Lydia has been spending every evening of the week buried in her books. The finals were near and she didn’t have enough time to study. She was too busy learning more about her family, trying to save the supernatural of Beacon Hills, including herself, and being chased and knocked down my a Berserker. She learned that her grandmother was also a banshee and she thought that maybe that was the reason why they got along so well. She smiled at the thought of her grams. She loved her so much, maybe even more than she loved her own mother. She loved being called Ariel instead of her real name because it made me her feel as beautiful and strong as the little mermaid. The books were pilled up all around the room and Lydia was sitting cross-legged on the floor with a giant Chemistry book and a highlighter in her hands.
Even though she didn’t seem like the type, Lydia was a nerd. She was really smart and knew everything about Maths, History and every other subject; she even spoke Spanish fluently. But at that moment she really hated studying and wishes that she could be somewhere else. Ever since she gave Deputy Parrish the “Beastiary” it has been sitting in the top drawer of his desk. She’s promised that she’d help me figure out what he was, but the two of them got caught up in their own business since then. Parrish told her over the phone that he wouldn’t go anywhere near the book unless she was there because he was too nervous about the whole thing. He was worried about the possibility of him being some really evil creature that would turn on everyone once he turns. So he has been keeping himself busy doing normal(-ish) police work.
Her phone rang. It was Malia.
“Stiles says that he wants to join!”
Lydia has promised that she’d let her in on her studying methods and give Malia her notes if she’d start being more serious about it.
She rolled her eyes. Helping the coyote was already hard enough and if Stiles joined, it would be a nightmare. But she wasn’t going to say no.
“Alright. We’ll meet at Stiles’. You better bring some food. I didn’t eat a thing since breakfast.”
“Chinese?”
“Chinese.”
She hang up and packed some studying material in her bag.
She drove alone to the Stilinski’s house and got there at the same time as the couple. They were holding bags, which meant that they got the food.
“Oh, look who’s here!” Stiles greeted her with his usual goofy smile. She couldn’t believe that she almost, yes almost, had a thing for him.
“We got the food. I don’t understand what you guys like about fish.”
“Hello to you too! I’m very fine, thank you so much!” Lydia joked while slipping her keys in her bag.
“Come on! We’ve got some weird food to eat and even weirder things to study.” Stiles said while opening the door.
Mr. Stilinski wasn’t home, so Lydia guessed that he was still at the station.
Stiles cleared the dinner table and motioned for his girlfriend to take a seat and unpack the food bags while Lydia made herself at home. She has spent a lot of time in this house, maybe even more time that she’s spent in her own room.
“Food first, physics later!” Announced Malia, holding up sticks in both hands. Stiles brought plates and cups.
Lydia was starving before she came here, but now she was just too exhausted to eat so she took small bites while watching her friends dig into their fried rice. There was something about being around those two that made her feel a certain ease and peace inside. They went through a lot, but they still managed to move on as if they were never near the edge of death. They were like two giant babies, and she liked that.
They heard the front door open.
“The sheriff’s in the house!” Stiles spoke with a full mouth.
She rolled her eyes at him. Malia wasn’t giving anyone but her food all the attention. It wasn’t as great as deer, aka her favorite food, but for some reason she loved rice.
Mr. Stilinski stood in the entry with a big smile on his face.
“I didn’t know we had guests. Hello, girls!” He spoke.
“Hi, sheriff!” Lydia replied, Malia just smiled and waved.
“Did you catch any bad guys today, dad?” Stiles asked.
“Yes, it was a long day. I hope that you’ve brought extra food.”
“Of course I did.”
“Great because I’ve brought my own guest.”
Deputy Parrish showed up behind Stiles’ dad.
“Oh, hi, guys!” he greeted, unsure about where to stand or what to do.
Lydia’s heart skipped a beat and she almost choked on her food. He looked very different from the last time she saw him. His hair has grown a bit longer, his eyes were swollen but kept their shine, he looked fitter and stronger and he had a beard now. That’s what you get for devoting your free time to working with Chris Argent.
“Parrish! Join us!” Stiles spoke.
The sheriff took a seat across from Stiles and Jordan was seated next to Malia. He noticed Lydia’s bag and the books that she left on the little table in the corner.
“You guys are still studying for your finals?” He asked.
“Yup! We gotta do what we gotta do. No one’s giving us extra points for saving the town.” Stiles answered.
“Stiles and I tried to study on our own, but we weren’t making any progress. He’s even worse than I and I’m the one who’s been living in the woods. “ Malia spoke.
Stiles shot her a “how dare you?” face and she shrugged.
They laughed as they finished their dinner.
“Did you make any progress on finding out what you are, Jordan?” Stiles asked.
“Not really,” Parrish turned to Lydia, “I can’t really go through the Beastiary. I know that I sound pathetic, but I guess you could say that I’m not ready to find out what I am.”
“I have promised to help. I’ve just been caught up with studying and stuff.” Lydia spoke while cleaning the table.
“I’ll help.” He grabbed some of the plates and followed her to the kitchen.
She staked the dishes in the sink. He grabbed a water bottle from the fridge and stood against it.
“You look different and tired.”
“I could say the same thing about you.”
“What have Argent been making you do?”
“He’s been helping me train and get stronger while I helped him look for Kate.”
“Right.”
“You’ve been overworking yourself, Lydia. Getting A’s is not worth it. You’ve been through a lot and you shouldn’t worry so much about school.”
“You don’t understand. I don’t want to spend the rest of my days worrying about who’s dying next. Plus, I won’t be getting paid for being a Banshee. I have to go to college and get an actual job.”
“Your mom is the director, right? Maybe if you somehow manage to explain everything to her, she’ll understand and maybe get teachers to help you.”
“She won’t understand, she won’t listen. She didn’t believe my grandmother and she certainly won’t believe me. And I don’t want to drag her into this.”
“I see..”
“You sir is very selfish. You only want me to abandon my books so I can be free to help you.”
He laughed and took a step away from the fridge sipping on the bottle.
“Right!”
“That beard makes you look like Argent 2.0 by the way.” She joked.
“You think?” He was now standing closer and she was able to see deep in his eyes. She nodded.
“So you hate it?”
“I didn’t say that.” She titled her head to the side smiling.
The longer she stared into his eyes the more she felt the warmth of his gaze overwhelming her.
“Are we going to study or what?” Malia showed up behind the door with a pencil in her mouth. “Am I interrupting?”
Jordan smiled at her and then at Lydia.
“I was just leaving.”
