Saturday 24 July 2021

3.13 Hesitant



A nice morning bathing for Kipper, and a quick sonic shower for Olivia. The only one not getting any cleaner here is Evan. 



Olivia and Lincoln talk about gardening. "I'm excited to try planting a plasma fruit bush. I found a seed by the graveyard." 

"But...there aren't any vampires in town, are there?" 



His mother's answer is cryptic. "You can never know, Lincoln." 



Well that's enough creepiness for one day! 



Now that they're dating, Lincoln spends a lot of time with Heather. Any time her parents are in the same room as him, she quickly ushers him away. 



"What's wrong?" 

"Are you embarrassed of me? You never let me talk to your parents..." 

"Pfffffft, no way. I'm scared of them embarrassing me. You're good, don't worry." 



He tries to kiss her in his relief, but she pushes him back. 

"My dad's still close by, better not..." 

"...oh..." 



Feeling bad, she pecks Lincoln on the cheek and gives him a hug.

"I'm sorry. It's just weird for me, being romantic in front of my parents. I don't like it when they ask me a bunch of questions..." 

"Yeah I can understand that..." It's not like Heather's properly met his parents either. 



With her father hovering around, Lincoln decides to be a little productive before he goes home. 



Heather did her homework in study hall, so she's free to dance and wiggle around to her heart's content. 


Lincoln gives up on his social studies homework and joins her. 

"What? What're you smiling at?" 

"You! Your shoulders are so stiff..." 


He tries to keep up with her dance moves, but she's too fast and agile for him. 



In the middle of her quick dance tutorial for Lincoln, her mother Crystal comes home. 

"Oooh, I see we have a guest! Do you want to stay for dinner Lincoln?" 

"NO!" Heather's reply is immediate. "I mean- you said your parents wanted you home, right?" she gives Lincoln an intense stare. 

"...Right. I should get going, actually."


"See you tomorrow at school," Heather says, a bit too cheerfully, and with more distance than Lincoln expected. 

"...see you." 


Lincoln comes back in a bad mood. 

"What's wrong, Link?" Evan asks his son, concerned. 

"...Nothing. I'm just hungry." 

As Lincoln dejectedly gets a plate of sushi from the fridge, Olivia and Evan exchange worried glances. 

***



Unfortunately, they end up not being able to ask him what's going on. Olivia is up early the next morning tending to her large garden... 


And Evan has to get to work. 



He does make sure to attend Lincoln's debate team finals. Sure, Lincoln only presented one counter-argument the entire time, but Evan makes sure to tell him how proud he is anyways. 


Unfortunately, duty calls right afterwards. The science lab has littered the observatory with dead robot-fish! 

Evan will make sure that Felix pays dearly for this transgression! 


Once Lincoln gets back home, Olivia tries to gently ask him what happened the day before, but Lincoln is tight lipped. 

"Oh, it was just a dumb pop-quiz in social studies. I wasn't really ready, so I was kinda mad about what grade I'd get... but Mr. Lin said he decided not to count the scores today, so nothing's wrong anymore." 

Olivia doesn't want to accuse her son of lying, but he so rarely cares about his school assignments... but she decides not to press. If he wants to tell her, he will. 



"Mom, are you really using a fork for sushi?" 



"Well...not anymore," she smiles. 


After a shower, Olivia gets to caring for her newest addition- a crow she named Raven, in honour of Hawky the falcon. Raven evidently doesn't care for her name. 


Another day of school. Lincoln swears it's all starting to blend together. 

A freshman behind him, Monique Hare, gives him an appreciative look. Too bad Lincoln's taken... 







Evan and Olivia go about their days quietly... 



Though always watched. Olivia's plasma fruit bush spawned a vampire gnome that menaces the family. 



Lincoln's brooded enough over this situation with Heather, he thinks. He should probably just talk to her about her inability to let him talk to her parents. 



"Hey Heather. I wanted to know if you wanted to have dinner together?" 

"Oh, sure. At yours?" 



"Uh, no what about-" 

"The diner! Perfect. How about we hang out at the karaoke place before, at 5? See you!" 



She hangs up quickly, leaving Lincoln... unhappy. 



But he cycles up to the karaoke bar, anyways. 



He runs into Tammi again. She comes here a lot to practice her singing, she tells him. 



"I sent an audition tape of mine to an acting agency," she informs him excitedly, "The agent said I had the voice of an angel! It's too bad I'm only in high school, my parents don't want to sign a singing contract for me yet..." 

"Oh, I see..." 

"Yes, I'm quite decent. I'm too shy to sing in front of crowds, however..." she looks at Lincoln meaningfully, clearly waiting for him to ask her to sing. 



Thankfully, he's saved from further conversation by Heather. 

"Hey, you looked pretty upset on the bus. You alright?" 


He gives her a peck on the lips. 

"I'm ok. Let's play some pool." 



He thinks about how to approach this conversation, but is stumped. She cuts him off when he tries to mention it on the phone or at school... and she might get mad if he just straight up asks her "so why can't I meet your parents properly?" 



He ends up asking her if she'd rather share some nachos here, or if she still wants to eat at the diner later. 



"Yes!" she pumps her fist. 



She's sunk quite a few pool balls. 



"Let's go to the diner, I'm starving," she decides. 



Lincoln decides to at least take his turn before they leave. 






But he completely flubs it. 

"Let's just go," he sighs. 



She can tell something's bothering him, but tries to ignore it. 



They have a decent dinner, which she ends preemptively by citing curfew. 

"See you tomorrow?" 

"Yeah..." Lincoln wonders why he keeps getting played. 

-----------
AN:


This is Wesley Crusher Duende, the son of Andi and Andy Duende (Randi and Randy Archer) in my game. Unlike Wesley Crusher, however, this Wesley isn't a kid genius. Wesley Duende is charismatic, grumpy, slob, and a schmoozer. His adult trait was commitment issues. 

His and Tammi's younger sister Chau is inappropriate and family oriented. She later got adventurous and disciplined as well. 


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