would probably give him a high five, and Clyde would freak out thinking he didn't follow all those stupid health lessons they got in their last year of middle school.
Lincoln had thought those were a stupid thing to make 8th graders watch, but here he was only a year later. No, they were still stupid because he'd done exactly what they said and this still happened.
Had he messed up? He could imagine Luna saying 'It takes two, baby', but it felt like he'd done most of the work. Ronnie Anne had just laid there the entire time, looking bored for most of it until his hands found the type of groove she was looking for. Then she started to react, biting her lip, letting her eyes go wonky, and trying her hardest not to make an embarrassing sound until it hit her and her whole body spasmed in pleasure. Then it was his turn, lifting her hips up and coupling with her like he'd always dreamed, while she laid there and looked up at him with a glazed look of satisfaction.
Dang it, he couldn't stop enjoying that memory. Even if it had landed him in boiling water with his parents and jeopardized his friendship with Ronnie Anne, he couldn't help it. It was the realization of multiple fantasies, it was a sense of euphoria greater than he ever knew, it was the first time he saw a girl that wasn't related to him naked! Or half naked, technically. And it was with the only person he'd have wanted.
He didn't regret that it happened, he regretted that he got caught and that it couldn't continue. Maybe he should feel bad about that.
Then Lincoln heard creaking from the other end of the room, where the door was. The white-haired teen sat up straight, and for just a moment he wondered if someone really was here to kill him in his sleep over what happened. While the silhouette in the doorway was big enough to be a murderer, he realized quickly it was easily the last person on Earth to want him dead.
"Boo." Came the extremely dried witticism from Ronnie Anne. She walked into the room with arms crossed, passing the light switch but not bothering to flip it. "Were you expecting someone?"
"Sorta…" But Lincoln didn't elaborate. She walked up beside the bed, and was easier to make out with the light drifting in from the window. Her sleepwear was just a gray t-shirt and a pair of black shorts. Her hair was down, a look Lincoln had mentioned several times-and with each time warranting a knuckle sandwich-that he thought made her look more attractive.
"Aren't you a little old for pajamas?" She took notice of his sleepwear.
"These are comfy." He protested indignantly. It was dark, but he knew her so well he could tell just by the way her head moved a little she was feigning rolling her eyes.
"You are so lame." She sat down on the side of the bed, and Lincoln scooted over closer to the wall so she could lay down with her head on the opposite end. "Can't sleep either?"
"It's kind of hard…" Lincoln commented, laying back down.
"Yeah, no kidding." She laid there for a moment, then decided she actually didn't like that spot. She used her elbow to prop her upper body up and pivot herself around, tucking her legs in so they didn't hit him. She moved up next to Lincoln, stealing his pillow to lay on. It was a weird way to move around, and it didn't take a genius to figure out why she did it like that.
"Can you already feel it?" Lincoln asked. Ronnie Anne's hands shot to her stomach, and she turned her head towards him. Even in the dark, her glare was obvious. "Bad question." Lincoln realized.
"I've been trying not to think about it that hard." She turned her head back. "My stomach doesn't feel any different. I'm tired and I got all the symptoms. I looked it up and it doesn't actually show up until like 3 months. In adults, anyway…" She added.
"So it might show up quicker for you?" Lincoln asked.
"Yeah. And can you stop staring at it. Seriously, it freaks me out." She was upfront with him.
"Sorry." Lincoln said earnestly. He'd naturally been glancing at what they were talking about. "It's just hard not to." It wasn't that he didn't believe her, especially when she'd shoved the tests in his hand. But seeing was believing, and he couldn't see it. And you'd expect it, from something so monumental.
"Uh…hand." She pointed, and Lincoln realized that he'd raised his arm like he was going to reach out and touch her. He hadn't even remembered doing it, and he quickly put it back down. The thought of feeling for it had crossed his mind before, but he obviously didn't act on it.
"No. Go ahead." She suddenly told him. "Get it over with. I know you want to."
"Are you sure?" Lincoln asked. Yeah, he was curious, but he wasn't going to if it bothered her that much.
"Just do it, Lincoln." Now he got the feeling he'd anger her if he didn't.
Lincoln reached a tepid and shaking hand over towards the space between the hem of her shirt and the top of her shorts. A bright glow had quickly enveloped his face just from thinking about it. Physical contact like this was unusual between them. Even during her birthday, her shirt had stayed on. This was entirely new to both of them.
Ronnie Anne noticeably flinched when Lincoln's fingers made contact with her skin, and her breathing deepened as he wormed his hand under her shirt and spread his palm out on her stomach. Her skin was warm, and very tight. Lincoln thought it could've easily been her muscles; Ronnie Anne was a fit girl. Not as much as Lynn, who had actually abs, but she was lean. It didn't feel rounded or like there was a bump, although maybe the unsteadiness of his hand was messing up his perception.
"It doesn't feel like anything." Lincoln pulled his hand back.
"Well, it's there." She told him, pulling her ruffled shirt back down. "Your hands are cold. I'm cold. Give up some blanket, Lame-o." She pulled the bit she was laying on out from under her and eased her way under it, pulling a bit from Lincoln. Lucky for him, the blanket Rosa had made the bed with was unnecessarily large, so it stayed cozy for him. "So…" She put her hands back behind her head and stared at the ceiling. "I came here so we could talk."
"Uh, sure." Lincoln immediately agreed and sat up on his side. It wasn't like he was getting any sleep. "Anything you want to say?" He gave her the lead on this.
"Yeah." She sighed. "I wanted to be honest about something. You remember back at your house how I said I had it down to two options?" Lincoln remembered, and he still couldn't help but be concerned, even if she didn't want to have it, for some reason.
"Yeah." Lincoln couldn't keep that worry from showing in his response. "What about it?"
"My mind might be made up already." She confessed.
"Not having it?" Lincoln asked while his voice shook. No matter how much she'd already insisted, there was just some unease in his mind that wouldn't go away.
"Well, duh." Ronnie Anne tried to make light of the situation. "Actually," her tone abruptly shifted. "Mierda." She muttered and took a moment before she continued talking. "That's what everyone wants to hear. My mom and dad are 'asking' me to choose because they don't want to force me."
"What makes you think that?" Even if her parents had been anything but nice today, that sounded just a little too extreme.
"They don't want me to have it. They won't say it, but I can tell." She told him.
"Guess that's not really a surprise. It's obvious my mom doesn't want me to either. She was asking me to make sure I didn't back at the house." Lincoln recalled the one-on-one interrogation.
"You can't have a baby, genius." She reminded him. Lincoln was embarrassed, but she plowed ahead. "And I'm pretty sure my mom wants me to decide before the rest of the family notices. My abuela will freak out if she finds out I'm knocked up and plan to get rid of it."
"She will?" Lincoln asked.
"She's big on family. I think she'd beg me to have it and let her take care of it. Do you think your parents would do something like that?" Ronnie Anne asked, moving to rest on her side too.
"I have no idea." Lincoln answered honestly. It wasn't like his parents were religious or anything, but… "They had eleven kids and managed." Lincoln didn't doubt that his parents loved him or his siblings for a second, but the fact that they had and managed all of them said something about their morality.
"I was about to say." She sounded wry.
"Lily was the last one. I'm pretty sure they're done having new kids." At least, they didn't have the desire to have more kids. Lincoln really didn't want to contemplate if they could have more kids. Just being tangential to that subject made him feel weirded out. "Why are you talking about adoption?" Lincoln's voice went quiet. He had an idea and it made him wary, but he had to ask.
"Because," Ronnie Anne sighed out. "I think that's what I'm going to do." Lincoln's stomached flipped. "I don't want to keep it, but the other option just freaks me out. Even if you'd be okay with it, it still freaks me out. I hate every option I have, but I don't hate that one as much." She admitted.
"And you're thinking about if one of our families took it?" Lincoln asked. She didn't want to keep it, which was where they'd already been on the matter. But…
"I was thinking and just figured out it's a thing that could happen. It'd be pretty weird, wouldn't it?"
"Yeah." It'd be so weird, that Lincoln couldn't really comprehend it. It wasn't even the imagination spot of getting another sister; Lincoln had gotten five new sisters while he was alive and had been old enough to clearly remember four of them. Because it wouldn't be a new sibling, not to him anyway. It'd be something else, he'd know it'd be something else, and he probably wouldn't be able to act normal. "But I don't know that my parents would do that."
"You might want to ask them." She told him point blank. "And you should think about how you'd feel if my family kept it. Lori would know." She reminded him. Just the mention of his sister still scared him.
"I'll call them tomorrow." Lincoln declared. "And I'll think about it." Thankfully, he didn't need to dwell on it now while they were still talking.
"Mhmm." The Latina acknowledged his promise. "So, are you going to ask me why the other option freaks me out?"
"Do you want me to?"
"It'd be nice."
"Okay…Why?" Lincoln asked. She moved her elbow and stared back up at the ceiling while she talked.
"Do you know what happens? It goes two ways." She told him. "One: They stick a tube in you and suck it out." Lincoln suddenly felt nauseous. "Or they give you a pill and then you have to bleed it out. I don't want people sticking things in me, and I don't want to be bleeding either."
"Shouldn't you be used to that last one?" Lincoln asked, and she swung her head to face him with an expression that couldn't express disgust better. The boy tried to recover. "Sorry, I have a bunch of sisters. Talking about that is normal. I can get why you wouldn't like either of those."
"It's different." She said out through gritted teeth.
"R-right." Lincoln said nervously. "But aren't you scared about having it even if you don't keep it?"
"Yeah…" That important question dampened her anger. "I feel like I should be more scared of doing that. But I'm not." She shrugged. "I'm thinking of talking to my mom about it."
"That's a good idea." Lincoln encouraged her. "I'm not going to blame you for not doing something that freaks you out."
"Think about it some more." Ronnie Anne told him. "Seriously, I don't want to hear you just agreeing with me. If you agree with everything, I'm going to think you're lying. So you better give me a damn good explanation if you keep saying that."
"I will." Lincoln swore in a quieter tone of voice.
"Good." She looked at the ceiling again and exhaled deeply. "This has been the craziest day of my whole life."
"Yeah, mine too." Lincoln agreed, even if it had nowhere near the amount of action of some of the previous things he'd gotten up to. Even the ones that could've possibly been deadly. "Is that all you wanted to say?"
"Yeah. It's been on my mind all day. I just wanted to get it off my chest." She admitted and let the silence hang for a few seconds. "Actually," She turned back towards him, "there is something else I was wondering." Her tone was more casual. "How are you so good at sweet talking your parents but you say nothing but stupid crap around me?" Lincoln smiled, even as his cheeks heated up a little at remembering his slip up earlier.
"Just the kind of skill you need to live with 10 siblings." He stretched an arm above his head. What could he say? He was a survivor.
"Oh yeah? That work on anyone else?"
"Sometimes." Lincoln wasn't a stranger to begging other authority figures or adults. He didn't do it as much these days. That trick works more when you're a kid, not a teenager. "Some people think I'm just trying to get out of trouble."
"Nah, you're not that clever." She waved a hand at him.
"Yeah, thanks!" They grinned at each other, and it took a while to fade.
"We can save the rest for tomorrow." She told him. "Anything you want to say while we're alone? Because I'm ready to sleep." Lincoln mulled it over, already having replayed nearly everything he could remember about today's events in his head before she even came here. It mixed nicely with what they had just talked about.
"Do you want me to say sorry at all?" He asked. Her face settled into a frown momentarily, then a mischievous smirk that looked like it needed effort to maintain.
"You're fine. 40 seconds isn't bad for beginners." Even if that was a joke, Lincoln's expression twisted ever so slightly. She was good at usually picking things that wouldn't bother him, but that did just a little; he hadn't intended for it to be over that quickly. He wanted it to last. "No blaming anyone." She answered it seriously. "We played it safe. It was just bad luck. There isn't a point."
"Are you sure?" He had to ask, because it didn't seem that simple to him.
"I'm sure. Forget about it." That sounded like a command. "Get some sleep, Lame-O. Tomorrow is going to suck."
"Yeah…" Lincoln realized. That fear might've robbed him of sleep, but it didn't feel like it would. He felt strangely content now. "Goodnight, Ronnie Anne." Lincoln used his arm to lift the blanket up so she'd have an easier time getting out of the bed. But she didn't move. The two stared at each other silently, and Lincoln felt his heart start to thump harder and his face heat up. It looked like her face was doing the same.
"Well, I was thinking about staying here." She muttered. "But fine." She moved a leg out of the bed.
"You mean, share the bed?"
"Do you want the floor?" She asked dryly.
"No." Lincoln answered quickly and dropped the blanket on her. He didn't care at all. He'd dreamed of this happening. Or rather, it was half of a dream. But he'd take it.
"Tch." She lifted her leg back up onto the bed. "You're hopeless."
"No, surprised. I'm supposed to be the one that comes up with all the 'dumb' ideas." Ronnie Anne called any of his romantic ideas 'dumb'. But she still went along with them.
"Oh, don't worry. I'm not stealing that from you. You can still be an idiot." They both smirked at each other. "Look, I'm tired and I don't want to walk back to my room. Might as well spend some time together, because we're probably not going to see each other for a while after this." Lincoln's smile faded. "And besides…You were inside me. Is anything weird after that?" That was a complete fact, but it was delivered so crassly Lincoln couldn't help but shut up and go deep red in the face, which was probably the point. Even then, it seemed to be too much for Ronnie Anne too, because she abruptly rolled on her side to face the other wall. "Goodnight, Lincoln."
"Goodnight." He found his voice again. He laid down, staring at the back of her head. Ronnie Anne Santiago was sleeping next to him. This really was a dream come true, in the midst of a nightmare. That was strangely poetic; Lucy would've gotten a hidden smile from that; if he could ever tell her. But he wasn't going to tell anyone. He was just going to enjoy this as a secret.
He could just go to sleep now, but he was feeling brave. The atmosphere felt right. This was already great, but it could be better. It could be a little bit closer to his dreams. Lincoln edged himself over slightly in her direction, slowing reaching his hand out…
"Hmm?" Ronnie Anne let out a suspicious grunt and raised her head. Lincoln immediately took his hand away from her shoulder and scooted back. "What are you doing?"
"Nothing." Lincoln said quickly.
"Bull." She rolled over to face him and propped her head up to look at him with raised eyebrows. "You were trying to do something. I want to know." She didn't sound 'mad' mad. Lincoln thought he could still get away with it.
"Trying to cuddle with a cute girl." The effect was immediately. Her cheeks puffed out and she reached out to smack him between his stomach and chest with an open palm, making him flinch and start coughing.
"Shut up. Or I'll go back to my room." She rolled back over. "Idiota. Is that really the kind of crap you fantasize about?"
"All the time." Lincoln played along. "It's the only other thing I wish we could've done on your birthday." They hadn't hung around down there after they were both done. They'd taken a moment to catch their breaths, dispose of the only evidence, and then headed directly upstairs. It really was the only part of his fantasy (or one of them) that hadn't played out. He wasn't weird for that; girls were soft and warm. Even her. Why wouldn't he fantasize about that, especially when she'd climbed into his bed like this?
Ronnie Anne turned her face a little further into the bed and pulled the covers up slightly farther over her head, no doubt hiding a blush. "You are such a perro." She told him. A dog, or a pervert. She'd been using that as a joke ever since she'd got him to admit he thought her butt was cute. "Fiiiine." She dragged it out like she was doing him a favor.
Lincoln didn't hesitate in his movements this time. He scooted right next to her and put an arm over her midsection, leaving his hand resting on a safe spot on her abdomen between her stomach and her chest. He laid his head down on the pillow behind hers and on a few stray strands of her hair. Just the proximity to her was warm and enjoyable. He was surprised when she scooted back towards him. Not much, but it was definitely movement.
"I better not wake up with something poking me." She warned.
"You won't." Although Lincoln's voice shook a little because he wasn't quite sure that was something he could prevent.
"Good." She spoke. "Now for real, goodnight. Perro." She added as an afterthought.
"Goodnight." Tomorrow was going to suck. The rest of the year was probably going to suck. But tonight? Tonight was going to be fine.