Stiles pulled the jeep up to Lydia's house. He hesitated for a minute, his foot heavily on the break before sighing and turning the jeep into Lydia's driveway. He parked, killed the engine and sat there for a solid minute. It was late; he reached for his cell phone pushing the button on the side so it would light up. After ten...Stiles had wanted to come sooner, but he was helping Malia study. He'd driven her home a little while ago though and made his way straight to Lydia's.
Stiles glanced at the notebook on his passenger seat, not entirely sure why he was stalling. It wasn't like he never showed up at Lydia's house unannounced, he did all the time. Or well, he used to. Lately they'd both been busy with things and outside of school, Mexico, and the whole mini Derek debacle he hadn't seen much of her.
He ran a hand through his hair and shook his head. He was being an idiot. Stiles reached over and grabbed the notebook from the passenger side seat, pushed open the door and practically fell out of the jeep. He righted himself immediately and pushed the door shut, the sound echoing through the quiet night.
He tugged on the zip up sweater he wore pulling it closed a little with one hand, but not zipping it up. It wasn't that cold. Stiles walked up the driveway with purpose. He was after all there for a reason and no, it wasn't the notebook full of gibberish, though that was as good of an excuse as any. He wasn't going to over-analyze why he felt like he needed an excuse to stop by Lydia's. That was a conundrum he could ponder at another time.
Stiles got to the door and he was just about to lift a hand and knock, when to his surprise the door was pulled open. The surprising thing wasn't the fact that apparently Lydia's banshee abilities now included knowing when someone was at the door before they knocked, but the large Derek Hale shaped werewolf in the doorway.
Derek was facing Lydia, a book clutched in his hand. "Thanks again for tonight," He said his tone quiet. He'd stopped by a little earlier to ask for her help translating something accidentally interrupting her diner. Instead of turning him away she'd invited him inside, fed him, and translated the pages he'd needed help with. He'd made awkward conversation with her until she broke the tension with a comment about the teenager version of him. After that she'd somehow managed to pry out of him what happened with Kate, how the last week had gone looking for her, and his frustration with Braeden. It had been a long time since he'd actually talked to someone, like really talked and it wasn't terrible.
Lydia sent Derek a genuine smile, "Any time," she told him sincerely as she reached out resting a hand on his arm and giving it a light squeeze. Derek showing up had been a surprise, but honestly she'd been feeling slightly more lonely than usual lately so instead of sending him on his way, she invited him in and they'd actually had a decent, intellectual conversation. He even managed to get her to talk about what had been going on lately with her abilities and her in general. It had been nice to get a few things off her chest.
Lydia finally glanced towards the open door and a startled look crossed her face. "Stiles, hey," she said though the confusion was clear in her tone.
Derek glanced over at Stiles and nodded, "Hi." He'd known the teenager was there, which was why he'd told Lydia it was getting late and he should go.
Stiles stood there mouth agape. He closed it quickly as he glanced between them, "Hey, I didn't realize you had company." He felt his chest constrict as his heartbeat slammed against his chest. He gripped the notebook tighter in his mildly sweaty palm and he wondered what the hell was wrong with him.
Lydia arched an eyebrow in his direction letting her hand fall from Derek's arm. "Derek was just heading out." She explained.
Derek nodded shifting forward, his brows lifting, "Did you want me to walk around you?" He asked mildly amused. He could smell the stench of jealousy coming from the boy in front of him and he had to stop himself from smirking. And to think Lydia thought he didn't care about her anymore.
