—
They had driven in different cars to get to Derek's subway. Neither Stiles nor Austin wanted to deal with leaving their vehicles in the school parking lot.
Ryder had sat in the passenger seat of Austin's car, the boy in the drivers seat while Scott and Stiles brought the girl to get checked on by Derek.
She could sense the unusual amount of tension forming between the two the longer they sat in silence, and it was irritating her, to say the least.
"What is wrong with you?"
"Nothing, nothings wrong." He shook his head, "Actually... were you being serious? About being my girlfriend?"
She smiled, an airy chuckle leaving her lips, "Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"
"After what I did?"
Ryder frowned. She knew he had been on the side of people that hadn't been treating her the best lately, but she wouldn't put that against him. It's not like he went out of his way to disrespect her, or completely shove her feelings aside. He wasn't in the wrong in her eyes. In actuality, even if Austin had a different opinion, he would still do his best to hear her out.
In fact, none of them were really in the wrong. They were just stating their opinions. While they could have went about being a lot nicer to her, she could still see their side. She just chose to be a bitch about it.
Ryder completely understood that people were entitled to their own opinions, even if they were wrong. There wasn't much she could do except allow them to get embarrassed, but that didn't mean she was going to take the disrespect that came with it.
Austin never did anything to hurt her. She knew that in the process of understanding the supernatural, he just happened to make friends with the people that she stop hanging out with. There was nothing really wrong with that. And she didn't blame him, once upon a time, she was the one having fun with Scott and Stiles.
"You didn't do anything wrong."
The George teen shook his head, "Except I did. I had no right to treat you so badly after you've been nothing but nice to me."
Ryder held back a wince, instead choosing to respond to the first part, "You're acting like you killed my dog."
"I wouldn't—"
"I don't have a dog." Ryder sighed, rubbing her hand against her face, "You know, you're lucky you're pretty, because there isn't a lot going on up there."
"Did you just call me dumb?"
He was disbelief. He was trying to apologize to the girl and she was calling him an idiot. Granted, he was book smart and nothing else, that didn't mean he was completely oblivious.
"I said yes to being your girlfriend because I want to be your girlfriend." The blonde admitted, "Everything bad that has happened over the course of a few months is out the window. Me being mad at Scott and Stiles is out the window, I just like to watch them wallow in self pity every time i bring it up."
He couldn't help but laugh softly.
"I still feel like I owe you an apology." He whispered, if it hadn't been for her wolf hearing, she probably would have missed it.
"Would it make you feel better if I let you?"
"Yeah."
"Okay." She laughed out, dropping her expression completely afterwards, "Then apologize."
"Oh! We're getting into character." He cleared his throat, "Ryder, I am so sorry for everything that I have done to upset you, or anger you, or anything that didn't make you happy. You didn't deserve any of the treatment I, or anyone else, gave you. And I apologize for that, one hundred percent."
He took her hand, placing it gently to his chest, even though she could hear the beating quite clearly from where she sat, "I wholeheartedly apologize for being an asshole. An asshole that will admit that even if I like mint chocolate chip ice cream, I will admit defeat and say that dulce de leche is just a little bit better."
By the end of his rant, Ryder was hunched over in laughter. Her cheeks were red as she had grown flustered over his words. Her brown eyes shone brightly as she looked over at him with a smile.
"Apology accepted."
Austin smiled, so bright that Ryder didn't want to look away. He was hesitant, but pushed his nerves aside as he leaned over a placed a kiss to the corner of her mouth, almost as if he were testing how she'd react.
It had been a few weeks since they actually kissed, it made him wonder if he had done something wrong before.
His breath hitches as she placed a cold hand to the side of his neck, turning his head slightly, her lips touching his. He inhaled, pushing himself forward so he wasn't completely leant up on the cup holder in between them.
The new couple was startled by knocking on Ryder's window. The pulled away in confusion, glancing over to see Scott and Stiles standing there with awkward looks on their faces.
Rolling down the window, Ryder purses her lips, "What?"
"Sorry to interrupt, Erica's fine, by the way. Derek broke her arm."
Austin sat up, "Good, that's good— Not that her arm got broken but—"
"We know what you mean."
"Ryder."
Her eyes travel to Scott, wondering why he was speaking to her.
"Can we talk?"
"I don't—"
"Yes!" Stiles cut in, opening Ryder's door and gently luring her out, "You guys can talk. My cars unlocked."
•••
The silence was deafening.
The only noise was the sound of Stiles and Austin's chatter from the other car.
Ryder was growing frustrated, but she could tell that the McCall was trying to figure out how he wanted to say whatever he brought her over for, and she didn't want to interrupt him.
"I'm sorry."
Ryder could've sworn the roof of Roscoe damn near caved in.
"I'm sorry, for a lot of things, actually." Scott muttered, "I'm sorry for being a bad friend when we were friends, I'm sorry for not listening to you and completely putting you and your feelings aside. I shouldn't have done that, and I might have been stressed but I realize that I still shouldn't have treated you that way."
Ryder hummed, tilting her head as she thought over his words.
"You don't have to accept it, and you definitely don't have apologize for anything—"
"Oh, I wasn't going to."
Scott shook his head, "All i ask is that you understand that i didn't mean to hurt or disrespect you in any way."
Scott looked over at her, shocked at the small smile that took over her features.
"Good." She nodded, putting her hand out for him to grab. "Not the best apology, could have been better. But i'll give you the benefit of the doubt."
"What's that?" He took her hand, brows furrowed in confusion.
"You're the only person who seems to actually want to help this asshole. I can understand why you're so stressed out." She watched Scott sigh in relief, shaking her hand in a truce, only to soon be grunting in pain as his hand is popped out of place, "But next time, I won't be so forgiving."
Scott held his hand to his chest, "Dully noted. Friends?"
She almost immediately shook her head, blonde flyaways falling in her face at the action,
"Maybe not friends, but we can figure something out."