final part to this story is dedicated to rex who had made the amazing cover at the top💖love ya BrainNemesis go check out her covers. they are amazing. more at the end :)

Epilogue: "Change."

"SERIOUSLY?" I ASKED, trying to get through the crowd of people walking up and down the streets.

The blare of horns sounded through my ears and I could smell the smoke of someone smoking against the wall of a convenience store. I stopped behind a bunch of people in the sidewalk waiting for the light to turn red so I could cross to the other side of the road.

"Is it my fault?" He exclaimed through the other end of the phone. "The man wasn't listening to me. I had to fire him. I mean what's the point of being there if you aren't even doing your part properly. You call yourself an actor, you have to fucking act. Not whine and complain all the time."

"Matthew." I sighed.

"Don't Matthew me like that Sydney. You only do that whenever you want me to handle something better." Zen muttered. Well he didn't really go by Zen anymore. He stuck to Matthew. Everyone knew him by Matthew.

That Zen from high school was gone.

I could imagine him walking through the short hallways of our apartment, jumping onto the couch and complaining to himself about how he had to cut his hair again. He hated it every time his hair grew it and it apparently it didn't look great whether it was short or long. He looked great with a buzzcut but the idiot obviously didn't understand that.

"You should've handled it better." I told him.

"Where are you headed? Did you just finish rehearsal?" He asked and I heard a sound in the background but didn't make notice of it.

"Yeah," I looked up and realized I could cross the street. "I'm heading to Starbucks. Want anything?"

"Sure. My usual."

"Of course." I muttered, continuing to walk with the crowd to make my way down to the next block.

"Of course?" He exclaimed incongruously. "The attitude in that sentence. I never get used to that."

"Its in the fine print of the contract you signed after we moved in together."

"Shut up. I hate you sometimes you know that?"

"You love me." I teased, just when I got the call of someone else ringing me up. I looked at the phone and grinned. "Wesley's calling me."

"Are you going to stay at Starbucks for a while?"

"Maybe...unless you want to meet me here?" I asked.

"Give me at least a half an hour. I need to take Vex out for a walk. Then I need to talk to Marielle."

"Ooh Marielle." I couldn't help but tease as I walked into the warm store. I stood in the line, smiling to myself when I realized that Wesley stopped calling but I knew he would call again in five minutes.

"Shut up." Zen muttered and I could hear Vex back in the background.

"Remind me again why you wanted a dog though?"

"With you going to go all over the place and even leaving me in this house alone for a week when you go back to Toronto in a month, I realized I needed company."

"Interesting."

"I know you aren't that big a fan of him but just get used to him will you? He loves me, I love you and you love me therefore you'll eventually love him."

"Doubt it." I told him.

"I'll see you later, alright?"

"Yeah." I smiled and he hung up just as I was about to take my order. I decide to place Zen's later and sit down at a spot, pulling out my laptop.

"Wes." I said into the phone once I phoned him.

Wesley was probably at work at the moment. He worked in a city near our old one called Ajax as a carpenter straight after high school and I knew he loved it.

"Took you long enough." He groaned dramatically.

"I'm sorry I was talking to Zen." I explained, my eyes looking over at the screen. I caught a man smoking near the window beside me and a woman holding the hand of a child bundled up for the cold weather outside.

"Is he still fooling around with that Marielle girl that lives a few floors down?"

"Yeah but I know he likes her. She just thinks that they won't get anything more out of their...kind of relationship."

"I'd take that relationship over anything now these days." My best friend said distastefully.

"Wesley."

"What? I'm single. I've been for four months now. I have needs. You understand." He whined and I heard a loud buzzing sound in the background. I sensed Wesley moved because the sound itself faded away slightly.

"I understand." I repeated, wondering what he truly meant by that.

"Of course you do. The last time you had a boyfriend was..."

"About a year ago. Let's change the topic please." I mumbled.

"Jheeze it's been that long already? Do you not see an issue?"

"It's not my fault!" I exclaimed a little loudly and I lowered my voice, repeating what I had said, trying not to catch attention.

It really wasn't my fault. I couldn't exactly find someone I could have a proper connection with. The last time it happened, I knew it wouldn't last anyway and it was kind of opened my eyes to focus on dance a little more than my love life.

"Can we change the subject please?" I mumbled, taking a sip of my coffee and propping my head up on my hand.

"Fine, fine."

"Have you heard from Oct? She called me last night."

"Last week. I swear she's shooting in New Zealand for a couple of weeks starting tomorrow, isn't she?" Wesley asked as my eyes scanned the chatter of people at Starbucks.

"Yeah, actually she-" I felt like something got lodged in my throat and suddenly I couldn't speak.

"What? Sydney what happened?"

I couldn't speak. My eyes were so focused on one person who had walked into the place and one person only.

He was wearing a trench coat, black jeans and a red scarf was around his neck, placed nicely in the front of his chest. For once there wasn't a beanie on his head. No there wasn't but the change in his hair was very evident and made him look much more attractive than I believed it was in high school.

It wasn't even how he wore different glasses, the same ones I had seen online of him the other day. Thin gold rimmed glasses that made him look amazing when he was captured in mid time, laughing.

It was the lack of facial hair on his face that I knew he probably shaved off every single day, thinking that it didn't suit him. It was the way his brown eyes were behind the glasses, so attentive, forever captivating. It was the curve of his lips when he smiled and the dimples that dug into his cheeks.

And I knew it wasn't his brother. I knew he wasn't his twin. There was something about him that always let me know that I could pick him out of a room of people that looked exactly like him.

Of course I knew that.

So I watched him until I thought he would noticed me. I watched him smile at the barista as he ordered a drink, I watched him tap his fingers against the counter as he waited by the side for someone to call his name out when his drink was ready.

And when they did, my heart skipped a beat because it had been so long since I had heard his name spoken out before.

And when he turned around about to leave, I felt like I was pleading with him through my head as if I could send out some telepathic message for him to see me.

But he didn't.

Lucas Cahill walked out of the store, taking a sip of his coffee as he left. "Sydney! Sydney!" I flinched violently, hearing Wesley bring me back with his voice. "What happened? You zoned out on me."

"I-I...I just saw..."

"Saw who?" Wesley pushed me with his voice to say his name out loud.

"Lucas...I just saw Lucas." I said breathlessly, putting a hand to my temple.

"Cahill?" He yelled and I heard the sound of probably a hammer dropping in the background. I really hope he didn't just injure himself. "Did you say something?"

"Um...no. He left."

"What?" Wesley yelled. "What the hell are you doing? Hang up and go after him. Now before I come to New York and do it myself. Go find him."

I hung up the phone and without packing my stuff, I ran out of that place with all the speed I had left in me. Pushing, the door open and feeling that cold breeze in hit my face, I saw him walking through the crowd, almost mixing in with everyone.

I moved my way through everyone , sometimes bumping into them to earn a loud curse come from someone's mouth but I knew I would feel sorry later. I wasn't now.   

I moved through people and when I honestly thought that he wouldn't see me, I had no choice but to yell out, "Lucas!"

Before he crossed the street, he turned around at the sound of my voice. His eyes were wide when he spotted me. I could understand why because one thing was going through my head. Why was he in New York?

He slowly walked over to me, as if the sight of me was unbelievable. It was unbelievable. I thought it was. When he stopped in front of me, he stared at me for a full minute, his eyes wide behind his glasses. "Wow."

"Yeah. Wow." I managed to say shivering slightly when the wind blew cold and hard. May people moved around us, someone actually cut through between us but I didn't care. I was just staring at him, finding it hard to believe that he was actually here.

He opened his mouth to speak but I rubbed my fingers together looking up at him. "Do you mind if we go back to Starbucks? I kind of left my stuff there."

It was like Lucas struggled to speak. He licked his lips, nodding quickly as we moved along back to where I saw him for the first time in years.

When we returned, I let out a sigh of relief that my items were still there. It was kind of shocking considering the city I was living in but I didn't rethink it as I sat down where I was.

Lucas moved slowly. He pulled the chair in front of me out, sitting down to look at me more closely, running a hand over his jaw. "It's been such a long time."

His voice. That I voice I used to love hearing every day. Just hearing him again, in person, in front of me, made me believe that I did really love it.

"Yeah. Long time." I whispered, not moving my gaze from his eyes. I held them with all I could, remembering why eye contact always seemed much more intimate with him. He always made it more intimate.

"Too long." He hoarsely let out and closed his eyes, running a hand over his jaw again. This time I could see that what I had said before was false. He had a faint shadow over his jaw.

"It's been almost five years." I smiled bitterly. He made eye contact with me again and I immediately removed my gaze trying to focus on the cheesy music playing through the store and that the heater was on, instantly thawing my frozen hands.

"I..." Lucas trailed off, clearly his throat before regaining his posture. "Can I admit something?"

Anything. "Sure."

"I literally searched you up yesterday just to see how you were doing."

I bit my lip at that. I thought he would've done the one thing he had suggested we should do. I thought he would have forgotten about me. He looks good. He looked great. I figured that he probably did. "You could've called."

"I didn't know if you had the same number," He laughed and it wasn't a happy kind of laugh. "I didn't know if you still wanted me to call you year after year. I thought you moved on. Sydney-"

I winced. Him saying my name almost made my heart ache and I wanted to reach out for his hand. To feel the same thing I did for him that I did back in high school but I was scared. I knew I wouldn't feel the same because feelings change over time and that was high school and I always thought that maybe I wasn't actually in love but just with the idea.

He stopped when he probably saw the look on my face. "I-I'm sorry. It's just that...I haven't seen you in such a long time and-and you saying my name is..." I trailed off not even knowing what to say. But there was something I could confirm. I did move.

Lucas paused, still holding my eyes but I saw those lips curve into a smirk. "I still make you nervous?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Shut up. I remember making you nervous too."

"You still do," He said quietly, taking a sip of his drink. "My heart is beating a mile a minute, Canada girl."

And that nickname. That stupid, stupid nickname. And I expected his face to turn red after saying that but it didn't. The way he looked-he appeared with the most confidence I had ever seen him have in my life. Just the way he was sitting, holding himself let me know his confidence level surpassed what I thought.

"Good to know, Turtle."

"How...How have you been?" He asked me, leaning back and evidently looking more comfortable.

I licked my lips and smiled at him. "Good. I've been good."

Lucas didn't want to settle for my blunt answer. "You want to expand on that or...?"

"Don't do that to me," I retorted. "I used to do that to you all the time."

"I'm glad you remember," He smiled. "But seriously, what has been happening to you? You professional now?"

I nodded. "Yup. I have rehearsals like everyday."

"So, no time for a boyfriend?"

I blew a raspberry with my lips, sighing. "Actually that's kind of the reason why my last two relationships didn't work out."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Do you remember Timothy?"

Lucas took a moment to recollect, trying to possibly figure out why that name sounded familiar. "Oh, wait. Wasn't he your dance partner?"

"When I was younger. You met him, remember?"

"Yeah. That guy was a cunt." My eyes widen at the vulgar term that not even I used. Nor Zen and Zen swore more than I ever could. Wow.

Lucas noticed my expression and chuckled. "I'm being honest. He was a cunt, Sydney. But what happened with him?"

"He found his way near here and we started dating."

"You dated him? Why?"

"I thought he changed, Lucas. You know? That he wasn't like critical on a people anymore like he was when he met you and he wasn't like that when we reconnected-"

"Reconnected?" Lucas' eyes narrowed and he leaned forward getting interested in the conversation. What a-

"Don't look at me like that. You took my virginity when I was eighteen. Remember that?"

"That's not something you can really forget." He said, leaning back and I wanted to wipe that sly smile on his face. "Then what happened?

"It turned out he didn't change. And it took for me to tell him that my dance schedule was interfering with our relationship for us to break up."

"Why didn't you break up with him when you realized he was still like that?"

"Because a part of me believed that he could change for the better but sadly I was wrong. So he moved away from New York-I think he's in Detroit now, I don't really care and here I am- talking to you, en ex-boyfriend about my other ex-boyfriend."

Lucas bit his lip before shrugged. "I knew he always liked you."

I scoffed, changing the topic. "What about you? Any new people in your life?"

"There were two after you. Two special people that just did not work out with me."

"Really?"

"Yeah. You see how you're busy with dance, I'm busy with art. I came into town yesterday for the opening of an exhibit and I'm their special guest. I'm only here for a while."

"Wow. Where are you headed af-" My phone buzzed in my pocket, cutting off my next sentence and I took it out, holding it up to my ear. "Hello?"

"Get me my order and meet me at the apartment, quick okay?"

"Wait-" Zen hung up quickly, leaving me to stare at my screen with disbelief. "What the hell?"

Lucas stared at me. "What's wrong?"

"I have to head home because my stupid roommate thinks that he can demand-" I stopped, glancing at Lucas curiously. "Um, do you want to come with? Or, uh, do you have somewhere else to be?"

Lucas looked down at his watch. That wasn't the watch he wore when he was seventeen. This was a designer watch. A watch that screamed money but the presence Lucas upheld showed that he didn't care about money.

He looked content.

"I have time. Let's go."

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

Just as I was about to open the apartment door, it opened itself. Zen almost bumped into me, startled out of his mind. His brown eyes went wide "Holy shit Syd, watch-"

He stopped, looking at Lucas, his eyes wide. "You."

Lucas looked Zen over probably seeing the differences I've been with for five years from his buzzcut to...his now colorful clothing. Not as colorful but the shirt he was wearing was blue and not black. It was pretty colorful for Zen. "Wow. Hey Zen."

Zen blinked a couple times for several moments. "Um, it's Matthew now. But you-you can call me Zen. Yeah, yeah." I heard him mutter something to himself before he collected himself, before looking at me. "Um, I'm going downstairs. Marielle...needs me."

He started rushing away when I asked. "She needs you?"

Zen turned to glance at me as he made his way to the elevator. "Yes. She needs me to satisfy her needs." He pulled me close to him, saying lowly, "Later, you're gong to explain to me how Lucas is with you. Lucas Cahill. Holy shit." Zen ran off. "See ya."

"Matthew?" Lucas tested the name out slowly. "He goes by his real name now?"

I pushed through the door and we walked through. "Yeah, I'm really the only one who calls him Zen nowadays."

Lucas took off his shoes and I watched Vex run towards me but make a split second decision and move to Lucas. Lucas bent down, petting him on the head. "You have a dog?"

"He's Zen's. This is Vex."

"Vex," Lucas narrowed his eyes at me, standing back up to his full height. "Interesting name."

I made the mistake of looking into his eyes and just then I sucked in a deep breath, walking to the living room. I dropped my bag on the couch as Lucas shoved his hands in his pockets, his eyes looking around. "I like your place."

"Thanks."

There was a pause. Fuck.

Lucas was still looking around but just having him here, in my home, was almost suffocating.

I watched him move over to the TV stand and hold a picture frame in his hands. "You and Zen have been living together for a while?" I look over at the picture and figure he asked that because of the hair on Zen's head and his face in the picture we had taken after one of my performances.

"Yeah. We moved here two years ago." I said as he put the picture frame back.

"Have you, uh, have spoken to Devin?" Lucas inquired, flickering his eyes at me.

"I see Devin almost every single day. He's doing pretty great." I don't know what kind of treatment they're been giving Devin but he was able to see shapes easier. It didn't sound like an improvement but it really was. The first year of uni he was definitely one of the people I got closer to but clearly I wasn't the person who he got that close to since he was currently dating my old roommate, Carina.

"Yeah, I know. I'm supposed to meet him in a couple of hours."

"What about, uh, Jane?" I refer to our old high school friend. "Have you talked to her?"

Lucas shook her head. "No. Not really. I know she's doing alright though. What about you? What about your old friends?"

"Wesley I have to talk to at least once a week and Octavia is the same."

"You're still friends with Octavia?"

"Yeah," A smile came to my face. "She's like my sister."

"She's so famous now. It's insane."

"Yeah and part of me thinks she's slowly starting to hate this 'Hollywood' lifestyle but she's sucking it up anyway."

"Anyone else? What about um...Eduardo?"

"I saw him two months ago when I went to Seattle but we don't really talk much. Same goes for Mary Anne and-"

"Mary Anne? She was like one of your first friends back at the Academy."

"Yeah, but some people just grow apart." I admitted. I can;t really recall the last time I had spoken to Mary Anne. She was busy too. I wasn't even sure if she and Eduardo were still together after all those years .

At that sentence there was silence that followed and I didn't dare look at Lucas' face. "Um...do you want anything to eat? Drink?"

"Nah, I'm good," His eyes roamed again until they landed on the doors that led outside. "You have a balcony. May I?"

"Go ahead." I gestured, even though we just came from outside I needed the fresh air anyway. Or as fresh as the air can get in this city.

He opened the door, letting in a stream of cold wild but he walked through it anyway even though he only had his socks on. I put on my slippers, following him as he made his way through, sitting down on one of the chair Zen had placed there a summer ago.

His eyes moved around and I kept my own leveled on what really wasn't much of a view. All we could see was the street below and the building across. But I was distracted when I watched him pick up two things. "Zen's?"

He held a tightly rolled blunt in one hand and a lighter in another. "Nope, probably one of our friends. Zen hasn't done that since like high school."

"Do you mind?" I watched Lucas flick the lighter and had to assure myself not to make my jaw drop in shock. He smokes weed?

"You smoke?" I tried not to sound surprised. I didn't think a guy with asthma would smoke anything.

"Not really. Like once every three months." I watched him light it up, placing it between his lips before watching the thick cloud come out of his mouth. Interesting. "What about Sarah?"

I shrugged. "I haven't spoken to her since my first year at Julliard. I haven't spoken to Kimberly since than either. We all went different ways. I don't even know how they're doing to be honest. How is your family?"

Lucas took another drag and I took the seat beside him, not really fazed by the smell of weed. "They're all really good."

"Joey?"I queried about his twin brother.

"Joey's Joey. He'll disappear for a couple of months, hang out with friends in exotic places then come back and continue working like he never even left."

"What does he do?"

"He owns a club."

"Joey Cahill owns a club? Like a nightclub? At 22?"

"Yeah, I don't even remember how he got it but he loves it. He gets to DJ stuff and be the boss of other people."

"What about Greg?"

"You haven't spoken to him?"

"I'm pretty sure you should know by now that Greg is the only Cahill who drags me into the details of his life since he started and ended high school."

"I heard you were going to go to his graduation."

"I was and I really wanted to but I was in Moscow that time and my flight got delayed and I missed it." I informed him. That and I was kind of glad I didn't have to face Lucas at that time. I wasn't ready to see him face to face back then.

Lucas took another drag and I tried not to notice how he looked blowing the smoke out. It come out of his mouth in swirls. It looked artistic and the way he was doing it made him look surreal. I noticed that different things about him physically. His face was more angular. He looked more vivid-it was hard to explain but he looked different in a good way.

As he unzipped his jacket, he sighed and I spotted the paint on his shirt. "Wow. You'll always have paint on your clothes."

Lucas looked down at his shirt. "Yeah, I was painting at my hotel last night. There's paint everywhere. I don't think I'll be invited back there even though I said I was going to pay for everything that got paint on it."

I rolled my eyes. That sounded like a completely Lucas thing to do. "You're still an idiot."

"Shut up." He laughed a strong and deep laugh that made me bit my lip. "I'm not."

"Where did high school Lucas go?" I had to ask. "Where did that blushing boy go?"

"He grew up. He traveled. He evolved," Lucas gave me a lazy smile. "I changed Sydney."

"I know. You're still an artist though. A famous one at that."

"What are you? Stalking me now?"

"Not stalking. Did you not just admit to me that you searched me up? So many people know you, shut up."

"So many people know you, shut up. You're still a dancer. That is literally one of the things that has not changed about you and thank God."

"What does that mean?"

"It would be weird if you suddenly became like a basketball player or something."

"What?" I laughed at how absurd that sounded. "You're so-"

"Annoying?" Lucas put the blunt aside. "Yeah, there's the iconic Sydney Acosta line."

He stood up, heading back inside and I followed him. As we took off our jackets and I put them inside the closet, I observed the way he was looking around. His eyes loomed around as if he was looking for something. I had a feeling what he wanted to see and I took in a deep breath before I asked. "Lucas?"

"Yeah?" He asked, turning his head to perceive me.

"Do want to see my room?"

He blinked and it was clear he did not expect me to say that. "Um, yeah, sure."

I walked ahead, opening the door and letting him in. He looked at my room. The purple paint, the bed against the wall, the books on the desk, the bar by the window where I did my usual stretches. But his eyes stuck on one thing.

Wesley and I had gone to the Statue of Liberty one summer years ago. We had gotten a miniature version of the statue as a souvenir where Wesley wrote his name at the bottom of the base. But where the torch of the statue was was something that definitely didn't come with it.

Lucas took it off the torch, holding it with his fingers. "I saw you weren't wearing the ring anymore. I thought you threw it out."

"Why would you think I would do that?" I stared at him in disbelief. "Um, even though that is expensive, it's still one of the best gifts I have ever gotten. It's...significant."

Lucas put it back and without realizing it, I grabbed arm, not his hand and pulled him over to the other side of the room. "I-I'm going to admit that there were things that you gave me that I had to let go. Especially when I moved here, I let go of lot of things you gave me."

I pulled open my closet and dug through, trying to find the items I was looking for. I found a hat-no a beanie and tossed it at Lucas. "I remember when you gave me this. It was October or November of 2014."

Lucas looked down at it, feeling the fabric. "October." He confirmed.

I dug through again. "Christmas Eve you gave me a stuffed turtle."

"Are you trying to find it?"

"No," I admitted. "I gave it to my half sister instead. She loves that little thing."

Lucas' eyes widened. "You have a half sister?"

I glanced at him, smiling. "Yeah, she's two."

It was like he remembered that my parents had been divorced and moved on with their lives individually. "Your mom or dad?"

"My mom." I smiled, continuing my search in my closet.

"Wait," Lucas sounded confused. "Who did she mar-"

"I found it." I interrupted him, standing up.

"What?"

I stood up, holding the frame. "This." I held out to Lucas the one thing he had given me the last time we had seen each other. The drawing of me.

Lucas stared at it for a long moment. A moment where I could see so many emotions cross his face. His hands moved up and he brushed his finger against an outline of my hair in the drawing.

At the motion, my own fingers went to a loose strands of my hair from the bun I had tried to keep intact all day but always fail to do so.

I looked at Lucas attentively, waiting for him to speak. When he didn't, I talked instead. "I don't think I could ever give away that ring or this drawing. Ever. And I never got to tell you thank you for this."

Or thank you for loving me. For giving me one of the best years of my life.

I think Lucas understood what I was trying to say because he put the drawing on my nightstand. He rubbed the stubble on his face, looking conflicted until he open held out an arm. "C'mere."

And a hug from Lucas was something that would never change. The way he hugs could make you feel like you were safe, like nothing bad could ever happen. There was a sense of security of content. That was one thing that didn't change about it. About him.

When he pulled back, he noticed the tear fall from my eye and he looked confused. "W-What-why are you crying?"

I sniffed, wiping it away quickly and laughing. "Sorry, it's just-It's good to see you again."

"It's good to see you too." He smiled back and just then I heard the sound of his stomach growl, making me laugh.

"Okay, yeah we're going to make you something. Do you still cook?"

"Of course," He grinned. "You?"

"Yeah, but I'll make you something since you're a guest at my place."

I started to leave the room when he called my name. "Sydney."

"Yeah?"

His brown eyes looked at me so intensely, his dimples were digging into his cheek and the smile on his face was as bright as ever. "Hey."

I smiled, letting out a breath of almost relief. Change was good but some things may never change.

"Hi."

THE END

Ended: Saturday, June 24, 2017

All Rights Reserved ©

The Artist and The Dancer

Wow. What a roller coaster. I want to thank you all for reading this story and sticking with me even though it took me longer than I thought to complete.

Questions about a sequel? No. There won't be one but I will let you guys think what you want about Lucas and Sydney in the future. Did Sydney's mom and Nick end up together? I'll let you guys think what you want about that too. The other characters? People grow apart in the future and that is a fact. Maybe one of the characters will appear in another story and you'll get all your answers. Just maybe.

Thank you all again and trust me that I didn't have the intention to make any of you cry but I laugh every time I do because I cry as well. And I hope you laughed and felt something through their story. 

I love you all.

-nikki