and all i need is next to me

Chapter 2: and all i need is next to me

The kitchen is a mess. Flour ends up everywhere, even the cupboards on top of the sink. The stovetop is splattered with pancake mix and the majority of the pancake batter is on Scott and Lydia themselves.

"SCOTT, ugh!"

Scott is covering his mouth, trying to stop his giggling but he can't help but let out a laugh at Lydia's murderous expression.

"This isn't funny, McCall. My clothes are ruined!", Lydia says as she looks down and tries to wipe off anything and everything on her clothes. It's entirely counterproductive because her hands are also covered in pancake batter.

Scott is full on laughing because Lydia is a little bit frightening in her rage but this is offset by her current situation which is clothes covered in flour, hair sticking at odd angles--her carefully styled hair (Scott knows it's carefully styled, he once accompanied his mom to the hair stylist and it was the longest hour of his 8 year old life...anyway, how did it escape bedhead?)-- and there's pancake batter on her face too.

So all in all, Lydia's deadly glare is not really effective.

Scott takes a deep breath, actually several deep breaths to compose himself. Lydia has crossed her arms and is now looking expectantly at him.

Scott inclines his head to the side, holds out his hands in a placating gesture and says, "Look, you can take a bath and I'll put your clothes in the washing machine, okay?"

Lydia doesn't answer but just raises an eyebrow imperiously.

Scott tries again, "I'm sorry about the mess. But I can get them dry-cleaned if you want."

He'll manage to get them dry-cleaned even if it will seriously hurt his savings. I'll find a way, he promises in his head. He's regretting throwing a handful of flour at her but he couldn't stop himself. The opportunity was there and Scott just couldn't let it go to waste.

Lydia has had too many bad days, he reasons to himself. An Alpha has to take care of his pack members.

[Besides, Lydia was frowning too often and needed to loosen up. But he's not going to say that if anyone asks him why he threw flour at Lydia Martin. Nope, mouth is zipped shut and locked and the key has been thrown away.]

Lydia purses her lips and prolongs the silence to watch Scott squirm and a worried expression to slowly appear on his face.