Bane of My Existence

Perfume

"So Erica is-" Celia starts.

"A werewolf yes," Scott replies.

"And Derek is-" Lydia leads.

"Alpha, mhmm." Stiles answers.

"And Scott-"

"Is somehow involved in all of this yes, Celia, how many times do we have to go over this?" Scott asks impatiently.

Stiles slaps his arm with the back of his hand and sends him a look, mouthing a scolding "c'mon man." As they debrief in the jeep just outside the girls' apartment Stiles turns to the two in the back seat.

"Are you guys alright though? Seriously."

Celia nods, adjusting in her seat visibly taken back by Scott's outburst.

"We're fine." Lydia responds for them both, the question of how the boys knew they were there still gnawing away inside Celia.

"I'm going in, are you coming up?" Lydia asks the car's occupants.

"I... have to piss, is that alright?" Scott asks Lydia.

The corner of her lip twinges at his crassness but she shrugs him along. Celia remains, still buckled into place. Stiles' eyes follow the two of them up the stairs and inside, the door just barely closed behind them when she asks one more time.

"How did you know we were there?" Her tone more demand than question now.

Air escapes from Stiles, his shoulders falling dejectedly. He's silent for a time before he speaks.

"Scott knew."

Celia blinks confused but leaves the burden of dialogue on Stiles. He sighs, realizing there's no way out of the conversation.

"Well, we initially went to find Erica. We figured we'd leave you two here just in case..."

Stiles trails off at the thought of anything happening to Celia, again.

"When we pulled up Scott said something wasn't right," he continues. "Once we were in the door he could tell you were there... he... smelled you."

Stiles punctuates his sentence with a laugh. Even after all the four of them had seen, it was hard to find anything ridiculous anymore, but now he practically scoffs.

"He probably picked up on Lydia's perfume or something, y'know? She douses herself in that stuff-

"No, Celia. He smelled you."

— — —

"Oh yeah, Scott? Definitely in love with you," Lydia takes a small sip from her cocktail.

"What? Since when? How do you know that?"

The four had part ways following Stiles' admission, the girls deciding their late night, now early morning, called for a drink. Celia gulps down half of her glass in one go.

"He told me," Lydia shrugs.

"When?"

"Freshman year of high school."

"What? How come you never told me?"

"He asked me not to."

"But you're my best friend," Celia's tone accents her slight betrayal.

Lydia's sea green eyes are warm under the kitchen light but nearly peer through Celia now.

"Yes, I am. That's how I knew you were in love with Stiles and that by telling you about Scott's little crush, you would've made everything weird."