Not a Valentine's date

Chapter 19

Lydia ditches Liam not five minutes later, saying she'd rather see Melissa instead of the school's nurse. It would raise suspicions and Lydia would have to explain how she got hurt like that. Liam hesitates seeing that Stiles was pretty clear – and not that he'll admit it out loud but, to the beta, Stiles is like a second alpha -, but Lydia insists and he ends up letting her go without him.

Melissa doesn't say much about it. When she asks Lydia what happened, the redhead only replies "Malia" and Scott's mom thinks it's best to not push the matter for the moment. Cleaning the wound and closing it, Melissa wraps Lydia's forearm in bandages and gives Lydia some pills for the pain. The redhead ends up skipping school for the rest of the day.

She doesn't let Stiles know that she met with Melissa or that she went home right after, mostly because during the whole afternoon Stiles didn't say anything either. However he's dealing with Malia, it sets a disconcerting feeling under Lydia's skin for Stiles hasn't said anything back to her and she can't help but to let her mind wander, to read into the unknown. Maybe Stiles just can't get to his phone, she knows that, but maybe he's sorting things out with Malia. It was his first breakup after all and it's probably not that farfetched that he'd be torn, maybe actually consider giving Malia another chance and if that's the case, Lydia is not only going to let him do his mistakes by himself as she'll also not mess with it. It's not fair that she'd come between them when their relationship is none of her concern, the same way she told Malia that her own relationship with Stiles was none of the other girl's business, the difference being that Stiles actually had a relationship with Malia and not Lydia. And it's also Lydia's fault that this happened. The coyote might have started their argument but she incited the fight and it's starting to make the redhead reevaluate her choices. She can only hope her friendship with the boy is not lost again.

The guilt that Lydia feels because she might have done more harm than good by (sort of) admitting her feelings for Stiles consumes her as she lies awake on her bed until dinner time. Even after she eats, she finds herself with her back against her mattress for a little while longer. She doesn't move, barely breathes and her mind just won't stop visiting the memories from the last few days. She only comes out of her reverie when her phone starts beeping, and for the better part of the next half hour Stiles calls her non-stop; she doesn't pick up. And it's stupid, she knows, that she's actually behaving like a brat but she's jealous and she's bitter, and she doesn't want to get hurt with whatever he'll say to her when they eventually speak again. She's scared that because he went for so long without saying anything, things are back where they were between them or worse. She's confused and she can only say that these have been some excruciating hours.

She knows it's not an emergency. If it was, other members of the pack would try and reach her, but it's just Stiles. After 19 missed calls and a few text messages, the beeping comes to a halt all of a sudden and that's when Lydia actually starts getting concerned about the situation she put herself in. Because when Stiles started calling her it was probably because he found out that she left school and is mad at her for it, but now that he stopped and hasn't tried to reach her for over twenty minutes, what does it mean? What does it mean for them? Time passes and she doesn't come up with a good enough answer for the life of her so, trying not to think about it, Lydia puts her phone on silence and starts getting ready for bed.

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He's mad. Dammit, he's furious. Why the hell hasn't Lydia said anything since he left her? Shit, I left her, he thinks conflicted. He had to, he knows that. No one knows Malia like he does; he's the one who had to make sure the girl wouldn't do something stupid after her argument with Lydia. But at the same time, he shouldn't have left the banshee behind. He's been doing it for so long now, it makes him sick.