Author's note: Wow you guys, I am SO sorry that this took so long to finish… It's been almost a year since the last chapter was updated. Honestly for a while I thought this chapter would never be written, I was so busy with college and work that I just kept putting it off. However people kept messaging me and writing reviews asking for more, and when someone asked me to finish just a few weeks ago I figured that this story deserved an ending. I mean after all, I started this story for the people who wanted to see Lindsey and Nick end up together, if I never finished it would have been totally counterproductive!

Anyway, this is the final chapter, the third and final part to the story. Thanks to everyone who waited so patiently. I really hope you all enjoy this; hopefully it was at least somewhat worth the wait!

"Nick! What, um… what are you doing here?"

Lindsey jumped slightly out of her bed as if she was going to stand up, but then sat back down on the edge of it. She tried to pat down her hair, which she could tell without looking was sticking up everywhere, then she sat on her hands to keep from fidgeting around. She wasn't quite sure what to do with her hands or her feet… or any part of her body for that matter. She wasn't even sure that Nick would want to speak to her when she got back, she would have never guessed he'd be standing in her room mere hours after she got home.

"Hey Lindsey" Nick said quietly as he looked down at the floor, "I just um, I knew you were coming home today, I uh, wanted to come see how the trip went."

"You're totally drenched," Lindsey laughed, "What did you do, walk here?"

"What? Walked here? That's ridiculous," Nick laughed awkwardly. Of course Nick was about the world's worst liar, and Lindsey could tell by the look on his face and the way his voice dropped that he probably had in fact walked at least part of the way.

After a few more moments of awkward silence, Lindsey motioned to a chair in the corner of her room and Nick grabbed pulled it closer to her bed, sitting with his legs straddling the back of it.

"So, how was the 'summit?'" Nick asked, putting air quotes around the last word.

"Was it that obvious I didn't go?" Lindsey muttered with an embarrassed shrug, making sure her voice didn't raise high enough for her parents, who she knew were probably listening in from the next room, to hear.

"It doesn't take a genius to figure out that you weren't really going to some academic summit Lindsey," he laughed softly, "Where did you really go?"

"Kim and I travelled around with Laurie and her friends for a while. They're still going to be gone for a while, but I kinda had to come back or my parents would get suspicious."

"Right…"

"So um, how have you been? Have you been keeping busy?" Lindsey asked, almost cringing at how awkward everything he was saying sounded. She was so terrible at small talk that it wasn't even funny.

"Yeah. I've been busy. Really really busy, "he replied. He then bit his lip and stared at Lindsey expectantly, like he was waiting for her to ask him something specific.

"Um…" Lindsey started, thinking she knew what it is he wanted her to say, "Are you and _ still..."

"No," he said, too quickly and too brightly, "No we aren't. It was fun while it lasted, but we broke up a few days after you left. We were just too different, ya know? Wouldn't have worked out."

"Right… yeah you're probably right," Lindsey said exhaling deeply, wondering if that basically confirmed her suspicions that Nick had only been trying to make her jealous.

"Plus, between you and me," Nick continued as he leaned into Lindsey, as if he were telling her some important secret, "Disco kinda blows."

They both started cracking up, and as their laughter died down they found themselves back in their awkward silence, staring at each other. Lindsey wanted desperately to change the topic to something else, anything to fill the silence, but she had no clue what to say. Her revelations from early were still swirling in her head as she looked at Nick, who was looking at her with the same look he had always looked at her with before their relationship and friendship had gone south- a mix of admiration and desperation that left his eyes looking sad and distant.

The silence broke when both of them said each others names at the same time, and resumed momentarily when they both looked away embarrassed again. This conversation was clearly going nowhere.

"You go first," Lindsey said, pretending to be distracted by the rain that was hitting her window.

"I just…" Nick started and then paused again, like he was trying to collect his thoughts and word things exactly right, "I'm just really sorry, alright? For everything that happened before you left, everything that happened after…"

"After we broke up," Lindsey said, finishing the sentence that Nick had trailed off from.

"Right," he nodded, a slight pained look in his face, like the memory still caused him grief, "I acted like a real jerk. And I don't know if you're even still angry or not, or if you don't want to forgive me or whatever, but I know I said some pretty mean things because I wasn't handling everything well, and I just wanted to say I'm sorry."

Nick finished with a huge exhale, like a weight had been lifted from his chest, and went back to staring at his feet and kicking at the foot of Lindsey's bed. Lindsey looked at Nick, waiting for him to look back up at her before she replied, but he avoided her gaze.

"I'm not mad Nick," she said like it should be common knowledge, though Nick obviously was surprised by the look on his face when he lifted his head to look at her again, "I mean, I was mad. When I left. I was really mad. But I think I was just… hurt and confused. Confused more than anything I think. And I wasn't exactly the nicest person in the world to you either before I left either. So I'm sorry too. Really sorry Nick."

Nick face brightened up and a ghost of smile showed on his face. Lindsey hadn't realized until now how hard it must have been for him these past few weeks. They had fought terribly and she had just disappeared, leaving him behind. She had kept so busy that she hadn't had much time to think of him until her mind was left to wander on the bus ride home, but Nick had been left behind without so much as goodbye from her, left to wonder if she would ever speak to him ever again.

"That's… that's great Lindsey. I'm really glad. So do you think we can just go back to the way things were before all this happened? To being friends again? That's all I really want. I miss being around you."

"Yeah," Lindsey said automatically, once again like Nick should have already known the answer.

"Great," Nick sighed with relief, his enthusiasm no longer being contained, "Thank Lindsey. Thanks so much."

After a moment's silence, Nick got up from his chair and sat next to Lindsey on the bed and pulling her into a hug. Lindsey froze for a moment, then wrapping her arms around him in return. She could feel the butterflies in the pit of her stomach and tried to will them away, failing miserably. They pulled away from the hug, their arms still holding onto each other slightly, and looked at each other again. The sad look was back in Nick's eyes, and Lindsey was painfully aware of how close their faces were to each other. After another moment Nick jumped back slightly, releasing his arms from around Lindsey. He looked guilty, as if he had done something he shouldn't have done. He fidgeted a little on the bed, unsure of what to do with his arms or his eyes or his voice, and then stood up quickly.

"Well I should probably go. I know your parents don't exactly love you having a guy in your room. I just wanted to make sure everything was, ya know, cool between us. I'll talk to you later, alright Lindsey?"

"Right," Lindsey said a little taken aback.

Nick gave one look at Lindsey and sighed as he turned to leave. Lindsey suddenly snapped out of her confusion and opened her mouth to call him back. She tried to say "Nick," but what came out sounded more like a choked gag. Nick stopped in her doorway and turned back to her.

"You okay Linds?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, I mean no, I mean…" Lindsey stumbled with her words and stood up from her bed. She hadn't exactly thought about what she wanted to say to Nick, but she felt like if she didn't say it now that she wouldn't get the nerve to ever again.

"I don't want to be friends, Nick" Lindsey finally managed to choke out.

"What?" Nick said taking a step back into her room. The hurt look on his face meant he obviously misinterpreted her words.

"No that's not what I meant!" Lindsey said, her voice squeaking slightly as she realized that she had definitely not worded that correctly, "I mean, that came out wrong, I just…"

Lindsey was starting to freak out a little, and her breathing was getting quicker and heavier. Nick stood staring at her with a completely clueless look on his face. Lindsey finally took a deep breath and ran over to the door, nudging Nick to the side as she peeked out the door and down the hall to make sure her parents weren't listening in. For the moment at least they didn't seem to be anywhere where they would be able to hear their conversation, so she popped her head back into the room. She closed the door enough that their conversation would be muffled, but not all the way so that her parents couldn't hear the tell tale 'click' of a bedroom door shutting with a teenage boy and girl on the other end.

"Look Nick, I've been thinking a lot these past few weeks," Lindsey lied, she had really only been thinking a lot that past few hours and she knew she was probably rushing herself, but she was sick and tired of playing it safe, "I think, if you're still willing, I mean if you don't totally hate me after last time, maybe we could, I don't know-"

Lindsey couldn't finish her thought though, because Nick, suddenly realizing what Lindsey was trying to say, interrupted her cupping her face in his hands and pulling her in for quickly for a kiss.

Lindsey's mind went fuzzy for a moment, then her body relaxed as she threw her arms around Nick and pulled him in closer. It was a very simple, innocent kiss, their lips barely moved at all as they were both consumed by the fact that they were actually kissing. There was however a slight twinge of desperation in it, like they had both been waiting forever just to kiss each other again, even though it hadn't really been that long since the last time they had kissed. This kiss was different than any other kiss the two had shared when they were dating though. Those kisses were awkward, shy kisses, neither of them really knowing what to do with themselves. This kiss was natural, their lips and bodies fitting together like missing pieces of a puzzle. It wasn't a perfect kiss, but it was a pretty damn good one.

Nick pulled away from the kiss first, his face still lingering close to Lindsey's. They both laughed a little and stepped back nervously and embarrassed. They didn't advert their gaze from each other this time however, if anything they watched each other more closely to make sure the other wouldn't run off in embarrassment and take it all back.

"So," Nick said simply, unable to hide his grin.

"So," Lindsey repeated back to him as she bit her lip to stop herself from giggling.

"Are you sure you want to try this again?" Nick asked nervously.

"Positive," Lindsey said. And she really was.

Nick beamed and leaned forward and kissed Lindsey again, and the two could feel each other grinning against the kiss. They were cut short by the sound of Lindsey's dad outside the door.

"Is everything alright in there Lindsey?" he called, trying to sound nonchalant but with a noticeable edge in his voice.

"Yeah Dad," she called back, rolling her eyes and opening the door to her father standing on the other side looking quite embarrassed. To be caught eavesdropping, "Nick is just about to leave, I'm just walking him to the door."

"Oh, alright, go ahead then," her father said walking back to the front room, obviously relieved that Nick was leaving.

Nick and Lindsey shot each other shy, knowing glances, and Lindsey lead them out of the room. They walked through the living room, where both of Lindsey's parents were failing at pretending to not pay attention to the two. They walked through the front door together, and Lindsey left the door open to humor her parents.

"Sorry about them," Lindsey said as she turned back to Nick.

"Nah, its fine, they are just worried about you kissing strange boys behind closed doors is all," he laughed and pressed a quick kiss to her cheek, "I should probably get going, it's kinda late and I'm sure your parents want to hear all about your 'summit.'"

"Ugh, don't remind me," Lindsey groaned.

"I'll call you tomorrow?"

"Alright," Lindsey smiled, "I'll be waiting."

Nick glance over Lindsey's shoulder to make sure no one was watching and then snuck one last kiss before heading off into the darkness. Lindsey watched him for a little bit as he walked off in the rain, which was now only coming down as a slight drizzle, and then turned to go back inside.

Her parents were giving Lindsey a slightly suspicious look, to which Lindsey responded with, "So, who wants to hear more about my summit?"

Temporarily distracted by the promise of more tales from Lindsey's imaginary summit, Lindsey's parents decided to refrain from asking any questions abut what had just happened in Lindsey's room. Lindsey spouted off the stories she had been rehearsing for weeks. She had butterflies in her stomach, but they definitely weren't from fear of being found out by her parents.

Lindsey smiled and looked out the window while her parents chatted to themselves for a moment about how proud they were of Lindsey. The rain had completely stopped, and Lindsey was feeling more hopeful than she had in a long time. She and Nick had a long road ahead of them, but this time she was ready for the journey.