Three weeks had gone by since the rumor had risen, yet none of the two protagonists even tried to talk to one another. Lincoln, who exploited this rumor to his advantage, felt too guilty to face her after seeing how much his actions hurt her. Ronnie Anne, who put hands on Lincoln for the first time in years, was too embarrassed to apologize to him. Despite having multiple classes together and being family friends, the two teenagers managed to avoid each other for a whole of 21 days.
"Clyde…" Lincoln sighed, playing video games with his long-term best friend. "I don't know how long I can keep avoiding her." They were sitting on the couch in the Loud living room (that desperately needs an upgrade). As always, Lincoln's sisters were eavesdropping on his conversation, but he just couldn't keep pushing these feelings deep down inside. "I can't tell her that I'm sorry now because I should've done that ages ago! And that'll just make me look stupid."
Clyde nodded while still in intense focus. "Yeah, buddy. I don't know what to do in a situation like this. I'm not really a ladies' man, you know. But if I were you, I'd start with debunking those rumors. That'll probably get people off of her ass, and yours as well, quite literally." He chuckled, which caused Lincoln to fume. Luan would approve of this joke, though.
"Okay, whatever. You're just jealous that I have game and you don't." He mashed the buttons on the controller and defeated Clyde's character to a pulp. "But you're also a genius for that idea!" He piped up. "Why didn't I think of that sooner?"
"Because your 15 minutes of fame got to you?" Clyde replied before hopping off the couch. "Sorry Linc, but I have to be home before dinner tonight. It's Cleopawtra's birthday today, so I have to make her a special tuna pate, which takes hours to ferment. But I hope whatever plan you come up with will reunite you two!" He waved goodbye to his dear friend and rode off into the distance on his trusty bike.
"Plan, huh?" Lucy dropped down from the chimney, revealing that she had been listening the whole time. The ghastly 13 year old and the snowy haired Loud have grown quite close this year due to being the oldest in the household. She often went to him for advice, despite not being too keen on expressing her emotions much.
Lincoln jumped. "GAH! Lucy, how many times have I told you to stop doing that?"
Lucy plopped onto the couch and sighed, a deep and brooding sigh. "You know why Rocky and I never got together until this year, Lincoln?"
The Loud brother raised an eyebrow and questioned, "Why?" He was quite shocked since Lucy never really revealed much about her love life, but he wasn't complaining. " 'Cuz you're too young for a relationship?" He joked and booped her on the nose.
"What? No. I don't think that love has many limits, besides the legal ones of course. When you've met the right person, you'll just… know. No matter what age I am, I promise that I–" She smiled but snapped out of her trance. "Uh, anyway, the reason we didn't even confess to each other until this year, despite being very close for 5 years, was because both of us were afraid."
He rolled his eyes. "So what? Are you saying that I'm afraid to confess to Ronnie Anne that I love her or something? Because I'm not afraid to do that–I mean–because I don't even love her, so there's nothing to confess." The white-haired teen felt his temperature rise.
"That's not what I'm saying. There was a point where we both got so afraid to ruin what we had that we didn't even speak to each other for a while, similar to what's happening to you and Ronnie Anne. Both of us were too afraid to make the first move, so we simultaneously stopped hanging too close to each other in hopes that our feelings for one another would simply vanish.
"I don't know why you think this is similar because it's not." He crossed his arms. "I'm not ignoring her because I like her, I'm ignoring her because–"
"I'm not finished, Lincoln." She hissed, which got him to shut up pretty quickly. "I know you're ignoring her because you feel guilty for what you did, but that's not the point I'm trying to make."
"Then what is?"
"What I'm trying to say is that ignoring each other didn't work. In the end, we couldn't get over one another. Thanks to you, Lincoln, I was finally able to see Rocky again when Rusty came over that time for your chemistry project. And when I saw him that time, I realized that these feelings won't go away, no matter how long I try to ignore them." She squeezed her heart. "That day, I realized that things won't magically go back to normal, and that things won't get better without proper communication. So, I told him how I felt."
Lincoln's eyes widened. "And the situation at school won't get better if I keep ignoring it, huh?"
She nodded, giving him a small smile. "Just like how your friendship with Ronnie Anne won't fix itself without communication. Plus, I overheard Dad. Apparently, we're going to have a family dinner with the Casagrandes this weekend to discuss the wedding details. Soooo, you actually can't avoid her forever."
Lincoln also smiled and hugged his younger sister. "Thank you, Lucy. I really needed to be snapped out of my funk. For your age, you're actually quite wise."
"Can I get everyone's attention please?" Lincoln announced, standing on a table in the cafeteria. Suddenly, a rush of people started to gather around, including Ronnie Anne. "I should've done this a long time ago, but it was just too shameful to admit. These rumors, though, have hurt someone I really care about, and I can't let it go on." He let out a breath that he didn't even know he was holding. Then, he made eye contact with the girl that he hurt the most, and his world stopped. Suddenly, everyone else started moving in slow motion, and for some reason, nothing else mattered to him besides just having a couple more seconds to stare at her face. "I-" He stuttered, stopping his speech. This caused the tomboy to roll her eyes and walk away unamused.
Ronnie Anne walked away with arms crossed. 'Man, I can't believe I thought he was actually going to say something.' What could she expect? He is just a man, after al-
"I did not… sleep with Ronnie Anne at Girl Jordan's party, alright? So can everyone stop treating her so differently? I am the reason that this rumor got out of hand, so please," he closed his eyes and readied himself for humiliation, "please take it out on me for not clearing this up sooner, and stop bothering Ronnie Anne." When he opened his eyes, he saw that everyone walked away, going about their lunch. The only one standing in front of him was Ronnie Anne. "Huh, I guess Lynn was right. People in high school really don't care." He whispered to himself. "Hey, Ronnie Anne." He meekly said as he got off of the table. "How did you, uh, like my performance?"
"Lincoln Loud," she gritted her teeth, "you truly are a character." She smiled and punched him in the arm. "I missed you, loser."
He smiled, the biggest he's ever smiled this school year. "I missed you too. And I'm sorry that I didn't clear up the rumors sooner."
"Don't worry about it. For the record, I'm also sorry for, uh, slapping you and all that."
"Don't be. That was well deserved." The two awkwardly stood there, waiting for the other to talk. "Is it awkward? Us being here like this?" He chuckled, feeling uneasy.
"A little, uh. But it's whatever." She walked away from him to grab lunch, which caused him to pout. "You coming or what?"
The weekend came by in a flash, and in no time, the Louds arrived in the bustling city.
"I always forget how busy the city is." Rita commented before entering the apartment complex. Inside, the Casagrandes and Santiagos, who had arrived before them, warmly greeted the Louds.
"It is so nice to see you guys after such a long time!" Rita hugged Rosa.
"Likewise. We're so sorry that we can't visit Royal Woods as much." Rosa let go of the hug and ruffled Bobby's hair. "But it's nice to see little Bobbito here again."
Lynn Sr. teared up. "Yeah…they really do grow up fast." His little tears turned into a full blown breakdown.
"Oye, enough chit-chat. Ven y comamos! Let's eat!" Rosa clapped her hands as everyone gathered around the living room and ate, though most people had to sit on the floor.
"So what's the big announcement?" Carlos questioned, curious.
Lori and Bobby looked at each other, lovingly. "Well…" Bobby started. "Ever since I opened the new mercado in Royal Woods, business has been picking up. It's been really popular among the young folks." That was no surprise to the family since there was rarely any place in Royal Woods that sold authentic Mexican goods. The mercado that Bobby opened himself was genuinely successful, arguable even more so than Hector's.
The soon to be Santiago piped in, "And my golf academy has also been taking off. Soon, Lori Loud will be traveling the world, bringing the joys of golf to developing countries."
Bobby looked at his fiance lovingly. "So we decided to…babe?"
Lori could barely contain her excitement. "Mark your calendars, people! We are having an all expenses paid destination wedding in Hawaii on October 1!" The whole family cheered and whooped louder than loud itself. "It will literally be PERFECT! We booked 5 hotel rooms, 5 people in each room. And get this: the hotel is only a 5 minute walk from the most BEAUTIFUL beach. Isn't that just so romantic?" She swooned.
"You're a genius, babe. The best thing is, we had this deal for two free nights if we booked 5 rooms. So, we get to stay in Hawaii for four nights!" This caused the family to cheer even louder, basically dancing all around the house. "We wanted to keep the reception kind of small. What matters to us is that we can celebrate with the ones that have been with us through thick and thin.
Leni began to tear up. "That is, like, the sweetest thing ever. Wait, so it's only us going to the wedding?"
Bobby nodded his head. "We wanted to keep it more intimate. Plus, I'd feel bad asking for others to pay for their own plane ticket and hotel."
"This is so exciting!" Lola started dancing in her seat. "Hawaii is the most BEAUTIFUL place ever! Imagine all of the photos we can take of me there."
"Don't forget about the beaches!" Lynn Jr. slammed her utensils onto the table, later receiving a disapproving glare from her mother. "We can swim and play beach volleyball like there's no tomorrow."
The rest of the family voiced their excitement. This was, after all, the first ever Casa-Loud family vacation!
"This couldn't have been done without your help, Mrs. Santiago." Lori thanked her future mother-in-law. "Thank you, so so much! For the reception ideas, your connections from Hawaii, just everything!"
Seeing how her mom made Lori so happy, Ronnie Anne smiled. Over the months, she had grown to view Lori Loud as a sister, and that is when she realized how much of an impact her family's presence in Royal Woods made. She thought this move was pointless; she viewed it in black and white. She could have stayed in the city–she could have resumed her fruitful and fun life with her friends. But if she squinted just a bit, she could see the rainbow at the end of Royal Woods. "I really am happy for you guys." She beamed.
Bobby picked up his sister and bear-hugged her. "WE'RE GOING TO HAWAII, HERMANITA!"
Ronnie Anne's face turned tomato red. "B-bobby, stop! You're embarrassing me."
The Loud as well as the Casagrandes laughed at this.
Leni clasped her hands together. "And we can't forget–Hawaii will be the MOST romantic place on the city of Earth to have a wedding!"
Lisa face-palmed. "Leni–how many times must I inform you that the Earth is not a city."
After dinner, the rest of the family decided to fulfill their nightly family tradition–watching the Dream Boat! It was only Lincoln who was out of sight. He must have snuck off during all of the commotion. Ronnie Anne, of course, noticed this and wanted to look for him. They didn't have much time to talk about what happened at school, so things were still quite awkward between the two. Nevertheless, she too slid away to search for this orange shirt wearing rascal. It didn't take too much effort to find him, as he was across the hall in…her old room?
"Oh, hey." Lincoln noticed that she was standing by the door frame. "I'll come by in a bit, I was just, uh, looking for the restroom." He lied, flustered.
"Don't play with me, Linc. What are you doing in here?"
He ignored her questioning. "It's nice that they didn't take down your decorations." He looked at her wall of photos, recognizing one of them all too well. "You…kept this?" He pointed to a photo of the two of them as kids. The photo was stuck to an orange heart.
Ronnie Anne blushed. "What? You never noticed before?" He shook his head. "Uh, well, if I took it down, she would just find a way to put it back up anyway."
Excuses.
His face also began to heat up, for some strange reason. "I guess I never really noticed it. I remember when your aunt first put it up, thinking we were a couple."
She rolled her eyes. "You mean when everyone thought we were a couple. I'm so glad that they don't think that anymore."
Lincoln forced a laugh. "Yeah…it would be a disaster if they kept that up."
She continued. "I mean, is it so hard for a guy and a girl to just be friends now?" She rambled and rambled until she realized she was going on for too long.
While she was rambling, the teenage boy continued to stare at that photo, then back at her. "Hey, but would it be so bad?"
She raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me, what?" She thought she misheard.
He gulped, not knowing if he had the confidence to continue. "I mean, do you ever wonder what would've happened if we weren't just…" he stepped significantly closer to her "weren't just…"
"Weren't just…what?" She asked, with a hint of rasp, so quietly that it could be mistaken for a whisper. She subconsciously leaned in closer to him. She didn't know if she did this to hear him better or to…
"Weren't just…" He moved a stray strand of hair from the freckled Latina's face then put his hand on the small of her back, pulling her in closer. Usually she would object to this type of physical touch, but...
"SQUAK!" Sergio chirped, causing the two teens to hop away from one another. "What are you two doing in my room?! GET!"
And so, Ronnie Anne and Lincoln awkwardly exited the room and joined the rest of their families.
'What if…'
'We weren't just friends?'