บท 77: 77. Ch 77- Confide With Me
Lori and Bobby had spent a good few hours together in the city, the young couple more than happy to share each other's company while they had the chance. The two of them started off by getting lunch at a local café, with Bobby paying for the both of them. Lori enjoyed a nice cup of tea and some sandwiches, while Bobby drank some hot chocolate, and their lunch was the only thing stopping them from pleasantly conversing with each other. After that, he took her to a small karaoke club, where they sang some of their favourite songs together, and Lori was pleasantly surprised to find that Bobby had a decent singing voice. Not the type of voice that a professional would have, but more than good enough for her. After that, they took a quick break in the park, the cold air giving Bobby extra reason to wrap his arms around Lori and hold her close. They didn't stay for too long before going to the Sky Needle, where Lori was blown away by the breathtaking view. Bobby couldn't resist saying that she was breathtaking, which expectedly had her swooning over the boy in spite of its cheesiness.
When they were done there, they took the subway back to the apartment building, walking arm in arm the rest of the way with Lori resting her head on his shoulder. "I miss this," she said somewhat breathily. "Being able to walk together, whenever we wanted, feeling like it's just the two of us… it almost makes me wish I didn't have to go home."
"I know, Babe," he agreed, "but I think it makes me enjoy these moments so much more, you know?"
Her smile only grew more loving. "You are too sweet!" He gave a soft chuckle before she added, "still, it won't be too long before we'll be doing this together at college."
"I know. How are you feeling about that?"
"Honestly, I'm still a little mixed about it. The chance to finally start my life for real, the chance to see you everyday again and the chance to get my degree is all exciting, but… I don't know how I'm going to handle being away from my home and my family for that long."
"Yeah, I know. It's gonna be a big change, but I'm gonna be there for you, all the way."
She nodded. "I know you are, Boo Boo Bear, and I'm literally grateful for it."
He smiled at knowing this, but that smile faded when he decided to say something else. "So, um, speaking of… family…"
His hesitant pause was quickly noticed by Lori, who removed her head from his shoulder to look at him. "It's okay. I think I know what you're going to ask, so you can ask it. I don't mind."
"... do you know what you're going to say to him?"
She looked down slightly, giving a soft shake of her head. "I think I will when we get to the diner, but… right now, not so much."
"Well, if you don't want to do it alone, I could sit with you and Lincoln so you can ask, or we could get Nie Nie to help."
She shook her head again. "No. I appreciate the thought, but I need to do this myself, and I might not be fully ready, but… if I don't do it now, it'll only get harder."
"Well, I hope it goes well."
"Me too."
As they turned the corner, they saw that Lincoln and his friends were sat on the steps outside the apartment building, chatting with each other. The closer she got, the more she could tell that they seemed to have had a good day. Eventually, they were close enough that the Loud boy noticed them approaching the steps.
"Hey, Lori," he greeted, alerting the others to the high schoolers' presence.
"Hey," she greeted back. "You guys have a good time?"
"Yeah."
"Good. Anyway, we need to get going soon. I'm gonna say goodbye to the Casagrande's first, so just wait here, okay?"
"Okay." He shuffled slightly so Lori and Bobby could enter the building, giving the older boy a fist bump as he passed him. Once the door had shut behind them, Lincoln looked to his friends again. "Well, it's been fun, you guys."
"Same here, Lincoln," Casey agreed. "It was cool hanging out with you again."
"You too, guys."
"So, what are you gonna do when you get back, huh?" Sid asked. "Gonna hit the vaults?"
He rolled his eyes, pretending to be ignorant to the chuckles of the Asian girl. "Nah, practice is on Sunday's, so that'll be tomorrow." The chuckles returned, this time louder and with everyone joining in. "I'll probably just read some comics or something before bed, and deal with whatever my sisters want me to help them with."
"So, basically, whatever they want you to help with and that's it." Lincoln nodded to Ronnie Anne's statement. "Yeah, that sounds right."
"It won't be so bad, especially after today, so I don't mind too much."
"Well, either way, it was good seeing you again, Lame-O."
"You too, dork."
The door opened behind them, prompting the kids to stand up as Lori and Bobby came out, followed by Rosa carrying a Tupperware box of foil wrapped food.
"These are for your family to enjoy whenever," the elder told Lori as she gave her the tub. "It was wonderful to see you again, Lori."
"And you, Mrs Casagrande."
Rosa then looked at Lincoln and added, "and it's always nice to see you, Lincoln."
"It was nice seeing you too, ma'am."
"Well, we had best be going," Lori reminded. "We don't want to be caught in traffic."
Bobby took hold of her hands and looked in her eyes. "I'll call you later, Babe."
"I look forward to it, Boo Boo Bear."
The two then proceeded to kiss, which made Lincoln and Ronnie Anne pretend to gag before chuckling. "Well, I'll see you later, Lincoln."
"See you soon, Ronnie Anne." They shared a hug, which Sid joined in on before it became a group hug for the six kids. When they eventually let go, Lincoln and Lori walked towards the van, waving goodbye to the others. They got into the front seats and attached their seatbelts. "So, are we heading home?"
"Yeah, but we need to get gas on the way, so we'll stop for some food while we're at it. Sound good?" He shrugged, so she started the engine. "Alright. Here we go."
The first half of the drive back to Royal Woods was pleasant enough. Traffic was busy on the highway, but it moved enough that they only had the odd couple of stops to deal with. After initial conversation between the siblings about what they got up to with their friends and boyfriend respectively, Lincoln was quiet for the majority of the ride, once again listening to music with his earphones. This time, however, Lori didn't mind, as she used the quiet to think about what she might say when they stopped for dinner. She still wasn't too eager about the forthcoming conversation between herself and her brother, but she knew that it had to be done, and that she didn't want to have to wait for another opportunity.
They eventually came off of the highway to a diner, which had a petrol station next to it. The diner was homely enough and had a green neon sign that simply said Mel's. Lori decided to fuel the van before they could get fuel for themselves, so she drove into the petrol station and stopped the van so she could get fuel. Lincoln stayed in the car, listening to a Smooch song for the few minutes it took Lori to refill the tank, and as the song ended, he heard the driver side door shut, turning to see Lori had gotten back in so she could park the car in front of the diner.
"Right," she said, shutting off the engine and turning to her brother. "Ready for some food?"
"Sure," he replied, taking his seatbelt off.
With that, they got out of Vanzilla, Lori locking the van before they went into the diner. Heading through the front doors, they heard country music, which was coming from a jukebox in the far corner of the room. There were a few diners in the building, with a couple of truckers sat at the counter and a couple of families, one sat in a red leather booth and one sat at a table. The two Louds walked over to one of the aluminium tables near the window, sitting down in the aluminium chairs that accompanied it and taking a look at the menus provided.
Eventually, the waitress— a forty something woman with her grey hair in a bun, dressed in a pink dress shirt and skirt and white apron— came to their table with a notepad and pencil in hand. "Welcome to Mel's," she greeted, though not too enthusiastically. "I'm Erin, and I'll be your waitress. What can I get you?"
"I'll have a cheeseburger and a side salad, with a glass of water," Lori asked first, the waitress writing it down.
"Okay. What about you, kid?"
"Um, I guess I'll have a cheeseburger too," he said, then looked to Lori. "Is it alright if I get some fries?"
"Sure."
"Okay, so two cheeseburgers, one salad, one basket of fries. Would you like ketchup?"
"Yes, please," Lincoln replied. "And, um, a soda."
"Alright. It'll be with you in about ten minutes. I'll bring your sides when they're ready."
"Thanks." Lori watched the waitress walk away, before turning to her brother. "You okay to stay here while I clean up quickly?"
"Sure."
She smiled as she stood up, giving him a quick ruffle of his hair. "Thanks, twerp."
He rolled his eyes, pulling his phone out while she walked away. He was going to look at the group chat and see what his friends had been up to, but he saw that his battery was running low, so he decided to put it away in case he needed to call someone or someone wanted to call him. As he waited for Lori to return and for their food to arrive, he decided to look around. There was a quaint atmosphere to the establishment, with the few diners there at that time all seemingly enjoying their company and the food, and the music that was playing was kind of relaxing, in a weird way. 'It seems nice,' he thought to himself, his brow furrowing, 'but why did she choose to stop here? We passed a couple of stop points with fast food joints. We could have stopped at one of those.'
He didn't put too much thought into it, because he saw the waitress come back shortly after with a tray holding their starters and drinks. "Is your friend coming back?" Erin asked, setting the food and drinks on the table.
"Sister," Lincoln clarified. "She's just using the restroom."
"Alright. Well, your burgers will be here soon, so enjoy."
He thanked her as she walked away, just before Lori returned to sit down at the table. "You didn't have to wait, Lincoln. You could have started, I wouldn't have minded."
"They only just got here," he told her, making her feel a bit stupid as he took a ketchup packet and put some on his fries.
"Oh… my bad." She tried to say something, but seeing that Lincoln was now focused on his food, she decided it was best not to, instead opting to tuck into her salad. 'Get it together, Lori,' she chastised in her head. 'Just start with some casual talk.' So, she swallowed her first mouthful before asking, "how are your fries?"
"They're alright," he told her. "Bit salty, but the ketchup helps. You want one?"
"Sure." She grabbed one of the fries and bit half of it off, chewing before her eyes winced. "A bit salty? It's like there's more salt than fry!" The boy chuckled, bringing a smile back to her face. "I think I'll leave those with you."
"Fair enough. How's your salad?"
"It's alright. I'm not that fond of rocket, but the rest of it's nice."
"That's fair. Can't like everything, I guess."
She nodded, taking another bite of her salad as she heard a new country song start on the jukebox, making her smile grow. "Hey, I know this song!"
Lincoln raised an eyebrow. "You do?"
"Yeah, when I was little, Mom would sing this to me if I couldn't sleep. Her and Dad love country, and though I don't really get the appeal, I still like this song."
"It is kind of nice… still, think I'd rather listen to Smooch."
The older of the two rolled her eyes. "Well, duh, I still prefer other bands, but that's not what it's about. It's that feel of nostalgia, you know? It takes me back to a simpler time."
"You mean… back when there were less of us?"
She frowned, surprised and upset by the suggestion. "Lincoln, of course that's not what I meant. I meant, back when I wasn't thinking about what I wanted my career to be or what college I wanted to go to. Sure, you guys are a handful at times, but you mean the world to me, and you've always been there for me when I needed you. I wouldn't change having you guys around for the world."
It was now Lincoln's turn to frown, feeling guilty for what he said. "Sorry…"
She shook her head softly, giving him a gentle smile. "I know you didn't mean anything by it, so don't worry."
He felt somewhat relieved by this, and as they continued to eat, the mood picked up again as they chatted with each other. It didn't take too long for her to finish her salad and for him to finish his fries, so by the time he was wiping the grease, sauce and salt from his fingers, they saw Erin returning with their cheeseburgers. Two perfectly cooked beef patties topped with slices of American cheese, plus lettuce, ketchup and tomatoes, held between sesame seed buns. She placed one in front of each of the Loud kids, and accepted their thanks before she walked away.
"Wow, this looks good!" Lori commented, taking their burger in her hands as Lincoln did the same.
"It sure does," he replied, the scent hitting his nostrils.
"Well, let's dig in!" With a nod, they both took their first bites of their burgers, and straight away, Lori gave an audible sigh of splendor as the taste of the burger hit her tongue, the seasoning giving it the perfect edge. "That is so good!" She quickly took another bite, before she noticed that Lincoln was just staring at his burger, silently chewing. She gulped down her mouthful before asking him, "what's wrong? Is there something wrong with your burger?"
He blinked, as if snapped out of a daze, and looked at his sister. "No, no, the burger's great," he told her, before realising that he was talking with his mouthful, so he gulped it down. "The burger's great, really."
"Then, what's up? You can tell me, you know."
"Well… it's just… why are we here?"
She said nothing for a couple of seconds, tilting her head slightly in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"I might be imagining this, but… I kind of feel like you brought us here. If you just wanted food, there were other places we passed that we could have stopped at, so… why here?"
Once again, she was silent for a few seconds. However, this time, she put the burger down and looked at her lap with a soft, almost sad chuckle. "You know… if it wasn't for Lisa, I'd think you were the smartest in the family." She looked back up at her brother, seeing that he was confused by what she had said. "Lincoln… how long do you think's it been since we last talked like this?"
"Um… I don't know."
"Well, I can't say exactly, but… it's been at least a couple of weeks. I've barely spoken to you since… well, since you told us the truth." It was now that Lincoln understood what Lori was talking about, and it let him notice that she seemed nervous as she spoke, so he decided not to interrupt her. "It took me about a week to realise just how much our reaction affected you, because at first I was upset about it. It's literally not an excuse for how I acted, but… I've realised that I was that upset because, when I go to college, I'm not going to be around to find out stuff like this. I'm not going to be in your lives like I am now, so I'm going to have to find out over the phone if any of you get a new hobby, or a new friend, or anything like that." She shook her head, giving a sigh. "Still, that's not an excuse. I shouldn't have acted like that, and more importantly, I should've spoken to you about this sooner."
"So… why didn't you?" he asked in a quiet, almost strained voice.
"Because I didn't know how, or when, or what to say. I've spent the past week watching you make up with the others, and I wanted to do the same, but… I just didn't know how to. I kept thinking of ways I could approach you about it, but I didn't want to come across the wrong way or make you think I didn't mean it, because I do. I mean it when I say… that, I'm sorry for how I acted. I'm sorry for forcing you to tell us the truth, I'm sorry for laughing, and I'm sorry for yelling at you. I think it's great that you do gymnastics, because it's something you enjoy, and if you're happy, then I'm happy for you."
She then allowed a moment of silence, feeling a weight lift from her conscience. Of course, she knew there was still a weight there, and that the rest of it wouldn't be lifted until she and her brother had truly made up. With that in mind, she looked to her brother and was concerned when she saw him looking down at the desk, unable to see his face for his white hair. She was going to ask him if he was okay, but he spoke before she was able to.
"This is all my fault."
The words alone stunned her, but what stunned her more was how he said it— the regret was clear in his voice, which sounded kind of choked. Combined with the fact that his body seemed to be softly shaking, she realised that he was starting to cry.
"Lincoln…"
"I should have just told you from the start. I shouldn't have made this some… s-stupid secret to begin with." She saw the way his hands were clenched into fists. A first tear hit the table, and knew that more would be coming, so she left her seat and went over to her brother, crouching down to his height and putting her hands on his shoulders. "I was worried about how you were going to react, b-but… it's my fault you reacted that way."
"Lincoln, stop. Look at me." He gently lifted his head, allowing her to see his teary eyes, and allowing him to see her warm smile. "It's okay. I'm not upset at you, not anymore, and I know that the others aren't anymore either. I'm just sorry that I acted how I did, because you didn't deserve that. Everyone has their secrets. I'm just sorry I made you tell us yours."
He shook his head, giving a small sniffle. "I'm sorry I made it a secret to begin with." With that, he hugged her, the girl more than willing to hug him back. She saw that a couple of people— namely the mother of one of the families and one of the waitresses— were looking over at them, but she ignored them and focused on comforting her brother. They held the embrace for a good twenty seconds or so, Lori gently rubbing his back as he let the tears run out. He eventually broke the hug by backing out, rubbing his eyes to get the remaining tears. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be, it's fine."
"I meant for—"
"I know you did, and I forgive you. Question is… do you forgive me?"
He nodded. "Of course I do."
She smiled, pulling her brother into another hug. She whispered "thank you" into his ear, holding each other for a few more seconds, before letting go and going back to his seat. "Come on. Let's not let this go cold."
"Right," he agreed, picking up his burger again. He was going to take another bite, but he decided to say something first. "Hey, Lori?"
"Yeah?" she asked.
"Do you think it's weird that I do gymnastics?"
She shook her head. "We might be a normal family, but there's nothing weird about it. Just different, and there's nothing wrong with that." She saw him consider those words, before he returned to eating. Lori did the same, a smile on her face. 'There's nothing wrong with that at all.'
They finished their meal, and once Lori had paid for it, they returned home. The remainder of the journey was smoother, both in terms of traffic and mood. Lincoln was more talkative this time round, and the two amicably spoke about whatever came to their minds until they returned to Royal Woods. When they got out of the van, with Lori carrying the Tupperware, she stopped Lincoln before he could enter.
"Hey," she told him, "how about we watch a movie later? Just us."
He smiled at the idea and replied, "sure. Your room or mine?"
"Yours. You can pick, too." She saw his smile grow, making her chuckle. "Now, go on, twerp. I'll join you in an hour or so."
He nodded and went into the house, his older sister following him. While he went upstairs, Lori went into the kitchen, where her father was washing the dishes and her mother was sat at the table, drinking a coffee. "Hey, we're back."
Rita turned to Lori and smiled. "Hey. How was it?"
"It was good. Mrs Casagrande gave us some tamales."
"Put them on the counter, I'll put them away," Lynn Sr told her, the girl doing just that. "So, where's Lincoln?"
"He went upstairs to put his stuff away."
"And, is… everything okay with you two?" Rita asked, the confident nod that Lori gave making her smile. "That's good to hear."
"Same here, Mom. Same here."
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