The rest of the time spent between the two teens waiting for dinner was, to put it lightly, awkward as hell. That whole "Stella being Lincoln's girlfriend" debacle was still up in Ronnie Anne's mind. Meanwhile, her sudden mood change was also lingering in a certain white haired teen's thoughts.
Man, Lincoln thought, I really screwed up. I'm so stupid! Why would I talk about another girl when Ronnie Anne's here? That's just so disrespectful to her time. God, and I didn't even have the chance to bring up Stella's aromantic either. He internally bashed himself, which distracted him from the video game the two were playing.
Ronnie Anne was having a similar internal monologue, Ay chihuahua, why did I have to make things so awkward? I should've just kept my dumb thoughts to my dumb self. Now look at what you did, Ronnie! The girl button mashed the controller in frustration, causing her best friend to move a couple of inches away from her. And now it looks like we're leaving room for Jesus! What the hell did I do? She wanted to facepalm herself into the next century.
Lincoln cleared his throat in an attempt to lighten the mood. "Uh, it's starting to rain kind of hard out. I don't think we can hit up the arcade anymore." He, not averting his gaze away from the game, stated with a bit of a quiver. He was still shaken up from her unexpectedly shouting at him. Though she was not the "toughest girl in Royal Woods Elementary School" anymore, she still had the tendency to let out her brutish nature. Be that as it may, Lincoln shamefully stays wary of her at all times. You know, just in case.
"Huh," She responded. "I guess so. I haven't seen weather this bad since that hurricane a couple of years ago."
"Oh yeah, I remember that!" Lincoln reminisced and let his guard down. This proved to be a bad idea when Ronnie Anne demolished his character in "Muscle Fish."
"Looks like I win again! Damn, Linc. I still own you at this game." She chuckled, also letting loose.
"Oh please, I was just going easy on you." He cracked his knuckles. "I'll beat you this time for sure." His eyes narrowed.
She moved closer to him, almost a little too close. "Wanna bet, Lame-O?" That nickname was oh-so nostalgic. She hadn't called him that as of late, as she normally just calls him Linc or Lincoln. But something about the situation they were in right now just made it feel right to call him that.
Ronnie Anne was unaware of the little distance between them, but Lincoln wasn't. "Ummmm…" He trailed off. His face began burning up to a concerning degree. Was this normal? Maybe he could ask Lisa to see if he had a fever or something. "You're getting kind of close…" He awkwardly mumbled.
"What was that?" She asked.
Before Lincoln could explain, his train of thought was interrupted by a cowbell ringing outside.
"KIDS! DINNER IS READY!" Lynn Sr. yelled at the top of his lungs.
"Looks like it's time for Dad's famous Lynnsagna." Lincoln quickly said, glad that he was able to get out of this kerfuffle.
"Oh man, I've been DYING to have your dad's cooking again! It's been too long." She rushed downstairs to grab a seat at the table.
Lincoln followed and sat next to her. "Yeah, and I also miss your abuela's food." He pouted a bit as he mustered up the courage to question, "Why haven't we seen each other in so long anyway?"
Ronnie Anne stopped mid-bite as she pondered. "Huh, I guess I never really thought about that…" It was harder for them to coordinate visits to each other since their families stopped competing for Lori and Bobby's attention. "No point in thinking about it now!" She firmly stated. "All that matters is that we are together now."
The twins caught on to this weird wording. "Together?!" They said in unison.
Now Ronnie Anne REALLY wanted to facepalm herself into the next century.
All of them finished their dinner with no crumbs, leaving a very satisfied Lynn Sr. "I can see that you guys really enjoyed this dinner."
Rita kissed her husband on the cheek. "You really outdid yourself, sweetie."
"Anything for my future in-laws!" He proudly said. "I'm so glad you're joining the ol' Louds, Bobby."
"I wouldn't want anything else, sir." Bobby commented with a wide smile. "Say, it's getting real windy out there." The family looked outside and noticed how bad the weather was.
"There's no way you guys can get home tonight in this weather, Lori." Lynn Sr. explained to his eldest daughter. "How about you guys just stay over?
Ronnie Anne contested. "Oh come on, it's not that bad, is it?" As she said that, a colossal gust of wind caused a tree to fall on top of Bobby's truck.
Bobby yelled, "NOOOOOOOOOOOO! MY BABY!"
The tomboy groaned. "Point taken."
"Well, Rita and I have to take care of something upstairs, so you kids can decide what to do next. But just know you two are welcome to stay over whenever you like, especially tonight." Suddenly, Lynn Sr. turned and pointed to Bobby. A vein could be seen popping out from his forehead. "HOWEVER…there will be NO funny business going on under my roof, got it, pal?"
"Y-y-yes sir." Bobby stammered as Lori and Ronnie Anne giggled at this interaction.
The parents went upstairs to take care of some "business", leaving the kids still in the kitchen.
"Well…" Ronnie Anne started. "Where are we going to sleep?"
Lori looked at Bobby with half-lidded eyes. "Leni is out on her fashion retreat, so my Boo-Boo Bear can stay with me." Her fingers trickled down his chest.
"Woah woah woah!" interjected Lynn Jr. "Dad just said no funny business."
"Sure," Lori continued while twirling a strand of her hair, "but he never said anything about fooling around." This comment caused Luan to chortle. "Come on, Boo-Boo Bear. We literally have so much to do tonight."
"Yeah, our wedding isn't going to plan itself. Let's go, babe!" The lovestruck fools ran upstairs all giddy like newlyweds.
"Great." Ronnie Anne rolled her eyes. "So where am I going to sleep?"
"There's always the couch!" Lincoln replied, which caused his sisters to glare intensely at him. He received an Indian burn from Lynn. "Ouch!"
"Ahem," Lola cleared her throat. "What he MEANT to say was that you can sleep in his room."
"I didn't mean to say tha-" Luna put her hand over his mouth to prevent him from spouting further. "MMPH!" He tried to object and gain his freedom of speech back by kicking like a toddler.
The temperature of Ronnie Anne's face could rival the sun. "No way!" She protested. "That's just…"
Luan walked up to her and leaned on her shoulder. "Oh, but what's wrong? You keep insisting how you two are just best buds, and best buds have sleepovers! Together. In the same bed." She clasped her hands together.
Ronnie Anne pretended to be oblivious. "I'm not following." She crossed her arms and averted the goofy sister's gaze.
Luan pulled out Mr. Coconuts. "It means you and Lincoln should sleep together tonight, Toots."
"Yeah!" The sisters that were present followed and clammered around the two.
"This just in!" Lincoln reported as he looked at the camera. "The sister-nado level has reached its peak. Everyone take cover!"
"Alright alright, fine!" Ronnie Anne shouted in hopes of stopping this quarrel. "There's no harm in a sleepover, right Linc?" He nodded. "It'll finally show your sisters that we are JUST FRIENDS and NOTHING MORE." She clenched her fist.
"Yeah, you're right. I'm going to head up and wash up. You can settle down in my room." He explained before going upstairs.
This left this girl in the purple zip-up alone with her NOT boyfriend's sisters, which made her feel quite awkward. Oh god, she thought to herself. They're all expecting me to go all gaga on Lincoln just 'cause we're sharing a room tonight. Well, I'm going to prove them wrong. After all, we're JUST best friends. Nothing more, nothing less. And they're right…best friends DO have sleepovers together. It's okay, Ronnie. Just pretend it's like a typical sleepover with Sid. Yeah, Sid! GAH! But Lincoln ISN'T Sid. Is a sleepover really the same when the best friends are opposite sexes? Or when the best friends kind of used to sort of MAYBE be something more when they were 11? Ronnie Anne continued on her internal freakout until she realized that she was the only one left in the kitchen now. The rest had retreated to their rooms. She groaned and also retreated to her temporary room/linen-closet. She gathered her belongings and grabbed a sleeping bag from the storage closet. Just because she was sharing a room with Lincoln does NOT mean she had to sleep in the same bed as him. Honestly, it would've been better to just sleep on the couch. She then noticed her phone was ringing and picked it up.
"Hey girl!" It was Sid Chang, Ronnie Anne's best friend from the city. "How's Royal Woods treating you?"
"Hey, Sid." Ronnie Anne replied dryly. Though she had a farewell party with her friends a couple days prior, hearing Sid's voice again just awoke something deep in Ronnie Anne. It wasn't happiness, nor was it sadness. It was guilt. Ronnie Anne had the choice to stay in the city, but she didn't. She let her selfish desires of not wanting to go through highschool without her mom get the better of her, and she felt guilty. "Sid, I…" her voice quivered. "I'm sorry." She began to cry a bit. Despite being a strong and tough girl on the outside, Ronnie Anne had a lot of pent up frustration and sadness that just needed to get out. "I'm sorry for leaving you guys, and I'm just…" She sniffled. "God, I'm such a mess without you."
"Hey, it's not your fault." Sid comforted her friend. "You have nothing to apologize for. Two years will be done in no time, and soon you'll be back living your best life!"
Ronnie Anne chuckled and lightened up a bit. "Thank you, Sid. I don't know how I'm going to get through school without you." She frowned. "But at least we moved to Royal Woods and not some random city like Jugville or something. If I had to move anywhere, it would be here."
"Yeah, I don't know how we're going to survive without you either, but we'll get through this!" Sid encouraged her sad bestie. "On the bright side, you'll be going to school with Lincoln, so you won't be completely alone. That's exciting!
"You're right. It is! I really missed hanging with him."
"Just don't let him find out about Artemis from Lucha Club!" Sid laughed, causing the tomboy to fume.
"Sid, what did I say about bringing up Artemis from Lucha Club?"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I'm still a Ronniecoln fan at heart and you know it." Sid exclaimed proudly. However, obnoxious monkey noises echoed. "Oh wait, I'll call you back. My monkey is acting weird again. See you later, bestie!" She hung up.
Ronnie Anne sighed, wishing that she never had to leave. Starting over again especially in the middle of high school was NOT ideal. But if anyone could make it work, it was Ronnie Anne. She finally turned around and realized that Lincoln was standing by the door frame. "How much of that did you hear?" She questioned, still a bit teary-eyed from her phone call.
"Um…all of it?" He said shamefully. "I'm so sorry, Ronnie Anne. I didn't know how much you were going through."
"It's no biggie." She lied. "You didn't hear about Artemis from Lucha Club, right?" She asked in hopes of lightening the mood.
"Who from where now?" He asked, which later elicited a sigh of relief from Ronnie Anne.
"Anyway, is the bathroom open now? I'm going to get ready for bed."
"Should be, but don't expect your visit to the bathroom to be peaceful. You would probably have five minutes tops before Lynn has to do a big one. Again." He slouched at the thought of his athletic sister going number two while he was still in the shower. This is why he had to start taking three minute showers.
She chuckled at this. "I'll just wash up and be right out." She grabbed her bags and walked to the bathroom.
This left the white-haired teenager alone with his thoughts. Man, she must really miss her home. It sucks having to move back and forth all of the time, but I wouldn't know how it feels since I've lived here my whole life. I wish I knew what I could do to make her feel like she's home again. I just…haven't seen her so sad in a long time. There's gotta be something I can do… He continued to think about this until Ronnie Anne came back from the restroom. However, he wasn't prepared for the sight he was about to see.
"I'm back, punk." She smiled and lightly punched him in the shoulder. He, however, was too dazed to even feel it because of the sight in front of him. She was in her tank top that she wore underneath her zip-up with purple pajama pants. However, that was not the view that shocked him the most. There stood Ronnie Anne Santiago, one of the biggest tomboys he knew, with her long raven hair, draped over her shoulder. No longer was it concealed in a ponytail, rather it was let loose. Over the years, Lincoln began noticing some changes in how he reacted to Ronnie Anne. Of course, thanks to puberty and hormones, he just felt different whenever he was talking to someone he found a little attractive. He just assumed that his heart skipped a beat at this moment because of puberty or some crap. Nonetheless, he DID have some feelings for the raven-haired girl back in fifth grade, but these feelings slowly faded and dialed down once she moved. Getting older though made him realize that maybe, just maybe, he liked her more than a friend. Seeing her like this made all of those feelings resurface but only stronger.
The whole world around him just paused. "Abuh, abuh…" Lincoln stuttered, feeling butterflies in his stomach.
"Linc? Is everything alright?" She asked, furrowing her eyebrows. She waved a hand in front of his face, but he was unresponsive. "Is there something on my face?"
"Yeah, beauty." He gave a lovestruck smile, but then he quickly realized what he said. His face went as red as a tomato as he tried to amend his statement. "I mean cutie!" He thought he saved himself for a second but then realized that wasn't any better. "Uh, I mean cruelty!"
She laughed. "You're such a weirdo."
"What's weird is that I've never seen you with your hair down before…" He mumbled.
"Oh, this?" She tossed her hair over her shoulder, which only worsened the butterflies in the poor teenager's stomach. "Yeah, I don't really like to let it down much. It's just so much easier to get around, you know? I mean, if I ride around with this much hair flying around in my face, it'd just be inconvenient. Does it really look that bad when it's down?" She pouted.
"W-what?" He shouted, almost a little too loud. This made Ronnie Anne jump a bit. "No! It looks stunning!" He uttered proudly.
Ronnie Anne felt her face heating up again. Man, how many times was she going to blush today? "Th-thanks. You know, no guy has ever complimented me on my looks before." She confessed. "Unless you count Bobby. Or my dad."
"Really? What about Artemis from Lucha Club?" He giggled.
"DUDE! You said you don't even know about that!"
"Well, I don't. But I want to."
"Nah, that's a story for another time." She smiled, leaving the lovestruck Lincoln in suspense.
"Whatever." He crossed his arms and frowned. "So what do you wanna do?" He asked.
"Let's just run some rounds of Super Smash Bros and call it a night.
The two played Super Smash Bros for about an hour before retreating to their beloved phones to doom scroll.
"Have you seen this cat video yet?" Lincoln showed Ronnie Anne a TikTok on his phone as the two of them laughed heartily. They were both sitting on his bed with a comfortable distance between them.
"I think so. Oh man, I've missed this." She wiped a tear from her eye that formed due to laughing too hard.
"Yeah…you, me, cat videos." He replied, which gave Ronnie Anne major flashbacks to the last time he said that. She remembered that day as if it were a tattoo engraved into her brain. She genuinely thought that he was going to PROPOSE in front of her ENTIRE FAMILY. Sure, a TINY bit of her was HOPING that he liked her JUST A LITTLE BIT, but she didn't want him to actually come out and say it. "And since you'll be living here now, we get to hang out more!" He exclaimed excitedly.
"Yup…" She said half-heartedly, the memory of Ernesto Estrella's past prediction still in her mind. "It's getting kind of late. I think we should hit the hay soon."
"Alright, you can take the bed tonight." Lincoln offered like a gentleman.
"What? No way, dude. I'm not kicking you out of your bed." Ronnie Anne protested. "Plus, I don't know, I kind of like sleeping on the floor. It helps with my posture."
"How does–okay I don't even want to ask. But you're the guest! I can't just let you sleep on the floor." He argued back.
"Hey! Since I'm the guest, I get to make the decisions." She finalized. "And the guest says that the guest shall sleep on the floor tonight!"
"Fine, fine, whatever." He turned off the lights, tucked himself in, and grabbed Bun-Bun to hug. Yup. He still slept with Bun-Bun every night. "Goodnight, Ronnie Anne."
"Goodnight, Lame-O." She yawned as she drifted off to sleep.
However, her sleep was interrupted by a loud thunder sound from outside, which caused Lincoln to whimper.
Ronnie Anne shot up from her sleeping bag. "Linc, are you afraid of thunder?" She asked, concerned for her pal.
"N-n-n-no…" He managed to utter. "That's c-c-c-crazy. A 16 year old boy s-s-scared of thunder?" Suddenly, another booming noise caused the boy to jump. "Okay, maybe a little bit."
"But you were never before. What happened?"
"Well, it kind of started ever since that whole Scotland thing where I almost died on that cliff. There was a lot of thunder that night, and I guess when I hear that noise, it brings me back to that traumatic experience. At least, that's what Dr. Lopez said." He explained and hid under his covers. "I'm so sorry, Ronnie Anne. This is so embarrassing. I'm just going to go downstairs and hit the couch. You can take the bed. I'm going to be up and screaming all night, and I don't want you to endure that." He hung his head down. As he tried to leave, though, he felt a body snuggle up to him in his bed.
"There's no way I'm letting you do that, Lame-O." She hugged him. "I…I didn't know that you went through all of that in Scotland." She frowned. "You…you never brought it up."
He laughed as he hugged her back. "There's a lot you don't know about me. But seriously," He let go of the embrace. "Just let me go downstairs. I REALLY don't want to bother you with my irrational fear of thunder."
"Hey, I'm the guest, right?" She punched him in the shoulder. "And the guest says that she shall stay with you, no matter how long, until you fall asleep.
"Y-y-you mean you'll be here…the whole night?" He asked, before another large booming sound wrecked his train of thought.
"You know it." She gave him another hug. "And I'm not going anywhere." She got under the covers of his bed, which caused them both to blush.
"Ummm…" He began to utter until he received yet another punch to the shoulder.
"Don't make this weird, dude."
"R-r-right." He said. "I really appreciate this, Ronnie Anne. Now, whenever there's thunder…" His hands intertwined with hers naturally under the covers. "I can think back to this moment."
"Don't sweat it." She squeezed his hand. This was normal, right? Friends hold hands…right? Friends sleep together at sleepovers, right? This thought only lasted in her mind for a split second though because for right now, she just wanted to savor this moment.