82. Ch 82- Deck The Mall

Saturdays at the Royal Woods Mall were typically busy, but given that it was the final weekend before Christmas, the foot traffic was turned up to max. The parking lot was packed tightly with assorted vehicles, but even if every car out there had brought four people, that still wouldn't add up to just how many people were inside, browsing the different shops for Christmas gifts for relatives, friends, associates and whoever else they hadn't already found a suitable present for. That was why, when the Loud siblings arrived early that morning, dressed in their winter coats and hats, they stayed close together after eventually finding a spot to park and walking from Vanzilla to the front entrance. The older siblings held the hands of the younger ones to make sure no one got separated or hurt, and they stopped by the fountain near the front of the mall.

"Okay!" Lori declared, though her voice ended up being drowned out slightly by the noises of the other shoppers. "We all know the plan, right?"

"What?!" many of her siblings yelled.

"I said, we—" When she realised that she still wasn't being heard, she stomped her foot and screamed. "QUIET!" The sudden disturbance from the blonde momentarily silenced many of the shoppers within a good ten metre radius, before they continued on their way at a lower overall volume. "As I was saying, we all know the plan, right?"

Everyone nodded, their minds recalling the meeting from the night before.

"This sibling meeting is now in session!" Lori declared. "Before we get onto our main point of discussion, let's go over the weekly damage report. Lisa, over to you."

"Of course," the young genius declared, pulling out a clipboard. "Other than a minor power outage caused by the third eldest sibling's quote unquote 'jam session', the damage caused this week was minimal. One chipped plate, a pair of test tubes on my part, one of Charles' chew toys."

"Wasn't me!" Lana insisted, prompting scoffs from some of her sisters and an eye roll from Lisa.

"In addition, our maternal unit has yet to find that her Gerbera Jamesonii, or 'Gerbera daisies', were trampled during the fifth eldest sibling's workout on Thursday."

"Hey, Mr Grouse had spares and I helped him plant his!" Lynn defended. "She doesn't need to know." She instinctively looked to Lola, who quickly hid something behind her back. "Don't even think about it. I've got something on you too, now."

"Puh-lease! You're bluffing."

"Wanna risk it?"

"Okay, that's enough!" Lori interrupted, hoping to return order to the meeting. "No one is going to bring any of this up with Mom and Dad, got it?" She waited for the collective agreement of her siblings before continuing to the next point. "Okay. Now, we all know that tomorrow is our last chance to go to the mall and do our Christmas shopping. Because it'll be Saturday, it's going to be literally the most hectic it ever is there. Mom and Dad are going to watch Lily, but the rest of us need to be prepared. First off, does everyone know what they're looking to buy, or at least know what sort of things they're looking for?" Again, everyone gave a collective affirmative response to the eldest sister. "Well, just in case, bring a list and come up with some alternatives in case stock runs out."

"Lori, we do this every year," Lynn pointed out, a bored look in her eyes. "What makes this one any different?"

"Other than it's the last one I'll have with you guys before I go to college?" This not only silenced the jock, but brought some sullen looks to the faces of some of her siblings. "Look, I just want this year to be special, and I want to make sure you guys all get what you need this year, since I don't know if I'll be there to help next year, or if I'll be with Bobby and his family. Okay?" Everyone nodded, putting that brief low moment behind them. "Now, because it's going to be so busy, we're going to pair up, with one of the older siblings watching one of the younger siblings. Does anyone have any questions so far?"

Lincoln didn't have anything to say, but he saw that Lori didn't notice his gothic sister raising her hand, so he spoke up when she tried to resume the meeting. "Uh, Lori? I think Lucy has a question."

She looked at the raven haired girl, seeing that her brother was in fact right. "My bad, Lucy. Go ahead."

"Thank you, Lincoln," she told her brother, then looked back to Lori. "How are we supposed to buy something for the sister we're paired with if they're going to be with us?"

"Hmm… that's literally a good point."

"Well," Lincoln spoke up again, "if it's going to take us a while to do our shopping, especially with how busy it is, why don't we swap after lunch?"

The others all murmured approvingly of his suggestion, the murmurs fading after the familiar banging of a shoe was heard. "I like that idea, so let's put it to a vote. All in favour of Lincoln's idea?" Ten hands immediately shot up. "The motion is carried."

From there, the meeting was mostly about who would be paired up with who, which was what led to how the Louds were all stood together— Lori with Lana, Leni with Lola, Luna with Lincoln, Luan with Lisa and Lynn with Lucy. Each of them had a somewhat large gift bag that was in their favourite colour, which they would use to carry the gifts they bought, and would put into Vanzilla later so that no one could sneak a peek at what their siblings had bought for them.

"If you need help with anything, send a message in the group chat and whoever is nearest will help if they can. Meet back here in two hours, and we'll put what we've got by then into Vanzilla, then we'll go to lunch and swap. Make sure to buy whatever you're getting for whoever you're going to be paired up with next, and don't buy anything for yourself in case someone's getting it for you, okay? Oh, and stay safe."

"Got it!"

With that, the Louds went their separate ways, the younger sisters holding onto the hands of their older sisters to make sure they didn't get lost. Luna did the same with Lincoln, except instead of holding his hand, she put her arm around his shoulders, keeping him close to her as they walked through the busy mall. "So, I'm watching over Lucy after lunch," she told the white haired boy. "Who you gonna pair up and make a double with?"

"I've got Lynn," he answered. "I think the bookstore and the sports goods place are close together, right?"

"Sure are, dude. Wanna head their first?"

"Sounds good." They saw the two stores in question, T H Wrights and Worth The Weight, and decided to go into the former first. The bookstore was as busy as could be expected, but was ironically one of the quietest stores in the mall by comparison. There were about thirty or so customers browsing the various hardbacks and paperbacks, looking to see what they could find for themselves or for Christmas gifts. "So, are you looking for anything in here?"

"Yeah, I heard about a book I think Spooky will love. It's a bit of an oldie about a guitar player who finds a song able to summon the dead. It's supposed to have a romantic subplot, so I think she'll dig it."

"She'll love it, trust me."

The rocker smiled with boosted confidence. "Thanks, bro. So, what are you gonna get her?"

"Actually, I'm picking up something at the comic book store for her. She recently got into manga, so I'm gonna get her something there."

"Oh, so, you're not getting anything here?"

"No, I am, just not for Lucy. I need to get Lola's present here."

Perplexed, the brunette raised an eyebrow. "Really? Lola? I figured you'd get her some pageant thing or a new toy."

"I think most of the others are doing that. Besides, I know from helping her that she's been getting better at reading and seems to enjoy most of the books we read together. I think there's a book here that she might like."

"Well, that's some crafty thinking you've got there, bro," she told him, giving a little ruffle to his hair. "Guess we better get a move on. Never know when they're gonna run out."

"You're not wrong, sis. Lead the way." So, they began browsing the shelves to see if they could find the books that they were looking for. Lincoln started by browsing the young kids section for Lola's present from him, which proved fruitful. Though he didn't find what he had initially searched for in the previous days, he found a series of books by Jolene Whitcombe that would be a good alternative, and the selection was reasonably priced, so he took hold of the books and found Luna, the high schooler searching through a stack of books in the teen reading section. "Any luck?"

"Not really," she admitted. "There's stuff by the same author, but that doesn't seem like her deal. Couldn't see it in the other sections either, so they might not have it."

"That sucks. Is there anything else you could get her?"

She sighed heavily. "I heard Luan's getting her what my backup was, and there's not much else I can think of."

"Well, I might be able to help you there." She looked to her brother, a mix of intrigue and hope in her expression. "I heard from Lynn that Lucy told you girls about her… secret."

It took her a few seconds, but Luna realised what her brother was suggesting. "Oh, yeah! I kinda forgot about that. I could get her that… though, I'd feel so awkward about it. If one of my mates saw me, I'd freak."

The look he gave back to his sister was slightly disappointed. "If it'll make Lucy happy, don't you think it would be worth it?"

She gave another sigh, though smiled. "Yeah, you're right, bro. It's not about me, it's about letting her open up a little happiness at Christmas."

"There we go. Come on, I'll show you where to find them."

"Hold on, bro. How do you know that?" she asked with a bemused grin.

"She's asked me to get some for her before, so I know which ones she has, too. I'll make sure you don't get something she already has."

"You're too good to us, bro."

"I know." They both chuckled at the quip before Lincoln led his sister back to the young kids section, showing her through the selection of Princess Pony books available. "Lucy has a lot of these. She keeps up with the comic quite regularly, too… though I don't think she has that one." He pulled out a book that was larger than the others, which was entitled Princess Pony: The Festive Filly Frolic, and looked at the back. "This came out… yesterday! Yeah, there's no way she has this."

"Guess I got lucky, huh, bro?" she told the boy, who nodded as he handed her the book. "Well, thanks, Linc. You saved my bacon there."

"No problem, Luna. Let's go pay for these, and then move on to the sports store."

"Sounds like a plan. Tell you what, why don't I get your thing while I'm at it?"

"Really?" She nodded. "You know that won't change what I get you, right?"

This brought a dramatic gasp out of his sister, who told him with a faux offended tone, "the thought never crossed my mind!" They stared at each other, neither budging for a few seconds, before the two were sharing laughter once again. "Seriously, bro, it's no problem on my end. I insist."

"Well, if you're really okay with it, then… yes, please."

"Sure thing, bro." He handed the book selection to Luna, who held it under her arm. "Give me five minutes, and we'll head on over." He nodded, before she joined the queue to the checkout. The line wasn't that long and there were two cashiers, so she didn't take too long to be done, putting the Princess Pony book in her bag with the receipt and holding the Jolene Whitcombe books under her arm again. When she went to find Lincoln, she saw him browsing another stand of books. She went over to him, the boy not noticing her presence. "Whatcha find?"

He jumped slightly, turning while clutching his beating chest and calming down when he realised it was only Luna. "You… that was quick."

"My B. Didn't mean to spook you." He gave a small smile, letting her know that it was okay, while she gave him the books to put in his bag. "So, whatcha looking at? Trying to give me clues, bro?"

He rolled his eyes at the teasing insinuation. "Nah, that would take the fun out of it. I was just… browsing. You know, while I was waiting for you."

Something about the way the boy spoke didn't seem right to Luna, but she knew that the clock was ticking, so she simply said, "if you say so. Anyway, we've got more shopping to do, so let's get a move on, right?"

"Right."

The two hours seemed like a blur, what with the increasing flow of shoppers filling the mall and passing them by. Luna and Lincoln were able to get a lot of their Christmas shopping done, both of them getting their respective gifts for Lisa, both twins, Lynn and Luan, and with Lincoln also getting his present for Lori. It was when they left the toy store that they realised it was time for them to meet up with the others, so they returned to the front of the store, where the others were waiting by the fountain. They had all filled their bags to varying degrees, some only a little and some nearly brimming with gifts. When everyone was there, Lori took them to Vanzilla, letting them put the bags into the trunk while monitoring them to make sure that no one tried to peek at what the others had bought.

Once everyone had done that, Lori led them towards the escalator to the food court. "Okay, we don't have enough time to get food from loads of different places, so we're going to vote," she informed them. "Who wants Burpin Burger?" She watched as four hands were thrown up. "Who wants pizza?" This time, five hands went up, including her own. "Majority carries. We're getting pizza."

"Not if Lincoln votes Burpin Burger!" Lana argued, getting backing from Luan, Lynn and Lisa.

"Ugh, fine. Lincoln, which do you want?" She waited for him to answer, but when he didn't, she looked and saw that he had fallen behind, looking down at his phone. "Lincoln!" The shout startled the boy, making him look forward and jog over to them. "Don't fall behind, twerp, it's busy enough today. Now, which do you want, pizza or Burpin Burger?"

"Uh... Burpin Burger, I guess."

The girls either cheered or groaned at the decision, with Lori's being a frustrated one. "Fine, then. Lynn, you get Burpin Burger for you guys, I will get pizza for the rest of us."

"Listen, I'll catch up with you. I need to, uh, use the bathroom real quick."

Lori frowned at her brother. "Lincoln, I just told you it's too busy. Can you wait for one of us to go with you?"

"I'll be fine, Lori, I'm not a little kid. Besides, it'll look odd if one of you is waiting by the men's bathroom."

"Oh, fine, but be quick about it. We don't want to be here too long in case it gets busier." He nodded, then turned and took off while the girls all went up the escalator. As they neared the food court, Lori turned to Luna. "You were watching Lincoln. Did he seem off to you?"

"Not especially," she confessed. "We mostly just got what we needed, paid for them and left… though, he was browsing a lot."

The older girl's brow furrowed in confusion. "Browsing?"

"Yeah, not really looking for something particular but definitely looking for something."

"So?" Lynn butt in. "He's probably trying to find something for someone, and he doesn't know what."

"I doubt it," Lucy argued, spooking her sisters. "Lincoln prides himself on his planning, and he knows us so well."

"Maybe it's for someone else," Leni suggested, which made Lola gasp.

"Maybe it's for Jordan!" This suggestion brought excited smiles to the faces of her sisters. "I bet he's going to get her some beautiful jewellery!"

"No way! He's gonna get her some gymnastics gear!" Lynn argued. "It's what they've got a common bond in, after all."

"I heard him say she's into Smooch," Luna pointed out. "He's gonna get her an album for them to rock out together."

"You're off your rocker! Get it?"

The comedienne's joke, rather than spark the usual reaction of groans, instead led to bickering about what the boy could potentially have gotten for his friend, which Lori saw was drawing the eyes of nearby shoppers. "That's enough!" she snapped, silencing them. "When Lincoln catches up, we'll ask him, but let's get some tables so we can get our food and eat, okay?"

The girls reluctantly agreed, giving a resigned "fine" before following her into the food court. Many of the tables were already taken by adults, families and groups of friends indulging in the multiple food court offerings. Fortunately, they were able to find a couple of tables for four and borrow a couple of chairs from other tables. Once the others were sat down, Lori and Lynn went to order their food, leaving the other seven sisters to chat amongst themselves while they waited.

"So, what do you really think Linky's getting?" Leni eventually asked, resparking the conversation from before.

"If that's what he was looking around for, then he might not know what to get her," Luna explained. "He might not even have gotten it yet. He might be getting it after lunch."

"As interesting as it might be to speculate on the item of his gift giving selection, I fear we may be overlooking the more pertinent point of enquiry," Lisa stated, receiving confused looks from the others.

"What are you suggesting?" Lucy asked, to which the genius adjusted her glasses.

"If our male sibling is getting a present for Jordan, is he getting her a gift to suggest that he likes her, or a gift from a friend?"

"It's been obvious he likes her for months!" Lola answered first. "He just doesn't know how to tell her, so he's going to get her something really special!"

"No way, brah," Luna argued. "You never use a Christmas gift to tell a girl how you feel. It just gives off the wrong message."

"But, if he gets her something she really likes, surely that shows he cares about her!" Luan proclaimed. "You don't get something like that for someone if you're just friends!"

"I bought stuff like that for my friends!" Leni added.

"Yeah, but you're nice to everyone," Lana pointed out, which only made Leni's smile grow.

"Aww, thanks, Lana!"

The others either rolled their eyes or facepalmed at the brief Leni-ism, before Lucy noticed something. "Looks like we'll get our answer."

The others looked where she was looking, and saw that their brother had finally caught up to them, his hands buried in his pockets. He looked around before eventually finding and making his way over to his sisters. "Sorry I took so long," he apologised.

"It's fine, Link," Luan told him as he sat next to her. "Line must have been hectic, right?"

He blinked at the suggestion. "Uh… the line?"

"The line you were in when getting Jordan's present, Lincoln!" Lola clarified, making his eyes go wide.

"How did you know I was going to get something for Jordan?! I never told any of you about this!"

"Your actions prompted our collective suspicions," Lisa explained. "You weren't particularly discreet."

He was going to say something in response, but didn't when he saw the girls close in on him slightly with eager expressions. "So, like, what did you get her?"

"Was it music?"

"Jewellery?"

"Literature?"

"Girls!" he yelled, holding his hands up to signal for the girls to back up and give him space. "I know you all want to know, but I still need to get her the gift first, and to do that, I need to find what it is. I really did have to go to the bathroom, okay?" He saw the lack of belief in their eyes as he told them this, so he sighed. "Look, can we please just drop this for now? I'll tell you later when I find something for her."

Once again, the girls were reluctant but agreed, starting up new conversations on other topics. As he listened to what the other girls had to say, Lincoln pulled one hand out of his pocket with his phone, holding it over his leg under the table and sneakily texting.

Lincoln: thanks for the suggestion. I think you're right. I think she'll really like it