I think this a pretty long chapter. I actually loved writing this haha. Mind of Mine fucks me up and I just got a whole load of books to read :) It's been a good past week and April is here yayyyyyyy. I saw a picture of someone who reminded me of how Lucas could possibly look like, he's at the top. 

Chapter Nineteen: "Snorting Turtle."

PATTERNS CAN BE really annoying. Especially when you have to do the same thing over and over and over again. I hate them.

Okay I used to hate them.

Lucas walked over to my locker, his earphones hooked over his ears and dangling. He leaned against my locker as I was putting my books away, rubbing my eyes and holding back a yawn. Apparently that yawn didn't want to hold back because my mouth opened and I yawned pretty loudly.

My eyes widened as I heard Lucas laugh. I rolled my eyes at him, a small smile coming on my face. "Shut up."

His laugh faded away. "You look and sound really tired."

"I am," I admitted. "I had an English paper to hand in and I had to finish some AP multiple choice questions for practice. Then I had biology homework and I have a test coming up. All of that took me most of the night."

"You want something to help you wake up?"

"What do you got?" I asked him skeptically.

He laughed again. "Don't worry I'm not going to give you a drug. I was going to suggest a coffee. School doesn't start for about a half an hour and there's a store across the street. Wanna go for a bit?"

I bit my lip considering what to do but realized it didn't matter and nodded. He grinned and waited for me to finish putting my books in my bag before closing my locker. We walked towards the front of the school and I watched as he jumped from the third step of the stairs and landed on the ground, turning around briefly to flash me a dimpled smile.

I don't know how we got like this. So normal with one another.

But it still wasn't what I could call normal with a regular friend. Would the sight of someone or even them talking get my heart was pounding so hard and loud in my ears like Lucas' presence did? See, that wasn't normal. 

We still barely talk but yesterday he had come up to my locker in the morning. Remember that hug? It happened again.

Shocker.

I walked along with Lucas as we waited at the stop sign to walk across the street. We walked to the café and he held the door open for me as I recognized many people from our school sitting around and talking, some doing homework before they had to be inside.

The smell of coffee hit my nose instantly, waking me up for a fraction before my eyes almost felt droopy for a second. I could've paid for my own coffee but no Lucas just had to beat me to the counter and slap his money down on the table.

"Why?"

"Because I'm the one who asked you in the first place." He told me as I rolled my eyes and bit back a smile.

"Thank you." I told him, grabbing my double double as he grabbed his own.

"No problem," He smiled at me then he frowned as we walk back to school. "Wait, why are you at school early?"

"I usually meet Mary Anne and Eduardo here sometimes depends on when I come or when the bus comes. Majority of the time I get here early. Um...why are you here early?"

Lucas takes a sip of his drink as we climb the stairs back to the front of the school. "Um...I don't know." He mumbled.

I shot him a bland look as his gaze moved the ground and we ended up walking, just turning random hallways in this big school. "You don't know why you just decided to get to school early? Seriously?"

He dramatically groaned and stopped walking. He leaned against a wall and slid down slowly, his feet stretched out in front of him as he reached the ground and he put his drink down beside him. "Canada girl...what's with all the questions?"

I stared at him a small smile came onto my face as he looked at me with one eye opened, a lazy smile on his own face. "I only asked you one question...idiot."

Lucas' jaw dropped at that word and he closed his eyes. "You asked me three so I'm not really the idiot here am I?"

I gaped as he opened his eyes. "Are you calling me an idiot, Turtle?"

Lucas rolled his eyes at the pet name but kept the smile on his face as he leaned back so his head rested on the red and orange wall behind him to look at me. "I didn't call you an idiot. I called you Canada girl. Now sit down I don't like the fact that you're suddenly taller than me."

He reached over and grabbed my drink from my hand and setting it down to his drink while I sat down in front of him happy that I had worn uniform pants today because the weather was getting colder.

"You didn't answer my question." I pointed out, crossing my legs.

His eyes flickered around hallway trying to focus on the handful of people walking through the hall. "What question?"

"Why do you get to school early?"

"Oh that question." Lucas pointed out, taking a sip from his drink.

That sip turned out to be the longest sip I've ever witnessed in my life as Lucas dragged his gaze off of me again, tapping his fingers against the floor.

"Oh my God," I muttered, "Lucas."

He didn't stop drinking so I resorted to another measure. I grabbed the drink and quickly pulled it towards me and out of his grasp. I put the drink behind my back as he burst out laughing, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

"I'm sorry." He said still laughing and taking deep breaths. "I just don't like-"

"Explaining yourself to people?" I finished for him as a question.

His grin on his heart shaped lips morphed into a sigh. "Yeah I don't like doing that."

"Do you find it hard to...open up to people?"

Lucas' lips quirked into a smile but not the happy kind I was used to. "Who's there to open up to Sydney? I've never really had someone I could explain everything to."

"What about Devin?"

Lucas shrugged. "He's my best friend and I tell him things but I just don't think he would understand. Not like..."

"Like Joey would've? Back then?" Lucas nodded and I tilted my head at him, leaning back on my hands. "Make Devin understand because I'm pretty sure he won't be able to understand anything going through your head if you don't explain. It's not like he's able to just notice that you loo-sound different and be able to immediately connect with you. Joey may have been your 'confidant' when you were younger but you can trust more than one person in your life."

Lucas didn't say anything for three seconds before he let out a breath of laughter. "Wow we got a lot just from asking one question huh?"

"Yeah."

"I get to school early because the earlier I leave the house the easier it is for me to not get into an argument with anyone at home specifically my twin."

I shoot him a smile small. "Was that so hard to explain?"

"Just give me my drink back," He demanded with a smile and I did as he said. "Plus the faster I leave my house and get to school means a more of a chance of leaving my bed which is one of the hardest goodbyes I have to face every day in my life."

I tried to hold back in another yawn but let it out, covering my mouth with a fist. The second I yawned, Lucas' mouth opened and he let out a yawn, closing his eyes and mid-yawn he covered his mouth with his forearm.

When he opened his eyes, we looked at each other and ended up laughing. "I can relate." I tell him.

"Clearly we both didn't get enough sleep last night. Are you feeling a bit more awake though?"       

"Yeah a bit." I told him, taking a taste of my coffee.

"What's your first period?" he asked me suddenly.

"English."

"Do you have it with Stiles?" he asked, referring to my teacher and I nodded. Lucas raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell me your one of those girls that fangirl over him too, are you?"

"No, I think of him as my educator." That just happens to be not even a decade older than his students and is above average on an attractive scale. But the thought of a student (not me, definitely not me because I didn't think of Mr. Stiles that way) being with a teacher didn't exactly sicken me, it was just weird and bizarre and also illegal. Weird, bizarre and illegal on many different levels.

"Uh huh." Lucas said, taking another mouthful of his coffee.

"What do you mean by 'uh huh'? I meant what I said."

"Yeah sure." A small smirk played on his lips.

"What do you mean by' yeah sure'?"

"You know what I mean." He grinned at me.

"You're extremely annoying Turtle."

"It's my job to annoy you Canada girl," Just then the first bell went off. "Let's get you to English."

I stood up, dusting myself off as I looked down at Lucas who was still sitting down, his knees near his chest now. He raised his hands up towards me, giving me a hopeful smile. With that look on his face I would've done anything.

"Are you serious?" His grin just grew wider and I linked my hands with his and pulled him up without a struggle. "Jheeze someone's heavy."

Lucas picked up our drinks, rolling his eyes before nudging me with his elbow as we walked. "Wow thanks for the compliment I can't wait for more."

"Well...I like your beanie." I pointed out.

"You like my beanie? That's it? You like my beanie?"

No I also like your smile, your personality, your... geez shit I could go on and on. "Yeah I like your beanie. You wanted another compliment so I gave you one."

"I'll take what I get." Lucas mumbled and I laughed.

"Were you expecting something more?"

"Maybe." Lucas gives me another hopeful smile that I struggle not to return and blurt out anything stupid. "But since you like my beanie...here."

He handed me my cup before taking the hat off of his head and handing it to me, exposing his hair. "What?"

"You said you liked it so I'm going to give it to you."

Huh?

What?

Is this real life?

"Um..."

"Sydney, just take it." He took my hand and placed the beanie on it.

I just stared at it not being able to say a word when the second warning bell rang. He had continued to walk down the hallway right to my class and I quickly followed him wordlessly.

The door was already open and students were sitting outside as Lucas leaned against the wall beside the door smiling at me. He took the beanie from my hand and placed it on my head. "See you look better in it then I do."

I rolled my eyes. "No I don't but thank you for the compliment."

"Oh so you do know what a proper compliment is."

I gaped at him nudging him in the shoulder. "I gave you a proper compliment you idiot."

"See? That's the second time you've called me an idiot. That's not a compliment Canada girl."

"That wasn't meant to be." I said in 'duh' tone.

He dramatically sighed before shaking his head with a small smile. "What am I going to do with you?" I shrugged and returned his smile, trying to ignore how the look in his eyes made me feel weird. "C'mere." He reached his arms out and as a newfound reflex, I stepped into the gladly, wrapping my arms around his neck and making sure not to spill my drink on him.

This was the type of pattern I wasn't annoyed with. 

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

"Make that extension straight Phillip." I told him, carefully watching how he extended his leg the way I wanted it.

I smiled at him. "Good."

He brought his leg down, stood up and skipped over to me. "We're done?"

"For the day? Yeah."

"Cool now I can show you around!"  

My eyes widened at the child as he grabbed my hand and immediately pulled me out of the ballroom and into the hallway. "Wait, wait Phillip."

He didn't listen because he seemed intended on the task to drag me around the almost empty house. "Where is everyone today?" I asked him.

By everyone I meant Lucas, I hadn't seen him since third period yesterday.

"I don't know. Everyone does their own thing during the day. I think Greg is in the game room though. He's always in there. Let's go see him." Phillip's eyes brighten up by the sudden idea and he pulled me along again, turning a different way.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." I told him. This kid never got tired I swear. He was hyper active and that was a good thing in the case of dance. I made him work on a variety of things today and even with the extension of positions specifically as we focused on ballet, he didn't seem the least bit worn out or tired.

I didn't even notice when Phillip bumped into one of his brothers. I thought it was Lucas for a second and my heart quicken but then returned to normal pace when I realized it was one of the brother I wasn't fond of.

"Shit watch it Phil." Joey mumbled, catching his phone quickly before it almost dropped out of his hand. I eyed the guitar he was holding in his other hand.

"Sorry." Phillip said with wide eyes, straightening himself.

Joey gave him a small smile, ruffling his little brother's hair for a second before noticing I was there and frowned. "Acosta."

I cleared my throat for a second and mustered up some courage to speak to him in the same tone. "Cahill."

I watched him scoff and shake his head in disbelief before walking past us, texting in one hand and holding his guitar on the other. Phillip shrugged and continued to drag me along until we reached a door. Phillip opened it and the second I stepped inside all I heard was the sound of two people arguing.

"Jump over the bridge." Lucas said to his brother, eyes on the screen and his glasses almost falling off the bridge of his nose.

"I'm doing it, I'm doing it." Greg told him sounding a bit annoyed but I watched as the character on the screen did as Lucas asked and kept running.

I tore my eyes off the two of them and looked around the dim lighted room. It was pretty much a game room, filled with an abundant amount of video games and billiard tables stacked in a corner. Lucas sat on the arm chair of the couch Greg was sitting on, rolling his eyes.

I watched as the character on the screen tripped and ended up getting killed by whoever was chasing them. Well that was graphic.

Phillip ran over to the Playstation at the other side of the room, opening a cabinet that was stacked with a bunch of games. Whoa.

Greg groaned. "Okay I'm done with this game. I'm going to the pool house."

Lucas rolled his eyes. "You realize it's a bit cold to go swimming right?" He wasn't wrong. Fall was present and I felt the cool wind hitting me on the way here.  

"I can turn on the heaters...duh." Greg left the room but not before flashing me a smile. "Hey Sydney."

I returned his smile and watched as Lucas who was getting up from the couch, quickly looked over at me and dropped on the couch in a jerking motion, hitting his foot on the ottoman and landing in weird position. "Fuck." He mumbled, holding his foot with both hands.

I quickly walked over to him, a hand covering my mouth to hold in my laughter. "A-Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine," He shot me a look when I started laughing, replaying what just happened in my mind. "Stop laughing, you just caught me by surprise."

"Sure that's your excuse." I told him, sitting down on the couch.

He got up to get another game from the cabinet on top of the flat screen TV and reached over grab two Wii controllers. "You play?"

I stared at him as he handed one out to me. "Not really."

"So you don't read. You don't play video games. All you do in your free time is watch movies?"

"Yeah I love movies of any kind."

"Action?"

"Yup."

"Romance?"

"Yup."

"Horror?"

"Especially horror."

Lucas seemed surprised by that. "So if I took you to a movie one day and it happened to be horror...you wouldn't get scared?"

"Nope. I love horror movies."

"Maybe we'll do that one day." He smiled at me and I returned his smile, my heart pounding in my ears. Shit. Shit. Shit. What was he suggesting? "But seriously, let's play one game Canada girl...what about tennis?"

It was that stupid smile on his face that got me to say yes and about a half an hour later that stupid smile wouldn't come off his face because he wouldn't stop laughing. "Oh my God."

I sat down on the couch, tossing the remote towards him. He caught it but ended up tumbling off of the couch and onto the floor, laughing his ass off. I looked over at Phillip who was too entranced into the game he was playing on the other side of the room, headphones on his ears to hear his brother's laughter.

I rolled my eyes, fighting back a smile before nudging him with my blue sock covered foot. "Get up you idiot."

Lucas shakily stood up, taking deep breaths. "I-I'm sorry but I haven't played anyone whose worse than Phillip or Greg."

"That is the greatest thing you've ever said to me Lucas."  I glared at him, crossing my arms.

He sat down right beside me, not even a space between us. "Come on Sydney don't be mad at me...it's just even people who haven't played the game before haven't even played that badly."

I tried to push him away. "Leave me alone."

He caught my hands against his chest. "Are you mad at me? Seriously? Come on Sydney. You're not even talking to me. Sydney. Sydney. Sydney."

Then he did something stupid as he dragged out my name. Like Lucas stupid. He let go of my hands and poked me. I immediately flinched from the contact. It wasn't like I wasn't affected by Lucas touching me-I really was-but for him to just poke me like that made me flinch and as a reflex I slapped his hand.

He immediately retracted. "Violent Canada girl," I gave him a small smile and he sighed. "Okay I promise to never bring up what just happened ever again."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah but it would be pretty funny to remind you of how badly you suck at Wii tennis."

This time I reached out and poked him in his side to which Lucas did not only flinch but he squirmed and snorted. My eyes widened and I burst out laughing as he flushed a deep red, covering his mouth and looking alarmed. "Shit."

"Oh my God!" I couldn't stop laughing as Lucas frowned trying to recover from what just happened.

"I guess we're finally even." Lucas grumbled holding his head up by his hand while his elbow was propped up by top of the backrest.

My laughter slowly went away and I smiled at him, bringing my knees up but eventually they were leaning on Lucas' legs and my feet were tucked in. "It's okay but now I'm calling you the snorting turtle."

"You're nicknames are going to kill me if you call me that in public."

"Do you honestly care?"

He shifted to look at me better, leaning his head near mine on the back of the couch and I watched as the main screen from the TV illuminated on his face. "Nah not really. People don't pay much attention to me anyway and I kind of like that."

I pay attention to you.

"I like your shirt." He told me with a hint of a smug look on his face. My shirt read 'BEYONCE" in white bold letters against the black material. "It suits you."

I scoffed and grinned like an idiot. "Of course it does. I like your shirt...isn't My Chemical Romance some type of band?"

"Not some type of band. It is a band. What kind of music do you listen to?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. A variety of stuff. Beyonce obviously, Chris Brown, Jay Z, Alicia Keys, Bruno Mars...sometimes trap music or R&B."

"Do you listen to music on the radio majority of time?"

"Yeah definitely. So you can add Pop to that."

"Then our music taste are very different."

"What do you listen to?" I asked him and he shifted a bit closer to me. I wasn't aware of how much closer we were to one another.     

"Bands. Lots and lots of bands. Ones you won't hear on the radio but maybe Coldplay. You heard of the legendary Beatles?"

"Who hasn't?"

"Green Day? Or 1975?"

"I've heard of them like once. So you're into all that rock stuff?"

"I'm... usually into people that can add a message to their art. Not this whole basic stuff of love, sex and drugs into almost everything. There are more stuff to talk about in the world and I like it when people have something to say and express it."

"Do you express that in your art?"

"I try to all the time," Lucas shifted again, stretching his arm to a point where it was touching the end of my ponytail. I could feel his finger hesitantly pull at one curly strand. "What about your dancing?"

"I don't know," I told him honestly, looking down at the ring on his middle finger. "I like a challenge when I dance and I have danced for more than just a love story. It also depends on the song and the emotion you put through it. Like lyrical dancing. You dance corresponding to the lyrics in the song that they give you and you can turn something you hear into something visual and make people feel it by whatever you express. In my opinion it is one of the best thing to do and to witness. And you can do that with any type of music."

I said that in a rush, noticing when Lucas stopped playing with a strand of my hair and his eyes narrowed and I got the sense that he was astonished and that made me want to shrink. "Um...yeah that's what I mean with my dancing. Sorry for rambling."

He shook his head. "Don't apologize for anything. It's pretty great to see someone speak about something they're so passionate about."

He continued playing with a strand of my hair as we enveloped into silence, the only noises from the sound of the game systems running around us. "Is your hair always in a ponytail?"

"Is your hair always gelled up with some type of spiky hairdo?" I asked him.

Lucas scoffed then took off the black beanie off his head, throwing it behind him to expose his non free gelled hair that was parted to the side. "Nope. Not always I get lazy sometimes. I might cut it though."

I raised my eyebrows before admitting something. "I like your hair."

"You do?" I nodded and he narrowed his eyes at me, the corner of his lip going up. "Was that a compliment Sydney?"

"Take it as you want it." I told him,

That's when Lucas again reached out to poke me but before he could I slapped his hand away again and he hissed. "Don't make me poke you again snorting turtle." I told him.

Lucas buried his face into the backrest of the couch. "Ugh just stop it only happened once."

"I've heard you snort twice actually." I pointed out and his eyes widened.

"Well I'm not the one who lost consecutive games of Wii tennis really badly and I was going easy on you."

"Shut up." I exclaimed not helping but laughing. He ended up trying to poke me again and I kept slapping his hands away, making him laugh with me. If there was a sound I would never get tired of hearing, it was definitely Lucas' laughter. 

Our laughter got cut off by the sound of the door opening. Joey walked into the room, eyes darting around and his walk slowing down to a stop as he noticed us on the couch. His eyes flickered between his brother and I before arching an eyebrow.

"What do you want?" Lucas asked, sounding annoyed.

"I can't enter a room in the house I live in?" Joey countered, shoving his hands in his jeans pockets.

I looked at Lucas. "I should probably get going."

"I'll take you." Lucas suddenly said, standing. He reached forward to grab my hand and pulled me up.

"Wait." I told him, walking over to Phillip to tap him on the shoulder.

He pulled out his headphones. "Are you leaving now?"

I nodded and he quickly gave me a hug. "I'll see you on Wednesday." He shot me a smile before returning to his game and I walked back to Lucas who was standing at least three feet from his brother.

Joey was looking at Lucas with some weird expression on his face while Lucas looked at me as I walked towards him. "You're going to drive her?" Joey asked him.

"I have my G2 remember? We got it the same day. We took the same class."

"But you need someone eighteen years or older in the car with you." Joey pointed out.

I stared at him remembering the day Joey gave me a ride in a car. Was he seriously being a hypocrite with this argument? Lucas rolled his eyes. "Why am I having this conversation with you of all people? You've been taking the cars out since you were practically 15. Wait a minute Sydney you're 17, right?"

I nodded and he grinned. "Close enough. Joey you of all people know that everyone around here drives anyway the second they get their G2. It's not that big of a deal. Let's go Sydney and I promise to get you home with no trouble."

"I'll hold you onto to that Turtle."

"Turtle?" Joey scoffed, shaking his head with disbelief.

Lucas huffed and rolled his eyes, the smile slipping off of his face. "Come on." He grabbed my hand and we left the room. I got my stuff from the ballroom before walking past the kitchen towards a door. Lucas opened it and my eyes widened at the amount of cars in the garage. I didn't know a single one of them but my eyes couldn't help but widen at how expensive they all looked.

"Holy shit." I mumbled.

Lucas shot me a smile. "Come on."

He grabbed a set of keys off the wall and clicked the button. I heard a chirp from a car in the corner and I stared at how shiny it was. "Getting in?" Lucas asked me, holding my door out.

I nodded and entered the car as he did. When we were on the road he had turned on the radio and I was murmuring the songs under my breath, looking out the window the entire time.     

"You know this song?" Lucas asked me. I looked over at him to see him giving me a glimpse of that dimpled smile of his.

"Yeah it's on my phone," I said to him, leaning back into the seat. "Do you know it?"

He shook his head. "Nope. Like I said our music taste are very different." He slowed the car down as we reached the sidewalk beside my apartment building.

When he had stopped the car, we kind of just sat there, neither of us moving.

"I'll message you." Lucas told me, breaking the silence.

"Okay." I told him, trying to hide the evident joy in my voice. I got out of the car, putting my duffle bag over one shoulder and taking out my keys. "Bye Turtle."

"Bye Canada girl." He rolled his eyes, smiling at me as I closed the door and watched the car do a U-turn on the empty road before honking and driving off.