It was a cozy sleep. The coziest either teenager had ever had. Soft and incredibly warm. At some point during the night, Ronnie Anne had rolled over onto her back, and Lincoln onto his stomach. But his arm stayed draped over her, and the two remained snuggled up close. It was the kind of comfort that lingered even after when you woke up, the really great kind.
And then it shockingly ended for them, literally. Ice cold water was suddenly poured on top of them, jolting both of them awake. They sat up, looking around wildly for the source, then they flinched when a horrible racket assaulted their ears. Someone was standing beside the bed, smacking a wooden spoon on the side of a metal pan.
"Abuela, detente!" Ronnie Anne's first response when she realized what was going on was to pull the blanket up over both their heads, but the cold, wet, and heavy fabric only made things more uncomfortable. The noise continued as the very irate teen threw it off. The metallic banging continued as the two tried to scramble out of bed, Ronnie Anne scooting towards the end and Lincoln outright scrambling on all fours. The noise so the spoon beating on the pan could come down on Lincoln's upper backside.
"Fuera! Fuera!" She resumed beating the pan till she'd both finally gotten out of bed and stood up. "Qué indecente!" She'd finally stopped making the racket, but their ears were still ringing. Lincoln stood up straight as the short woman pointed the end of the spoon right against his adam's apple.
"Ya basta!" Ronnie Anne grumbled at her grandmother while she unstuck the wet hair from her face before swatting the spoon away from the poor boy. The old woman waved it threateningly at her now.
"Mom?" Maria poked her head in. "What are you doing?" She caught sight of her daughter and her 'best friend'. Her expression, early morning grogginess, seemed to descend into some form of disappointment.
"Es espantoso." Rosa started. "Mija wasn't in bed when I went to wake her up. I found her in here. They were in bed together!"
"We were sleeping!" Ronnie Anne tried to quash this before it blew up.
"Honest…" Lincoln murmured, shivering from the cold. Ronnie Anne had been teaching him Spanish for years now, but that conversation had been so fast paced he hadn't made out a single word.
"No excuses!" Rosa boomed.
"Mom." When she found out what was going on, Maria started rubbing her eyes. Now she stopped her own elderly mother. "I'll handle this. Just go."
"Hmph." The stout Mexican woman waved the spoon in both teens' faces one last time and left the room. Maria forcefully closed the door behind her, making the two flinch a little.
"What did I say last night?" She demanded. Lincoln swallowed nervously.
"We were just talking." Her daughter explained.
"We figured a lot out…" Lincoln added, but the woman held up a hand to stop him.
"Then why were you still in here?" She crossed her arms.
"Because I was tired and didn't want to walk back to my room. We're dressed, nothing happened!" Ronnie Anne insisted, and Lincoln blushed a little. The adult's eyes bored into both of them, making both squirm.
"Can we just get dressed?" Ronnie Anne threw out her hands. They were both cold, shivering, and really had to empty their bladders. The woman was absolutely glowering, but she stepped to the side to allow her daughter to brush past her into the hallway.
"I'll just...change in here." Lincoln motioned weakly to his bag, really hoping it would make her leave. It did, and Lincoln hurried out of his wet pajamas and into some dry clothes. He still got a jolt when he peered into the hallway and saw Ms. Santiago standing there, watching his doorway. Ronnie Anne was coming out of the bathroom at the same time, fully dressed. The two passed each other, but didn't say anything.
Breakfast was weird. Lincoln forgot most of Ronnie Anne's family ate over here. Her grandfather got up-his weak hearing meant he hadn't heard the awful racket earlier-and her aunt, uncle, and cousins all swarmed into the apartment not long after. It was bustling, it was energetic, and it was loud. It was a little jarring to Lincoln, after how tense the last 24 hours had been. And it was hard to blend in. Ronnie Anne's grandma kept casting glances at him, and he was sure the plate he'd gotten was smaller than the rest. Ronnie Anne and him had originally sat next to each other, but her mom had made her trade seats. Lincoln felt very out of place and like he was unwanted. He went through the whole thing like a zombie, engaging only minimally with the others to avoid looking suspicious.
After breakfast, Ronnie Anne had to go back to her room since she was grounded. Her grandma sent her with a towel and some fresh sheets Lincoln was 'encouraged' to watch TV with the kids, but warned not to go far. That too went by in a daze. Bobby showed up a little later to fetch his grandpa so they could open up the mercado downstairs. Rosa was quick to ask him if he or Lori were coming to pick Lincoln up soon. Bobby said something vague about later that day and was quick to excuse himself, leaving Rosa to tut about the young man working himself to death. It delayed his expulsion from the apartment for just a little while.
Lincoln was definitely not welcomed now.
Ronnie Anne's morning didn't go much better, but only because embarrassment was like torture to her. Her abuela came into her room after breakfast. The matter of that morning wasn't over yet.
"We were just sleeping! Nothing happened!" She insisted again.
"I believe you, mija." Rosa accepted her granddaughter's words without question, which was actually very touching but hard to appreciate at the moment. "But something could have happened. You're a young woman now, at that age where passion burns the brightest. Mistakes can be made." The 'young woman' responded to that by flopping back on her bed and holding a pillow over her face. "Lincoln too. He's becoming quite the young man." Ronnie Anne pushed the pillow harder, close to trying to suffocate herself. Part blessing and part curse, her own mother showed up at that moment, presumably to tear into her for the same subject.
"Oh, mija, I was just talking to Ronnie Anne about that business this morning." Rosa explained. "We're going to have to keep a closer eye on those two now."
"I'll talk to her. And please remember she's grounded." Ronnie Anne could tell how short her mother sounded.
"I still want to know what happened." Even though her view was obstructed by a pillow, Ronnie Anne could just tell her abuela was looking towards her with hands on hips. "This is all making me mucho worried. She's not turning into a delinquent, is she?"
"No." After a beat, Ronnie Anne lifted the pillow again. "Just making a few stupid mistakes."
"Hmm." The old woman knew she was being kept in the dark. "Just go easy on her. Whatever it is, it can't be that bad." Ronnie Anne's mouth twisted a little. "When you were her age, you were sneaking out of the house at night. I remember!" This could've been funny, but Ronnie Anne knew that, more likely than not, this would just make her mother even angrier in the conversation they were about to have.
"I'll handle it." That was definitely delivered through almost gritted teeth.
"And I want to know how long she's grounded!" Rosa Casagrande left with the last word. The door closed, and the mood of the room dropped with it. Ronnie Anne lifted the pillow off her head and sat up, not wanting to come off as moody or a delinquent. She'd expected her mother to be glaring at her, but that didn't stop it from unsettling her. She had to force herself not to look away again.
"What did I tell you last night?" Was how her mom started the conversation.
"'Not to do anything'." She answered. "Mom, I swear we didn't. We just talked and fell asleep."
"That's still an issue!" Her mother pointed towards the hallway. "You said you're just friends. Friends don't do that. Unless you're more than friends..." She crossed her arms. That would be worse. Ronnie Anne read the writing on the wall. "Why?"
"Because I was tired." That wasn't a lie. "And I didn't think we'd get a chance to see each other in person for a while." She didn't want to further embarrass herself by fully explaining that, but she figured her mom would piece it together.
"You aren't helping your chances." Her mother sighed, cooling down and sitting beside her. "Ronnie Anne, I told you that for a reason. The whole family thinks there might be something between you two. Now because of that, your abuela knows. Even if we sweep this under the rug, she's still going to know about that. Do you understand that?"
"Yes, Mom." A few years of trying to keep up appearances was down the drain. "It's my fault." But she didn't consider it too bad a loss, in all honesty. Maybe because she got the feeling things were going to change after today anyway. Accepting fault like that got her mother in a better mood, if the pat on the back she got was any indication.
"You two talked last night. Anything else?"
"Nothing." Ronnie Anne answered truthfully. There was an uncomfortable silence for a few seconds.
"Were you hoping for something else?"
"Mom, we were still dressed this morning. Nothing happened." Ronnie Anne felt her face heating up.
"That's not what I asked." Recognizing the diversion, her mother's voice became much less calm. "Ronnie Anne-" Even her mother didn't want to explicitly make this accusation. "Just be honest with me, please."
"I just wanted to talk to him, I swear." That was the honest truth. "And… I guess I knew something might happen." She wasn't stupid; sneaking into bed with a boy in the middle of the night, or just sharing a bed in general, had a pretty obvious place it could lead to. It wasn't something she'd intended to do, or at least start.
Although she probably wouldn't have stopped it if it somehow did start. The subject had danced in the back of her mind the whole time. What really would be the harm now? They'd already done it before. And what better way to spend what was probably the last time they'd see each other all year? But she'd felt kind of dirty about it, like it was wrong because of what was already going on.
"Ronnie Anne…" Maria let out a disappointed sigh. "If you're still young enough to be embarrassed about dating, you're too young to be thinking about that."
"I'm not embarrassed about it." She wasn't. "I just think me and Lincoln have our own thing. You really don't get that?" Her dad seemed to get it. Even Bobby seemed to get it.
"No." She got a dose of brutal honesty. "I think both of you just let your hormones take control and now you're trying to come up with an excuse, so you don't feel guilty."
"It's not like that!" The teen became indignant. It wasn't a fling. It wasn't something they'd just done for cheap thrills. If it was, why did they spend so long planning it? Why did they wait for a chance to do it together instead of anyone closer to them? And why had Lincoln fantasized about something as boring as cuddling? It was about that connection they had, not some desire to feel good. "Seriously." She was treading dangerous ground now, but she had to get this out. "I know how I feel. Why do I have to prove that to someone else?!" She demanded, looking her mom right in the eye.
She stared back at her, looking a little more sympathetic now. "Ok." She put an arm around her shoulder. "I'm not going to say I understand, but I believe you really mean it." That was an improvement. "We'll talk about it more later." The way she said that implied this conversation was nearly over, and her mom stood up. She lingered with a hand on her daughter's shoulder, trying to convey sympathy with her expression. Then she took it off and turned away.
"Mom, hold on." Ronnie Anne stopped her. She had her alone, so she might as well bring up the things from last night. Hopefully, Lincoln was using this time to call his parents too. "I want to talk to you about something." The woman stopped and turned around, moving to sit back down beside her, watching her with cautious curiosity. "It's about what Lincoln and me were talking about last night." Her mother's attention was more rapt now.
"I know you and Dad want me to get rid of it now. I can tell." Ronnie Anne watched her mom inhale heavily.
"You're right." Her mother didn't hide that fact from her. "We would prefer that. But it's only because we care about you. It's a hard thing to go through for anyone, and it's dangerous for someone your age. You just started your first year of high school. And if this gets out, it will follow you until you graduate. We don't want you to go through any of that. You said you didn't want things changing, and that's the best way to make sure things don't."
Her mom wasn't wrong. Ronnie Anne's reputation at school, how her family and friends thought of her, and her general health could be saved a lot of trouble if she dealt with this now. But she was still concerned about things changing with Lincoln, and the fact she was willing to risk those other things just for a boy didn't escape her as an unequal exchange. For a brief moment Ronnie Anne did think she was being irrational. But she didn't hold onto that thought for long. She just could not consider risking that.
"I don't want to do that." She kept talking, and forced herself to keep going from momentum. "I looked it up before I told anyone and it freaks me out." Just saying it made her feel queasy. The whole thing was kind of like watching a gore video, of which admittedly she'd seen a few; you see it happen, you imagine it happening to you, and you get chills all up and down your spine.
"Don't feel bad." Her mother put hands on her shoulders and pulled her in for a hug. "That's perfectly normal." It wasn't a negative reaction, so Ronnie Anne quickly figured out her mom just thought she was on the fence. And for all she knew, she was. "I did some research."
Big surprise. Ronnie Anne thought.
"It's perfectly safe." Ronnie Anne knew that, but that wasn't the issue; she wasn't scared of it.
"I know. But I don't want to." Time for the big truth. "I think I'm already leaning towards just giving it up for adoption."
"Ronnie Anne-" Her mother started to react strongly, but she cut her off.
"And I know it's going to be a big deal when everyone finds out, and school, and all that. I don't feel that worried, but I know I should be."
"Ok." Maria responded more calmly this time. "You're scared. That's the main reason?"
"No. It just freaks me out."
"But is that the only reason?" Her mom pressed again.
"Yeah." Did she really need more than one reason? It freaked her out. "More than the other option."
"Okay." Her mom sounded relieved. She was probably worried Ronnie Anne was against it on some moral grounds, and the teen hoped to God she wasn't asked about that. Because she didn't want to think about it. "But there's no reason to be. It's safe. It's one or maybe two days, and you never have to think about it again." She had trouble believing the last part.
"I know, but that's not changing my mind. I don't know. Maybe it'll stop freaking me out if I wait a while."
"Ronnie Anne." Maria's tone changed rather suddenly to impatient. "You can't take forever to make up your mind. The further along you get, the riskier it gets. And if you do decide to either keep it or give it up," The disdain for those options were obvious. "We need to plan in advance. Doctor's appointments. I'll have to call your school and tell them to take you out of gym class. We took you to see Lincoln to help you make a decision. We brought him here for the same reason. This shouldn't be that hard!" Her mom stood up as her frustration reached a peak.
"Then I'll give it up!" Ronnie Anne finally decided. If it was so important to decide soon and on her own, then she might as well go with adoption. He knew she couldn't keep it, and the other option freaked her out, so that really only left one option to take. If she had to take one, she'd take that. "I'll have it and put it up for adoption." She started breathing heavily. That was it, right? At least for now. The pressure was off her shoulders. That had to be what she was feeling.
Her mother just stood there eyes wide. She took a step back and leaned against her daughter's door. Then she pulled out the desk chair across from the bed and sat down in that. She put her hands on her face for a moment and rubbed her eyes before looking up again. "Ronnie Anne…" She sat up. "You don't have to decide right this instant."
"I mean it, Mom." Ronnie Anne thought she was backtracking because she didn't like the answer. "I'm not keeping it. I don't want to kill it. I'll just give it up."
"What about if we let Lincoln go with you?" Maria suddenly asked. "While you get the procedure?" Ronnie Anne recoiled. That was even worse. She didn't want to be seen like that, and she didn't want to make Lincoln see anything like that.
"No!" She shot back. "That's not going to help! It freaks me out!" Her mom abruptly stood up, and the movement surprised her enough to make her lean back. For a second, she believed her own mother might be lunging for her. Again, her mother held her face, tilting her head back this time.
"No." She said it without looking at her. "You're not deciding now. The whole point of this was to get an answer at the end of the day." Of course her mom didn't accept her answer. Ronnie Anne didn't even try arguing. "You two will have your talk. You'll think about it." She put extra emphasis on that. "And then you'll decide." She took her hand off her face, and both of them moved to her hips. "You can leave your room, just not the apartment. And please don't give your abuela any more reasons to be suspicious." Oh, a bribe.
"Yes Mom." But if anything, this whole exchange probably pushed her more into being sure about her choice. Maybe it was a teenage sense of rebellion.
"And I mean it. Think." Her mother implored her, as she put a hand on the doorknob. "Think about school. Think about your friends. Think about everything. Because this will affect everything. Think." Her mother left the room, leaving the Latina to sit on her bed and go over everything. The only reason she'd told her mom is that maybe she'd hear something to change her mind, but that didn't happen. She didn't want to say she wouldn't change her mind, but at this point she was absolutely sure she knew what she was going to do. At least for now. It might've been the fear of disappointing her mom, but she wanted to at least believe she could still consider the 'easy' way out.
Adoption wasn't really a scary thing. At most, it'd be complicated if her family or Lincoln's wanted to take it instead. She hadn't even mentioned that to her mom. Well, she could always mention it later. No, the real problem really was the being knocked up part. She'd already known it would be a big problem, but now she really had to focus on it.
It'd screw up school for sure. It was bad enough she'd missed a full week. If the dates played out how they should, it'd be over around the time of finals. She'd miss them, which might mean repeating her freshman year, which would mean five years of being known as one of the girls that got knocked up. It was a big inner city school; she wouldn't be the only girl in that situation, but it was a small enough number she'd still stick out as a target for mockery. She might have to knock a few heads, but she could survive that.
Her friends would stick by her, even if they ended up in separate years. She already knew Sid had her back. That girl was the best thing that ever happened to her in this city. Sameer, Casey, and Nikki wouldn't burn bridges with her over this, but, at the same time, she didn't really know if they'd be any help. But of course, there was always Lincoln. That alone would be enough, Ronnie Anne thought.
She was putting a lot of value on that boy. Maybe too much. Lincoln wasn't perfect, or even that remarkable; there were nice and selfless people all over the world. It wasn't like he had a lot of money or stuff, not that it really mattered. He still drew her in regardless. She'd had short spells of pondering it over the last few years. Was it really affection if she couldn't say anything more vague than 'he just drew her in'? Or was it that simple?
It definitely wasn't anything physical. On a good day, Lincoln could charitably be called 'cute', but he was still extremely lanky. There were some muscles if you felt, but you couldn't see them. The way he'd let his hair grow out into its current shaggy style put him in a weird middle state between looking like a bum and someone who watched too many 80s flicks (or maybe Luna was affecting this style choices). She knew it wasn't anything physical because she'd felt the same spark in Elementary before she even hit puberty. Her mom had definitely been wrong about that.
Lincoln wasn't really much...but he made her happy. And if all she was doing was giving it up after it was born, did he really need to be anything? No, probably not.
She should go see him, since she was allowed out of her room now. Might as well make use of what time they had.
Lincoln was watching for Ronnie Anne before she eventually slunk out of her room, hands in the pockets of her shorts. The apartment had mostly cleared out, and he was sitting on the couch between Carl and CJ pretending to watch TV. He'd seen Ronnie Anne's mom come out of the hallway, still looking irritable, and inform Mrs. Casagrande she was allowed out of her room now, just not the apartment. After that, she left the apartment herself in what looked like a huff. The old Mexican woman had looked overjoyed.
It still took a few minutes for her to appear, and she somehow managed to look like the least happy person about it.
"Mija! Leftovers!" Her grandma held a plate up to her face as she passed the kitchen. She took it with a muttered thanks and continued into the living room towards them. At the risk of looking obvious, Lincoln turned and watched her the whole way. When she finally reached the couch, she turned around and collapsed in the thin space between Lincoln and Carl, squeezing into the spot and pushing both of them, especially Carl, away.
"Hey, c'mon!" Her second youngest cousin complained, shifting to sit halfway on the arm of the couch.
"Deal with it." His prima told him through a mouthful of leftover breakfast.
"Man." Carl whined, rolling over the arm of the couch and giving his spot up fully. "I'm going outside. I can still do that." He tried to act like he was superior for it.
"Adios." Ronnie Anne waved him away without giving him the satisfaction. She scooted over a little to take advantage of the free space, and Lincoln scooted over with her. The two effectively had half the couch to themselves.
Taking advantage of that, Ronnie Anne scooted again, this time over to Lincoln. She swung one of her legs over his and let it hang there while she lifted herself up slightly, so she was sitting part way on his leg. Lincoln felt himself getting a little hot under the collar from the contact. She'd done this once before, at a pizza place on one of the previous times Lincoln had visited, and he'd gotten just as flustered then. Close contact was unusual for them, and a weird feeling, even after last night. But Lincoln could adjust. There was something still so very pleasing about being in close contact with another body.
Then, seemingly out of the blue, a pair of sandals came cartwheeling through the air and struck both of them in their respective heads. While they were both recoiling from that, Rosa stalked over. "No, no, no!" She insisted, pulling her granddaughter away so she was only sitting beside the boy. No contact.
"Abuela!" Ronnie Anne grumbled as the old woman picked her shoes back up and made her way back into the kitchen.
"Did she really just throw shoes at us?" Lincoln was rubbing his head.
"It's a...cultural thing." She muttered. Ronnie Anne didn't try that again. CJ had actually disappeared when the first shots were fired, that instinct all kids had to avoid adults when they were mad. But that suited the pair just fine. Even if Rosa was milling around doing chores and Ronnie Anne's mom was somewhere in the apartment building, they could take joy in having this couch to themselves. Their hands found their way back together.
"Your mom let you go?" Lincoln leaned his head and asked in a low voice.
"It's a bribe." She breathed back. Neither took their eyes off the TV in front of them. "She didn't like the option I was already leaning towards." Lincoln's grip tightened. "She wants me to think about it some more."
"Well…" Lincoln had been doing some thinking of his own, he just hadn't called his parents yet. He'd stepped out of the apartment to do it, but fled back inside because there were so many people in the hallway on their way to work or other places. "I think it's a good idea too." She turned her head towards him. After a sidelong glance, Lincoln turned his head too. "I figured Clyde was adopted too, and he turned out great, so it might be the best thing that can happen for...it."
Ronnie Anne had forgotten that, although in her defense she didn't really know Clyde well; Even when she still lived in Royal Woods, Lincoln hung out with her separately from the rest of his friends. He did the same thing on the extremely rare instances she visited, and she did it herself whenever he visited. Maybe it had been embarrassment when they were younger, but more recently, it was definitely about wanting one on one time.
No, they were not dates.
But Lincoln had a point though. "Better than we could do." Ronnie Anne admitted, turning her head away.
"Yeah." Lincoln quickly nodded. "It's the best option…" He said that, but Lincoln felt like it wasn't making a good resolution, it was just the least worst option out of several. But that was it, wasn't it? They'd messed up really bad, so all they had were bad options. For someone like Lincoln, walking away with an imperfect solution hurt. But it was for the best. He just had to live with the guilt for screwing up, he guessed.
"Sucks that the best option doesn't make us feel good." Ronnie Anne said under her breath. They both understood each other and the unease that came from having no easy way out.
"I haven't asked my parents about the other thing." Lincoln admitted quietly.
"Same."
The two sat there quietly for a few seconds not for any particular reason. Their heads were towards the direction of the TV, but they weren't taking in what was on it. Rosa was in the apartment still, but she was cleaning the kitchen well out of earshot of the two. It was a twin moment of avoiding asking the other an obvious question: Would either of their families taking it actually be the best possible answer instead? Neither had brought it up with their families yet, so they didn't want to bring it up to each other.
"I saw your mom leave earlier." Lincoln told her.
"Probably calling my dad." Ronnie Anne sighed. "She was pissed."
"That bad?" Lincoln asked.
"I already told you they want me to do one thing. They think I'm screwing up my life with any of the others." Ronne Anne leaned back a bit, stretching her arms over her head. "And I know it's going to suck, but it's what I want to do. I can deal with it."
"How bad?" Lincoln sounded concerned. "I'll help if I can."
"No." Ronnie Anne started to blush a little. "You're going to be three hours away. And do you really want to be around my mom anymore?" She wasn't going back on her earlier thoughts; she fully intended to stay in contact through the whole thing. Ronnie Anne just didn't want to be seen by Lincoln. She still had her desire for dignity around him, and dignity was not something you had during pregnancy. What you did get was mood swings, vomiting, cravings, and even leakage. She'd gotten embarrassed just asking her parents to stop for a bathroom break with Lincoln in the car. Anything worse and she'd die of shame. "I'll be fine."
"Are you sure?" Damn Lincoln, always worried about others. "My mom needed a lot of help." Lincoln could only really remember when his mom was pregnant with Lily and, more vaguely, Lisa. He'd only been five when the twins were born, and the months before that was a blur. But he remembered those, he remembered his dad having to help mom stand up and get around the house, and he remembered it being like a contest between all of them around then being the first one to get Mom whatever she wanted or needed. With his shorter legs and lack of knowledge, Lincoln hadn't had much success at the ages of seven and nine, but he'd still tried.
"I'll have plenty of help here." She couldn't help but get defensive, but she was trying not to snap at him again. And it was true: as mortifying as it'd be, her familia would have her back. "It's a bunch of boring gross stuff you'd hate."
"I don't mind gross." Lincoln said quickly. He really didn't. He knew girls liked to present themselves as perfect (and Ronnie Anne liked to present herself as tough), and he knew other boys his age saw girls as these amazing things. But Lincoln had lived with ten girls at one point in his life. Worse, he'd had to share a bathroom with ten girls at one point in his life. He still did with seven of them. He knew the truth that girls could be just as gross as boys and the most unappealing thing ever one hour and look perfect the next. He saw the reality and accepted it. He made sure Ronnie Anne's grandma was still out of earshot and leaned in close for extra secrecy. "Isn't this too serious to get embarrassed about?"
Her sense of dignity and pose pierced, the embarrassed Latina let go of Lincoln's hand to bring hers up and give his face a half-hearted push away from her while she looked away. "God, you're persistent." She turned back to face him. "Seriously Lincoln, I'll have enough here. Just be around if I want to talk. Hell, get your sister to train a carrier pigeon if they don't let you have your computer. Or let me ask one of Sergio's friends." The family's strangely sentient parrot was on a yearlong vacation. "Just be around. Seven months isn't that long. Once it's handled, we can hang out normally again like...whatever." She waved her hand at the empty air in front of her.
Man, that sounded amazing. Such a return to normalcy was possible, right? Lincoln could at least hope. But he found himself hooked on how Ronnie Anne had ended her sentence. "Like…?"
"Boyfriend and girlfriend." She said the words with scorn. "I think my mom finally gets that I just never liked that word."
"How come?" Lincoln asked. He'd always taken her word without question and never actually asked why, which was being respectful in his mind. And having never had to defend her viewpoint, Ronnie Anne wasn't immediately sure what her argument even was. She had to think about it, saying the word in her mind and seeing what played out. And what did play out quickly reminded her of her reasons, on top of making her physically gag.
"Bobby and Lori." She stuck her tongue out in a childish but nostalgic way. "Bobby was unbearable after he got a girlfriend." She hadn't seen him much anyway because of all his jobs, and then when she finally could, he was on the phone doing that annoying baby talk with Lori.
"Oh, yeah." Lincoln said, also remembering how annoyed or weirded out Lori always made him with her interactions with Bobby. It wasn't just Ronnie Anne-Lincoln couldn't imagine acting like that with a girl even if he liked her. "Even if I miss Lori, I don't miss listening to her talking about Bobby."
"Same with Bobby." Ronnie Anne nodded in agreement. "I guess that soured the whole idea for me." Lincoln nodded back, thinking Lori had the same effect on him.
"Well, they're not all like that." The boy pointed out. "Some are weird like that. But they can be pretty cool too. Or just...different." Luna had a girlfriend and Luan a boyfriend, so he'd had more examples. Neither really appealed to him, but it made him realize they could be different.
"I guess they can be." Ronnie Anne accepted. Aside from Bobby and Lori, the only other example she'd had was Carlota, whose methods were a little creepy to the younger Latina. There was no reason the dynamic her and Lincoln had wouldn't wouldn't be a problem. Distance wouldn't either; Lori and Bobby proved that.
Jeez, whatever reasons she'd had for resisting seemed petty next to all the crap she was dealing with now. At this point, she might as well just accept it to get the adults off their backs. It wasn't like they'd be doing anything different, and everyone else called them boyfriend and girlfriend anyway.
"Whatever." Ronnie Anne threw up her arms. "It's a stupid thing to get hung up on anyway. We might as well so our parents get off our backs." Nodding in agreement, a slow grin started to appear on Lincoln's face.
"So, I can say you're my girlfriend now?"
"Just don't give me a stupid pet name, or I'm cutting all communication with you." She warned with a pointed finger.
"So, you can call me names, but I can't call you any?"
"Exactly." Ronnie Anne leaned back with a smirk and put her hands behind her head. "Lame-o." Lincoln lowered his head trying to hold back a laugh. "Dork. Idiot." She started letting her natural volume out again. She was having fun, which made Lincoln leaning over and whispering in her ear unexpected.
"Fine. But I can still call you cute whenever I want." He was making her blush again, damn him.
"Don't push your luck." She pushed him back into his seat by his chest. He leaned back in.
"And maybe you can start wearing your hair down when we're together." He pushed his luck.
"Callate, idiota!" He was getting under her skin. "Perro." Then Lincoln went all in, reaching behind her head and grabbing her hair tie. She didn't stop him from pulling it off, letting her ponytail fall out into a natural hang. Ronnie Anne, blushing furiously, glared at Lincoln, looking unusually cocky and satisfied.
"Oh hoh." A short laugh made the two jump. Neither had noticed Rosa at the separation line between the kitchen and the living room catching the last bit of their conversation until she let out that little sound to show how adorable she found the whole thing. "Oh." Rosa realized she'd scared them when they awkwardly scooted away from each other, and her granddaughter hurried to put her hair back in a ponytail. To save them all some embarrassment, she decided she'd start her daily cleaning at the far end of the hallway, as far away from the living room as she could reasonably be.
"New condition." An exasperated Ronnie Anne breathed. "None of that crap except in private." She steadied her breathing. "How'd you even come up with that?" He'd made that move fast and confidently. It was a little weird to her, honestly.
"Lot of cheesy romance movies." Lincoln shrugged. "All of my sisters love them."
"...Ugh, my boyfriend is so lame." Ronnie Anne got some satisfaction and revenge when Lincoln got a fresh wave of pink over that. "Just save it until we're through with this." Seven months wasn't a long time, right? "We take care of this…and everything goes back to normal with a different name. That sound good to you?" She asked.
"Yeah." Lincoln tried to nod enthusiastically. He'd love to go back to doing stuff like going to the arcade, and teasing his new girlfriend. But it still felt like the least bad option. Ronnie Anne felt the same way too. But they were salvaging what this could. They were getting what they both really wanted. They should both be happier, but it was hard. But they'd made their choice, and it was time to follow through.
Now they just had to tell their parents and survive their reactions.