"What are you doing here?"
To say Scott was shocked was an understatement. He and Erica had never been close friends, but they did have a mutual agreement with each other. They would work together without talking to each other unless it was absolutely necessary. But, seeing Erica in socking wet clothes and an expression of helplessness on her face tugged at Scott's heart uncomfortably.
"I-I'm sorry…I had no where else to go and then I remembered you. God, I'm sorry! I'll just go…" Erica spoke sadly and slightly embarrassed. What was she thinking trying to ask Scott a favor when she had nothing to offer in return? She quickly turned around ready to start back into the pouring rain, but Scott's voice stopped her.
"Erica, wait! Come inside, its pouring wet outside and you could get a cold!" Scott informed her steadily and he turned around to search for a towel in the closet near the door. He finally found one that would suit his needs and turned back to Erica. What he saw saddened him, Erica's face was wet, but he knew that the cause wasn't just from the rain. She tried to smile at him, but he knew that it wasn't real.
"Erica, what happened?" Scott asked the other Beta and for a second he saw her eyes flash yellow, but before he could say anything it was gone.
"Derek." Erica told him softly, but he could see the tears starting to fill her eyes, "He kicked me out, but I don't know why. Do you think I did something wrong?" She asked helplessly and he almost broke at the sight. He knew that she had the same tendency to think everything was her fault just like Isaac did because of his father, but he never actually witnessed it first hand like this. He didn't know what do, and he was actually tempted to call Allison and hope that this could be a girl thing to deal with.
"No! You didn't do anything wrong! Derek is always a little harsh with his actions sometimes, but I'm sure he has a very good reason for this. You know how Derek is." He tried for a joke, but when Erica tried to laugh at it the tears in her eyes finally fell over. Her legs wobbled and she fell to the floor, but she didn't seem to notice as her crying continued. Without thinking, Scott kneeled on the floor and brought her into a hug. She began crying even harder, but wrapped her arms around Scott's neck and burying her face between where his shoulder and neck connected, and he could definitely feel the hot, wet tears that fell from Erica's eyes. He tried to figure out if this was a joke, but he felt like his heart was telling him it wasn't. He had always been fond of Erica, but he still didn't consider her a friend. But he knew that the feeling was mutual, and that he wasn't the only one that felt he could trust the other. They were both werewolves, and they had to stick together, it was that simple. So if Erica needed a friend right now, Scott knew that he would be one for her. He lifted her up and she still didn't make a sound, but her legs did wrap around his waist, he didn't really mind, but he knew that Allison wouldn't approve. He placed one of his hands on her waist, and one of them automatically planted itself in her blonde hair. Before Scott could say anything else he heard a car pull up in the driveway, and he immediately knew that his mom was home from her early shift at the hospital. He knew that they didn't have enough money to do anything special after his father left, but his mom taking a shift from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. was kind of ridiculous to him. He shifted the mostly limp Erica to his right hip like a little child, and ran his fingers through her long blonde hair. He didn't notice before, but her hair was now all the way to her hip and it was a beautiful wavy that matched her personality to the tee.
"My mom is home." Scott informed Erica of the obvious, because she was also a werewolf with supernatural hearing. Erica nodded her head slightly and tightened her hold on Scott's neck. She opened her mouth to say something, but before she had the chance, Scott's mom walked in through the door.
"Scott, I'm home! Are you still awake?" Scott's mom's voice echoed through the whole house to where they were situated in the living room not far from there. Even if they were farther, being werewolves, they would have heard it anyways. "Scott?"
"I'm in here mom!" Scott yelled to his mom from the living room, just loud enough for her to hear. They could both hear her footsteps that brought her closer and closer towards them. Erica sensed when Scott's mom entered the room, but she still didn't remove her face from Scott's neck.
"Scott, who's that?" Scott's mom asked him, and Erica knew for a fact that she was talking about her. Scott's mom was confused to whom she was, but Erica knew Ms. McCall. Whenever Erica would have a problem with her epileptics, she would be sent to her to have her medicine that she gratefully didn't need anymore thanks to being a werewolf.
"It's Erica Reyes, you remember her from the hospital, right?" Scott asked for confirmation from his mother, and he saw it finally dawn on her who was in his arms. "Well…she kind of needs a place to stay and I wanted her to stay here for a while."
Ms. McCall smiled and nodded before turning to Erica with motherly warmth that she missed from her own mom. Scott's mom put her purse on the couch near her before coming towards Erica calmly. Erica looked up from her spot in Scott's neck and looked at Scott with word-filled eyes. Scott nodded understandingly and placed Erica on the floor right beside him.
"You are welcome to stay here as long as you'd like Erica." The older Beta's mom said to Erica, "Would you like something to drink, perhaps?"
"Just some water please." Erica responded thickly, with her voice still filled with her unshed tears that were slowly building up again. Ms. McCall nodded empathetically and turned to Scott.
"Scott, go get your room ready for company. The guest room isn't quite people friendly yet, and your room is not clean mister!" Ms. McCall scolded with a small smile, and Erica actually laughed genuinely at that. Scott nodded at his mom's suggestion and kissed Erica's forehead before leaving the living room and heading for his. "And get her some warm clothes to sleep in! You can't just leave her in wet clothes!" Ms. McCall yelled up the stairs to Scott, and was answered with an "okay" from Scott.
"Come on Erica, you can come to the kitchen with me for your water." Ms. McCall informed her before leading the way to the kitchen. "And you can call me Melissa if you'd like." Erica knew they'd do more then just get a bottle of water from the kitchen, but didn't resist, and followed Melissa. Melissa put some water in the tea pot to heat up for her, and then grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge for Erica.
"You can sit down Erica while Scott's getting you some warm clothes to sleep in." Melissa said to Erica, and they both sat down at the kitchen table in a relaxing quiet. All that you could hear was the hiss from the kettle where Melissa's tea was heating up.
"Not to be too forward and unwelcoming, but why do you need a place to stay?"
Erica didn't know what to say to the question, because she knew for a fact that Scott's mom didn't know anything about the supernatural. And she knew that Scott wanted to keep it like that. She knew it wouldn't stay like that, but she wouldn't disrespect Scott's wishes after he went out of his way to make her comfortable here.
"I was kicked out of where I was staying and Scott was nice enough to let me stay here. I can stay here, right?" Erica asked worriedly. Erica knew that she wasn't the best person in the world, but she knew that the McCall family might as well be. She sighed and could feel a headache coming on.
"Of course you can stay here sweetheart." Melissa spoke to Erica softly, and placed her hand on the girls shoulder and could feel how wet it really was. "Scott could you hurry up with the clothes for Erica, please!"
"Yes mom!" Scott called from upstairs and they could hear his footsteps coming down the stairs. Erica opened the cap of her water and took a sip, but before she knew it, it was already half way done. It helped her sore throat a little, but she knew that if she kept talking her throat would ache a lot more.
"I got you some clothes." Scott announced to Erica when he entered the kitchen. He was wearing black sweatpants, but nothing else. Erica really didn't mind, she had seen him with less then that before. "You can take a shower before you put it on though, if you want."
Erica nodded and went to follow Scott, but turned to Melissa after taking a few steps.
"Thanks for the talk Melissa." Erica said and Ms. McCall smiled sweetly at her. Melissa loved the girl a lot and she could instantly tell that she would be seeing more of Erica these days.
Erica turned to follow Scott and he led the way to the bathroom in his room. His room didn't have much in it, but it suited him. Scott led her to a door in his room and turned to her. "This is the bathroom, you can take a shower in there and I'll put the clothes in front of the door for you to wear when you're done." Erica nodded and proceeded to the door and opened it. It was nothing too impressive. It had a shower and a toilet, and that's what mattered. She quickly stripped off her extremely wet and uncomfortable clothes and jumped into the shower, turning the nozzle for the water. It was refreshing to feel the warm water run over her aching muscles and she sighed in content. When Erica was finally finished, she turned off the water and found a towel on a rack near the door. She quickly wrapped it around her delicate frame and exited the room. Right where Scott said he'd put her clothes, she picked it up off the floor and sleepily pulled it on. All it was was a black t-shirt, that since she was actually almost his height, was a little too revealing. She didn't mind much, and shrugged. There was also a pair of cotton panties and a bra that she put on, too. She didn't find it weird that he had put it there, she knew that he would. Erica lay down on Scott's bed once she was done dressing, and sprawled out, finally having time to relax and maybe sleep a little, even if she didn't usually sleep all that much after her change.
"Are you ready for bed now?" Scott's voice entered the room. She knew that he was there and grew extremely safe at his presence. She didn't bother to pull down the shirt that rode up a little too high on her stomach and showed her red panties.
"Yes." Erica said, and Scott made his way to the bed. There was no light on, but they didn't even need it seeing as they were werewolves with better eyesight than the average human. Scott took of his sweatpants leaving him in only his silk black boxers, but Erica didn't really care. She knew he was with Allison, but all she wanted was his friendship and she would return in kind. Erica lifted her hand in his direction and Scott took it, lying down next to her on the bed. It wasn't awkward when Erica laid down her head on Scott's stomach and lifted her left leg around his waist; they both weren't interested in a relationship. Just a comfortable relationship for them both to share.
It was just that simple.