Final Chapter

Lori sat on the steps of her front porch eating a chocolate chip cookie, dusting off some crumbs from her khaki shorts. Len was sitting next to her, trembling from head to toe in her new work uniform. She let out a small gasp as a half bitten cookie was shoved right in her face.

"Leni! OMG, you literally have the best job in the world if you get to make these every day."

Leni let out a nervous chuckle as she pushed the pastry away from her face. "Thanks, but I'd rather not right now. I feel like I could throw up any minute now, I'm so scared."

Lori shrugged and tossed the rest of the cookie into her gaping mouth, savoring every sweet bite. "Your loss, Leni. And besides, you're gonna be great at your new job. You're so sweet, even this cookie pales in comparison to you!"

Leni shot her older sister a quick grin before watching in terror as her friend's car pulled up in the driveway.

Lori stood to her feet and gave her sister a pat on the back. "Welp, go get 'em, Tiger. Have a great first day."

Leni started walking towards the car, but stopped midway, frozen in place like a petrified tree. Unable to move another step, she felt a pair of gentle hands rub her stiff shoulders until she was able to relax them into a normal posture.

"They love you, Leni," Lori whispered in her ear. "They made the perfect choice hiring you over me."

Leni walked to the car and opened the passenger side door, a loud Top 40 song blasting anyone within a mile radius. She glanced at her older sister one last time and gave her a small wave. She stepped in, shut the door, and disappeared around the corner to her new place of employment.

Lori took in a deep breath of the early afternoon air, marveling at how blue the sky could be when the clouds were absent. She spotted where she left the lawn mower in the middle of the yard and sighed, dragging her feet back to its idling spot and yanking the cord, revving the motor back to life. She spent the next fifteen minutes cutting the yellowing grass in the front yard, careful to avoid the toys strewn about without a care and any rocks that somehow made their way over from the backyard.

"Ugh," Lori moaned. "I still have to cut the grass in the back."

"You're telling me," groaned Luan, emerging from the backyard through the side gate. "I just finished pulling every single weed we have back there, and that pile was HIGH!"

Lori rolled her eyes as her younger sister laughed at her own pun.

"Good, just in time for me to lug this beast over and cut the lawn." Lori pushed the machine across the grass to the side gate, wobbling it from side to side in order to make it through the rocks. As soon as she rolled the mower onto the grass, she cheered at the sight of Bobby in the middle of the yard, a large pitcher of lemonade sparkling in the sun.

"Hey babe, you thirsty?"

Lori skipped over to her boyfriend and pulled him into a big kiss. "Very thirsty. For you."

Luan bursted through the side gate and whistled. "Gosh you guys, you want me to plan out your WEEDing day!?"

Lori and Bobby couldn't help but chuckle at the pun, looking into each other's eyes as they sat underneath the shade of the tree.

"So," Bobby began. "What else do your parents have you doing today?"

Lori sighed and pulled out a list from her back pocket. "I've already washed the dishes from breakfast. I'm working on the lawns right now. Then I have to clean out the refrigerator, wash the van when Mom and Dad come home, and sweep both the attic and the basement."

"Harsh," said Bobby, during his girlfriend another glass of lemonade.

Lori gulped the entire glass in a matter of seconds and wiped her mouth with her arm. "Actually, I thought they would be even harsher, but I think I have my sisters to thank for that."

Luan walked through the side gate, heaving a large trash can on her back filled with weeds from the front yard. She dumped them into the tall, green wastebasket and wheeled it out to the front.

"Will you look for another job?"

"I can't."

Bobby raised an eyebrow, prodding his girlfriend to continue with a raised palm.

"My parents initially didn't say I couldn't. But when I got back from applying for a job with Leni at the bakery, they heard about why I got fired by a phone call from Fran. They forbade me from looking for a month. They said they wanted to give it time for word to die down before I go back out there. I mean, word does get around in our small town, you know?"

"Tell me about it," he said, rubbing his hands over his eyes. "It's all I hear about at school. I mean, the guys think it's cool that you beat the shit outta Carol, but…"

Lori's head drooped, sniffling as she buried her knees into her chest. "I'm sorry."

Bobby hugged his girlfriend tightly and kissed the top of her sweaty head. "Why do you have to apologize for being the sweetest and most noble girl on the planet, Lori?"

Bobby turned his lover face towards him with both hands and gave her a smile with the warmth of a late afternoon sunset.

"You have a gift. A gift that helps those who need it most. You don't have to be perfect, mi amor. Be you. The world needs it. You're family needs it."

Bobby planted a gentle kiss on a pair of quivering lips.

"I need you, Lori."

Tears filled Lori's eyes as a satisfied sigh escaped her lips. A violent vibration from her back pocket aroused her from her view of Bobby's kind eyes.

"No way! They let you keep it?"

Lori pulled out her and checked her messages. "Only until the end of the month. Then it's back to the old model for me." She thumbed through her texts and opened the newest one. She put a hand over her mouth, chuckling while tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Babe?"

Lori lowered her hand and let out a hearty laugh. She raised her phone so Bobby could see a picture message of Leni holding up a batch of cupcakes fresh from the oven, iced with red letters spelling out a message.

I luv u, Liro.

AN: Thank you so much for reading this little fic of mine. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it!