(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.)
March Update: If you're wondering where this chapter had disappeared off to, it's because I had to take it down for a short while so that I could do some readjustments and re-editing to make it flow better and not drag on at a few places. Once again, I apologize for the inconvenience.
- Chapter Fifteen -
A Day at Dairyland: Part Three
Did you ever sometimes get that nagging feeling deep down at the very bottom of your stomach? You know, the feeling which made you believe Fate was at work to make your day much harder than it already was beforehand? Well, this was the very conclusion I had drawn to as I glowered contemptuously at Chandler McCann, my very much despised arch-rival, who now stood about less than ten feet away from my location, like a statue painted green and auburn red.
"What a coincidence, running into you here in Dairyland, eh Loud?" Chandler commented, his arms folded across his chest with that weaselly-looking smirk displayed on his smug little face. I groaned aloud in annoyance, letting him know precisely what I was now feeling at that moment.
"Just when I thought today was going pretty swell," I complained, "you of all people had to show up at the worst possible time and spoil it."
Chandler let out a fake-sounding gasp.
"Oh, come on, Loud," he said, pretending to be offended. "Is that really any way to say 'Hello' to your fellow schoolmate that you haven't seen almost all summer?" My eyes narrowed into pencil-thin slits, and I heaved out one deep breath through my nose, nearly impersonating an irritated bull, which I guess was not that far off the mark with what I was now feeling. Just from listening to the sound of his gratingly obnoxious voice was all it took to get under my skin.
"Hello, Chandler," I forced myself to say, his name alone tasting like acid and vomit in my mouth.
"See? That wasn't so hard, was it?" he asked me, grinning smugly again.
You. Have. No. Idea. I examined him closely from head to toe, noticing immediately that there was now something strongly different about him. His ugly hillbilly-looking mullet was now gone, and the rest of his auburn hair was neatly combed over to the left side, giving it a cleaner and more refined appearance. His overall apparel was different as well, sporting a pair of high-waist denim jeans with a belt and a short-sleeved polo shirt with vertical green and yellow stripes.
"I see that you've mustered up the nerve to finally get rid of that dirty mullet," I said to him with a tiny smile on my face. He looked at me with a sour expression.
"And I see that you've still got yours," he pointed out, placing his hands on his hips. "Seriously, you're one to talk about other people's hairstyles, Loud. I mean, just look at you." My nose curled into a resentful sneer.
"At least I have the decency to take better care of my mullet and not let it grow into a horse's tail!" I countered. Chandler simply rolled his eyes at me.
"Pfft! Whatever..." he muttered aloud. From behind me, I could hear Sully whisper "What is up with that kid?" to Luna.
"He's kind of a bully at Lynn and Lincoln's school," I heard her whisper back to him. "He pretty much has it out for our bro ever since elementary. Goes without saying; he's a righteous pain in the neck."
"What are you doing here anyway, McCann?" Lynn asked suddenly, standing closely next to me with her arms folded.
"The same reason as any other kid who comes to a theme park! I mean, why else?" Chandler replied. "And in case you're wondering, I didn't come alone! My folks drove us here!" He then glanced back to face me.
"And what have you been doing almost all summer, Lincoln?" he inquired, smirking antagonistically. "Are you and your merry band of nerdy cultists still playing that satanic Dungeons & Dragons game?" My left eye twitched and a vein throbbed at the right side of my head.
"Oh, for Pete's sake, Chandler!" I grunted exasperatedly. "I told you before! Dungeons & Dragons is not satanic!"
"You just keep telling yourself that, Lincoln Lame..." my arch-rival said, satisfied with my reaction. Before I could say anything else, Sam abruptly stepped into my defense.
"Don't you have anywhere else to be, kid?" she questioned Chandler, still holding the stuffed elephant in her hands. Chandler eyed her for a moment, before crossing his arms and his smile grew even bigger to the point where he strongly resembled the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland.
"Ah, I take it that you must be his new girlfriend, right?" he blurted out unexpectedly. Right then and there, my eyes widened as they were allowed to be, and it felt like my lower jaw had fallen straight down to the floor. Time seemed to have stopped, instantly freezing us all in place. I could not believe what I had just heard him say right in front of us. All Sam could do now was just speechlessly stare in confusion, unable to find a way for how to respond.
I could have sworn that I saw her face starting to blush a shade of red as well. The rest of the gang stared at Chandler in both surprise and confusion. I was just so equally taken aback by what my arch-rival said that I began to feel nauseous, like butterflies were now flying around inside my stomach. This was bad. Very bad. Pretty soon—and by soon, I mean very quickly—everybody would start drawing the right conclusions and then find out about my secret feelings for Sam.
As a last-second strategy, I tried to play dumb.
"W-What?" I nervously stammered a little bit. "What the heck are you talking about?" Chandler's slimy-looking grin widened as he slowly shook his head.
"Don't you try and play dumb with me, Loud," he rebutted. "I just saw you give her that stuffed animal a couple of minutes ago. How very romantic of you."
To rub salt even further into the wound, Chandler then started to mockingly blow kisses at us, puckering his lips out as much as he could. I felt my entire face go completely red from mortification. Out of the many times I had been embarrassed throughout my life, this was possibly one of the worst of them all. I quickly eyed Sam to my right for only a split second, and I noticed that she was starting to appear almost just as embarrassed—if not uncomfortable—as I was.
"N-No! You've got it all wrong, Chandler!" I practically exclaimed. "I-It's not like that, I swear!"
"Uh-huh, suuure it's not." he replied, still unconvinced. My blood pressure dialed up to eleven.
"It's just a p-present—for a friend!" I tried to explain. "I-I was only being nice!"
"It didn't look like that from where I was standing," my arch-rival said with an added chuckle. "I know a move when I see one, Loud." Both my hands turned into tight balls of fists as I felt my blood presser rising up to reach its maximum limit. Believe me when I say that I was not one to get angry very easily. I barely even had a temper at all. But you could only be pushed so many times until you've ultimately reached the end of your rope. Before I could have the chance to say any more, Lynn speedily marched right up to Chandler, confronting him where he stood.
"You have until the count of exactly five seconds to make like Michael Jackson and beat it, McCann!" she threatened, her voice trembling with anger. "Because if you don't, I will twist all four of your limbs around and turn you into a human pretzel!"
Chandler instantly raised both his hands up in defense, and his smile disappeared, reshaping it into a frown.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Take it easy there, Lynn!" he tried to reason. "I'm just messing around, that's all!"
Yeah, sure you were. I thought after rolling my eyes.
"Seriously, you guys need to lighten up," Chandler added, "not to mention know when to take a silly joke!"
"Hey, I know a good joke when I hear one!" Luan argued, putting her hands on her hips. "And I gotta say, everything you just said right now was not in the least bit funny!"
"Yeah!" Luna agreed, sounding equally displeased as she now stood next to both me and Sam. "You just flat out embarrassed not only our bro, but also my best friend and bandmate too!" I could never tell you how truly good it felt to have other people by your side to help defend your honor. Chandler only rolled his eyes at us, not at all caring about what everybody else had to say.
"Pfft! Whatever..." he repeated dismissively while nonchalantly kicking away some loose gravel with his shoe.
"Honestly, where are this kid's parents right now?" I heard Mazzy whisper to nobody in particular.
"Like my sister said," Simon asked, standing closely next to Sam, "don't you have anywhere else to be right now?" Chandler rubbed his chin for a moment.
"You know, now that you bring it up, you're absolutely right," he confirmed. "My parents are going to take me on that new ride, the Milk Shaker—again." Hearing this caught our full attention when he said that—especially Lana.
"You rode on the Milk Shaker?" she asked him. Chandler grinned proudly with that same narcissistic demeanor of his.
"Yep, sure did, little lady," he bragged, pretending to admire his fingernails. "About three times, to be exact." And this was when my senses instantly told me he was obviously lying. I had known Chandler quite long enough at that point to distinguish when he was being genuine—which was rare for someone like him—or just only bragging for the sake of trying to make himself appear cooler than everybody.
"Get out of town, Chandler!" I disputed. "You did not go on the Milk Shaker three times today!" My old arch-rival eyed me with an offended look, not at all liking the fact that I didn't believe him straight away.
"Yes, I did!" he argued.
"No, you didn't!" I dismissed him again.
With that, he marched passed Lynn over to my location until we were less than a foot away from being nose-to-nose. Lynn followed after him to make sure he didn't try anything. For as long as I had known Chandler, he was not a very confrontive kid, always preferring to hide behind others to do his dirty work. But I also knew how much he totally hated it when anybody challenged or questioned his word, seeing it as a threat to his fragile little ego.
"Oh yeah? Says who?" he hissed.
"Uh, the white-haired kid you've been pranking and bullying since elementary!" I shot back at him. For a short moment, which felt like forever, the two of us stared each other down with furrowed brows and challenging expressions. Finally, he began to calm down a little bit and backed away from my face.
"Alright then," he began. "I'll tell you what, Loud. If I can't prove it to you by word alone, then how about I do so with you and your gang as my witnesses?" Having heard that made Lynn and I glare at him suspiciously.
"What are you getting at, McCann?" Lynn said. "You want us to watch you go on the Milk Shaker or something?"
"No, nothing like that," he dismissed her. "What I mean is why don't you all go on the ride with me?" Lana made a huge toothy smile, her two front teeth missing, and her eyes grew big in excitement. I simply gawked at Chandler before I spoke again.
"Forget it!" I retorted. "I'd rather be tortured to death by Cobra Commander than go on the same ride with someone like you!" Lana looked at me in disbelief, her little arms drooping from her shoulders. Right after that, Chandler glowered at me with a really big scary-looking grin. Instantly, I had a bad feeling about what he was going to say next. And once again, from out of the ding dang blue, he said aloud right into my face the next words that nearly drove me up the wall...
"What's the matter, Loud? Are you chicken?"
Our whole group let out surprised gasps when they heard him say that. I looked at him wide-eyed, my jaw once again feeling like it had fallen straight to the floor. For as much as I knew about Chandler's weaknesses, it was no small secret that he—including a handful of others—also knew quite well about mine, like how much I hated being called that one word. A word that was a whole lot worse than being called "Stinkoln" all the time by Lynn.
"You did not just...!" I growled at him. "Nobody calls me chicken, Chandler! Least of all you!" He chuckled in response.
"Oh yeah?" he challenged. "Then why don't you come over and prove it? In fact, I dare you to go on the Milk Shaker with me." Whatever form of bravery I had instantly drained out of me. On that very spot, memories of my sleepover from the month before flashed through my brain, when Conner dared me to watch A Nightmare on Elm Street. Fear poured up inside me like a glass filling with cold water, and I could feel all expectant eyes laid upon me.
That existential fear of being labeled a coward returned with a vengeance, with the added mix of pressure and anxiety. And it only got much worse knowing Sam was standing right next to me, waiting for me to give an answer. Terrible thoughts and scenarios ran through my head like an old film reel, one of them being of Sam and the gang turning away from me, noses high in the air, and their arms crossed, refusing to even look at me if I were to say no to my arch-rival.
With the knowledge that my reputation was on the line—again, I bowed my head and sighed defeatedly.
"Let's go on the Milk Shaker." I muttered, my shoulders slumping. Chandler smiled big.
"That's what I thought." he said. "Now, if you all will just kindly follow me."
Believing I no longer had a choice in the matter, I followed Chandler like an obedient yet reluctant servant, as did the rest of our gang, walking on over back to the location of the Milk Shaker, my impending roller coaster of doom. For the remainder of the walk, I didn't utter a single peep because I was far too busy worrying about the possible horrors the ride would bring to me. Eventually, I could see the fairly distant towering tracks of the Milk Shaker on the horizon. My heart instantly pounded against my chest.
I just hope the line hasn't gone down yet. I thought. Much to my greatest of fears, I was dead wrong. When we returned to the front entrance of the roller coaster, I looked at the time indicator and it said that there was now a seven-minute waiting period. The whole gang was pretty relieved at this. But not me. I was filled with even more dread than I could possibly ever feel.
When it came to wild-looking roller coasters, young kids my age would often dare each other to go on them as a way to test our bravery. It was like of rite of passage, a test of courage for other young kids who wanted desperately to prove how brave they were to their peers. And it looked like that day was going to be this one, unfortunately for me. As we further and further eased our way through the line, I could practically hear my bones rattling inside my skinny legs.
Sully must have read what was going on inside my mind, for he laid a gentle hand on my shoulder.
"You know you don't actually have to do this, right Lincoln?" Sully whispered to me. I looked at him with a frown and gently brushed his hand away.
"That's where you're wrong, Sully," I replied, trying my best to stir up as much courage as possible. "I do have to, for it's a matter of principle, a matter of keeping one's pride and honor intact. And if this is what it takes to prove to Chandler that I'm not a chicken, then so be it. Otherwise, I'll never live it down for the rest of my life." Lynn looked at me with a proud smile, and she patted me on the shoulder.
"Come on, bro." Luna tried to reason. "You can't go losing your cool every time somebody calls you a mean name."
"She's right, little dude," Mazzy added. "And one of these days, it's going to get you into serious trouble in the future."
I looked up at the band's drummer for a moment before turning away.
"I'll be sure to keep that in mind, Mazzy," I muttered aloud. At that moment, I didn't feel like keeping anything of what they said in mind. I was so determined to prove Chandler wrong that I was willing to discard any form of wisdom they gave me. As I said before, this was a matter of honor and pride, a matter of principle, of showing the world that I, Lincoln Albert Loud, was no yellow-bellied, tail-turning chicken.
It was pretty much considered a major cardinal sin for a young kid my age to back out on a dare. No matter how stupid the dare itself may seem, no matter how high the stakes were to be, you were left with little to no option but to go through it as a means to prove yourself worthy in the expectant eyes of your peers. And if you get cold feet and back out, whatever reputation you had built in your school, neighborhood, or town, would go flushing down the drainpipe.
I have to do this! I thought. I just have to! For Sam! She deserves to have a brave man in her life, not a scared little boy! And it looks like I'm finally going to prove to her and the world I'm indeed that man today!
I gazed up at the Milk Shaker, eying every detail of the white-painted wooden construction which acted as the guide for the steel tracks around the place up in the air and back down to Earth. I then noticed a row or two of four carts that were shaped like giant milk bottles zooming down those tracks at such ludicrous speed that they were virtually nothing but big white blurs. I sucked in my bottom lip.
"Scary, huh Loud?" Chandler asked teasingly in front of us. "This will make a great story to tell at our school, I'll tell you what." I wasn't exactly sure if it was just me or not, but I could have sworn I heard a slight tremble in his voice.
"How do you guys manage to put up with someone like him?" Sam asked Lynn and I, standing closely next to me in line.
"I've been asking myself that exact same question for years." I answered. As we neared further towards the end of the line, with more people rounding up behind us, I had a large amount of trouble controlling my fear. My palms began to sweat, and my breathing became almost labored. Regardless of all that, I used all my willpower to swallow those feelings down, still determined to prove Chandler wrong as well as to get this all done and over with.
At last, after waiting for a short spell, we reached the end of the line, and we came across a hard plastic height chart. It was one of those kind of height charts that measured how tall you actually had to be in order to go on the big boy rides at your local theme park. Much to my dismay, Lynn and I matched perfectly with the indicator. However, when Lana and Simon stood below it, they realized that they were much too short to go on. Lana was not the least bit happy about this.
"Are you kidding me?!" she exclaimed in frustration. Simon let out a sigh of relief, placing a calming pudgy hand on his chest.
"Why don't I sit this one out, guys?" Luan told us. "You all can go ahead without us. I'll stay and watch Lana and Simon."
And with that, she took the pair over and the three of them sat on a nearby white-painted bench located to our left. After having turned back to face the Milk Shaker and having just in time catch another line of carts racing on through the tracks at top speed from the tall steep hill, I didn't feel like being brave anymore.
Instead, I wanted to throw up into the nearest trash can. There were times in my life where I actually had turned tail and ran for the hills. Especially when it came to facing bullies that were bigger than me. But never have I wanted to do so this badly before. Sadly, my own pride wouldn't let me. Again, I used all my willpower to force my fears down inside. No matter what, I had to maintain my respect from all the other kids at my school, and I was not going to lose it all today.
A line of four roller coaster carts drove down the tracks and stopped in front of us on the platform. After the riders climbed on out, either bellowing in excitement or running for the nearest trash can to vomit into, I carefully made my way over to the cart up at the very front. Before getting in, I turned back and saw Chandler climbing aboard the middle cart directly behind mine, a clearly terrified look on his face and his hands and legs pretty much quivered like an earthquake.
I knew it, I thought, smiling on the inside. I then watched as the rest of the gang hopped into their own carts; Sully and Luna sat closely in the fourth one at the far back and Mazzy and Lynn into the third, and Chandler was by himself with nobody. With shaky legs of my own, I climbed aboard the front cart and took my seat on the right side. Unexpectedly, Sam had climbed into the same cart as well and she sat in the left side seat directly next to me.
Oh, great... I thought disgruntledly. As if I didn't have enough to worry about already.
I sucked in as much air as I could into my lungs and breathed it all out through my nose in one long sigh.
"Are you alright, Lincoln?" Sam asked concernedly, still holding her blue stuffed elephant in her arms. I whipped my gaze over to face her directly and smiled pretty big to try and hide my fear.
"M-Me? Y-Yeah, of course!" I replied with a nervous chuckle. "I'm d-doing fine! Real p-peachy!" She must have easily seen right through my facade because right after I said that she then placed a relaxing hand right above my own, causing my little twelve-year-old heart to pound even harder like a war drum.
"It's alright, dude," she muttered comfortingly. "You're going to be fine; I promise." I'd be lying if I told you that the sound of her sweet and beautiful voice didn't make me almost shudder in excitement. Unfortunately, it did very little to keep my fear at ease.
"Arms up!" the ride operator ordered. Doing as we were told, we lifted our arms up into the air, allowing the ride operator to push the safety bars down against our waists in each cart, thus keeping us safe and secured inside. When that was done, he went over to the podium and pulled a lever, and a belch of air escaped from below our carts. With the press of the big green button, we were finally off.
"Enjoy the ride!" he called out to us before we disappeared around the bend, moving in one graceful arching half circle. We passed by a few trees, and we could see people walking around several feet below us. Just dead ahead of us, I could see the tracks going up, leading towards the steep hill up above. I swallowed a growing lump as I held onto the padded safety bar so tightly, my bare knuckles were turning white.
From behind, I could hear Luna shouting out an excited "YAHOO!" along with Lynn exclaiming, "This is gonna be good!"
Good for them, I thought, rolling my eyes.
While Sam, who smiled and sucked in her bottom lip in exhilaration, I for one remained totally silent while my knees shook dreadfully like leaves while at the same time feeling like I was moments away from hyperventilating. Ever so slowly, we ascended up the hill, riding straight up into Heaven. I glanced over at Sam and gave her a fake smile. I look down and noticed that were now so high up, we could see almost everything happening in the park. A fairly warm breeze blew against our faces. My heart sank when I saw the infamous steep hill inching closer and closer.
For a few brief seconds, I contemplated whether or not I should finally confess my feelings for Sam right here and now.
No time like the present I guess, I thought conclusively. But right as I was about to open my mouth, something in the back of my mind stopped me. It made me temporarily lose the ability to speak, and it wouldn't at all surprise me if it was that same invisible force I spoke about earlier. But when we ultimately reached the edge of the steep hill, I found the ability to talk again—and it couldn't have come at the worst possible time because I had let out a blood-curdling scream.
And just like that, we plummeted straight down the hill back to Earth. You know that strong tingling sensation you get between your legs whenever you went down a steep hill on a fast ride? That sensation was going like crazy as we gained enough speed to the point where everything around us became nothing but a blur. My white hair flew up around me as our milk bottle-shaped carts rattled and I held onto the safety bar even tighter for dear life. We were all now at gravity's mercy.
Showing no sign of slowing down, we zoomed upwards and downwards, rounding left and right in quick small arches. We even went through one large loopy loop, which made me scared of the possibility of falling out from my cart. Thank goodness the safety bars kept that from happening. Sam laughed and screamed at the same time; her blond hair and blue leopard-print headband fluttering epically in the wind while she held her stuffed elephant in her arms.
All through the ordeal, I could overhear Chandler screaming at the top of his lungs, sounding more high-pitched and very girly as well.
So much for that famous McCann bravado! I mentally concluded, before we speedily rounded another bend. After feeling like it was never going to stop, our train of carts slowed down, and we finally came back to where the ride operator was waiting for us, resting at the loading platform. When the safety bars lifted, Sam climbed out first, and I wasted no time in following after her on rubbery legs.
I looked down at myself with widened eyes and realization quickly dawning on me. I did it. I rode on the infamous Milk Shaker and survived to tell the tale without a scratch. I was no longer a scared little boy and had officially become a real man. And to help top it all off, I also realized that the ride was actually not as bad as I had thought it was going to be. It was funny how commercials always exaggerated things to make them appear cool to the impressionable viewers, both young and old.
Knowing this made me smile a little, then turned into a full-on grin. I shot my arms up and exclaimed a proud, "YAHOO!" into the air.
"You liked it?" Sam asked me.
"I LOVE IT!" I shouted excitedly, the adrenaline racing through my bloodstream. My teenage crush smiled, still holding her stuffed elephant. Then, I unconsciously grabbed her one free hand and looked straight into Sam's pretty eyes.
"You wanna go again?" I asked her very anxiously.
"Oh, you don't have to ask me twice!" she beamed.
And without a second thought, the two of us went on the Milk Shaker a second time, not a single trace of fear to be felt this time. We went down the steep hill once again, rounding the same bends and slopes after the other, as well as through the big loopy loop. Just like before, our hairs flew wildly around in the air like floating spiderwebs. When we were done, we climbed out of our cart, all the while exchanging laughs and smiles.
We saw the gang waiting for us close to the bench where Lana and Simon sat with Luan—as well as Chandler who sat on the far-right side away from them, resting his bare elbow on the steel arm, a disgruntled look on his face. I could not tell you just how good it really felt to have proven my childhood arch-rival wrong. When he saw me approach, his face hardened into a nasty-looking glare, his frown deepening, and his ego now bruised. It was time to rub it into his no longer smug face.
"Well, Chandler? We're waiting..." I said to him. His eyes turned into hateful slits. He crossed his arms defiantly, and he muttered something under his breath. I knew exactly what he was saying.
"I'm sorry, could you repeat that?" I asked him, sticking my right ear out at him. "Loudly this time? So that the whole gang can hear you?" He growled angerly until he was almost red in the face from embarrassment.
"Grrr... Fine!" he exclaimed exasperatedly. "I'm sorry for calling you a chicken!"
"And...?" I added, grinning bigger. He growled loudly again.
"And for making fun of you and your new friend!" he grumbled through clamped teeth. I could easily tell that he was not at all truly genuine in his apology, his preciously fragile little ego refusing to allow it. Despite it not being real or not, it still felt pretty good to hear him say those words, nonetheless.
"You know, it's really funny, Chandler," I said confidently. "We were actually planning to go on the Milk Shaker anyway before we ran into you."
"Yep!" Lynn added, walking over next to him. "So, that would mean your dare was pretty much all for nothing!"
I wouldn't say it was for nothing, Lynn. I mentally argued. At least I'll be able to brag about it in school now. With that, our gang and I let out a choir of laughter, leaving Chandler growling under his breath for the third time. Fed up, he climbed off the bench and stomped his way over to the exit and he disappeared into the constantly moving crowd of people, leaving no other trace behind. I shook my head, smiling proudly still for my achievement of the day.
"Wait until everybody in school hears that he screamed like a little girl!" Lynn stated, clearly excitedly at the idea.
"So, what do we do now…? Oh, how 'bout we head over to the Calf-Price Gift Shop Next?" I asked the gang after we had stopped laughing and calmed down. After a short moment of silence, Sam's voice suddenly spoke up.
"Uh... Lincoln?" I heard her say to me.
"Yeah, Sam?" I asked her curiously, totally oblivious of what she was going to say next.
"You know you're still holding my hand, right?" she addressed.
I furrowed my brows together, and I blinked a couple of times in confusion before glancing down to see what she was talking about. And sure enough, the very sight of her hand held affectionately into mine—our fingers visibly intertwined, if I might add—caused me to finally register what I was doing. I hurriedly snatched my hand away behind my back, and I smiled embarrassingly up at her with a nervous-sounding chuckle.
"Hehehe! S-Sorry!" I croaked out. I looked over to see the rest of our gang who stared at me almost weirdly, but then each of them began to smile. The look on their now amused faces told me exactly what they were about to do next, which sent an electric jolt of fear throughout my body.
"Well, what do you know?" Lynn said, her voice now heavily laden with mischief. "First, he gives her a stuffed animal, and then he holds her hand. I think I'm beginning to see a pattern here. What do you think so, guys?"
"Oh, I sure do, Lynn," Simon agreed, flashing a large toothy grin.
"Maybe Chandler was actually on to something after all." Luan added, jokingly nudging Lynn. Upon hearing that, they all let out a resounding, "Oooooo..." the exact same conclusion running through their heads.
"Oh, Lincoln." Luna teased, after walking over and pinching my right cheek. "You sneaky little devil you!"
"N-N-No!" I blurted out desperately, brushing my sister's hand away. "I-I-It's not like that—I-I swear!"
"Aw, Lincoln," Sam jokingly cooed, unknowingly messing with my feelings. "If you wanted to hold my hand, all you had to do was simply ask." Adding further to the tease, Sam fluttered her eyelashes at me in an incredibly flirty manner. My heart pounded so excitedly hard at quite an enticing-looking sight, I believed for a moment that it was going to burst out from my chest.
"Oh, c-come on!" I disputed, my face becoming almost red as a fresh tomato. "I-It's not what you're all thinking!"
"I don't know, it looked an awful lot like what we're thinking, right Mazzy," Sully stated, grinning impishly.
"Why yes, Sully," Mazzy concurred, putting her hands on her hips. "I believe it sure did."
"I did it because I got excited from the ride, that's all!" I virtually shouted at them.
"Who knew that our brother had quite a sharp taste in women! Hahaha! Get it?" Luan joked, as she nudged Luna in the shoulder. Usually, her puns would have caused many around her to groan at how bad they were. But not this time. For once, everybody actually thought that sounded pretty funny and they let out another choir of laughter. Sam, on the other hand, could not help but blush wildly at the joke, all the while trying to stile a flattered-sounding giggle.
I simply rolled my eyes, feeling both annoyed and embarrassed—again.
"Ugh! You guys are just unbelievable!" I grunted upsettingly, feeling my blood pressure dialing back up to eleven.
"Oh, chill out, bro!" Lynn reasoned after having calmed down and then wrapped her arm around my shoulders. "No need to be so defensive!"
"Yeah, dude!" Sully joined in, wiping away a laugh-induced tear from his eye. "We're just giving you a hard time is all!"
"Come on, Lincoln," Luan said. "No need to be so sharp with us!" This time, nobody was laughing, and the gang looked at her with very unamused expressions.
"Okay, first time was funny," Luna explained to our comedian for a sister, "but two times is just annoying, Luan."
Luan folded her arms and frowned.
"Like I said, everybody's a critic," I scarcely heard her mumble. After my blood pressure had simmered back down, I became a little more relaxed, but still a bit agitated. At least they still didn't truly know about my actual feelings for Sam yet. And believe me, I still planned to keep it that way for as long as I could until then. Talk about having just dodged a major bullet.
"Now that you guys had your little fun," I began, running my hand through my hair tiredly, "can we all go now?" At that point, I realized that I had now become a little bit hungry, and I felt like wanting to just sit somewhere—anywhere at all—and have something to chow down on, only if it would help take my mind off of this. As if reading my mind, Lana hopped down from the bench with Simon, and she spoke up.
"What do you guys say we go meet the others back at the front of the park and grab a bite?" she asked.
"Yeah, let's do that," Lynn agreed. "Our two hours is pretty much almost up anyway."
With everybody in agreement, we walked out through the exit of the Milk Shaker and back out into the crowd of people.
The rest of the day had thankfully turned out for the better after that.
When we met up with Mom, Dad, and the other girls at the front entrance, they were very much surprised to see Sam, Simon, Sully, and Mazzy suddenly being amongst us. Here, Luna's fellow bandmates gave them the details of how they were able to come to Dairyland, of how they were able to take the bus over here. Lori and Leni thought it was sweet and romantic that it was all Sully's idea. We then got to debating where we wanted to eat, and we lastly settled for one place.
We chose a farm-themed restaurant located at the southwestern side of the park—which was only a short walk away.
We chose our tables and who was sitting where exactly, ordered our food and we got to talking about what we had done so far. Eventually, I finally told them that we went on the Milk Shaker, and of how I had beaten Chandler at his dare. I was especially grateful that nobody had brought up me holding Sam's hand yet. And I was ready to make some counter arguments this time if they did.
Thankfully, it didn't come to that, not while we were eating our food or after we paid our bill. After that was done, we went over to the Calf-Price Gift Shop and bought ourselves some merchandise, those being a couple of Dairyland T-shirts, a cow's utter-shaped cap for each of us, and other random knickknacks. When it was now close to dusk, we made our way back over to Dairyland's front entrance. Just after we made it through the gates, I felt a girl's hand rest upon my shoulder, stopping me for a moment. I glanced over and saw that it was Sam, who looked down at me with her always very cute smile on her equally cute face.
"What's up, Sam?" I asked her, while at the same time trying to keep my lovesick composure under control.
"I just want you to know," she said, rubbing the back of her head bashfully, "that I'm sorry..."
"Uh... for what exactly?" I asked her puzzlingly.
"You know... well, for earlier." she admitted. Realizing what she was talking about, I smiled good-naturedly.
"Eh, it's all good," I replied, shrugging my shoulders. "I realize now that you guys were only having fun, and I shouldn't have gotten upset." Like I could ever be upset with a wonderful gal like her.
"I'm very glad to hear it, dude," she said. "And I also want you to know, aside from that Chandler kid, I've had the best time of my life today." No sooner did she finish the last part of her sentence, the song (I've Had) The Time of My Life by Bill Medley Jennifer Warnes, a brand-new hit single that came out the day before, suddenly began to play from a nearby speaker in the short distance. It kind of made things a bit awkward between us for a moment, given the context of the romantic-sounding lyrics. Sam and I were silent while the song continued to play for a few more seconds, until I finally mustered up the ability to speak again.
"W-Well... Uh... I-I'll be seeing you again sometime," I managed after clearing my throat.
"You too, little dude," she replied, gently ruffling my white-haired head. "Seriously, we should hang out like this more often." After having said that, Sam turned and walked away, quickly heading on over to Sully, Simon, and Mazzy's location where all three of them were patiently waiting for her to catch up.
"You have a good summer, okay?!" I shouted to her.
"Sure will, Lincoln! And the same to you!" she replied before disappearing into the surrounding army of cars within the large parking lot.
A guy like me couldn't ask for a better girl than her, I thought, smiling fondly. I still need to write her that letter someday though.
"Ahem!" I turned to the source of the noise, and spotted Lynn resting against Vanzilla next to the opened side door, her legs and arms crossed..., and a wide impish-looking grin spread out on her face. I sighed tiredly through my nose and made my way over to the van's location, expecting for the worst to come out of her mouth.
"So, how did it go?" she asked, cocking one eyebrow.
"Don't you start, Lynn!" I quickly grunted as she and I climbed inside the car.
Man... I never thought I'd see the day where I would split a single chapter into three parts, not to mention writing up to over seven thousand words for this one. Kind of weird for me to do that. But then again, who else hasn't done the same as me? LOL.
I've established this before, and I will do so again just in case anybody has forgotten, this is NOT going to turn into a Romance fic. The main focus of this story has been and always will be on 1980's childhood nostalgia to the very end, and who knows what chapter number the ending is going to be.
Anyways, I'm very much glad to get this chapter up off the ground and can finally move on to the next one. Don't forget to send me some reviews and tell me what you think.
Wish me the best of luck, folks. I'll see you then. ;)
