Chapter 12 : Lincoln (Past)

The party was over.

They waited for everyone to leave before cleaning up the house. Lincoln and Destry station on the top floor, Dexter and Naomi on the second and Ash and Sally on the ground floor. The mess was huge, it would take at least the whole night to clean the house completely. So, this is how it feels to hold a party, Lincoln thought with a sigh, it was worth the fun at least.

His thoughts went to Naomi, and what she would be doing now. Dexter would probably be the only one talking and she would either be ignoring him or just nodding. Lincoln chuckled; it would've been better if his friend was with Sally. But according to Ash, they would get no work done if they were together.

"So, what happened? You said you were going to get Naomi and never came back. But once everyone is leaving, I see you guys together." Destry said as he vacuumed the place. Cups, plates, tissue papers and anything else that fit the definition of trash were automatically sucked in by the vacuum and into the enormous trash bag attached to it. This made cleaning much easier. Lincoln remembered hearing that before vacuums like this were invented, vacuum cleaners were only able to clean dust and anything that was small, other objects were supposed to be handpicked and tossed into trash bags to be disposed of later. How hard was life twenty years ago anyway?

Lincoln let the question slide; he didn't intend to answer it. As things stood, he didn't want to assume and possibly jinx things with Naomi. She could've just kissed him; she might not have the feelings for him. Right now, he just wanted to watch things as they flow.

Destry however, didn't let it slide.

"So? What is it?" Destry asked again. Lincoln shook his head, "I'm not sure. She was standing alone on the balcony so I just gave her some company." Lincoln said. Dexter snorted, "That rhymed by the way." Lincoln facepalmed.

"She was standing alone in the balcony, so I just gave her some company." Destry sang and Lincoln buried his face in his arms, Destry wasn't buying it; he knew there was more. He didn't say anything else, however, he just continued vacuuming the room. Lincoln sighed, he didn't like the silence Destry was giving him, but he better not show that. Once Destry was done with vacuuming the room, Lincoln started mopping it. After that was done, he began washing the windows.

Soon they were finally done with one room on the top floor, and they had four more rooms to go. They finished it quick due to the awkward silence between them. Lincoln was afraid of what Destry was thinking, but why was he? Why was he suddenly so sure Naomi liked him? And why was he embarrassed by that? He grew nervous but just announced he was done and they moved to the next room.

"Alright then, keep your secrets, sir," Destry said with a chuckle as he started the vacuum again. "What secret?" Lincoln asked as he mopped the corridor outside the room. "You know, what happened with Naomi." Destry's words triggered the image of what happened on the balcony.

Lincoln's face burned; did he kiss Naomi?

He quickly mopped the place as a distraction but didn't answer what Destry had implied. Destry groaned, "Your silence is killing me, you're no fun you know that?" He said as he vacuumed faster. Lincoln smiled, looks like he was winning after all. "We've got to finish this quick; we have another party at our hideout," Destry spoke.

"I'm planning on calling it Second Home. Your thoughts?" Lincoln asked, grateful for the change of topic. "Damn, that's a good one. Really has a nice ring to it too. We could call our club Second Family then, or maybe Second Fam." Destry said and Lincoln chuckled. "Let's work on that more." He said with another chuckle.

"Well, whatever. Should we have another party though? I'm exhausted, how about we just go and sleep?" Destry complained and Lincoln heard the vacuum turn off. "I was thinking the same. Maybe we could have something for dinner and sleep." Lincoln replied and made his way to the room with a mop.

Destry stepped out of the room. "Dinner huh? I'm not sure, I don't feel hungry. There were snacks at the party and I ate one of everything." He said with a chuckle. "I didn't eat anything," Lincoln replied as he mopped the floors. "Yeah, I wonder why," Destry called and leaned against the door frame. "You can go and start on another room; we can be finished faster that way," Lincoln said. "Oh, good idea. Maybe we can finish faster than Dexter." Destry added.

He would never know why Destry was so competitive with Dexter. All he knew was that Destry too had a crush on Sally back in high school, but everyone knew she was heads over heels for Dexter. Destry still confessed and was kindly rejected. Maybe that was the start of their competitiveness, Lincoln would never know.

An hour later they were finally done with cleaning the top floor. And to Destry's pleasure, the others were still cleaning up. "Wanna go to the hideout? Get a head start on things and maybe pick dinner up on the way?" Destry suggested in a cheery voice. "Sure," Lincoln replied and followed Destry out the gate.

Lincoln quickly walked to his house and patrolled it for a while before catching up to Destry. Kate would be staying at her friend's house, and their parents would be staying in a hotel like they would every anniversary. They still haven't called him, which meant they were busy. Usually, he would have already gotten a call.

He ran towards Destry, but suddenly he was by his friend's side.

Destry jumped, "You scared me, man! How did you catch up to me so quickly yet so silently?" Destry exclaimed. Lincoln stared at his friend, wait, what just happened? He thought to himself. Did I just... No that's not possible.

"I was just running towards you; how did you not hear me." Lincoln lied, and it was because he couldn't explain what happened. It was as if he'd suddenly appeared next to Destry when he was trying to run towards him. But how is that even possible?

"Oh well, I zoned out so I must not have heard you," Destry said with a chuckle and kept walking. "Yeah," Lincoln said, shrugging it off. It was late in the night now, the streets were silent, Lincoln could not hear any other noise except for the rustling of the trees in people's backyards. Lincoln gradually grew tired as they walked, "Hopefully a restaurant is open." Destry said, he too sounded tired.

"They're operated by humanoids, they probably would be open," Lincoln replied. "Ah, true, true," Destry said as they took a turn off the route towards the hideout. "Well, what do you know, they are open!" Destry said with a relieved laugh.

The lights of the whole block were on as they took the turn. They were dimmer than usual, so they won't bother the ones who are asleep, but the lights were enough to know that they were open. Lincoln chuckled, "I thought you said you were not hungry." He spoke. "I wasn't, but now I am," Destry said, licking his lips. Lincoln sighed, "Okay then, let's go get some food."

An hour later they entered the empty former cave and laid the bags on the table. "Damn they did the decorations great," Destry commented as he looked around. Lincoln nodded, "Seems like it."

"What's taking them so long? We cleaned up and we also went to get some food, why haven't they come yet?" Destry complained. "We took the smallest floor, the others had terraces and more rooms to clean, they probably would take more time than us," Lincoln replied. "But they had an extra hour too," Destry added. "True, let me check then," Lincoln said.

He swiped his thumb on his index and found Dexter's contact. He selected it and it enlarged on his pane of vision. "Should I call him? Or just text?" Lincoln asked. "Call him," Destry answered and took a seat on the couch. Lincoln tapped his thumb on his index finger twice and his GC (Group Comms) started ringing Dexter.

His friend picked it up in no time. "Wassup?" He asked. "Wondering what's taking you so long," Lincoln replied. "Oh, right our little clumsy Sal burst a vacuum bag so we're just cleaning that up," Dexter said with a chuckle, and Lincoln could hear Sally's groan in the background. He wished there was a speaker mode on the comms so Destry could hear in. Lincoln chuckled, "Well how long will that take?" Lincoln asked. "Almost done. You picked up the food?" Dexter asked. "Yes, we're in the hideout now," Lincoln answered. "Shoot. We'll be there asap." Dexter said and was put on hold as Lincoln's mother's contact appeared on his pane of vision. Finally. He thought to himself and answered the call.

"Hey, honey." Lincoln's mother greeted in a tired voice, her camera was on and Lincoln could see her smile. "Hey, mum." Lincoln greeted back. "We're going to go for our dinner now. I didn't expect you to be awake." She said with a chuckle. "Dinner? Now? It's almost two am, mum." Lincoln said with a sigh. "Did you have dinner?" She asked. "Well no," Lincoln said with a smile she couldn't see. His mother smirked "Precisely. Anyways your dad wants to talk to you, here." She said and handed the holophone to his father. "Hello Lin, how are you doing?" His father greeted; Lincoln's father looked a lot like him except for the brown eyes while Lincoln's were blue.

"Hey, dad, just a little hungry and tired, waiting for my friends to come and maybe I'll sleep in a few," Lincoln replied. "Good, good. We're going for our dinner now, bye kiddo." His dad said, and Lincoln smiled. His dad was never the one with many words. "Bye dad, have a great time," Lincoln replied and his dad hung up.

"Did someone call you?" Dexter asked once Lincoln was back in the call. "My parents did. But we're done now, did you wait too long?" Lincoln asked. "Nope, we're finally done with cleaning so we're on our way there now," Dexter replied. "Oh cool. We're waiting for you, Destry's hungry." Lincoln said with a chuckle, and Destry gave him a death glare from the couch. "Ah nice, I'll try come as slow as I can then," Dexter said with a chuckle of his own. Lincoln again wished there was a speaker mode in the GC, maybe he can find a way to add that feature. "We'll be waiting for you either way," Lincoln said and hung up.

He then sat on the couch across Destry with a sigh.

"So, what's happening with them?" Destry asked with a yawn. "Well apparently Sally burst a vacuum bag and they were cleaning it. They're finished now and on their way." Lincoln said with a sigh. "And your mum called too?" Destry asked. "Yeah, they're going to have dinner now, just like us," Lincoln said with a chuckle. Destry laughed, "Okay well, at least we're not the only one." He spoke. Lincoln nodded, and they waited in silence.