(The following is a nonprofit work of fanfiction and is outside of the original canon. All names, characters, businesses, places, events, and/or incidents of any kind depicted within this story are being used for entertainment purposes only.)
(The Loud House and all related characters were created by Chris Savino and all rights belong to Nickelodeon.)
If you have recently read this chapter and are wondering why it had suddenly disappeared, that is because I deleted it so that I could do a little more editing. I apologize greatly for anything that may have been an inconvenience.
- Chapter Five -
One Thing Leads to Another
Saturday, mid-afternoon…
Unlike most kids, who were sent off to stay over at summer camp for about six weeks, I was fortunately spared from having my name signed up on that list, much to my relief. Our own neighborhood—if not the entire town of Royal Woods itself—already served wonderfully as our campground, and our own house was our main cabin. So, why waste time being miles upon miles away from civilization in a dank and miserably humid forest when everything you wanted was right here at home?
This meant that we thankfully did not have to worry about bloodsucking mosquitos, wear matching uniforms, put up with overbearing camp counselors, or follow along with a tightknit curfew. Okay, that last part still applied to all of us at home, but you understand what I meant. Don't think that just because our mom and dad chose not to make us go, it did not mean that we were going to spend most of our entire summer being all cooped up inside and around our house.
Do you know how boring and uneventful that would have been for us? Like, very majorly. And besides, I had already made some plans for what I was going to do for the summer, plans that definitely did not involve spending time over at some dirty old campsite. And that Saturday just so happened to be part of those plans. I was going someplace which involved two things' kids would often jump at the chance at whenever we were free on the weekends after surviving a full week at school: arcade games and delicious pizza, fresh from the oven.
And luckily for me, there was one of two fine places right here in town which served as the perfect combination of those very two beloved categories. The feeling of anticipation basically consumed my entire body as I sat in my usual spot in the middle back passenger seat of Vanzilla, with my mother riding behind the wheel. I looked out my window and saw that we had just parked right up against the curb of the concrete sidewalk in front of Clyde's house. Mom honked the horn three times after having done so. As we waited patiently, I glanced over to the vacant seat next to me, eyeing my clear plastic bag that was filled with a large number of quarters.
After more than a minute of waiting, the front door opened, and out came Clyde making a straight line for Vanzilla with a very ecstatic look on his face. As he was running for the van, I noticed that he was wearing a pink-and-blue neon-colored fanny pack, its black straps buckled securely around his scrawny waist. Even over from where I was sitting inside the van, I could just faintly hear the sound of his own stash of quarters jingling inside when he hustled it. And judging from the sound of it alone, I would say that he must have made himself quite a load himself like I did.
I unbuckled my seatbelt, grabbed my bag, and scooted over to the left empty seat, allowing easy access for my best friend to open the side door and climb inside. After having done so, I looked up and noticed two grown men now standing outside on the front porch, waving after Clyde with cheerful smiles on both of their faces.
The one man on the left side appeared to be around in his early forties. He was tall and very skinny as well as fair-skinned, and he had a full head of red hair, with the addition of a Tom Sellick-style mustache. He was dressed in a sleeveless light red shirt with a small V-neck and the shirt was neatly tucked under his light blue jeans. The other man on the right side was African American, just like Clyde. He too appeared to be in his early forties, and he was of an average height, making him shorter than the other man.
He was also quite rounded too, with short curly black hair, balding at the top, and he wore a bright blue Adidas tracksuit.
"Have a good day, kiddo!" the black man said.
"I will, Uncle Harold!" Clyde responded, waving back at them.
"Y-You sure you won't need your inhaler or anything?" the red-haired man asked, concern creeping up in his voice. My best friend shook his head and smiled kindly.
"No, Dad! I'll be fine!"
"N-Not even your allergy m-medication or your—?" Mr. McBride began to stammer a bit. Mr. Harold placed a calming hand on his left shoulder, and he gave him an assuring smile.
"Now, Howard. Just calm yourself down." he said calmly to the man. "He's just going over to Gus' with Lincoln and Rita, that's all. I mean, it's not like he's going to have a sleepover at their house or anything, right?" Mr. McBride's bottom lip trembled, and he wiped away a tear that started to appear in his left eye.
"I know! I-It's just that...!" he whimpered rather humorously.
"Now, don't you worry about a thing, Howard!" Mom called out from Vanzilla. "We'll be sure to bring Clyde back home right before seven! That's a Loud's promise!" The McBride father sniffled and began to wipe his nearly wet and pointy nose with a clean white handkerchief that he pulled out from his pants pocket.
"Thank you so much, Rita!" he said with a thankful smile. "You have a good day, little buddy!" And with that, Mom adjusted the steering wheel, and we were off on the road once again. Just as we were about to do so, Clyde and I took one last look over and I noticed Mr. McBride hugging Mr. Harold tightly all the while crying heavily on his shoulder.
"Howard, remember what Dr. Lopez said!" Mr. Harold spoke, trying to comfort the man.
"I LOVE THAT BOY SO MUCH!" Mr. McBride cried dramatically, tears pouring down his face. Eventually, the two of them finally disappeared from view as we headed deeper down through the upper north side of the neighborhood.
"Sorry you had to see that, Lincoln," Clyde said to me, feeling quite embarrassed.
"Nah, don't be sorry, dude," I assured my best friend. Okay, so in case you have not realized it already; my best friend Clyde was an adopted child. Of course, I never actually knew that until I finally came over to his house one day, which was seven years ago around the following weekend after I first met him on that Halloween night. When I came face-to-face with Mr. McBride on his doorstep, I thought for a few short seconds that I had come to the wrong house.
I looked at the address number that hung on the white-painted walls and realized that this was indeed the right place. It never once occurred to me at the time that my new best friend was actually adopted. And when I also met Mr. Harold, Clyde's "uncle", on that same day as well, I became even more confused. I quickly mistook both him and Mr. McBride for being a married couple, but they firmly assured me that there was no kind of funny business going on between the two of them.
They were just long-time close friends who happened to live in the same house together. You know, like housemates.
They also said I wasn't the first person who thought they were a couple as well. Turns out, a lot of people here in town believed it too, so it took the pair a lot of time and hard work to clear up this big misunderstanding. Oh, and one other thing I should also point out, Harold was not actually Clyde's uncle, despite referring to him as such. In fact, despite the two of them clearly being African American, they were not blood related to begin with, which silly little me had not realized before.
In truth, Harold was actually Clyde's godfather. I did not know what that even meant at first, until Mr. Harold explained the meaning to me.
"Ooohhh…" Five-year-old me uttered in fascination.
"I know, sounds pretty cool, doesn't it?" I remember him saying to me with a smile.
So anyway, as Mom drove us deeper into the downtown area, reaching closer to our main destination, Clyde and I got to compare how much money we made for our current haul. I managed to collect twenty-five quarters, something I worked very hard for in the last two months, while Clyde said he made about thirty. After that, we got into talking about movies, music, and all that stuff. It was here that I finally got to tell him about this year's upcoming Garbage Pail Kids Movie.
He looked at me with a dumbfounded look.
"Wait, seriously?" he questioned me with a raised yet intrigued eyebrow. I confirmed what I said with a single nod.
"I asked Lana the exact same question," I said to him. "And it's going to come out this August."
"Oh, man! You've got me all amped up now!" Clyde nearly exclaimed.
Yes, Clyde was also a fan of the original Garbage Pail Kids trading cards. Though at first, Mr. McBride was not too keen on the idea of his adopted son owning anything related to them, given the series' not-so-positive reputation it got with concerned parents at the time. But he eventually got around and approved. But it still did not stop him from becoming nauseous at the sight of the gross pictures of the cards. I do seem to recall him running for the bathroom as he was seconds away from throwing up when Clyde showed him Messy Tessie.
Quite honestly, I don't blame him. In the midst of Clyde's excitement, his demeanor suddenly changed, and he looked at me with a big smile. And I had a very good idea what that meant.
"You know, since we're both now on the subject of movies," he began. "Did you know that Universal is going to release a fourth Jaws film?" Hearing that made me furrow my brows, and then I blinked confusingly a few times.
"Wait, they're doing what now?" I questioned. "Universal is actually making another Jaws movie?"
"Yep," my best pal nodded confirmedly.
"Where'd you hear about that, Clyde?" Mom asked curiously from the driver's seat, overhearing our conversation.
"I saw a commercial for it just this morning." he explained. I looked at him unsurely until I shook my head in disbelief.
"Come on, dude," I groaned, leaning back against my seat. "Haven't they beaten that franchise to death already?" After the complete disaster known infamously as Jaws 3-D, one would think that that would finally be the end of it. But if Clyde's words were to be considered, it would appear that I was dead wrong.
Shows how much I know.
"Obviously, Universal doesn't seem to think so," Clyde answered, before shrugging his shoulders. "Whatever makes them a lot of money, I suppose. I mean, I'm probably still going to go see it regardless. But hey, maybe they'll get a lucky break this time around."
"Yeah well, let's hope so," I said, crossing my arms. "The last movie didn't exactly leave a very good impression on me. Especially with the cruddy 3-D effects. So, what are they going to call this one? And when is it coming out?"
"They're calling it... 'Jaws: The Revenge'!" Clyde said in a dramatic tone, his hands raised up in front to help emphasize the drama. "And it's going to come out this July."
"Huh. That's only one month before the Garbage Pail Kids Movie." I explained. "Well, here's to hoping, I guess."
"My fingers are crossed, dude." Clyde declared. Right after we finished having our conversation, Mom drove to the right side and into another street that intersected between two opposite sidewalks. We eventually found ourselves about to pull up next to the curb in front of one building. Huge smiles spread across our young faces when the two of us recognized where we were. We had finally reached our main destination.
Unlike a lot of teenagers, who spent their time at the mall and whatnot, younger kids like Clyde and I, chose to hang out here at Gus' Games & Grub, our favorite little "home away from home", so to speak. It was the town's residential arcade and pizzeria, located right here close to the center of Downtown Royal Woods. The building itself stood proudly in front of us, the roof reaching about fourteen feet high above the ground. The red brick walls made up a huge portion of the exterior, giving it that classic New York-style pizzeria look.
From inside Vanzilla, Clyde and I could scarcely see the number of arcade machines through the building's large glass windows. Wasting no time, we unbuckled our seat belts and opened the side door, not bothering to wait for Mom to shut off the van. The two of us excitedly climbed outside with our respective hauls of change closely in our hands—or inside a fanny pack in Clyde's case. As we entered through the windowed double doors, we were greeted with the heavy aromas of garlic and tomato sauce that wafted straight into our noses.
One Thing Leads to Another by The Fixx could faintly be heard playing in the background.
There were tables and booths lined up against the windows located to our right, and a twenty-two-inch 1985 Mitsubishi television set with its own cable box hung right above the snack bar, the screen aiming right at us. And displayed out in front of us was the Promised Land itself. There were large rows of different arcade games—the best ones they had here—either lined up against the fake wooden paneled walls or in a circle around each other.
Many of them ranged from classics such as Dig Dug, Space Invaders, and Frogger, to Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Punch-Out!, Dragon's Lair, and the fairly recently released Double Dragon. The list went on and on. Heck, they even had the original Mario Bros. There was a small number of other kids around, which was a surprise to me since I kind of expected the place to be packed. It was a Saturday, after all. Clyde and I stood there all caught up in our excitement about what we were going to do so that we did not notice Mom walking inside behind us and over to the register to order a table.
"You go and enjoy yourselves, boys!" Mom said to us. "I'll order our pizza!"
"Can we make that into a large?" I asked.
"Of course, sweetheart!" she accepted.
"In a New York-style thin crust?" Clyde added.
"Absolutely! Whatever you boys want!" Mom said with a smile.
Just the magic words I love to hear.
"Thanks, Mom!" I said to her. "You're the best!"
And with that, we immediately headed off, leaving Mom behind to order our food from the front desk. In my excitement, I had some trouble trying to figure out which one to play, until Clyde pointed to one that was closer to us: Space Harrier. I could always count on him to navigate for me. But just as we were about to make a beeline for that one game, I noticed from the right-side corner of my eye one kid with a familiar-looking head of blond hair.
"What are you standing around for, Lincoln?" Clyde said to me. "Come on, let's go!"
"Uh, y-yeah! You go on ahead, Clyde! I'll be with you in just a minute!" After Clyde looked at me weirdly for a second, but then decided to let it go and head off without me, I stalked over to the smallish blond-haired kid, who appeared to be racking up a large number of points on Out Run. But when I got much closer, I immediately recognized who it was.
"Yes! New high score!" the kid exclaimed excitedly. I soundlessly moved behind him and looked over his shoulder and at the game's pixilated screen. His choice of sports car sped down the track, dodging other obstacles in his path. I could not help but smile at how impressively great he was doing.
"You keep this up and you'll get your driver's license in no time!" I commented. The little blond kid yelped in surprise, almost jumping right out of his seat, if not his own skin, and he whipped around to face me. He quickly relaxed and a smile of his own spread across his chubby face.
"Hiya, Lincoln!" he said, climbing out of the arcade game's driver's seat.
"Hey, Simon!" I said back.
Simon Sharp was much shorter than me by comparison, and his age ranged somewhere between eight to ten. He was a bit on the pudgy and round side too. As mentioned beforehand, he had short blond hair, but it was neatly parted to the side. His choice of clothing mainly consisted of a pair of suspenders, a white button-up checkered shirt with sleeves that rolled up to the elbows, and a padded bright green down vest and some Levi's. Simon reached out and I shook my hand.
"What're you doing here?" he asked curiously.
"The same reason any other kid would come to triple G's," I explained, holding up my bag of quarters. "What about you? What brings you to this part of town?"
"My mom said that if I did really good in school, she'd take us over here to celebrate," he informed me. I smiled and gently padded him on the shoulder.
"Well, congrats on that, little dude," I said. "Say, where is your mom and dad right now?"
"Well, first off, my mom is over there at one of the booths," he said, pointing to the front of the arcade. With the eyes of an eagle, I spotted his mother over at a lone booth in one corner.
Strange... How did I not notice her before?
"And second," Simon continued, "my dad couldn't come because he woke up with a cold this morning." I furrowed my brows in confusion before turning to face him.
"But you just said the 'three' of you," I questioned.
"Yeah," he said, nodding his little blond-haired head. "Me, Mom, and Sam." Upon hearing that last bit, a sense of dread started to sneak up on me.
"S-S-Sam...?" I stuttered. "Y-Your sister is here t-too?"
"Yep," Simon confirmed, completely oblivious of my abrupt change in demeanor.
"A-And where is she right now?" I asked.
"Oh, she's currently using the bathroom right now," he explained to me. "She should be back in about less than a minute." But then, he turned to his left side and his chubby face beamed.
"Hey look, there she is now." My eyes widened. Very timidly, I turned my body around to face where Simon was looking. What I saw instantly made my heart skip a beat inside my chest. Having just walked out of the girl's bathroom and wiping her dripping wet hands on the sides of her burgundy-colored pants, Simon's older sister Samantha—or simply called Sam for short—spotted us. But when she saw me, I felt like my head was going to explode all over the arcade.
Remember earlier when I talked about Clyde having a crush on Lori? Well, I think now would be a pretty good time as ever to make a confession. I wasn't quite sure if Clyde had rubbed off on me or something, but I too was harboring such feelings for somebody outside my respective age group as well. And that exact somebody just so happened to be the very blond-haired teenage girl who was walking straight over to me and her little brother.
How she and I first met was kind of an interesting story…
It was around the year before towards the middle of April, after having survived another one of Luan's April Fool's Day pranks. I was in the living room watching some good old-fashioned MTV. Just when things were about to get interesting, the front door swung open, and in came Luna and a small group of only three of her friends from her high school, who were also her bandmates. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Luna was in a rock band at the time.
They called themselves, "Moon Goats". Odd choice for a band name, if you were to ask me.
Here, I got the chance to meet Sully, the band's keyboard player, and he was also Luna's boyfriend. He was a pretty swell guy. Tall and thin with a head of short brown hair and a mullet that went down to nearly shoulder-length. Next there was Mazzy, the band's drummer. Her brown hair was more reddish, and her bangs covered both her eyes. Interesting choice of hairdo. And finally, there was her; the band's second guitar player, standing right at the mouth of the front doorway.
She was fifteen years old, and her long and feathery blond hair was parted, making her look like she was a teenaged punk rock version of Farrah Fawcett. She also had a dyed, teal-colored streak in her bangs, and circling around her forehead was a turquoise blue headband. Her choice of attire comprised of a white Van Halen T-shirt, a light blue acid-washed denim jacket with some rock band buttons around it, and a pair of burgundy-colored pants with styled rips at the knees.
Right when I laid my blue eyes on this girl, I instantly felt something I don't think I have ever felt before in my life.
I won't lie when I say that I've had many crushes on other girls in the past. But those crushes were now nothing, absolute child's play, compared to what I was feeling that day. It seemed to increase tenfold when we made eye contact. It felt as if I was staring straight into the glittering eyes of a beautiful angel that was sent down from Heaven above. I swore that I could also hear Chicago's You're the Inspiration playing on the TV, which only helped in worsening my new dilemma.
"You must be Lincoln," she spoke directly to me, reaching her hand out to shake mine. "My name is Sam Sharp. Your sister's told me quite a lot about you." From the moment I felt the bare skin of her hand envelope around mine into a firm handshake, an electrical current instantly ran through my entire skinny body. I thought I was going to dissolve into an orange-and-blue puddle within a matter of seconds.
"Y-Yeah, t-t-that's me," I stuttered, smiling nervously. "I'm Linka—I mean LINCOLN! It's L-Lincoln, y-yes! My n-name is Lincoln!" While Luna, Sully, and Mazzy just stared confusingly at me with raised eyebrows, Sam let out a very cute-sounding giggle. Just the mere sound of it alone was enough to make my heart melt like hot wax.
Just what the heck is happening to me right now? I remember thinking to myself. And that was when the very honest and blunt answer came to me, like some supernatural force was whispering it into my head; Isn't it obvious? You just fell in love with your sister's best friend. And even after a year since that day, right here in the middle of Gus' Games & Grub, in the beginning of summer vacation no less, that feeling still had an unyieldingly strong grip over me.
No! Please, no! Not here! Not now! Of all the places, why here?
"Hey there, Lincoln!" she said with a bright smile, now standing in front of me. I nervously swallowed a lump that got stuck in my throat, the palms of my hands starting to sweat, and my bag instantly became a hundred pounds heavier.
"H-H-Hey, S-S-Sam," I stuttered, virtually shaking like a leaf. "N-Nice to s-see you!"
"Whoa! Hey there, Sam! Simon!" Clyde's voice came from out of the blue, walking over to the three of us. Talk about perfect timing. "Wow! Fancy seeing you guys here!"
Yeah... Fancy.
"Hi, Clyde," Sam greeted. She then looked down and took note of his fanny pack. "You plan on staying here long too?"
"Oh, totally," Clyde confirmed. "Lincoln and I are gonna be here until we're flat broke. You guys are more than welcome to join us if you like." I turned to face my best friend, wide eyed and mouth almost agape. Dude, what are you doing?!
"Can we, sis?" Simon asked his sister. "Please? Please, please, please...?"
I drifted back at the blond punk rocker, who appeared to be deeply contemplating Clyde's offer. I admit that a part of me actually did want her to join and have some fun with us. But at the same time, the other half was straight up begging for her to say no just so I could enjoy myself in peace without any distractions. Finally, after what seemed like forever, Sam looked at us with a very cute-looking smile—the exact same one that almost always made my little heart melt in an instant.
"Sure, I don't see any problem with that?" she finally said, shrugging her shoulders, while mine slumped in defeat. Simon turned to face us with an excited smile.
"What are you guys waiting for?" he said before taking off. "Come on, let's go!"
"Wait up a moment, dude!" Clyde called out to him as he started to give chase.
"No—Clyde, wait a sec!" I half exclaimed. But it was already too late, and he disappeared into the crowd of other kids along with Simon, leaving me quite alone with my crush. I gulped down another lump and glanced back at Sam, trying not to lose my composure at the very heavenly sight of her.
"So, what do you want to play, dude?" she asked me cheerily, hands planted on her hips.
"Um, I-I don't know," I admitted, rubbing the back of my neck. "What g-game do you want to play?" She then looked around the arcade until she spotted one that caught her eye.
"How about some Donkey Kong?" she offered. I quickly nodded my head, my heart still pounding intensely like a drum.
"S-Sure, l-let's go and d-do that!" I spoke.
"Radical, dude! Race you over there!" And with that, Sam immediately darted over to the Donkey Kong arcade cabinet, all the while trying not to bump into anybody along the way. I took a slow deep breath and exhaled all the air completely out my lungs before I slowly stalked over to Sam's location of the arcade.
Oh man... This is going to be a very interesting day for me. Not quite sure if that's a good thing or not though. Guess I'm gonna have to wait and see what happens then. It was just like people always say, as well as the tail end of the song that still played in the background; one thing leads to another.
And that Saturday afternoon was definitely one of those things…
