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Chapter Forty One: "Worked Up."

I PULLED BACK, trying to catch my breath and Lucas reached over me to grab his glasses from the nightstand. "I came here to study with you Lucas, hence the backpack on the ground."

Although Lucas and I haven't seen each other outside of school for a while, I wasn't expecting for things to turn a 180 so fast.

"I thought study was code." There was a half smile on his face when he said that and I licked my slightly swollen bottom lip, watching him put his glasses on.

If study was code for something like this all the time, I would surely be failing.

"For what?" I let out a breathless laugh, sitting up on his bed to face him with crossed legs. "Operation: Make out with Sydney before she even has time to close the door?"

He put his hands behind his head and I noticed how his shorts were a little bit lower on his hips, the band of his boxers showing. "I was thinking for what Eduardo calls 'Lucas time' but if you want to call it that then so be it."

I rolled my eyes, resting my head on his chest to hear the motion of his heart slowing down a bit. "I'm here, aren't I?"

"Yeah," Lucas mumbled, shifting me upward so that I was lying on him properly. I made myself comfortable, grabbing his hand looking at the ring on his right hand. "I'm surprised you came here right after dance. I forgot to ask, when's your audition for Julliard? You didn't tell me the date."

"Last week of February." I told him, watching him turn on his TV with the remote and instantly get into a game that he was playing before I got here.

"In New York?" He asked and I mumbled a reply of 'yes'. "Isn't Nationals soon too?"

I nodded, looking at the screen of the TV from our view. I was distracted by the quality of the graphics in the game so when Lucas asked a question, I didn't hear at first. "What?"

"Would you mind? If I watched your performance? There?" He put the game on pause, biting his lip as he watched me carefully wondering what I was going to say.

I sat up, basically straddling him, my hands feeling the fabric of his shirt over his stomach. "Wait. You want to come? To Toronto? To watch me?"

Lucas nodded silently and I released a shaky breath, contemplating this in my mind. He could've gone with the idea to surprise me but instead he asked me to make sure I was comfortable with the idea of him there. Actually there. "Well...I'm already going to be nervous there anyway...and you being there might help me."

"It was just an offer. I don't want to go there if it truly bothers you or distracts you."

"Honestly, you're a distraction whether I'm dancing or not and I could use all the motivation possible." My fingers brushed over the band of his boxers and I pulled at it slightly, hearing the tiny slap against his skin.

His eyes flickered down to where my hands were before gazing back at me. "So...?"

"I do want you there. Its just-will your mom allow you to go?"

"She suggested it actually a couple days ago after talking to your mum. Turns out they talk way more than we think they do."

"I know," I said. "Now you can meet Wesley." I bring up my insane best friend from Toronto.

"He's not the male version of Octavia is he?" Lucas asked nervously. I don't know why Lucas had some mild fear towards Octavia especially after the trip to New York but to me it was pretty funny.

"Not really." I assured him, hoping he would stop looking like he was about to piss himself.

"So I don't have to be scared?" He looked at me, waiting for that assurance that he thought I was going to give him.

He thought.

"No," I said bluntly. "You have to be scared. Probably more than Octavia."

"Isn't he like a brother to you?"

"Yeah. He's like...the biggest confidant in my life. Any little secret Wesley knows it."

"Really?"

"Really. All the way since junior kindergarten. He can tell you anything." He witnessed way to many embarrassing things I have done in my life, not my moments at home but outside of home especially when we were growing up. When we were growing up, Wesley and I became attached to the hip, an odd pair of friends that knew everything about one another.

"Anything?"

"Anything."

Lucas quickly grabbed my phone from my pocket and I struggled to get it away from him as he typed in my password, holding me back with one arm. "Lucas!"

"Wait, wait!" He exclaimed and only God knows how we ended up in a position where he was lying on his stomach and I was trying to reach for that stretched out hand over him. The only resistant was that when I tried climbing over his body, he held a hand out against me.

I almost roamed in frustration when I heard the voice through the speaker."What's up best friend?"

"Hey, uh Wesley it's Lucas-"

"So I finally get to talk to the infamous Lucas. Sydney has been trying to hide you from me for so long I was going to have to end up DM'ing you on Instagram."

"No you weren't." I mumbled.

"Yes I was. I mean, who better would expose you? No one 'cause it's me."

"That's actually why I called." Lucas said, still trying to hold me back.

"Really," I could imagine Wesley smiling already and I was mentally cussing him from my head wishing he could hear me. "Okay, so in grade one she got really sick and threw up in our teacher's bag but to this day no one knows who threw up in her bag."

Lucas almost dropped my phone, his jaw dropped. "Are you serious?"

"I felt bad. I still do." I whined, laying my head on his chest.

Lucas put the phone by his side, his fingers playing with my hair. "You were that sick?"

"She could barely move," Wesley chortled through the phone. "I swear her face turned green and her puke was nasty. But she refused to go home that day. She's annoying like that."

I rolled my eyes, hearing Lucas softly laugh. "Wesley shut up."

"I remember this one time, our class went skating and she fell right on her back. It was the first time I ever saw her so uncoordinated. Then in grade seven, Sydney went through this really bad awkward phase. I'm talking horrible acne."

"My acne is still horrible, what the hell are you talking about?"

"It's not as bad as it was in grade seven and eight. I don't even know how I could stand talking to you."

"Thanks."

"My pleasure. Then grade nine, first year in high school, she almost fainted talking to this guy. What was his name again? I don't remember 'cause he moved the next semester but I swear she had a huge crush on him no matter how much she denied it. Her eyes practically rolled into her head when he tried talking to her. I swear she almost dropped-"

"Okay, let's stop talking about the past. I'll call you later, bye Wesley."

"What? But I had way more-"

"Nope, love you." I cut him off, because he didn't even bother scraping the barrel and I was sure he was going to dig up a picture of grade seven Sydney and show Lucas how puberty's side affects hit me negatively.

"Love you too." He grumbled before I disconnected the call.

I huffed, looking up at Lucas and he had an eyebrow raised. "So...how many guys have you been interested in back at your old high school?"

I rolled my eyes, hitting him lightly on his stomach. "Are you serious? That's what you want to ask me?"

"I just want to know about my previous competition."

"Competition." I repeated, staring up at him.

"Yeah," Lucas lifted his arm, as if he was about to flex a bicep and I watched him put a hand on his muscle, pushing his skin up as if he was showing off his non-existent muscles. "They'll have to fight me for you."

I laughed. He was such a dork. My body shifted upward so that my head was in the crook of his neck. "Why do I like you again?"

"I don't know. Maybe because of my big muscles." He pretends to flex again and I press a kiss to his dimple. "You're so affectionate today."

"I'm not before?"

"Usually you're telling me 'Lucas stop being an idiot', or messaging me 'shut the fuck up' or 'there's a reason that I call you turtle and it's not just because of your middle name'. And then I imagine you snapping in a Z formation."

"I'm not...that-what the word?"

"Sassy?"

"Yeah, I'm not that." I smiled against his cheek.

"You're not...until one gets to know you."

"Shut up-" he cut me off by kissing me on the lips again, exactly the same way he did when I first got here. And I get lost in him like I always do, wishing I could just stay like this with him,

The door to Lucas' room opened, making me and him separate quickly. "You guys need to give a man a signal." Greg muttered, staring at the both of us from the threshold.

Lucas rolled his eyes. "Get out."

"Is he always this demanding?" Greg asked me.

"You're the one that lives with him."

"You're the one he dedicates his time to." He pointed out, "Now keep this door open."

"Says who?"

"Says mum."

"I know mum didn't say anything like that."

Greg laughed, leaving the door open and walking away. Lucas grabbed me by the arms and pulled me up so I was straddling him while he leaned against the headboard of his bed, his legs stretched out underneath me. Lucas' index finger traced my bottom lip as he smiled a faintly.

"When are you going to tell your mum about us?"

The smile on my face dropped and I sighed, my fingers reaching up and running over the tiny beauty mark on his jaw. "I don't-I don't know. I'm not supposed to be dating you. I'm not supposed to be dating at all."

"But your mum likes me."

"But still. You don't know her like I do. I love her. I mean she's not just a birth giver to me. I see my mom as my best friend and I can tell her things. But things like having feelings for someone and dating...she would make some excuse that boys can ruin your life. I would just feel uncomfortable talking to her about the subject. As much as I want to...I just can't."

And during my years in high school I had friends who tell me to just talk to her but those are usually the friends who don't have a mother like mine. They didn't get it and because of the way they were raised they never truly will. I didn't know if Lucas would understand that.

He grabbed my hand and pressed a kiss to my palm. "I understand. I just want to take you out without all this secrecy but I get it. I do."

I exhaled. "Thank you and-and I think she's... talking to someone right now."

"What do you mean by talking?"

"Remember what I told you before Christmas? That my mom was with-"

"My brother's girlfriend's dad? Nick. Nick Anderson. Yeah, what about them?" My brother's dad's girlfriend, what a connection, I thought.

"I don't know," I said quietly. "It's kind of weird. I feel like they're going to start..."

"Seeing each other?"

"Yeah and it's so strange. I never thought my mom would be dating. Especially right after the whole thing with my dad. I want her to be happy it's just so...odd and fast."

"You've been thinking about it for a while huh?"

"Yeah. It shouldn't bother me but-" I stilled, catching movement from the ground. A white cat was staring right at me with its eyes and I held back a scream that was making its way up my throat, scrambling off Lucas and backing away.

He stared at me in confusion before following my gaze. "Oh..." He picked up the white cat, cuddling it to his chest. "Now I get it. I forgot. You once told me you were afraid of cats."

"Yeah..." I trailed off, slowly getting off of his bed and staring at the animal.

"He's not going to hurt you."

"You don't know that."

"I know that. Trust me," He stroked the cat's fur, shooting me a small smile to let me know everything was okay. In more ways than one. "This is Junior."

I looked at the cat. It's eyes which were a sharp blue stared right back at me curiously. I've always been terrified of cats. Dogs I was okay with because my cousin, Michelle had one but cats? For me, being around cats is like being around uncharted territory. "How long have you had him?"

"He's not really mine. He only truly liked three people in our family. Phillip was one of them which explains why Junior truly only belongs to him. He liked Sam, my other brother, and Bethany. He liked her a lot."

"So Junior was hers?" I figured from the tone of his voice. I realized that when he talked about his deceased sister, he had that look in his eyes. The same look my mom had whenever she talked about her mom, my grandmother.

Lucas nodded. "Mom didn't want a dog because let's face it, they would've broken the antiques in the old house and this furball right here is incredibly lazy and only ends up sneaking into people's rooms at night." Lucas looked down at the cat and I heard a soft purr sound. "She really loved him."

There was a loom of silence that fell over the air and I kept my eyes on the cat, watching it shift in Lucas' arms.

I caught the movement of Lucas' head lifting up to look at me. "I-I forgot to show you something. Come with me to the art room."

He cradled Junior in one hand and took my own with his other, leading me out of his room. We didn't pass by anyone in the house and I watched Lucas put Junior on the ground the second we got to the staircase. I jumped as the cat scurried between my legs, heading towards the living room.

"Relax, he's not going to bite," Lucas paused, moving his face to my ear. When he spoke his voice sounded lower and more confident. "Unless you get him worked up."

He pulled back, a type of smirk on his face as we made our way to the art room. I could've stayed there, processing the double meaning Lucas had thrown at me.

And now that I'm thinking about it, Lucas himself was becoming more confident whenever he was with me.

I took a deep breath, mentally slapping myself to focus on what Lucas wanted to show me and not on Lucas as...Lucas.

"This. I wanted to show you this."

And on the wall was a portrait next to the many others around the dark room. These were the works that I knew Lucas didn't want to auction off to some charity. These were the ones he cherished and couldn't really bear to sell and show the rest of the world his talent.

But then there was that portrait. The one he did of me when I came over to his house on his birthday and I knew we didn't finish but Lucas had said that was okay. For the reason staring me right in the face, I had a feeling that Lucas Franklin Cahill didn't need a picture to memorize my face. I felt like it was engraved in his mind.

It was so evident by the painting in from of me.

By my own face staring right back at me in the frame, a small smile on my expression and my curly thick mane of what one would call hair around my shoulders, it was clear. "Wow." I breathed out in awe. He didn't make the background of this dark room in the painting, instead a mirage of colors, patterns, were the environment around me in the painting. The colors were arranged almost like the ones in a-

"Kaleidoscope," Lucas looked at the painting on the other side of me and although we weren't touching, I could feel his body heat. "Remember? Kalos derived from greek means beautiful. I thought it fit."

He turned his head to look at me but I was already grasping his face in my hands to kiss him. When I pulled away, he was red in the face. "Um...so I gave them another painting instead."

"How much did they make off it?"

"Twenty thousand." He shrugged.

I almost choked. "What?"

"It's a bunch of rich people who decide to make a good image for themselves. To them, that barley makes a dent in their back account."

"Well shit." I mumbled as he chuckled, putting an arm around me.

"I couldn't sell this one. So, I kept it. Although I know for a fact, this would've been worth a hell lot more."

"Why do you think that?"

"To me it's priceless."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Where's Devin? I haven't seen him today." I asked Lucas quietly, trying not to get the attention of my friends around the table.

"He has an appointment. They think they've found a way for him to see."

"Really?" I asked in shock. "That's amazing."

"Don't get your hopes up yet. Devin isn't either. He's been told his whole life that he will never see and I feel a part of him is sticking to that."

"I hope they find a way."

"Same." He said, taking my hand.

"Okay love birds," Eduardo said on one said. "Lucas, have you realized what you're girlfriend truly is?"

"What is she?" Lucas questioned, looking a little freaked out.

Come to think of it, I was wondering what the hell I was according to Eduardo as well. "Yeah what am I?"

"Let's ask Lucas," Eduardo stroked his chin like an idiot. "So, does she have that freaky side?"

"What?" I narrowed my eyes at him, wondering what in the world possessed him to ask that kind of question.

"I'm just curious."

"Come to think of it, I'm curious too." Zen said on the other side of me and I glared at him. "Is she?"

"What makes you think I have...a freaky side?"

"I don't know...you're usually quiet-"

"Even though we know you can talk for hours." Zen mumbled and I shot him a glare, remembering how long our phone conversation was over the weekend.

"And they say the quiet ones are the usually the loudest and other things."

"Who informs you of these things?" Sarah asked, her glasses falling lower on the bridge of her nose.

"Probably this place called the internet." Zen muttered and Sarah threw a fry that hit him right in the forehead.

I could see Lucas bit his bottom lip, letting me know he was slightly uncomfortable. "Um...I don't think I want to answer that."

"So it is-"

"Eduardo, leave my boyfriend alone." I told him.

Lucas' phone buzzed and he looked down at the screen. "Jane wants me for something. I'll see you later."

"Bye." He squeezed my hand before getting up and walking out of the cafeteria.

"Okay, real talk. Say, you're going on a private island and you could only bring one person and one item, what would you bring?" Zen asked, looking up at us from where he laid his head on his arms.

I noticed he does this a lot. He'll random question everyday but most of the time they would be would you rather questions.

I resisted the urge to run my hand through his gelled hair just to mess it up but fought against it once Mary Anne started answering the question. I could barely hear her over the crowd of people in the cafeteria and the people singing and dancing around the place. Sometimes I forgot this was a caf and thought it was some type of dance party.

"Will there be clothes on the island?" Mary Anne asked.

Zen rolled his eyes. "Sure."

"What about people playing music or dancing?"

"There's no other people. It'll just be you and the person you pick which I'm guessing is Eduardo."

"What about food?"

"There would be food."

"What about light? A house? Preferably a beach house. And how the temperat-"

"Mary Anne, you completely just ruined the aspect of the game." Zen half laughed and groaned in frustration.

I bit back a smile as I exchanged a glance with Mary Anne. It was always fun to rile Zen up. Eduardo pushed his scraggly hair back, looking at Zen. "Okay, but would there be condoms at this island?"

Zen scoffed and Sarah and I cracked a smile at the question. Unbelievable. "Eduardo." Mary Anne rolled her eyes, hitting him lightly on the arm.

There was something in Eduardo's eyes that shifted and even though at a comment like that he would usually laugh, he looked irritated. "What? Did I offend you or something?"

"Um...no." Mary Anne answered confused.

"Are you bothered by me saying that or something?" He sounded like he was accusing her of something. He sounded frustrated beyond measures-no-it was like whatever was actually bothering him was being taken out on Mary Anne.

"No, Ed where is this coming from?"

Eduardo got up, quickly grabbing his backpack. "I'll see you guys later."

He disappeared before any of us had the chance to stop him and it was then that I remembered what those girls in the bathroom had said. That Mary Anne and Eduardo were having problems.

Mary Anne gaped, looking confused and hurt but tried not to make it obvious. Just then Kim sat down at the table, giving us all a smile. "What did I miss?"

"Where were you?" Zen asked and I pretended not to catch the way Kim's eyes glanced over at me as I focused on Mary Anne.

She still hasn't told him. 

"Do you want to talk?" I asked her quietly as Kim gave Zen some random excuse.

She nodded, wordlessly, grabbing her backpack and I followed her swiftly out of the cafeteria.

"He does this every time." I heard her mutter as we walked towards a staircase. Her footsteps echoed as she stomped her way upstairs to where her locker was on the second floor of the school.

"Really?" I asked, watching her open her locker with an air of anger.

"Every year, you guys make it to Nationals. In Regionals he's not as stressed because going to Regionals is a piece of cake for this school. His words not mine. Every single time he goes to Nationals he always gets like this and I understand it just-"

She stopped, inhaled sharply and opening her locker. She handed me her perfume. "Here, you said you wanted it this morning. Just put it in my locker after dance."

"Mary..."

She scoffed. "You don't even want to know how he's like when he goes to Worlds. He completely cuts me off. He's so focused on dancing and I'm pretty sure the reason as to why he gets mad to closer dance events is because his dad doesn't show up. And I get it. But I don't want him turning into this person that always ends up arguing, fighting and storming off over every little thing. He's never usually like that."

"I know."

"And after dance we're usually okay but sometimes I don't know why I bother putting up with him when he gets like this."

"Then why do you?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"Because I love him and I wish he'd talk to me about his problems in dance instead of pushing me away."

"I think he'll come around."

"Maybe." Mary Anne mumbled, before reaching into her locker and pulling out scented cream. "Lotion?"

"Please." I mumbled, noticing how my hands were dry.

"I'm pretty sure we'll be okay before you guys head to Toronto. I wish his dad would come to one of his competitions without being dragged there. Did you notice when you guys went to that one a couple weeks ago?"

"It was just his mom and his sister." Said, applying lotion to my hands before handing it back to her.

"His dad doesn't even mention it. He won't ask him if he won anything and even if Eduardo shows him something he wouldn't care as long as it's from school. Even if I'm mad at him, I feel so bad."

"He never talks about it?"

"Never. It's one of the only topics he tries to avoiding talking let alone possibly thinking about," She let out a breath. "I really needed to talk to somebody."

"Anytime." I gave her a hug after she shut her locker and at the sound of her locker closing, could hear music flooding through the hallway which only meant one thing.

"Another one."

"Oh shit." Mary Anne and I exchanged a glance and walked towards where the sound of music was coming from.

We've been hearing this for the past two weeks. Apparently every year, the grade nine band would get so into their music near the end of both semesters that they would be playing songs all over the place. Right now a couple of them were moving towards our direction, most on the flutes some walking with their saxophones.

They walked by us, playing their music in sync and I caught the eye of someone who was walking along with them, giving them tips. Joseph Cahill put a hand to one of the guy's saxophone, showing him a different way to hold it while walking.

He looked at me and walked over to me and Mary Anne. "You're usually in caf."

"Are you keeping track of my whereabouts?" I asked a little freaked.

Joey scoffed. "Don't think highly of yourself. Lydia is always in there and I try to avoid where she is every day."

"So you're following Lucas' advice? By avoiding her?"

"It's working a little but we have the same friends so it's-"

"Basically not working."

"Acosta, you can be really annoying."

"The feeling is very mutual," I look over at the group of grade nines waiting for Joey, talking to one another. "What are you doing?"

"Mentoring."

"You're that good huh?"

"Your boyfriend didn't mention it in one of your late night talks?"

"You're not exactly a topic that comes up between me and Lucas."

His eyes weren't focusing on my own like they usually did with intense intimidation. Instead it was like he was searching my face. Then after that brief second, I looked back at my eyes. "Sadly." He turned on his heel and continued down the hall with the rest of the group.

"Huh." Mary Anne said out of the blue.

"What do you mean huh?" I asked her.

Her eyes were still on where Joey had moved and disappeared on sight and she mumbled something while we continued walking down the hallway. "Nothing just...huh."