CHAPTER ONE
THE REESE'S DILEMMA
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To say that I hated hospitals would be an understatement. But when one of your best friends happens to be in said hospital, you really don't have much of a choice. Especially when that best friend happens to be Lydia Martin.
She had woken up about three days ago, relieving her parents, the doctors, and friends about her state. When a person is a coma, it's pretty safe to say that most people freak out. Because as the doctors like to remind you every ten minutes, there is always a chance that the patient won't wake up. Unless you're in a movie. If you're in a movie, you always wake up but somehow manage to forget you're married to someone like Channing Tatum. I don't mean to be rude, but how in holy hell do you forget you're married to Channing freaking Tatum?
Anyway, Lydia was healing beautifully as Ms. McCall had stated. It was weird that she was healing like any other human would. She had been bitten by an Alpha and as Peter so calmly put it, the bite either takes you or you die. Scott's bite healed within a day, turning back into his naturally smooth skin. Lydia's bite was starting to scab over. And she wasn't dead.
She was actually able to get up and take her own showers, which the strawberry blonde was excited about. I understood exactly why. After lying in a bed for almost two weeks straight, you kind of want to wash all the gross off.
Lydia had been visited by hoards of people and her room was starting to turn into a flower shop. There were only few people who visited more than once. Her mother, which was a given. Her father also showed up frequently, which was kind of shocking. Lydia and her father hadn't gotten a long at all after the divorce. But then again, she still was his daughter. The other people would be me, Allison, Stiles and Scott. We would come in after school to check up on how she was doing. When she woke up, Allison and I had begun staying longer, so she'd have someone to talk too. Stiles and Scott tended to stick to the hallway, not really used to our strawberry blonde companion and her snarky attitude.
I was currently walking through the halls of Beacon Hills Hospital with two bags dangling from either arm. The left one was filled with some Thai food that Lydia requested seeing as the only appetizing thing the hospital had was water. And the right bag held the outfit Lydia made me go get from her house. She was being extremely pushy about the whole thing, which I was happy about. She was still Lydia, bite or not.
So she had sent me off an hour ago. I had left Stiles behind because he claimed he didn't want to sit around while I dug through Lydia's never ending closet. So I borrowed the keys to his jeep and left.
"I think I'll try defying gravity," I sang quietly. Apparently staying up and watching a Glee marathon wasn't the best option. Now I had that stupid Wicked song in my head.
I made it to the waiting room right outside Lydia's room humming softly. Ms. McCall and Mr. Martin were outside talking quietly. Their gaze was set on my boyfriend. And I wasn't surprised. Stiles was strewn across three of the waiting room chairs, fast asleep; the get well balloon we had brought Lydia was tied around his wrist. He was snoring quietly with an adorable look on his face and it looked like he was muttering softly as well.
"Has he been here all night?" Mr. Martin asked.
"Oh, he's been here all weekend," she laughed. Her eyes landed on me as I made my way over to them. "Carson here drags him here when she goes and visits your daughter."
I smiled. "Hey, Mr. Martin," I said politely.
"He's your boyfriend?" he asked, jabbing a thumb in Stiles' direction.
"Yup," I smiled. I looked down at the bags before shoving them in his direction. "Here, these are for Lydia. The pink bag is some clothes so she can leave in something she'll actually want to wear. And the other one is food, considering hospital food sucks. No offense Ms. McCall."
She shrugged. "Eh, everyone knows it sucks."
I laughed. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go scrape him off the waiting chairs."
I gave them one last smile, before they both departed to different areas. As I made my way over to Stiles' I could begin to hear what he was saying.
"Mmm," he mumbled, puckering his lips. "You first....oh, me first...okay."
A slight moan left his lips and I raised my eyebrows. What the hell was he dreaming about? As another kissing noise left his lips, I shook his shoulder gently. "Stiles, time to get up."
"Mmm, Carson," he murmured. I furrowed my brow, waiting for him to continue. "Oh, Carson. Carson. Oh—Right there...faster. Oh, you're dirty..."
My eyes widened as it finally dawned on me what Stiles was dreaming about. I began blushing furiously, the familiar warmth creeping up in my cheeks. "Stiles!" I yelled, giving a good hard shove to his shoulders.
His hazel eyes snapped open at the sound of my voice and he rolled over quickly before landing on the floor. He landed on his back, letting out a sound of distress. He looked up, seeing me with a raised eyebrow and crossed arms.
"Um, why am I on the floor?" he asked, using the chair to help pull himself up. He struggled slightly, trying to shove the balloon out of his way.
I rolled my eyes, pushing it out of his line of vision. "Oh, I'm sorry. Did I interrupt your little dream?"
He opened his mouth to respond when his hazel eyes widened a little. His mouth formed a little o. "You, uh, heard that?"
"Most of it, yeah," I stated, my cheeks still hot. I sat down in one of the seats he had been recently occupying and he copied my actions, sitting next to me. As if on instinct, his hand reached out to my own, long fingers intertwining with mine. I smiled softly, before resting my head against his shoulder.
"Well, maybe it we weren't stuck in this dumb hospital, I wouldn't be dreaming it," he muttered, probably not intending me to hear.
Rolling my eyes, I said, "Even if we weren't in a hospital, I highly doubt we would be doing that, Stiles."
"Why not? My dad won't be home till late," he said, as if he was trying to con his way into what he wanted. He had that 'come on, please' tone in his voice that children used to get a cookie before dinner.
I pulled my head off his shoulder. "Stiles, no."
"So you're saying you don't want to have sex with me?" he asked bluntly.
I let out a groan; my cheeks which had just started to cool off began warming again. "Stiles, I—we just started going out!"
"So," he began again, this time with his eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. "You're saying that after we've been dating for a while you'll have—"
"Stiles!" I yelled.
He looked me dead in the eye before he seemed to notice my discomfort. "Oh, right. Yeah..."
"Yeah," I agreed.
We sat in silence, my train of thought racing off in millions of directions. I was definitely uncomfortable discussing that particular topic. As Lydia stated a while ago, I was just as much a virgin as Allison. Then again, considering the amount of time she had been sneaking around with Scott recently, I wouldn't be surprised if that ship had sailed.
Stiles and I had only seriously made out once, with his plaid shirt being removed. And then freaking Peter Hale had to ruin it by taking Ms. McCall on a date. I don't know where that would've led to if Scott hadn't called.
I wasn't one of those girls that jumped to quickly into a relationship. I wasn't going to give it all up to someone I didn't love. But then again, I did love Stiles...I really did. But would sleeping with him this early on into the relationship be too much too soon? Was I even ready to take that kind of a step?
"Carson? You okay?" Stiles asked suddenly, breaking me from my rampant thoughts.
I looked up at him, nodding. "Wh—oh yeah, I'm fine."
"You know," he began awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. "When I say stuff like that, don't listen...I think it was the dream talking to be honest."
I bit my lip, before shyly kissing his cheek. "It's fine."
"Do you want to go get some candy?" he asked, pointing down the hall where there was a vending machine. I nodded eagerly, realizing I hadn't eaten in a few hours. Candy wasn't my first option, but it was better than nothing right now.
All thought of that horribly awkward conversation forgotten, Stiles and I set off for the vending machine. Our hands swung between us and I could feel him occasionally sneaking glances at me. I smiled slightly as we stopped in front of the metal box.
"What do you want?" he asked, slipping his wallet out of his jeans.
I rolled my eyes. "Stiles, I can buy my own candy," I laughed.
He didn't listen, already slipping the dollar in. "What do you want?" he repeated with a smile.
I sighed, before pointing to the Snickers bar. Still smiling, he punched in the numbers. The coil began moving until the candy hit the end, falling to the bottom. I bent down, grabbing the plastic wrapped rectangle of goodness.
"Thank you," I grinned, pressing another kiss to his cheek. His grin only seemed to get wider.
After retrieving the change from my candy, he put it in again, dialing the number for the Reese's cups. He made a sound of delight as it began coming to the edge. The machine stopped, promptly leaving his candy hanging.
I let out a small giggle as he pushed the button again.
"Ah, come on," he moaned. "Seriously?"
As he hit the machine again, I let out a chuckle. "Should have gotten a Snickers bar," I teased, munching away on my own candy goodness.
He rolled his eyes at me, muttering a simple, "Shut up."
I stuck my tongue out at him as he began trying to shake the machine. His hands let go off the top, opting to hug it around the sides. He let out a noise of discontent, as the machine refused to be moved.
"I don't think lifting it's going to work," I told him. "Why don't you just buy another one and it'll push it out?"
"I don't have any more money," he sighed.
He sighed and another small giggle left my lips. "You know, I don't think Batman would have this problem."
"And Catwoman wouldn't be nagging everything Batman does," he groaned, eyeing the machine. His eyes flitted all over the structure, trying to pinpoint the best way to do it.
He let out a bunch mumbled swears as he ran at it, gripping the top of it. He began rocking it back and forth angrily. I skidded back as the machine began tipping forward. I grabbed Stiles' arm, pulling him out of the way just as it crashed to ground. The faint sound of glass shattering was heard under the giant clang it made.
"Nice going Batman," I sighed. "This will be so much fun to explain."
He glared at me. "Shut up," he repeated. He bent down next to it, probably trying to figure out if there was any way to put it back in its place. As I surveyed the large container I knew it was most likely going to be staying on the floor.
"Ahhhhhhh!"
I jumped as the scream echoed throughout the halls. My head whipped to where Lydia's door was, then back at Stiles.
He looked up at me, worriedly and scrambled to his feet. We practically sprinted to the room. "Lydia?"
As we made it towards her room, Ms. McCall and Mr. Martin were already there.
"What the hell was that?" Scott's mom yelled as she wrenched the door open.
We all piled in, stopping for a second. The faint sound of a shower running caught my attention. Seeing as I was one of the first in, I ran forward and threw the bathroom door open. I was praying she'd be behind there.
When I stepped foot into the room, the shower was still running. The curtain was slightly askew and half open. I stepped in further as the others came in behind me. I pushed the curtain the whole way open and gasped.
Lydia was gone.
It was like she had vanished into thin air. There were no rooms connected to the bathroom other than her hospital room and there was no sign of her in there. She couldn't have gone far. There was nowhere for her to go.
I looked around as Ms. McCall turned the shower off, shaking the water from her hand.
"Where the hell is my daughter?" Mr. Martin said loudly, his voice on the verge of shouting.
"I'll go call the police," Ms. McCall stated, before running out of the room.
A tug was made towards my hand, someone trying to get my attention. I looked up to see Stiles' pointing at something. I followed his directions, only to see an open window. The curtain blew in the breeze. I walked over to it, gulping. I took one look out, to find no trace of my best friend. She really had vanished. Her room was well on the second floor, a pretty decent drop to ground under it. God, if she jumped from there, she'd break a bone.
It also occurred to me that she was out there, probably still naked. Her hospital gown was strewn on the floor next to a puddle of water. And it was freezing outside, the winter cold no doubt going to give her some kind of a cold.
"Oh damn," I muttered.
And as the three of stood dumbfounded at the emptiness of the room, the scream still ringing through my ears, I couldn't help but have a horrible feeling about all of this. My own words from a week ago seemed to emboss itself in my thoughts.
This is only the beginning.
And if the beginning was just my best friend disappearing from a hospital, I don't think I wanted to know what the grand finale would be.
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And there is it, the very first chapter of HOFaH back where the public can view the adventures and romance of Starson. Can I get a celebratory whoop whoop?
*crickets*
No? Oh, okay....
Let me know what you think guyssssss!!!