They sat down the row of Monoblock chairs neatly arranged. Heck, she deserved none of this. Their proud grins, their enthusiasm to be here. To be in this big event in this simple-made-fancy venue, wearing this Sunday dress that made her glow into a special type of glory weren't things that she deserved.
All for what? A spot on the 23rd place? She crossed her ankles. It's more of a 'thank you', than it was a congrats. Like minimum wage to a blue-collar job.
"Luan!" He wore a navy-blue suit and red bowtie. Haha. Coincidence. Blue-collar.
She stood up, ignoring how her family squealed in amusement as she pulled him into a brief hug. "Fancy meeting you here."
"Couldn't miss this for the world." He grinned, and a little fuzzy feeling grew in her stomach. Oh, thank goodness, I'm still human. "Not sure if you noticed, but you're not the only one who managed to get into the list."
She smirked. He was on the 34th, not too far away from hers. "And you didn't say anything?"
He chuckled sheepishly. "Just trying to be humble."
Everything was happening, people were talking. Muffled, hazy. It was a shame. Such a shame. Luan thought as her family pulled her into a group hug, the third one they'd given out to each other. The warmth, the stuffiness of being entangled in thirteen sets of limbs, contrasted the ever-growing hole inside. She should be at the very least, grateful that her family was taking this more seriously than she ever could. But everything happened so fast, and-
"Smile, kids!" Mom exclaimed, holding up her selfie stick.
She gave Benny a hug and dad shot them a photo; half an hour was spent snapping pictures with her mom, dad, siblings. Her memory was foggy, but somehow, they were in Vanzilla. They drove back all the way to Lynn's Table for dad's special treat, and it stretched on for minutes; enough to see the blue-sky morph to orange. Leaning on the windowpane, she watched cars of different shades and shapes pass by. She just wanted to go home. Sleep. Doze off, whatever adjective fits.
The van parked in their restaurant's parking lot, and she could feel her belly grumble. As they came in and picked a table, Lincoln boasted about his hard work, how elating it was to be the ninth out of an entire civilization of honor students. Lisa mentioned how sixth grade was a walk in the park, and that if she could blink through kindergarten and be the top in the whole batch, and go through fifth grade without trying, then she could wing it without even trying as much as him. The twins laughed, Lily babbled, and the rest of them basked in the cushioned couches of a restaurant they considered their second home.
It normally offered her comfort. Luan fought the urge to plaster her palms on her ears. But now it was just grating.
"When's the food coming out?" Lola whined, growing fussy. "I'm starving!"
A joke crawled into the back of her mind but was somehow blocked. She'd say it if she knew what it was. Instead, she sat there, flexing and unflexing the hand where Mr. Coconuts would be. A reflex, if you will. Keeping herself practiced for when the old doll got repaired. They were gonna be here the entire night.
Lifting seventeen muscles should've been easy. Should've been lighter than dropping into a frown. But her cheeks hurt anyway, and she found herself sneaking out of the table. The bathroom could offer some solace. Luan thought. Just for a second; it wouldn't hurt to take a break from all the noise.
She went in and was immediately greeted with silence and lavender air freshener, just the right calming balm for someone wound up after dropping a deuce. Leni's idea.
Luan approached the mirror, blue eyes reflecting back at her. It's you. She heard her mind say. See yourself?
Uh-huh.
She looked at her hand. Somehow it felt detached from her. Somehow this mirror didn't feel real. And yeah, she should be scared…but… nothing. But nothing!
Luan blinked, raising her hand up, and her reflection followed. She moved it around, and it followed. This is me. She told herself, yet somehow it felt like a lie.
"Luan?" She jolted as the mirror reflected Lucy standing by the door. "What're you doing?"
"Oh-uh…just… miming." Deflecting, she began touching the pretend-box over her. She could feel Lucy study her through the curtains of her bangs. "Why?"
Luan dropped her hands and walked over to her. "We're waiting for you before we can eat."
"Really?" Her heart began steadying as they walked out the door. "You could've just started without me."
Lucy's lips twitched into a small smirk. "We did. I just said that to make you come out easier."
Luan feigned a shocked gasp, and rolled her eyes. "Look at you, budding little sneak," She teased. "We should really tag-team for next year's April Fools."
They both walked out the restroom. "I'd rather be kidnapped by a vampire-wolf colony." Lucy commented. "On second thought, that wouldn't be so bad."
When they both returned shortly, that was when the real feast began.
The older girls shared long conversations while the younger kids ran around the restaurant in childish glee; Lola and Lana played hide and seek, Lincoln and Lucy were playing Sherlock Holmes: investigating the restaurant up and down with the hopes of finding something new, even though they were once in charge of helping dad with the restaurant's architecture.
The rest of them, who sat at their tables, did their own thing. Lisa looked through her report card for some reason, mumbling on and on about only getting a B in English; Lynn wolfed down the whole turkey, chomping it down like a feral animal that was starved for months.
In contrast to Luan. Her stomach couldn't take one more spoon without rebounding, even as the food beckoned her with its arona. Standing up, Luan walked around other tables, catching sight of her pageant sister curled into a ball under one of them. "Hey, Lols, what're you doing?"
"Hush!" Lola placed a finger on her lips. "I'm trying to hide from Lana!"
She scoffed. "Talk about hiding in plain sight."
Going back to the table with her family where everyone huddled up, Lily waved her hand up as their eyes met. Luan approached her baby sister, scooping her up in her arms. The two-year-old wrapped an arm over her shoulder for support. "Hewwo, Wuan!"
The road to learning how to talk was gonna be a long one. Luan sat on the edge of the chair, ruffling up Lily's blonde hair. "'Hey Lil's! Enjoying the buffet?"
Lily wanted them to play charades—she'd act, Luan would guess which sibling it was, and boy, was it entertaining. She contorted her face into the most unusual expressions, from the trademark double-chin that exposed Lori's bad angle, Lynn's furrowed-brow-grin; even going as far as staring at her with the sad peepers to imitate… okay that was hard cause they all did that. But according to Lily, Lola did it most. Who knew babies could be so good at picking up their sibling's mannerisms?
"Imitate me." Luan challenged, with a smirk on her face.
But before Lily could, her phone vibrated from her blazer pocket. Lori? Huh, that's weird. She must've gotten the wrong contact. Luan walked to a distant table, and, after making sure none of them could disturb her, turned on video chat. "Hey, Lori!"
"Whoa, Luan, is that you? You look older!" Came the blonde's awe. Well, yeah, I am growing up. Too fast, that is. "Heard it was your recognition today. Congrats!"
A smile tugged at her lips. "Hehe, thanks." That did manage a little spark out of her. "It's Lisa's and Linc's too."
"I know." Lori's voice then took a turn. "Listen, I've been hearing a lot from a little birdie and…"
"Fangs?" She joked half-heartedly.
Lori paused to think. "Maybe." She smirked, looking far off. "Anyway, I heard you were having problems being the leader at school?"
Who told her!? "Oh, that?" Luan scoffed. "You know how high school is; always bombarding you with stuff back and forth."
"Luna told me it was more than that," Lori blurted out, before briefly slapping a hand to her mouth. "I've been there too, done all that…" Why are they involving Lori now? Seriously? Luan found herself glaring at the purple-clad rocker, just tables away. Of course.
"Just talk to me, alright?"
Huh? Luan snapped back to the phone. "Wait, what else did she tell you?"
Basic knowledge. Leni and her talked on the phone a lot about the ins of the house while she's away. About how she's not sleeping much, how she's snappy, and now Luna found Mr. C. Should'a kept him in a sack.
Everyone already caught on with her motions through 'emotional puberty', if you will, but according to them, she's the one who refuses to acknowledge it.
Because why would she? Rest isn't gonna stop the stress, it'll just prolong the agony.
"Gee, thanks for spoiling the mood," Luan playfully scowled; though she wasn't kidding.
"I would've called a better time, but we have finals coming up." Lori shrugged. "I didn't think your party would last this long.. It's literally like, nearing midnight right now."
Luan glanced at her siblings, scattered about the restaurant, fooling around. "Sorry you couldn't come to celebrate with us." Her voice softened sympathetically. "You would've loved the sushi around here."
Through the screen, Lori smiled wistfully. "Yeah, I'll just have to deal with my stack of instant noodles in the meantime."
Another voice came to the line, to which Lori glanced at the camera, said she had to go, left statements about having advice if she needed; Luan forgot.
She placed her phone on the table, dropping her head in her hand. They all wanted to help, out of the goodness of their hearts, but it was pointless. Luan thought to herself, breathing in deeply. She could talk to Lisa about everything, maybe she'd have a clue… but what'll that do? Pointless. Maybe she could go do a quick search as to what this new sensation was… pointless.
The speakers drummed to a pop beat and her siblings laughed, ran, and caused mayhem about. Yet somehow, in her, she felt the lights go low. A bonfire in her head that slowly diminished into nothing more than cold vapor.
All she wanted to do right now was go home. Sleep this all off.