32. Ch 32- Puppy Love

Another couple of days had passed since Lincoln gave Jordan her gift, and things had been good for him since. While school hadn't been particularly eventful, he was thankful that Markus had seemingly backed off for the time being, and he hadn't ended up in trouble for any reason. Things were also doing okay outside of school, as while things at home were about the same as usual, Tuesday's gymnastics session had been a lot of fun, and Lynn's extra training sessions had made a bit of an impact- sure, he didn't go from zero to hero or anything like that, but he could feel that he was starting to get the hang of things.

As he walked out of the school building, he saw Vanzilla pull up in front of the school, his younger sisters waiting by the curb. He walked up to the van and prepared to get in, but when Leni got out first, he was confused. "Uh, Leni?"

"Yeah?" She asked, chipper as usual.

"You know, you don't need to get out of the van for me to get in, right?"

"I know, but we're not heading home just yet."

"We're not?"

"Nope!" She turned to Lori. "Okay! See you later, Lori!" So, once the younger Loud sisters were in the van, Lori drove off, leaving just Leni and Lincoln. "Alright, let's go!"

"Wait, Leni, hold on a second!" She stopped walking and turned to face her brother. "What do you mean, we're not going home just yet? Where are we going?"

"I thought I told you, we're heading to my friend's house so we can get some work done on the next fashion show! We're working there because there's no room at our house."

"I remember you saying YOU were, but I don't remember you telling me that."

"Oh… Huh, maybe I didn't." He facepalmed at her sudden realisation. "Oh, well, we have to walk home anyway, so we might as well."

He sighed. "Fine, but next time, can you let me know beforehand?"

"Sure, Linky!" He chuckled, before following her as they began walking. "Thank you so much for agreeing to be my model, by the way."

"Don't mention it. You made my costume for Halloween, I owe you this much. So, whose house are we going to for this?"

"Don't worry, you'll see soon enough."

He frowned at her response. "Can't you just tell me?"

"Nope! It's a surprise." She gave a cheeky wink, which made him roll his eyes. "Besides, we're, like, ten minutes away, so it won't take us long to get there."

"That's not really… you know what? Never mind, I'll just see when I get there." She giggled at her brother's resignation from the argument. "So, what exactly am I going to be doing when we get there?"

"Well, first, I need to go over the designs for a bit, just to make sure if there are any changes that need to be made. Then, you'll need to pose for us so we can get some measurements and start to put some of the clothes together. After that, you can relax a bit before we go home."

"Okay, I can do that. Just out of curiosity, how many models do you have for this?"

Leni stopped walking for a moment, holding her hand up and sticking her tongue out as she counted her fingers. "We have about twelve, but just you modelling your size. Why?"

"Just curious."

She gave a sympathetic smile. "Linky, you're gonna be great, trust me. You're so adorable as is, these clothes are just gonna make you look even cuter!"

Lincoln couldn't help but blush at his sister's 'compliment'. "Thanks, I guess. So, uh… how was your day?"

Leni spent the rest of the journey talking about stuff that had happened at school, including how one of her friends had had, in Leni's words, a complete fashion disaster, though being the sweetheart she was, Leni had rushed in to help her fix it. While they kept walking and talking (though, it was more like Leni talking and Lincoln listening), the boy realised that they were walking along a familiar street, and when a particular house came into view, he stopped. "Leni… you know that's Jordan's house, right?" He asked.

"Uh huh!" She replied. "Yeah, this is where I'm doing work for the fashion show!"

He was going to ask her more, but didn't for two reasons- the first being that he remembered Jordan mentioning her sister Jen on occasion, as well as Leni mentioning her as one of her favourite customers; and the second being that Leni was already walking up to the front door, so he ran over as well to avoid being left behind. After his sister rang the doorbell, they stood there for a moment before the door was opened by a girl Leni's age, wearing a blue over-shirt on top of a white T-shirt, dark blue jeans and red shoes. He could tell straight away that this was Jordan's older sister, as her hair was not only the same colour, but she had it in the same braided style as Jordan did.

"Leni!" She greeted.

"Jen!" Leni greeted back, throwing her arms out wide so they could hug each other. "Hope I'm not late!"

"Not at all, you're right on time! I only just finished getting our designs set up in my room." She let go of the hug, then turned to the boy and knelt down to his height. "Hey, Lincoln, right?"

"Lincy, this is Jen," Leni introduced.

"It's, uh, nice to meet you properly, Jen," he greeted back.

"Well, aren't you a little gentleman?" She pinched his already red cheek. "And an absolute cutie as well!" His cheeks only grew redder as she let him go, rubbing where she had pinched him. "Well, come on in! I've got some snacks set up if you get hungry!"

Jen stepped out of the way so Leni and Lincoln could step inside, closing the door after them. As they went into the living room, Lincoln saw Jordan sat on the couch, who looked over at him and became surprised. "Lincoln?" She asked.

"Hey, Jordan," he replied with a smile.

"Hey! What are you doing here?"

"Linky's my model!" Leni gleefully told the younger girl, though it did little to clear up her confusion, so Jen spoke up.

"Me and Leni are working together for the next charity fashion show, and Lincoln's agreed to be one of the models."

"Oh, right!" Jordan gasped, turning her attention back to the white haired boy, whose cheeks were starting to blush again. "I forgot you said you were modelling for her."

"I don't usually," he explained. "I just do it for Leni on occasion."

"Well, I think he's gonna be great!" Jen assured, walking behind the boy and grabbing his shoulders. "All the patrons are going to think you look absolutely adorable!" Lincoln was surprised his cheeks weren't permanently red with how much he was blushing. Even Jordan couldn't help but try and hold back a giggle at his embarrassment. "Don't worry, Lincoln. With me and Leni showing you how it's done, you'll be perfect for the catwalk."

"I hope so…"

"I think you'll be good at it," Jordan offered. "Just think of it like pageanting."

It was Jen's turn to be surprised. "You've done pageanting?"

"Not exactly," he told her. "My sister Lola enters a lot of child pageants, and I help her out by being her coach. I even coached Lana for a pageant once."

"Well, you should be a natural at this, then!" Jen clapped her hands together.

"So, where should we start?" Leni asked.

"Well, mom's at a meeting, and dad's in the study, so we can work either down here or in my room."

"I think we should work down here. The lighting will, like, totes make it easier."

"You're so right!" She turned to Jordan. "You okay with that, sis?"

"Sure. I can head to my room if you need me to."

"Don't be silly, there's plenty of room here. You'll be fine." She turned to Leni. "We just need to head upstairs, make sure everything is ready for us to start crafting, and bring it down here."

"Okay!" Leni looked over at her brother. "Will you be okay down here for a bit, Linky?"

"Sure, I'll be fine. Don't worry." She smiled, then walked up to her brother and gave him a hug, before following her friend upstairs, leaving the two sixth graders alone. "So, uh…"

"You okay?" Jordan asked, to which he nodded. "Sorry if Jen was a bit much. She means well."

He smiled. "Don't worry, I know what you mean. My sisters are all the same- well… I wouldn't say the same, exactly, but they do mean well."

"I can imagine, since you're their only brother, that they care a lot about you."

"For better or for worse." She found his joke amusing, giving a little giggle in response. "So, I, uh… I don't really know what to do right now."

"Well, I was gonna watch some TV for a bit. Want to join me?"

"Sure." He then walked over to the couch, but just as he was about to sit down, he heard a growl. Now on edge, he looked to his left and noticed a small, white furred dog with black spots, wearing a red bandana, stood with flared teeth as it stared at the white haired boy. Seeing the dog reminded Lincoln of when it had torn his clothes at Jordan's pool party, meaning he had to walk back to Liam's family's farm in his underwear, and became worried that it was going to happen again. "Uh oh… n-nice doggy…"

He started to slowly back away, which only made the dog growl louder. Just as Lincoln thought the dog was going to attack, he saw Jordan step in front of him, with what he could only assume was a stern expression on her face. "Ajax! Sit!" The dog simply growled more, but she stood her ground. "I said, SIT!" This time, the dog stopped growling and obeyed its owner's command, sitting down whilst sticking its nose up. "Good boy." She turned to Lincoln and asked, "you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good. Thanks for the save."

"Sorry about Ajax. He's usually such a sweetie." She then walked up to her dog and kneeled down to scratch behind his ear, saying, "who's a good boy?" The dog's tail began wagging as he panted happily. "See? He's not so scary. Come say hi."

"I, uh… I don't think that's such a good idea."

"Oh, don't be silly. He'll open up to you, I swear, just give it a chance." Seeing how insistent she was, he hesitantly approached the dog while it was distracted. When he kneeled down next to her, Ajax saw him again and began to growl again. "Hold your hand out flat." Lincoln obeyed, laying his palm in front of the dog, which eventually got it to stop growling. A few seconds of silence passed before Ajax began to move its nose towards the hand. "Just stay still and let him get your scent." The canine's nose began to sniff at the Loud boy's hand, Lincoln getting nervous the longer it went on. "It's okay, Ajax. He's a friend."

The dog, though still cautious, eventually decided to trust the boy, giving a small lick to the boy's fingers. "Hey!" Lincoln said out of surprise.

"Looks like he likes you!" Jordan happily told him.

"That's a relief." Lincoln then moved his hand so he could scratch behind the spotted dog's ear, getting the same reaction that Jordan did when she did the same thing. "Good boy, Ajax…"

"See? There's nothing to be afraid of. Why were you so cautious?"

"Well…" His cheeks turned red again as he thought about it. "I… it doesn't matter, it's stupid."

"Aww, come on, Lincoln! I thought we were friends! I promise, I won't laugh!"

"That's not what I'm worried about, Jordan. It's…" When he looked at Jordan, he could see that she really wanted to know, and living with his sisters had taught him that she wasn't going to just let it go, so he sighed. "Do you remember… when you had that pool party?"

"Which one?" When he didn't answer, however, she figured it out for herself, and though not as much as Lincoln's, her cheeks were quite pink at the thought of his… predicament. "Oh, right…"

"Well, Ajax mustn't have liked me being like… that, so he kind of… tore my clothes up."

"Geez… I'm sorry, Lincoln. I never even realised."

He shook his head. "Don't be. It's water under the bridge now." He then turned his attention back to the dog. "Isn't that right, boy?" Ajax gave a bark of confirmation, making both kids chuckle. "So, yeah. Don't worry about it."

"You sure?" He nodded. "Okay." She looked for a second at the clock on the wall behind the sofa. "Oh! I almost forgot."

She stood up and grabbed the remote off the cabinet, then used it to turn on the TV. "What are you watching?" Lincoln asked as she started searching the channels.

"One of my favourite shows. Give me a second…" She flicked through the channels, until she put on a show that Lincoln was quite familiar with.

"You watch Dream Boat too?"

"Uh Huh! I love it! I'm guessing your sisters like it too."

"Are you kidding? Me and my whole family love it!"

"Well, by all means, take a seat!" The two then walked over to the couch and sat down, accidentally brushing shoulders before Jordan nervously shuffled away. "S-Sorry…"

"I-it's okay," he replied, equally nervous as his cheeks lit up yet again. After a few seconds, he saw Ajax walk over and leap up onto his lap, getting comfortable so he too could watch the TV. "Hey, Jordan? Are you okay with Ajax being on the sofa?"

"Oh, yeah, he's fine. My parents don't really mind."

He gave a small chuckle. "Fair enough. If it were my parents, they'd probably go a bit mad."

She smirked. "That's because if your dog sat on the sofa, there wouldn't be any room for the rest of you and your ten sisters."

He couldn't help but laugh at her joke. "True." He then began stroking the dog's fur, making him forget about the momentary embarrassment as they watched the latest episode of the dating show.