Two weeks, three days, and nine hours flew by just like that, and it was finally time to start leaving. It took the Santiagos a while to get their belongings together and prepare for the moving process, but alas, they finally did it. Ronnie Anne, with a multitude of suitcases and bags, looked at the exterior of the beloved Casagrande apartment complex.
"Man, I'm really going to miss this place." She reminisced as she turned to her older brother. "You ready to leave, Bobby?"
"I think so, lil sis. Though, I can't find my…" Bobby began patting his pants as if he were searching for something.
"Your sticker gun? It's in your flannel pocket. I also brought your pack of scented stickers." The tomboy explained, getting in Bobby's truck while doing so. "It's too bad mom can't come with us today. I was looking forward to spending more time with her."
"Yeah," The older boy pouted, "It's too bad that she forgot to submit her two weeks' notice." Despite being 48 years old, Maria Casagrande-Santiago STILL worked tirelessly as a nurse. She planned to take on fewer shifts at the Royal Woods Hospital, at least.
"Let's just get going before the brigade comes." Ronnie Anne shivered. "I CANNOT handle another one of Abuela's smooch attacks."
"I hear ya, sister." The pair entered the truck and quickly left. "You know, I can't believe I'm saying this," Bobby started, "but I'm kind of glad to be independent for once, you know?"
"What do you mean?" The little sister questioned with a croak in her voice. The path they were taking was quite bumpy, in a literal sense. Ronnie Anne looked outside the window, averting her older brother's gaze as she didn't want him to see the tears forming in her eyes.
"Well, throughout our five years here, I felt like I couldn't do anything by myself. Abuela would smother me to death, Abuelo basically HANDED me the job at the bodega, and Tio Carlos helped me finish college. Without them, I wouldn't have been able to get to where I am today! But…" He let out a sigh.
"But?" Ronnie Anne's eyebrow raised.
"But I can't help but feel like it stunted my personal growth, in a way. Hear me out, Nie-Nie. I'm super grateful that they helped us with everything, but I just…it just made me less and less responsible. I don't think I would ever learn to be self-sufficient if I lived here my whole life, you know?" Bobby ranted as Ronnie Anne turned to him with a smile. Her smile had the same radiance as always, minus the buck teeth. She had gotten aligners years prior to straighten her teeth. "I mean, I can't even make my own breakfast. That's how coddled I've been my whole life!" He continued, "I need to have my own character development arc!"
This elicited a giggle from Ronnie Anne. "I know what you mean. And don't worry, Mom and I won't coddle you like that. But you're my brother and…" she looked down as she drew circles on her thigh with her finger. "I just don't want anything bad to happen to you. That's the main reason I wanted to move to Royal Woods, despite everything at stake. So, I'll always be there for you, big brother. Even if you think that you don't need me. And so will Mom."
Bobby, still driving, thanked her wholeheartedly. "You should get some sleep, sis. We've had a long day, and you gotta rest up before school starts."
"You're right." She managed to utter through yawns. "Wake me up when we get there, yeah?"
"Love you, sis."
"Love you, bro."
Three hours passed, and Bobby slowly shook his hermanita. "Ronnie, we're here."
She stumbled awake, still feeling fatigued. "Wha-huh? Oh, okay," was all she could mutter before slowly falling back asleep.
Bobby chuckled at this. "Same old Ronnie." He scooped her up and carried her to their destination–The Loud's Residence. Bobby extended his finger to ring the doorbell, which then gave him a shock. "UGH, I keep forgetting about this ding-dang faulty doorbell." This shock woke up his little sister, who was very confused about their whereabouts.
She yelped at the shock. "WHAT THE HELL, DUDE?" She then turned her head to see the numbers 1216 lingering next to a big red door. "Um, Bobby, what are we doing here?" She was very much awake now.
"Well, obviously, we're here to pay a visit to my future in-laws. And my honey bunch pumpkin-pie sugar bun babe Lori said that they're having Lynnsagna for dinner tonight, and we CANNOT miss out on that." He yelled, accentuating the fact that they simply CANNOT miss dinner tonight. "And who knows, maybe they'll be your in-laws too!"
"I'm pretty sure that's how in-laws work, Bobby. The family of whoever you marry will be my in-laws!"
"I didn't mean it like that, silly goose". He shrugged, booped his sister on the nose, and finally knocked on the door rather than standing idle outside of the house.
"What do you mean by tha-" She began before finally realizing what he meant. Her face reddened as her eyes widened. "Ay chihuahua, how many times do I have to tell you this!? Linc and I are jus-"
"Just what?" The aforementioned teenager with hair as white as snow asked, opening the red door. He, rather than appearing in his usual get-up, changed his style a bit. No longer was he the little 11 year old boy who was barely 5 feet. He was quite tall now, and rather than wearing his iconic orange polo, he wore an orange long sleeved shirt with black sleeves. He also changed up his pants game with cargo pants and finally threw out his skinny jeans.
"Oh, hey Linc! It's good to see you again! Ronnie Anne let out a breath she didn't know she was holding before going up to hug Lincoln. Ronnie Anne also looked quite different since the last time they met. Her hair had grown quite a bit, so she put it into a high ponytail rather than a low one. Of course, she still had her purple zip up–that was a classic. But rather than having it zipped up, she just wore it as a jacket. Underneath she wore a plain white tank top. She also opted for purple high-tops instead of her usual flats with knee-high socks. "I'm lovin' this new style! You finally got rid of those ugly ass skinny jeans." The pair, though talking quite frequently online, haven't actually seen each other since two Thanksgivings ago. "Bobby and I just wanted to pay a little visit before unpacking our stuff at home."
Lincoln put on a fake mad expression, but he couldn't actually stay angry at her. "Hey! I happen to think I made quite a fashion statement with those skinny jeans." The two shared a look then laughed. "But thanks anyway. I'm also liking your new look. Come on in, guys!" Lincoln said with a smile, slowly breaking out of his embrace with Ronnie Anne. He wished that they could stay like this forever, but he didn't want to leave his future brother-in-law hanging. "What's good, Bobby?" He asked, later dapping him up.
"Hey, little loud. I'm super psyched to be living in Royal Woods again!" Bobby ran to sit on the couch which was, surprisingly, empty. "Hey, if you want, after dinner we can all hit up the arcade after dinner. Lori and I can always unpack tomorrow."
"That sounds like fun, let's do it!" Lincoln replied.
"Already have plans without me?" Lori walked down the stairs and bolted to Bobby. "Oh, Boo-Boo Bear, I've missed you so much." She embraced him, and the two shared an extremely–almost too extreme–passionate kiss in front of their siblings.
Ronnie Anne turned to Lincoln as she pretended to vomit. "Ew, gross! Please do that on your own time, guys."
Lincoln snickered, "They'll be doing a LOT of stuff on their own time once they move in together, Ronnie Anne." This caused Ronnie Anne to guffaw heartily. "Let's just leave them be right now. There's no point in trying to reason with them; it's like they transport themselves to another dimension every time they're together. Let's just head upstairs to my room, yeah?" He continued before realizing how suggestive his wording sounded. "I-I mean to play some video games, at least until dinner." He muttered with a crimson red blush forming on his face.
Ronnie Anne caught his awkwardness, but she did her best to disregard it. "Yeah, it's better than being with these two lovebirds. Let's split." The duo raced upstairs to his room. "Man, you're still as slow as ever, Loud!" She teased.
"Oh yeah? Well, you're not the one with the top score on Dance Battle anymore, so top that!" He blew a raspberry at her.
"How the hell did you beat my score?" She exclaimed.
Lincoln perked up. "My friend Stella is a BEAST at techniques. She came up with this new one and…" He continued to yap, but she tuned him out once she heard the name Stella.
Stella seems nice, but I didn't visit just to hear him going on and on about some other gir-I mean person, she thought to herself while slowly becoming more enraged. "Okay, I didn't come all the way down here just to listen to you rave about your girlfriend!" Ronnie Anne shouted a little louder than anticipated, causing the white-haired teen to flinch. She noticed his expression and quickly apologized. "Sorry for lashing out, Linc. I think I'm just feeling a little fatigued from the car ride."
"Water under the bridge," He smiled at her. "Sorry about that, though."
"Whatever, let's just get this game started." She crossed her arms.
Lincoln grabbed his console as she sat idly on the bed. "Yeah, let's." He rummaged through his belongings trying to look for his controllers. "And for the record, Stella is NOT my girlfriend."