Work Text:
If you had to ask yourself what could be worse than not having a date on Valentine's Day? It would have to be working on Valentine's Day. But if that weren't bad enough, then perhaps having to work at one of the top restaurants in town during the lovey-dovey holiday, watching couples celebrating their love for each other, just downright sucked. But it wasn't even the worst part for a certain teenage girl named Stella Zhau, who not only had to work a shift at Lynn's Table on the night of her senior year Valentine's Day, but during her shift, her boss's son and former friend Lincoln Loud was there with his high school sweetheart, Ronnie Anne Santiago. Lincoln also happened to be Stella's secret crush, whom she'd been planning on asking out right before Ronnie had returned to Royal Woods.
Ronnie and her mom moved back to Royal Woods in the summer before the former had started high school, after the latter remarried her former boyfriend, T-Bone. Lincoln had told Stella and the other members of their circle of friends plenty of stories about Ronnie; some had already met her back when she'd previously lived in Royal Woods. From what Lincoln had told of Ronnie, Stella seemed interested in meeting her. That is, until she'd developed a crush on Lincoln. At this point, she'd later realized that Lincoln was in love with Ronnie.
Because Ronnie lived in another city hours away, Stella thought she had the advantage. Yet despite her attempts to spend more time with Lincoln, the white-haired boy's heart seemed to grow even more attached to Ronnie through just the weekly video calls they shared. It didn't help that almost everyone in Royal Woods and Great Lakes City was rooting for Ronniecoln.
By the time of their summer before the first year of high school, Stella planned to make her move to win Lincoln over before he realized just how much he truly loved Ronnie. But before she could make her move, Ronnie moved back and swept Lincoln off his feet. She caught the two making out in a closet during Clyde's end-of-summer party, and they'd been official since.
Stella tried to accept Lincoln's relationship with Ronnie. But watching the boy of her dreams being lovey-dovey with someone else pained her. She didn't try to break them up because she knew she was better than that. However, she did try to get close to Lincoln on a couple of occasions when he and Ronnie fought. It didn't work out in her favour, instead somehow bringing Lincoln and Ronnie even closer together than before.
She even tried dating other people – such as Rusty and a few other guys - but none of those relationships lasted more than a month or two. With Rusty, it only lasted a week.
Eventually, Stella couldn't take it anymore and decided that she'd had enough. Her feelings for someone she couldn't have hurt too much, and she couldn't settle for just being his friend. So, at the start of their junior year, Stella cut ties with Lincoln, Clyde, and the other members of their friend circle, which Ronnie had become a part of after she'd moved back.
None of her old friends knew why she had ditched them, and when they tried to ask, she said she wanted to make a fresh start before going off to college.
She kept herself busy during the last two years of high school: improving her grades, signing up for multiple extracurricular activities, and even getting a part-time job at Lynn's Table. The last thing made it difficult to avoid Lincoln: his father owned the restaurant, and Ronnie worked there, too. But the pay was good, and it had become quite popular with tourists, so it looked good on her resume.
Life was a bit lonely, but overall, Stella managed to keep herself sane. But tonight, just wasn't her night. She'd planned to go out with her lab partner, but the guy cancelled that morning. Then, at the last minute, her boss, Lynn Sr., asked Stella if she could pull an extra shift because the dinner was fully booked. She only agreed after she was told that Ronnie wouldn't be working that night, but he failed to mention that he'd given his son a free reservation after he'd gotten straight A's on his last report card. Thus, she ended up spending the next two hours watching her love-rival and crush staring at each other dreamily.
To sum it up in a single sentence, it sucked!
Unlike their childhood selves, the two had no problem showing their love for each other. Nor did they appear to be able to control themselves as they spent a good portion of the date either staring at each other dreamily or making out.
Stella didn't want to say anything because they were customers, and it wasn't her place to tell a couple how to spend their date.
But they slowly wore her down.
Then the tipping point came when Ronnie Anne excused herself to go to the restroom. Once she was gone, Stella saw Lincoln pull out a velvet black box. Her eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. Logically, the box could've contained simple earrings or another small, insignificant piece of jewelry. Yet her jealous side insisted that it was an engagement ring. The idea of having to watch her teen crush ask another girl to marry him, which would no doubt lead to her accepting, was just too much for Stella to handle.
Despite it being morally wrong, Stella decided that enough was enough. She wouldn't try to break Lincoln and Ronnie up, but instead put a dent in their "perfect date."
Tonight was awesome. Everything had gone smoothly for Lincoln. He managed to get out of the house without any difficulty or having to deal with his younger sisters. Thankfully, Lucy and the twins all had dates for Valentine's Day, and Gramps had agreed to babysit Lisa and Lily, taking them to a movie while their parents were on their own date.
He managed not to trip over any of Lily's toys, get tangled with Lana's pets, or get blown up by one of Lisa's experiments.
Picking up Ronnie and taking her to his father's diner had also been a piece of cake, and the date itself was going smoothly. So smoothly that Lincoln had begun to let his guard down, enjoying his date with his girlfriend of three and a half years.
The date wasn't anything out of the ordinary. He and Ronnie had shared a pizza, talked about random stuff, and made out for a bit. Still, both were having a great time. Lincoln sure was, and he could tell that Ronnie was enjoying herself due to the loving look she'd been giving him all night.
When she excused herself to use the restroom, Lincoln took the opportunity to pull something he'd specifically bought to give to Ronnie for Valentine's Day. He quickly snapped the velvet box open to make sure that the item inside was there. Everything had gone so well so far, and he wanted to continue that way.
But he'd forgotten that when you were a Loud, fate would always find a way to surprise you in the worst way possible.
Ronnie had just returned from relieving herself in the ladies' room. The date had been awesome. It wasn't too mushy that would've made her younger self vomit, yet had enough romance to make her feel like she was on cloud nine.
Lincoln was acting like his usual, dorky, charismatic self that made Ronnie's heart flutter. He'd had a plan, kept to it, while trying to act cool, enough though that it was kinda goofy. Which she greatly enjoyed. Overall, the date was perfect. And it wasn't over yet. There was still more fun left to have.
Sitting back down in her seat, she resumed staring at Lincoln dreamily, which the white-haired teen did vice versa.
"So, Lame-o, what's next on the agenda?" she asked with a massive smile on her face.
"Well…" Lincoln replied as he reached into his pocket and began to pull something out. "First, I wanted to-"
"Sorry, am I interrupting something?" Stella said as she walked right up to the couple's table unannounced with a chocolate dessert in one hand.
Their expressions changed immediately. Ronnie crossed her arms as a sour expression formed on her face, while Lincoln – feeling embarrassed – shoved the gift back into his pocket.
"Uh, yes. You actually are!" Ronnie sneered.
She didn't consider Stella someone she hated. She'd tried to make friends with her numerous times she since moved back to Royal Woods, but each time, Stella coldly rebuffed her. Then, after she cut ties with Lincoln and their other friends without any explanation, that was when Ronnie began to dislike her.
Yes, they worked together at the restaurant, but even then, Stella would always appear to be giving Ronnie the cold shoulder. She didn't know what she'd done to make Stella act like such a douche around her. She'd always been nice, even when Stella didn't deserve her kindness.
Though right now, it was clear that Stella was interrupting her and Lincoln's date on purpose. As could be seen when she pretended to be innocent and chuckled in response.
"Oh, my bad. Well, I just came to deliver your dessert."
This felt confusing. Ronnie didn't remember ordering dessert before going to the restroom, and from the equally puzzled expression she saw on Lincoln's face, it was obvious that he hadn't ordered it either.
"Um, Stella, we didn't order any dessert," Lincoln explained.
"Hmm… could've sworn someone order a- wha- oops." Without warning, Stella "accidentally" dropped the dessert on Ronnie, staining the Latina girl's dress.
"What the FUCK!" Ronnie screamed, drawing attention from the other patrons and servers in the restaurant, and even the assistant manager, Kotaro.
"Um, is there a problem?" the older man asked as he approached the table where his boss's son sat.
"Nothing to worry about, sir," Stella insisted. "Just a minor slip of the hand. Don't worry, I'll take care of it."
Not convinced, Kotaro looked at the couple. Lincoln nervously nodded his head. Believing that what was happening wasn't big enough of a deal to get the assistant manager involved. He then looked at Ronnie, who, despite looking angry enough to rip Stella's arm off, kept her cool as she also didn't want to escalate the situation—instead, choosing to nod as well.
Kotaro then left while everyone else had returned their attentions to what they'd been doing previously.
Meanwhile, Stella watched Lincoln pass a napkin to Ronnie, who was trying, without success, to clean the purple dress she wore. "Your sister's gonna kill me," she cursed.
"Don't worry about it," Lincoln said while reaching across the table to place a comforting hand on his girlfriend's shoulder. "Leni will understand that it was an accident. You know she doesn't hold grudges."
"Sigh… you're right," Ronnie replied. A small smile formed on her face. She clasped the hand that rested on her shoulder as she looked over at her sweet boyfriend.
Sadly, the moment was ruined when Stella chimed in again, which angered Ronnie.
"I know this is a bad time, but whenever you're ready, here's the bill," she said, handing Lincoln a receipt. "As you both know, we take cash or card here."
This both annoyed and confused Lincoln. Even more so was a certain charge on the bill that he saw.
"What's this Valentine's Day tax?" he asked.
"What did you expect?" Stella replied. "This is a busy holiday for lovebirds. We've been getting reservations for weeks. And there are a lot of people still waiting right now for a table. Next time you wanna use your cushy connections with your daddy to get you into one of the best restaurants in town without warning, you'll reconsider. So much for being the man with a plan."
This was the last straw for Ronnie. "Hey! For your information, Lincoln planned this months ago. I know because he accidentally blabbed about it when one of his sisters tried to convince us to go on a double date with her and her girlfriend for Valentine's Day," the Latina shouted, regaining the attention of everyone in the restaurant. "Also, Lincoln earned this free dinner by doing extra chores around his house and by getting exemplary marks on his last report card."
"Oh, look who's talking? The girl who used to beat Lincoln's ass back when they were kids. I see that your childish temper hasn't faded," Stella barked.
"The only one acting childish is you!" Lincoln spat angrily. Taking insults was nothing new for him. But when it was those closest who were getting attacked either physically or verbally, that was something the white-haired teen couldn't tolerate. "I mean, seriously, you barge into our date with a dessert that neither of us clearly ordered. Then you drop it on Ronnie, and act like it wasn't a big deal. Then you present a bill for a meal you were told was on the house, and you follow it with some unnecessary insults. And this is after you spent the last two years giving us the cold shoulder without so much as an explanation. I mean, seriously, what the hell is your problem, Stella?
"Wait, on second thought, don't bother saying anything, because I have had it. If you don't want to be friends anymore, then that's fine. But don't think you can torment us like Chandler used to do when we were kids."
This was met with approval from not only Ronnie but also other patrons who'd been watching the whole argument.
"You tell him, Polar Bear," Ronnie agreed.
"Yeah," said a random customer.
"Well said," said another.
"You don't need to take that bitch's shit!"
While others in the restaurant supported them, the couple decided to leave. Getting up from their seats, they were about to walk out. But before they did, Ronnie grabbed a glass of champagne from a nearby table and poured it over Stella. This caused a now-soaked server to steam up in anger.
"Consider it compensation for ruining my outfit," Ronnie smirked before she and her boyfriend left the restaurant. Leaving Stella to clean up the mess she made, as well as deal with an angry assistant manager.
The two left the restaurant, making their way towards a nearby park. There they walked for a bit, arm in arm, in silence until they decided to sit down on a bench overlooking a lake. A full moon hung in the sky, its reflection shimmering on the lake water.
It was a romantic scene, like something out of a movie. Yet the events at the restaurant still lingered unsettled in their minds.
"I don't know what had gotten into Stella back there," Lincoln admitted.
"Tell me about it," Ronnie agreed. "I admit I don't know Stella that well, but from how you've described her, she didn't seem like the jerk that she acted like tonight."
"I know. I mean, I haven't a clue as to why she was acting like that. I heard Chad dumped her today, but that's still no excuse to ruin our date. Then again, I don't think I know her anymore. She's changed a lot since high school started. She's not the Stella the guys, and I knew back in middle school."
"Sometimes people change, and you don't realize it," Ronnie replied. "I know I didn't recognize Sid the last time I visited Great Lakes City." Saying that caused her to look away from Lincoln with a depressed look.
Seeing this made Lincoln frown sadly. He hated seeing Ronnie depressed, and he knew how much it pained her whenever she thought about her former best friend."
"You know what? Let's not talk about Stella or Sid anymore," he suggested. "It's Valentine's Day, and right now the only person I want to be thinking about is the gorgeous girl sitting beside me."
A smile formed on Ronnie's face in response, which she followed by cuddling up to Lincoln. "I like the way you think, Lame-o. It's one of the reasons why I love you so much."
"You've got an impressive mind yourself," Lincoln replied.
This caused Ronnie to blush, which Lincoln noticed. "I mean it. You're an intelligent, strong and courageous woman. And as a bonus, you're damn beautiful. I was lucky that out of all the people in the world, you chose to crush on me."
"Well, you don't do yourself credit," Ronnie combated. "You're the sweetest guy on the planet. Heck, I'd pick you over a billion candy bars any day."
"Ditto. Oh, and before I forget again, I have something for you," he said. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled a velvet box.
Ronnie's eyes widened. She had a vague idea of what her boyfriend was about to give, which only made her feel nervous. Though she would gladly accept it, she didn't think that either she or Lincoln was ready for that kind of step in their relationship.
When Lincoln opened the box and revealed what was inside, her fear gave way to a warm, mushy feeling, for it was a silver locket shaped like a round penguin. He took it out of the box and placed it in Ronnie's left hand. Which she then opened and found a picture of her and Lincoln's first kiss on their first date, when they were eleven years old.
A tear seeped from her left eye as she tried to speak. "H… how… how'd you get this?" she asked.
"I saved up several paycheques for the locket. I got it at the jewelry store in the mall. As for the picture… I asked Lori if she had any pictures of us from when we were kids. Not surprisingly, she had a whole album on her phone, including one she'd taken on our first date. You like it?"
"I love it!" she declared. "Just like how I love you."
"I love you too," he said as he placed the locket around her neck.
Afterwards, the two held hands while looking at each other with an immense amount of love and compassion in their eyes. They eventually closed their eyes as they leaned in and began to kiss, which turned into a heated make-out session under the moon.
The End :)
Happy Valentine's Day!