𝚍𝚛𝚞𝚐𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚖𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚢 | 𝚝𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚠𝚘𝚕𝚏 [1]

the winter formal

They thought she looked stunning, of course they all wanted to tell her, though only one of them got there first.

•••

"You look gorgeous." Austin gushed, his eyes shining with adoration while he stared at the, more than uncomfortable, teen. The dress she wore showed off her tattoos more than anything else she wore, he was glad he could finally see her sleeve.

She fiddles the ends of her dress, glancing down at it before looking up at him,

"I would hope so. It took a while to choose."

There was a hidden message behind her words, and Austin immediately caught it. He could tell that she thought it looked weird that she, of all people, was wearing a dress.

"I mean it, Ry." He took a step forward, gently taking hold of her hands. He shivered at the feeling of her cold rings pressing against his warm hands. "You look beautiful."

"You look good too." She complimented, "You matched the blues very well."

He laughs, his head tilting back as he does so.

The girl smiles softly in at the action, quietly staring into his eyes before releasing one of his hands and directing him towards the entrance way.

•••

While it was abundantly clear that Jackson had gotten ahold of the punch and spiked it, Ryder hadn't even thought about drinking any until it was offered to her. Deep down, she wanted to get some, only then realizing that she wanted to remember this night. And any other night she was to have with Austin after this.

She didn't even comprehend that she didn't have a sip of alcohol since Austin had moved to Beacon Hills. While she had been slightly tempted since then, the last actual drink she had was from the night of Lydia's back to school party.

She was pretty proud of herself.

She wouldn't consider herself an alcoholic, but she did tend to drink when she got stressed. Not that it was any better, but she had been smoking more. A lot less when she was with people she loved and cared about, but she still lit a cigarette when she was alone with her thoughts.

Speaking of thoughts, she was pulled out of her own when a manicured hand grasped her wrist.

"Can I talk to you?"

Her content expression fell when Lydia came into her line of vision.

Ryder's eyes look around for Austin, the boy having left for a minute to get her a water. She had come to the conclusion that, with him somehow getting caught up with Stiles, it would take a while before he came back.

Sighing to herself, she nodded in the Martin's direction.

"Sure."

•••

"I like your dress." Lydia says, her green eyes showing nothing but honesty.

"Thank you." Ryder spoke in appreciation, though she was still cautious, "Is this part where you pretend to be nice and then all of a sudden i have punch in my hair?"

Lydia chuckles, "We aren't in a movie, Ryder."

"Okay, then." She nods, tapping her hands against the table they sat at.

"I wanted to thank you." At her frown, the strawberry blonde elaborates, "For helping me... the other day. You know, when Jackson broke up with me."

"Riiight." The Miller drug out nodding her head in remembrance, not bothering to correct her and say he dumped her. "Don't even worry about it."

"No, no, seriously. If you hadn't shown up, I don't think anyone else would have."

Ryder couldn't help but snort, "You realize that you're part of the reason why no one does, right?"

"Meaning?"

The girl in the silver dress appeared to be genuinely confused.

"Lydia, you are by far the smartest idiot i have ever met." Ryder laughs.

The sound was oddly pretty, especially considering how scratchy it came out. Lydia almost forgot what they were talking about.

"As nicely as I can put this... you don't come off as a nice person."

The shorter girl sighs, "I'm trying to be better."

"Yeah, you're about six years too late."

"Give me the benefit out the doubt, Ryder." Lydia pleaded.

"I did." Ryder said, her brown eyes dimming the more the spoke, "I did for years. There's only so much hate someone can take, Lydia."

"I know it's not worth much, but I'm sorry. Truly."

"Yeah." She whispered, getting up from her seat, careful not to trip in the God awful heels her mother begged her to wear.

•••

"Hey!" Austin chirped, "I saw you were talking to Lydia, I didn't want to interrupt. I got your water, unfortunately there was only sparkling, so you'll— what's wrong?"

"Nothings wrong." The promised, inhaling as she plastered a smile on her face.

Boy was that spiked punch looking good right now. Her hands shook as she took the bottle beverage from his hands, smiling thankfully in his direction.

"Do you wanna dance?" Austin suggested, watching carefully as her eyes travel to the group of fellow students surrounding the drink table.

"I don't really dance." The girl shut him down, however, not wanting to completely ruin his night, she suggested something else, "But we can awkwardly stand in the middle of the gym and sway to this horrible music."

His fallen expression immediately lifted, not thinking for a second before his hand took hers and dragged her to the dance floor.

It suddenly felt as though all eyes were them, he didn't mind, but her arms tightened around his shoulders in anxiousness.

Austin could only step forward, adjusting her position.

Ryder gasped at the feeling of his hands on her waist. It's happened before, but this time felt different.

Their eyes met, neither wanting to look away, only Ruder did for a split second to glance at his lips. She could only hope he didn't notice.

He did.