I have a physics exam on Monday ohmygosh. I have too many things to do but I managed to update : ) This chapter is dedicated to lique_fromstatefarm because she's one of my favorite readers, her comments are hilarious and her husband appears in this chapter.

Twitter: @_nikkiofficialw

Chapter Twenty Nine: "Video Game Loving, Forever Reading, Nerdy, Stupid Ass Boy."

THE FIRST PERSON I SAW on Thursday night was Kim and I almost hugged my friend with gratitude.

Someone got out of the car she was in, probably her mother. Kim hooked my arm with hers as we looked up at the Cahill house. It was six o'clock at night and the pre wedding dinner was in place at the Cahill's. I wasn't even sure why Ivan had decided to make their rehearsal dinner on a Thursday night but they were so caught up in the wedding itself I knew they had probably forgotten.

Kim's dress was like mine- black but hers was a two piece and she wore heels her blonde hair wavier than it usually was. She greeted my mom with that upfront most teenagers put in front of adults and I had to stifle my laughter before we came inside.

As we walked through the open gate for the guests and the makeshift trail that led to back of the house, near the ballroom/banquet hall, I spotted the recently made gazebo I knew Ivan and Natasha would get married under on Saturday. Kim noticed it too and raised her eyebrows. "Wow 'Tasha's going all out."

I nodded. "Yeah."

"You're one of her bridesmaids too right?" Kim asked me as us and many other unrecognizable people walked along the path.

"Yeah, aren't you?"

"Yeah...I think I'm going to walk with that Christian guy. The one who was hitting on Sarah the night of the showcase."

"Yeah that's Christian. You and Natasha are cousins right?"

"Yeah, my mom and her dad are siblings."

"How big is your family?" I asked, thinking about how Natasha used to live with their other uncle during the summer.

Kim thought about it. "Um...well my mom has six brothers in her family and she's the only girl and one of my uncles, the one who lives next door doesn't have much children and Natasha is an only child while I have an older sister but our other uncles have like five children each or something."

She rolled her eyes at the end of that sentence. "I'm guessing that you don't like your other cousins?"

"I definitely don't and I have to see most of them on Saturday...and tonight." She muttered, pulling me along through the patio door. We gave our jackets to the person that was standing there and walked through the house passing a couple of people.

Kim looked around with awe. "This place is honestly amazing."

I nodded in agreement and glanced over at my mom who was looking around with the same expression as Kim even though she had been here before.

"Sydney." A voice called out and I smiled at Greg as he walked over to me along with Christian who was arguing with someone else.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Liz walk over to my mom and engage in a conversation with her. Liz wore a black dress too but hers was definitely something designer and screamed expensive.

My eye was moved away from Liz and I returned Greg greeting as he acknowledged Kim. Christian walked over to us with the other guy he was with, looking completely agitated.

"What's going on?" I asked Greg before I eyes caught the guy Christian was talking to as he came into proper view.

He was probably Hispanic like Eduardo, I assumed. His skin was tanned and his brown hair was unruly and was on the verge of growing out but it looked extremely attractive on the attractive guy. His brown eyes showed kindness but they also had this crazy look in them like he could probably say or do anything at his will. I noticed the tattoos of words peeking out from under his button down shirt and on his arm since his sleeves were rolled up to his elbows.

The guy looked at me when he heard my voice and my eyes widened as he stepped towards me and just like that my social awkwardness wavered before it even started.

"Do you pour the cereal first or the milk?"

What?

I stared at him confused and felt at ease a little because he looked really anticipated by what I should probably say. "Um..."

"Cereal, what the heck?" Kim muttered, looking through her phone.

The guy groaned loudly. "You people are so weird."

"Says the guy who pours the milk first." Greg muttered.

What the hell? Who does that?

"Yes, I do it the normal way." The guy muttered, running a hand through his hair.

"I'm sorry you're definition of normal is completely different than everyone else's." Christian said.

The guy said a string of curses under his breath before sighing. He knew I was watching him because his brown eyes turned over to me and the corner of his lips quirked up before he gave me a full out grin making me feel welcomed in his presence. "Hey I'm Caleb."

I gave him a small timid wave. "Sydney."

I noticed something happen so quickly that if I wasn't already looking at him I would've missed it. His eyes had widened a fraction at the mention of my name which meant he recognized me but I was pretty sure it wasn't because of the dance world.

But his mouth was open and he said something that cleared it up. "So you're Sydney."

I was confused and nodded. "Yeah...I'm-I'm Sydney."

"So Sydney," He said, crossing his arms and a serious expression was on his face. "Do you put your milk first or your cereal?"

I almost bit on the inside of my cheek to not say anything and the hopeful look on his face and that smile made me not want to disappoint him. "Um...cereal."

Caleb groaned loudly again and looked like he wanted to bang his head against a wall. Greg laughed loudly and Caleb looked down at him. "You're sadistic."

"And you're an adult bothering people with stupid questions."

"Technically he's not an adult," Christian spoke up. "He's seventeen until the end of this month. The 27th."

"Wow Chris you remembered my birthday." Caleb joked and Christian rolled his eyes walking away. "I know I just got in town but has Christian become more of a dick than usual?"

"He threw me down to the ground one day because I wanted a seat at the dinner table."Greg mentioned.

Caleb raised an eyebrow. "Definitely more of a dick." He walked away, trying to catch up to Christian and I looked at Greg.

He pointed a thumb at Caleb. "Yeah, that's Caleb Henderson. He's an extremely close family friend. I'm not sure if you'll see a lot of him but if you do, be cautious of his randomness, stupid theories and questions."

"He's hot." Kim mumbled beside me, looking at her phone.

Greg rolled his eyes at that. "I'm so happy this dinner is only close family and friends because I can't stand hearing every girl talk about how Caleb is a god."

Kim and I didn't say anything so Greg groaned. "You guys too? Never mind, let's get everyone acquainted."

My mom was still talking to Liz so I followed Greg along with Kim as he led us to the ballroom. Usually the rehearsal dinners were for a close family and friends at a restaurant of some sort but the Cahill's always went all out even when it wasn't planned well. That still went all out.

I was mesmerized by the decorations in the room and the bright lights where Ivan and Natasha were in the middle. But my view was blocked by someone.

"Acosta." Joey Cahill said to me with a mocking grin. Lydia was on his arm wearing a white dress and looking around the room like they could've done better.

"Cahill." I muttered. What the hell did he want now? I wish I could say he looked as ugly as his personality but I'd be lying to myself.

"I'm surprised to see you here." He said with a look on his face and that's when I realized.

He knew. Even though Lucas and him didn't talk he knew. The same way Lucas had known about Joey's 'threat' to me. They always managed to find out thing about one another.

"Why?" I mumbled.

"Just reasons unknown." He gave me a smug smile and I returned it with a tight one.

"Joey," Lydia said looking up from her phone. She put a hand on his arm before glancing over at me. "Oh it's you."

"Yeah. Me. Always a pleasure to see you too." I dryly said. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Greg's shocked expression. He didn't look like he was expecting that to come out of me.

Lydia's eyes narrowed at me. "I was going to forgive you know?"

"For what?" I asked, tired of talking to her already.

"I thought you only acted like this because you were friends with Octavia but even when she's gone you still act..." She trailed off and I crossed my arms, staring right back at her.

"Act like what?" I urged her to say. I wanted her to say whatever she was thinking and I didn't know if I wanted to hold myself back but wasn't really one for violence.

Lydia looked down at her nails before glancing up at me. "Nothing. Thank God Octavia finally left huh?"

"Yeah," Kim said, looking at Lydia probably the exact same way I was looking at her. "She's off to better places while you're still here. In this town. Not Hollywood like Octavia has already done."

Lydia rolled her eyes. "She's not going to make it. She doesn't even have talent. They'll send her right back."

Wait a minute. And this girl used to be Octavia's best friend? Almost like Octavia's sister and even though she wasn't friends with her anymore, she went around talking shit about her?

God, what a bitch. I couldn't help but think.

"Watch her." I said, quietly but feeling confident in my words because I had that much faith in my friend Octavia and I knew she wanted to be an actress so badly and took it seriously that she would be a professional one.

Lydia didn't say anything so I turned to Joey, matching his gaze. "See you later Cahill."

He didn't say anything either as I walked from the two.

Greg and Kim walked with me. "Wow you really don't like them." Greg said.

"Trust me, for them, the feeling is mutual."

Kim got dragged away from one of her own relatives and I was guessing it was a relative she wasn't a big fan of because she went with a struggle.

"Sydney!" I was immediately attacked by Phillip, whose hair was all over the place already and his button down shirt and tie was messed up. I went to fix his tie, laughing at his excitement.

"Hey." I smiled at him, putting his collar down.

"Thanks. Come meet my friend." He pulled me in the direction of one of the few large tables in the giant room.

They didn't bother using the whole ballroom because they didn't invite hundreds of people. There were only five large tables and two of them consisted of the younger people and the older people were on other side. Ivan and Natasha were seated in the middle with their immediate families. Natasha wore a long blue dress that made her red hair stand out and she was stunning and had a bright smile on her face as she greeted people, standing beside Ivan.

At the table Liz sat down and a tall handsome man followed suit, smiling down at her. I recognized him from pictures. Vincent Cahill, billionaire tycoon. He had brown hair with grey strands and brown eyes that even at a distance reminded me of Lucas'.

Before I could get a chance to look at more of the Cahill family, Phillip had arrived at our destination.

"This is Jon Ming." Phillip said and I looked at him already in recognition as one of the first people I had met in this town when I had first got here. His streak of blue hair in the black had expanded to various parts in his hair that made him more interesting appearance wise and his hair was growing out.

Jon Ming gave me a smile, taking the beat. "Sydney. Yeah, long time no see. So you know the Cahill's."

I nodded as Phillip pulled me to sit in the seat beside him across from Jon Ming's. "Sydney dances."

"That explains why Phillip keeps doing the same move over and over again when he enters my room." Another guy said and I assumed this was another one of the brothers in the family. He was built like his upper body was muscled. He had grey eyes from his mom and brown hair. And like a Cahill he was attractive without even trying.

He gave me a small smile. "I'm Cedric Cahill." So he was another of the nine infamous brothers. That's when I realized I met eight brothers out of nine.

There was Phillip who I could classify as the adorable one.

Greg, who was my supposed favorite and respectful but, could be sarcastic.

There was Christian; the one who was kind of a player but has an innocent look in his appearance.

Also, Joey who I could put under the category: All Around Jackass.

Not to mention the oldest, Toby who I had only met twice but he seems intimidating but nice.

There was Ivan, the second oldest who was flirty but it was clear as day that he was completely and utterly in love with his wife to be Natasha.

Then there was the other twin. Lucas. The one who had supposedly rejected me but after yesterday implied he would be there for me and left me completely and forever confused.

But you still like him, I couldn't help but think and I wanted to mentally shut myself up.

I did like him though, a lot.

Now there was Cedric, who seemed pretty nice at the moment.

I knew I didn't meet another one of their brothers, the one who was in England or something.

I'm surprised I remembered all of their names to be honest.

I smiled back and the blonde girl with grey eyes beside him who was watching some Korean show on her phone gave me a smile too. "I'm Stevie." She had a twinge of a Southern accent.

All the people at the table were around my age except for Phillip and Greg but they fit in well and they didn't treat Greg any different than anyone else.

Jon Ming conversed with me and I was reminded of his friendliness that I had found when I moved into town. He asked me about dance and I asked him about LA. He proceeded to pull out his iPad and show me all the pictures he had taken.

A person pulled up a seat between Jon Ming and I and I watched Jane huff dramatically, leaning back in her chair. "Remind me to never go into the kitchen when a big event is happening. I can only imagine what's going to happen before the actual wedding."

"What happened?" Cedric asked her.

"Your brother." Jane muttered.

Greg shot her a dry look. "You're going to have to be more specific than that."

"Glasses." Jane said, crossing her arms.

That cleared up enough clarification for Cedric and Greg as Jane continued. "This isn't even the actual dinner and this guy is going crazy. Barking out orders like it's nothing. He even wore the stupid chef hat tonight like I'm going to end up watching him grow one of those moustaches and be on the cover of some board game or stupid restaurant app. Looking like an unfocused, video game loving, forever reading, nerdy, stupid ass boy that-"

Caleb had shown up by now and the guy winced loudly enough for Jane to stop talking. "Jane, please, there were so many improper sentences that you're making my head hurt without a hangover."

Jane huffed. "I'm sorry. I just haven't had time to eat all day."

"Let me guess? And when you tried going into the kitchen he didn't bother listening to you or he made you leave the kitchen."

"He didn't just make me leave," Jane got up, getting riled up. "He made me leave...empty handed."

Caleb sighed dramatically as well, pouting like a child in a man's body, crossing his arms. "I hate it when he does that."

Jane herself sat back down and did the same as Caleb, both of them acting like kids but everyone at the table seemed to be used to the behavior especially Caleb's. "Some best friend."

"Jane." A voice said, sighing and my heart started beating so fast I felt like clutching Jon Ming's arm for support at the sound of his voice. Wow you sound like a love sick idiot.

I slowly turned around in my chair as Lucas walked over to us. He wore a black button down and held an apron over his arm. His hair looked messy like a really good type of messy, no gel and it looked like he had pulled it in frustration a couple of times. He held a piece of chocolate cake in his hand with a cherry at the side on a decorated plate, handing it to Jane.

"Here."

But dios, he looked good. Really good.

Jane's eyes lit up and she looked like she was about to scream of happiness. "Thank you, thank you, thank you. I take back everything I just said about you out loud and in my head."

Lucas rolled his eyes as she quickly hugged him before setting to eat the cake. "When's the food coming?" Caleb asked him.

Lucas rolled his eyes again. "When I want it to come."

Caleb shook his head. "I swear all you Cahill boys are acting like assholes now."

Phillip banged his fist on the table. "I'm not an asshole."

Caleb looked apologetic right then and there. "Not you little man, you're cool. Your brothers are the assholes."

Phillip grinned and Greg sighed, leaning his head on his hand as his elbow was propped up by the table. "You're so lucky Natasha or mom isn't here man."

"Are they still on the not teaching Phillip bad words thing?" Caleb asked, throwing his hands up in the air dramatically. "Because the kid called me several things when I video chatted him in Italy and he used the words correctly."

"Congratulations, your influence on him is working." Lucas said dryly and Caleb shot him a glare.

"Get your head out of your ass and stop being so...salty."

"Salty?" Cedric and Stevie asked in unison and their close interaction and body language made me think that they were dating.

"Yeah salty." Caleb nodded, looking like he was trying out the words to himself. "Like you're salty, Christian's a dick now, Joey-don't even get me started on your twin. He's acting like he's all almighty and is an even bigger dick then when I left months ago. Don't tell him I said that though." Caleb whispered the last sentenced and Phillip and Greg laughed a little.

"Tell me about it." I heard Lucas say and his eyes shifted away from Caleb and onto me. Shit.

He looked at me, giving me a small awkward smile I knew would happen. "Hey." He said quietly.

"Hi." I said back.

There was a huge pause in as I stared at him right in the eyes and I was grateful for Jane talking.

"Wait, you were in Italy?" She asked that Caleb guy.

Caleb grabbed her fork and took a bite of the chocolate cake. "Yeah I've been trying to get some...inspiration. Didn't really want to go to university just yet."

Lucas coughed and excused himself, saying he had to go back to the kitchen when Jane nudged me. "What was that?"

"What was what?"

"That awkwardness. Like you kind of looked uncomfortable with one another. It's weird."

Tell me about it.

I didn't say anything as Kim suddenly joined us and the food started coming around about five minutes later. I looked around and found my mom somewhere chatting along with some other adults and that lady that was possibly Kim's mom and this guy.

The Cahill boys had to sit with the soon to be couple in the center but Lucas was missing, probably in the kitchen. Jane kept up conversation at the table along with Caleb who had decided to voice his infamous question at the moment.

"So guys, I'll give you one more chance, cereal or milk?"

"Cereal." Most of the table including myself said at the same time as we tried to eat the variety of food that was being handed out.

"Milk." Jane said, shrugging.

"It makes sense," Jon Ming said. "The two weirdest people at the table would obviously say milk."

"That doesn't make sense whatsoever." Jane muttered.

A hand tapped me on the shoulder just as I took a bite out of my chicken and I turned to face Liz. I quickly swallowed down the food, barely chewing as it is before looking up at her as she addressed all of us. "Have any of you seen Lucas?"

Caleb who was stuffing his handsome face with food looked up at her. "He's probably in kitchen one by now, finishing dessert."

Kitchen one? There was more than one kitchen?

Liz nodded, smiling at Caleb as if he were her own child. "Thanks Caleb. He hasn't been shown all night."

"No problem mama Cahill." He said, digging back into his food.

"Sydney could go get him for you." Jane spoke up.

I almost dropped my fork. What the fu-

"Yeah she could go." Kim added. I looked down at my plate. I literally just started.

"Yeah, she wanted to give me the rest of her food tonight anyway. She said she wasn't that hungry." Caleb said with a greedy smile on his face already reaching for my face. If I was closer to him I would've glared at him but my jaw just dropped in shock that they all were in on this.

Even Jon Ming had taken his Beats off of his ears and nodded eagerly. "Yeah, Sydney go and don't come back until you have Lucas with you."

Were they fucking kidding me?

Liz gave me a small smile and I held back a sigh, getting up. "I'll go get him."

"Kitchen one," Caleb yelled as I started walking towards the large doors. "The main one near living room one."

There was more than one living room?

I followed the way to the waiters who were handing out small appetizers. They were walking towards the kitchen I usually saw when I came here anyway.

I found Lucas holding an icing bag and swirling it around the frame of a similar chocolate cake he had given to Jane. His glasses were slipping off the bridge of his nose as he concentrated before putting a perfect dot in the middle of the minicake. He took a cherry from the bowl before putting one in his mouth and one on top of the dot on the cake. He took the bottle of some sauce before drizzling it in a pattern.

He was so concentrated on what he was doing he didn't notice that I was in the room with him and I hesitated on clearing my throat to make my presence noticed.

Lucas' hand reached out and a bell sounded through the room. A waiter came in behind me with a tray and collected the plate from Lucas' hand. Lucas looked up at me as I let the waiter go by.

I held in a breath.

"Hey."

"Hi." I said shortly, walking over to him slowly and watching him untie the apron from himself.

That's how our pattern was supposed to go.

Just not as tense.

He put the apron to the side and I tried to forget the mental picture I had of him in it, shaking my head slightly. "Um...your mom wants you to come to the ballroom."

Lucas raised an eyebrow and I watched him plop another cherry in his mouth. "To join the family right?"

"Right."

"Okay." He rang the bell twice this time and a man came in. "Xavier. Take it out in five minutes. Do as I did." The man nodded, exiting the room and I held in a breath at Lucas' sudden role in the kitchen.

That was kind of hot, I had to admit.

He gave me a small smile, holding the door open for me as we exited the kitchen and made our way towards the ballroom. He shoved his hands in his pocket as we walked through the house. "You look nice." He said to me quietly.

"You too." I said even though he looked more than nice to my eyes but I wasn't going to say that out loud.

"How is everything?"

"It's fine. You?" I asked.

"Same." He nodded quietly before opening his mouth again. "So...are you going anywhere? Back to Toronto?"

I shook my head. "I'm not going anywhere. At least I'm positive about that right now."

He let out a breath of air and I wasn't completely sure if that was out of relief. "What happened?" he asked, referring to last night.

"Nothing," I admitted with a shrug. "He left. I don't think it was really hard for him to leave. He never liked arguing with my mom or anyone. He never tried to win the battle. I expected it."

"Sydney..." Lucas sighed.

"It's true. He cheated on my mom and even though we were the ones who left the house, in a way he's the one who left the family."

Lucas looked down at me with that sympathy in his eyes because his family wasn't really broken. No, the correct words to use was that he still had his parents together. He had his mom and his dad who were still together and even just by the small glance I had had of them together, were still very much in love. I didn't know if he would understand completely.

"But how are you?" He asked me.

I looked at him, right into his eyes. He asked me with concern and I was satisfied with the fact that Lucas did care about me and even if he didn't care about me in a specific way, he still cared about me.

I would gladly take that.

"I'm okay." I told him with a smile as we entered the ballroom and Ivan had a mike in his hand, cracking up jokes that made an echo of laughter sound throughout the large room.

I turned my eyes back to Lucas to find him already looking at me. "so you'll be here early for Saturday right? The wedding?"

"Yeah."

Lucas looked confident now, something that confused me. "Good. I'll see you later Canada girl."

That stupid nickname made me smile a little and he returned it with his own. "Bye Turtle."

We walked different ways, him to his family and me returning to the table where Caleb was telling us of something that happened to him in Italy.

After a while I looked over at the table where Lucas was with his family, sitting beside Greg. He caught my eye and I realized that I was honestly okay if Lucas did not return my feelings because Lucas Franklin Cahill being in my life was good enough.