Chapter 14: 14. Ch 14- Food Court
(A/N: so, as I was writing the next chapter, I realised that I made a mistake in this story- I've been saying Lincoln is in the fifth grade, yet for this story, I wanted Lincoln and the others to be in the sixth grade. It's a small detail, I'm aware, but it fits with how I had imagined the timeline of events. You don't need to reread the previous chapters to understand this change, I just wanted to make this clear in case there's any confusion.
Thank you again for the ongoing support and feedback, and enjoy!)
Eventually, the two groups made their way to the food court, which was relatively just as bustling as the mall downstairs. There was a decent selection of food options, even if not a lot of it was what most people would consider 'healthy'.
"So, what are you girls getting to eat?" Lincoln asked the girls.
"We can never agree on what to get," Mollie explained, "so we just get our own things and meet back at the table."
"Whose turn is it to watch the table?" Sadie asked.
"I'll do it," Lincoln offered. "It's no bother."
"You don't have to do that," Jordan insisted. "I think it was my turn."
"Nah, it's okay. Go on, I don't mind." While Jordan was prepared to argue a bit more, her friends thanked the Loud boy before heading off to get their food. Jordan shook her head, then looked back and forth between the different food outlets and the table Lincoln sat down at, before sitting down opposite him. "Aren't you gonna go as well?"
"Nah. Think I'll keep you company and wait for the others to get back." She then smirked. "So, what are you getting? Probably something weird like a hot dog with kiwis."
He rolled his eyes at her, replying "har, har" sarcastically, but couldn't help but smile at the small laugh she gave. "You know, I can eat just a regular burger. Not everything I eat is an acquired taste."
"Really? So, where do you stand on pineapple on pizza?"
"Everyone seems to think I would enjoy it, but I just don't get why you would do that!"
"Exactly! It's so disgusting!"
The two then shared a laugh with each other, which did not go unnoticed by the group of girls sat down at a table a few tables away from them. While they were unable to listen to what they were saying, they had a good view of the two sixth graders, and that meant they could see the joyous look on their brother's face. "Look at him," Lola gushed. "Could he make it more obvious?"
"I don't think it means anything," Lucy argued. "Something about his aura is calmed by her presence, but not in the same way as that of one of two lovers would be."
Lola rolled her eyes. "What do you know? Your hair is blocking your eyes. It's so obvious he likes her."
Lucy, despite her eyes indeed being covered by her eyes, gave a deadpan look. "You don't need eyes to sense the aura radiated from a being's soul."
"I've gotta agree with spooky here," Lynn added. "Not about the aura mumbo jumbo, but I don't really get the feeling that Link is feeling that way about her."
Lola scoffed at the athlete. "And what would you know? You've never even spoken to your crush outside of your silly baseball games."
"First off, it's softball," Lynn argued with gritted teeth, then raised a fist, "and I'd think twice about calling them 'silly'." Lola merely rolled her eyes, allowing Lynn to continue. "Anyway, when they were in the comic book store, I didn't really get the vibe tat they were crushing on each other."
"What happened?" Lana asked.
"Well, first he helped to show her… something. I dunno what, it's all dork literature to me. Anyway, I heard that she didn't have enough to pay for both her things, so Lincoln offered to get one of them for her."
The girls all cooed at their brother's deed. "See? That was so romantic!" Lola gushed again.
"I'm not so sure he did it to be romantic, though. It kinda felt like he was just doing it to be kind."
"Well, Lori did tell him to be a gentleman," Luna pointed out. "Could be he was just trying to follow her advice."
"I dunno, you guys," Luan countered, "he seemed pretty admiring of her when they were hanging out with Lily."
Lori blinked. "Wait, when did you leave Lily with them?"
"Well, I had to go to the bathroom, and Lincoln was kind enough to let me and watch Lily, which was a relief." Again, she used her typical laugh. "Get it?" The others groaned, but Luan didn't need reminding to continue with the story. "Anyway, when I got back, I saw that Lily and Jordan were playing together. The girls all found Lily to be the cutest thing ever-"
"Poo poo!"
Luan rolled her eyes. "Which, of course, she is." Lily giggled happily. "When I looked at Lincoln, though, he had a look in his eyes that I could just tell meant he felt something for her."
"Really?" Leni asked. "That doesn't really match what he told me."
"Well, what did he tell you?" Lola inquired.
"Well, he was giving her advice on a red top, which- FYI- totes worked with her bow. I asked him if he thought she looked pretty, but he asked me to stop asking about her, and how he was worried that us watching them like this might, like, ruin their friendship."
This was again met with a chorus of "Aww" from the girls, but there was an underlying sadness this time. "So… what's the plan now, dudettes?" Luna asked. "Should we stay or should we go?"
"Well…" Lori took a brief pause to word her response. "Regardless of how the twerp feels about her, we don't want to make them uncomfortable or risk ruining their friendship, no matter what."
"But what if he does like her?" Lola asked. "We all know that Linky isn't the best at dealing with those sorts of feelings. We all know how things went with Ronnie Anne."
"You're right, and I'm not saying that he doesn't have feelings- if we find out he does, we'll deal with it then- but at the same time, if we try and sway things that way and he doesn't actually feel that way, then it may make things awkward for them." Lola opened her mouth, but found she had no retort, so she shut it and ducked her head a little. "I think that the best thing for us to do this time would be to just step back a bit and let Lincoln figure things out for himself. Whenever those two are around each other, don't do anything to interfere with them." She then put on a small smirk. "If we're at home and it's just Lincoln, you can tease him a little, but don't go too far with it. Are we clear?" They all nodded to show their mutual agreement. "Alright. Now, who wants what to eat?"
While they all made their orders with the eldest, Lincoln and Jordan were chatting to each other when their friends returned with trays carrying their food- Mollie had gone for a simple cheeseburger with fries and a bottle of water; Sadie and Kat each had a salad, with the former having a bottle of water and the latter having a bottle of fruit juice; and Joy had a slice of pizza with a soda can.
"Thanks for holding the table, Lincoln," Kat said to the boy, sitting down next to Jordan with Mollie on her other side.
"Yeah, you two can go get your food now," Sadie added.
"Okay, sure," both Lincoln and Jordan said in response at the same time, only to look at each other and chuckle.
"Be back in about five minutes," Lincoln said, to which Jordan nodded, before they went away to get their lunches.
"So, what do you girls think of Lincoln?" Mollie asked once they were far enough away.
"He's okay," Joy responded, taking a bite of her pizza, waiting to swallow before she spoke again. "Why do you ask?"
"I'm just curious, since he's someone we're gonna be seeing him more now he does gymnastics."
"I think he's alright," Kat offered. "It might be nice having him around."
"I agree," Sadie replied. "Jordan seems to be having fun around him."
Joy looked over her shoulder to see where Jordan had gone, then turned back around and leaned forward a bit. "You guys don't think she likes him, do you?"
Sadie rolled her eyes. "Joy, you said that when she started hanging out with Artie after she started doing gymnastics."
"Nah, its different this time. He offered to pay for her comic book, she asked him to give an opinion on a shirt she was buying, and it was her who invited him."
Mollie shook her head. "I doubt it. She would have told me if she had a crush on him."
"You have to admit, Mollie," Kat explained, "she definitely seems a bit more friendly with him now. Maybe she's not telling us something?"
"You think?" When the raven-haired girl shrugged, Mollie took a moment to consider it. "I doubt she likes him like that, but yeah, she has seemed a bit more friendly now he's joined gymnastics. Still, it's probably nothing to think too hard about right now."
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Joy conceded. "Still, if I see them two giggling like that again, I'm gonna puke."
The girls shared a laugh, just as Jordan returned with her tray, carrying a salad, a cookie and a soda, with Lincoln carrying his burger and soda just a few seconds after. "What's so funny?" Jordan asked as she sat down.
"Oh, it's nothing," Mollie replied, prompting the girl in the yellow shirt to raise an eyebrow, while Lincoln just rolled his eyes.
"I've heard that one before," he muttered, then looked at the confused girl. "Just go with it. If they say it's nothing, it's definitely something, but they'll never tell you."
Jordan gave a chuckle. "And what makes you so certain?"
"Them," he replied, poking a thumb in the direction of his sisters.
"Oh boy, it's the Girl Guru again!" Joy remarked, which received laughter from the girls, and even though he was shaking his head, even Lincoln couldn't help but laugh as well.
After he and the others finished lunch, they looked around a couple of other shops before calling it a day. His sisters had already taken Vanzilla back, but he didn't mind, as he was planning to walk home anyway. Even when Jordan's mother offered, he politely declined and thanked her for the offer, before everyone made their goodbyes and went their separate ways. As he walked along the sidewalks of Royal Woods, he somehow felt both at ease and energetic. His trip to the mall had left him in good spirits and with a spring in his step, yet the cooling October breeze made him feel calm, and convinced him to take his time rather than rush home.
As he turned the corner, he saw two familiar men jogging his way. One was a slim, light skinned man with ginger hair and wearing a yellow tracksuit with a white diagonal stripe and a yellow headband, while the other was a portly, dark skinned man with black hair and wearing a blue tracksuit and headband with white sneakers. They saw Lincoln in their path and slowed down to a stop. "Hi, Mr McBride. Hi, Mr McBride," Lincoln greeted them.
"Hello, Lincoln," the rounder man, Harold, greeted back. "How are you today?"
"I'm good, thank you. What about you two?"
"We're just swell, Lincoln," the other man, Howard, answered. "Just getting in our Saturday jog. You're welcome to join us if you like."
"That's okay. I'm just heading home."
"Of course. Besides, I'm sure you're getting enough exercise with your dodgeball practice."
"You heard about that?"
"Why, your father told us when we went to his restaurant the other day!" Harold explained. "He's quite proud of you for finding it by yourself."
Lincoln's smile turned nervous. "Is he…" He hid his reaction by quickly adding, "well, I don't want to keep you. I should be heading home before my parents get worried. It was nice talking with you."
"Anytime, Lincoln," Howard responded.
"Oh, and Lincoln," Harold added, "I believe Clyde was thinking about inviting you for a sleepover next weekend."
"Okay. I'll ask him about it when I get back."
He nodded to the boy. "You be safe getting home, Lincoln."
"Will do." With that, the three went their separate ways, with the two McBrides jogging off once more. As Lincoln continued towards his home, he turned to the viewer. "I'm starting to feel a bit guilty about not telling my parents the truth," he admitted. "I'm still worried about how my sisters will react when they find out, especially given how they reacted to… the toilet incident…" He shuddered as he remembered some of the teasing he got. "So, yeah, I'm not ready to tell them yet. But, if dad's that proud of me… will he still be if he finds out I lied to him?" He stopped at the end of the path, waiting for the lights to change. "But, then there's the issue of how I tell mom and dad without my sisters knowing. Not only would I have to tell them, but I'd have to convince them not to tell my sisters, which is an even bigger task. I may be the man with the plan, but… this could be tough."
As the lights changed and he safely crossed the road, Lincoln put this thought to one side as he continued his way home, knowing that it would take more than the walk over the next few blocks to solve this issue. When he eventually arrived back at home, his eyes and ears were met with the familiar sights and sounds of the usual chaos his sisters cause on Saturday's. After walking inside and telling his parents that he was back, he headed upstairs to go give Lucy her comic book and read his for a while, but when he got to the landing, he heard an unusual sound from one of the rooms- specifically, that of his eldest sisters. Walking up to the door, he saw it was open. While Lori wasn't there, Leni was, and she was laid on her bed with her back to the open doorway. Lincoln know from living with his sisters what this sort of thing meant.
'She's upset,' he mentally acknowledged. 'I know she probably wants some alone time, but…' He sighed. 'My brotherly instincts tell me I should speak to her. I hate seeing her like this.'
And with that, he stepped inside.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone