Not a Valentine's date

Chapter 12

Stiles and Lydia decided to leave for her house as soon as Stiles takes a shower. In the meantime, Lydia stays downstairs to clean up the kitchen. He tried to tell her that she didn't have to do that but Lydia insisted; she knew that the Sheriff would be up soon and she intended on taking advantage of the opportunity to talk to him without Stiles listening in. Lydia didn't tell the boys but she had overheard their conversation about Stiles' dad.

"Good morning, Sheriff."

"Hey kiddo. Oh you don't have to do that," the man says, gesturing towards Lydia, who has already washed the dishes and is now drying them by the sink.

"It's fine, I don't mind. Sorry for spending the night. I didn't want to leave Stiles by himself."

The man nods in acknowledgement. "I figured that you'd stay. As long as you two were responsible, I-"

She interrupts him before he says something they'll both be embarrassed about. "Stiles fell asleep while watching Star Wars. We went to bed right after. Nothing happened."

The Sheriff looks shocked. "He fell asleep? Are you sure?" Lydia nods. "That's a first."

"Can I say something?" She dries her hands and leans on the counter facing the man. "I'm not sure if it's my place to do it, but I think there are some things you should know."

He blushes, scratching the back of his neck. "If it's about last night, I'm sorry you had to see that. And if you're thinking of giving me a lecture, trust me. Melissa already covered that." She did. As soon as the woman left the teens by themselves the night before, Melissa had stopped by the Station and refused to leave until the Sheriff promised he'd make things right with his son. By the way she had yelled at the man, some of his deputies probably assumed something else was going on between them.

"I'll give you an advice then, in the lines of what Mrs. McCall already told you, I assume. I may not be the right person to judge or to have some sort of say in it, but Stiles is fragile. And I don't mean it in the wrong way. He's one of the strongest people I've ever met. He's brave and bold, smart and astute. And he's genuine and caring and kind and he worries about everyone and he's always there when we need him, no questions asked. He's everything. And it takes a toll on him and he hides it, like for some reason he has to keep it to himself. And he's so good at it that most times we don't notice, or if we do he'll brush it off and we'll end up forgetting something ever happened. Being so strong makes him fragile and I don't know if he can keep it hidden this time. He looks up to you and he expects you to listen. You should hear him out, for both your sakes. I think you owe him that much."

They stay quiet for a while, pondering her words. The sheriff only whispers. "You know that part of what's going on is about you too, right?"

Lydia nods, pursing her lips. "I'm making my amends. You should make yours."

"Fair enough. I'll talk to him tonight," the man mumbles as Lydia starts walking past him to leave the kitchen. "And Lydia," she turns around, "thank you."

xxxxxxxxxx

Lydia wanders through the hallways of Stiles' house in a very slow pace, her mind somewhere else. She did not just practically blurt out to his dad that she's in love with Stiles, right? Where the hell did she even find so many qualities in him? Sure, she can find more. Funny, cute, endearing, slightly annoying, adorable, attractive... No. no, no. This is not happening!

She stumbles twice on her way upstairs and forgets to make a turn, almost walking into a wall. By the time she gets to his room, she's focusing intently on how she's supposed to place her feet on the ground, step by step, one foot in front of the other, looking down not to fall. How stupid is that even? It's so stupid that that's the reason why she doesn't notice that Stiles is already in his room only in his boxers, looking for something to wear.

Stiles knows something is wrong almost immediately because Lydia just walked into his room, didn't knock on the door and is looking down at her feet like she lost something and is looking for it, a strange look on her face. It seems like she didn't even see him.

"Lydia?"

She jumps so quickly she might have even let out a squeal, she's not sure. Her cheeks turn to a shameful shade of pink. "Stiles, what the hell?" She starts breathing rapidly. "What are you doing here?" Wow, that sounded ridiculous even to her.

"Hmm... I could ask you the same thing because last time I checked this was my room."

"God, you scared me." Lydia places one hand on her chest like that will make her breathe better, maybe give her some clarity, she hopes.

"Then I guess it's a good thing you didn't come in like 30 seconds ago, because I was completely naked," he chuckles. If Lydia was already blushing, now she's completely red, rendered speechless. Stiles is quick to put on some trousers; mostly because it's cold, partly because he's self-conscious. It's not like it bothers him that pretty much every guy from the pack has this need to show their naked selves to the general public, and it's also not like Stiles isn't fit because he is. He just doesn't really see the point of having to show off for everyone. Noticing that Lydia is in the exact same spot she was a minute ago, Stiles raises an eyebrow, curious. "What, am I too hot for you?"

Lydia gasps, looking at him like she's never seen Stiles before in her life, checking him out from head to toe. She doesn't even hide it. Stiles has to call her name twice before she even realizes he is talking to her. Her coherent thoughts are failing her. "W- What?"

Stiles feels utterly exposed at the way she's studying him so he puts on a t-shirt and a hoodie, running his fingers through his hair in a failed attempt to make it more presentable. While he did so, Lydia got closer and she is still looking at him completely dazzled. "Lydia, are you okay?"

She barely murmurs. "I don't know."

"What do you mean, you don't know?" he asks, amused.

Her voice comes out hoarse. "I don't know." She really doesn't because it has to be the tether. The second she laid eyes on him she felt the urge to jump him right there and it's taking her all she's not to do something about it. Yes, she had noticed how good looking he was before, and yes, she had already thought about him in that mildly dirty little mind of hers but never has it felt like this. Like he's the ocean and she's desperate to drown. And she's really, really desperate.