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The week before last he’d taken her bowling, last week he’d taken her ice-skating, and this week Stiles had taken Malia to their diner. That was the last straw; Lydia couldn’t take it anymore, she couldn’t stand to have one more conversation about how great Malia and Stiles’ relationship was; it was endless, Malia was endless. Everyday she would find Kira and Lydia and then go through everything that had happened between her and Stiles; she realises that the only friends that she used to have had fur, but Lydia doesn’t know what she wants to do more: perforate her eardrums and render herself deaf, or rip Malia’s vocal cords out. Never mind the endless conversations, the thought, let alone the sight, of the couple make Lydia feel sick; it felt like a cord wrapped round her heart was being pulled, she felt like she couldn’t breathe, and always there was the tell tale burn of tears; but she wasn’t jealous, no, just angry. She could deal with Stiles bailing on their research a couple of times, but taking Malia to their diner? That was going too far.
And so Lydia found herself pacing with rage in front of her laptop ranting to Allison via Skype, yet again.
“It’s just he’s taking her to all of our hangouts, Allison!”
Allison raised her eyebrows, “Your hangouts?”
Lydia spun round to face her in frustration, “Yes Allison, our hangouts.”
“You know Lydia, it kind of sounds like you might be jealous.”
Lydia scoffed, “Please, like I’d be jealous of Malia, five weeks ago she was a coyote, and you should have seen the way she dressed! Now she dresses exactly like me, it’s weird.” Allison sighed mumbling, “You’re not jealous and de Nile is just a river in Egypt,”
“What?”
“Nothing, anyway I thought you said you were gonna be nice to Malia?”
“Yeah well that was until she decided to go on and on and on about her and Stiles,” There’s a brief pause before Lydia starts up her rant again, “You know they met in Eichen House? Uh huh, that’s were they first hooked up, nearly went all the way as well, despite having known each other for all of TWO minutes! And in a mental institution as well, since when is a mental institution a good place to start a healthy relationship?”
“Well where do you think a good place is to start a healthy relationship?” Allison asks in, what both Stiles and Lydia call her ‘therapist’ voice, Lydia shrugs,
“I don’t know – a school dance, or on a double date at an ice rink, or in his bedroom when your researching totally stupid things because you feel like it and you like being around him and – ” Lydia broke off suddenly,
“Oh my god Allison I’m jealous.”
“Uh huh.” Allison gave a wry smile and nodded, blinking in response Lydia collapsed on her chair, “Allison?”
“Yeah Lydia?” Allison answered, slight concern leaking into her voice,
“I think I’m in love with Stiles Stilinski.”
“I thought you might be, kind of have for a while.”
Lydia’s head snapped up to face her friend on screen, “And you still chose to move to France and leave me here without a best friend!”
Allison let out a laugh, “Lydia stop being so dramatic; my wifi’s so good here it’s like I’m practically in the room.” Groaning Lydia moved from her chair to her bed, “It’s so unfair why do you get to be in Paris surrounded by good looking French distractions, and I’m stuck here in love with a boy who’s got a girlfriend.”
“Please Lydia I’m here with Isaac –”
“Like that's any difference.” Lydia mumbles into her mattress.
After her conversation with Allison and her subsequent realisation, Lydia decided that the safest course of action for all parties involved was to avoid Stiles and Malia (both together and apart) at all costs. Of course this meant that finding a place to eat lunch could become a struggle in itself but it was worth it, and besides Danny’s still her friend, she would manage.
Lydia’s disappearing act didn’t go unnoticed, in fact it was noticed by the one person she was really trying to avoid: Stiles.
“Scott, do you know what’s up with Lydia?”
“Huh?” Scott pulled his head out of his locker and blinked in confusion at Stiles, “Lydia, do you know what’s up with her?”
Scott frowned, “What do you mean?” Stiles sighed, “I mean she’s been avoiding me.”
“I’m sure she hasn’t been avoiding you – ”
“She doesn’t eat lunch with us anymore, she says she’s never free to do any research, but she turns up to pack meetings with a whole new stack of information, she practically runs away from any chance that I might have to talk to her – I tried to talk to her in the hallway yesterday, she pretended she didn’t hear me.”
“Maybe she really didn’t hear you – ”
“We were all of two feet away from each other!”
Scott sighed, shutting his locker before placing a hand on his best friend’s shoulder, “Look I can try and find out if Allison knows anything if you want.”
Stiles smiled, “Thanks man, I just don’t know what I could’ve done to upset her.”
Scott shrugs; he might not know what he could have done, but Scott knows that for a guy with a girlfriend, Stiles really shouldn’t care so much.
And so Scott found himself screen to screen with his ex-girlfriend, it wasn’t awkward, in fact, after Lydia, Scott Skyped Allison the most out of the group.
“So do you know what’s wrong with Lydia?” Scott finished his recount of his conversation with Stiles,
“Oh she’s in love with him –” Allison answers without thinking, “Oh god I probably shouldn’t have told you that, this probably breaks so many best friend rules.” But Scott was still frowning in confusion at her first statement, “How can she be in love with him, she’s treating him like she did back at the start of sophomore year?”
Allison smiled softly, “Trust me Scott, she is. If you want proof, listen to Lydia whenever she’s around Stiles, listen, and trust your wolfy senses.” She ends with a wink.
“You’ve spent way too much time with Stiles.”
Still Scott took Allison’s advice, and decided to tail Lydia around the school, listening to her when ever she caught sight of Stiles; listening to the sighs that escaped, listening to her heart beat faster, the way she held her breath if she caught his eye. There was no denying it: Lydia Martin was in love with his best friend.
It was while Scott was listening that he overheard two very important conversations. One, between Lydia and Allison on the phone in the computer lab, which went like this:
“That’s it! I can’t take it anymore, I’m moving to France.”
“Lydia, what have we said about being dramatic,”
“I don’t care! I’m moving to France, you have that spare room right? And it’s not like my parents would really care,”
“Fine, but I still think you’re being ridiculous, but I guess I’ll indulge you,”
Scott wasn’t able to catch anymore as he was pulled into a conversation with Coach, but it was enough for him to worry about. The second conversation he overheard was between Kira and Lydia, which went like this:
“Have you done Coach’s homework yet?” Kira said, going through her locker with a slight frown on her face,
“No, and I don’t care, I’m going to Paris!” Lydia said excitement clear on her face,
“Really?”
Lydia nodded, “Yes! I have the tickets and everything, I leave the day after tomorrow.”
Oh no. Scott needed to find Stiles and fast.
Stiles’ mind reeled as Scott told him his news: Lydia was leaving. Lydia was moving in with Allison halfway across the world, and she hadn’t even told him. He was sure that after everything they’d been through, she owed him that at least. The more he thought about Lydia leaving the more he realised that he had failed miserably in his attempt to get over her and let go of his feelings, and he didn’t care; all he wanted to do was to stop Lydia from getting on that plane and leaving Beacon Hills, and him, behind.
And so Stiles found himself running desperately through the tiny airport closest to Beacon Hills, bypassing various matters of security (it helped that, most of the airport security staff were friends of his dad, and he’d called ahead to warn them about what his son was going to do), searching for a head of strawberry blonde hair. Just when he thought that she must have already gotten on an earlier flight, that the information Allison gave Scott was wrong, that she must have already left without saying goodbye; he saw her, standing in the middle of the departure lounge waiting for her boarding gate number to appear.
“Lydia!” She turned to face him at the sound of his voice, surprise taking precedence over the rest of her emotions at the sight of him,
“Lydia,” He was only a few feet away from her now, “Lydia, please don’t go.”
“What?” She frowned slightly,
“Please don’t go, you can’t move to France,” Lydia looked as though she was going to interrupt but Stiles wouldn’t let her, “And I know you’re probably wondering why I think that I have any right to try and control what you do considering everything with Malia, I probably shouldn’t care this much to try and stop you, and I probably shouldn’t have cared so much that you avoided me, but I do, because I care about you.” He took a deep breath, clenching and unclenching his fists to try and calm himself down. “I’ve been such an idiot, I thought that going out with Malia would help me let go of my feelings for you but, it didn’t; we broke up yesterday, well, she broke up with me, turns out she’s kind of more into Kira now than she is me, if you know what I mean,” He lets out a short laugh and runs a hand through his hair, “Of course you know what I mean, you always do, you’re you; you’re a genius, and you’re beautiful, even when you cry – no especially when you cry, you’re my anchor and I love you.” He pauses smiling to himself, only now daring to look her in the eye,
“I don’t think I’ve ever properly said it to you, but I do. The Earth is round, the sky is blue and I love you Lydia Martin.”
Stiles steps closer to her, taking her hand in his, “So please, I’m begging you, don’t get on that plane.”
Lydia smiles, bringing up her other hand to wipe away the tears that had appeared in response to his declaration, “You are an idiot, I’m only going for the weekend, I’m back on Tuesday.”
“What? But Scott said?”
“Scott must have misheard when he was eavesdropping.”
“So you’re not moving to France?” Lydia shakes her head, “No I’m not moving to France – ” Before she can say anymore Stiles’ arms are around her and he’s spinning her round in his joy, peppering her with kisses and ‘I love you’s, when a voice calls out,
“SO DO YOU LOVE HIM?”
This stops the pair, Stiles may have declared his undying love for her but how does Lydia feel about him?
Lydia looks up at him, a small smile on her face as she answers, “Yes. Yes I do.”
“WELL THEN KISS HER!”
Stiles grins, before he pulls her even closer, winding a hand in her hair, and presses his lips to hers.
That's when the slow clapping starts.