The Banshee In Question

Chapter Two: Digital Love

   It had been a couple of days since Calvin drove Lydia home in the rain, a couple of days since she gave him his number and they began texting back and forth. It was nothing serious, just small conversations when she was bored in class, or him sending her a text goodnight when it got late. His timing was perfect, as it always seemed be right as she was climbing into bed.

            After her “disagreement” with Stiles, he’d been avoiding her. They still sat at the same lunch table, still hung out in a group, but he went out of his way to prevent speaking to her. At first it wasn’t a big deal because it was exactly what she needed. He was proving to be nothing but a painful distraction and she’d been trying to get him to leave her alone for a while now. By Thursday it was worse, because she was still forced to watch him with Malia without actually getting any of her own moments with him. They were close to defining their relationship as being “official” and Lydia could tell. As the hours of the day wore on their discretion was minimal, and every small touch was public and unhidden.

            Scott and Kira were only slightly better, as the sight of them didn’t nauseate her. Granted, their involvement with each other made them blind to the rest of the world, but they were happy together and they weren’t unhealthy for each other. Lydia’s heart sunk. Malia wasn’t exactly unhealthy for Stiles either, but she could pretend to make herself feel a little bit better.

            Neither Scott nor Kira noticed the tension between either of their friends. It wasn’t even just that Scott was oblivious to, but Lydia’s anger at him. He still hadn’t realized that he’d completely forgotten about her on Monday and that she was forced to walk bare feet in the pouring rain. He must’ve just assumed she’d have a ride.

            Now Lydia was carrying her lunch, brought from the deli of course, to their usual table. Scott, Kira and Stiles were already there, laughing about something. Kira sneakily stole a small carrot stick from her boyfriend, swabbing it in his ranch and popping it into her mouth. The strawberry haired teen didn’t bother to fight her smile at the Kitsune’s trickster abilities being used for something so innocent.

            Lydia placed her chef salad on the table across from Stiles, seeing as Scott and Kira were already seated across from each other. The sound gained his attention, his eyes flickering up to notice her presence before quickly returning back to his burger. He took a large bite to avoid being forced to speak to her.

            “Wow, do they sell that here?” Kira asked, pushing at the salad with one finger as if it were a foreign object.

            “As if I buy my lunches from here,” Lydia scoffed. “Pedro at the delicatessen makes my food every day, has since middle school. If you want, I can get you a discount,” she suggested with a lift of her shoulders.

            “Yeah! That would be awesome.” Kira’s face brightened, pleased to see Lydia doing slightly better today.

            Scott smiled at the two girls, flattening his hand against Kira’s upper back and rubbing soothingly. Her soft dark hair tickled the tips of his fingers, as if she too were caressing him. She and Lydia were getting along well, and he could see that he was right to assume their minor argument on Monday had been nothing. Part of him still wondered who gave Lydia the package, but he knew it was none of his business.

            “Where’s…” She was going to ask Stiles about his special friend’s lateness, which was unusual considering Malia’s fondness for human food, but then remembered that they were not on speaking terms. Her voice trailed off and she focused on her food instead, popping off the lid.