A/N: I posted this drabble to tumblr (littlecajunlady) on April 5, 2015 and the prompt was, "Just once."
Lydia's lake house was still on the market that summer, which meant they were all able to spend long weekends there together. And sometimes Stiles and Malia would sneak over there, just the two of them, so they could go swimming. Well, Stiles liked to go swimming. Malia was a decent enough swimmer, but she'd much rather sit on the dock and put her feet in the water.
On one particularly hot day, Stiles tried to convince her to get in the water. "Jump in! It feels a lot nicer in here!"
She shielded her eyes to get a better look at him. He was simply floating there on his back, completely at ease. She couldn't imagine being that relaxed in the water. "I'm fine."
"Malia, you look miserable up there. Come on, get in here! And no sliding off the dock. It's a cannonball or nothing!"
Tentative was not a word that was usually applied to Malia. She was certainly the 'shoot first, ask questions later' type. But there were a few things that made her wary. Like math. Or dealing with her emotions. Swimming in large bodies of water just happened to be another thing on that list.
"I don't know …"
"Malia, you'll love it. You only have to jump in one time, okay? Just once."
"Fine," she said, knowing he'd never give up. She felt a bit nervous, but it was a good nervous. Malia stood and took a few steps back, then took off running down the dock. When she leapt off the edge, she screamed until she landed in the water with a splash.
Stiles was laughing when she surfaced, and he swam over to her. "Well?"
She spit out a stream of water and pushed her wet hair back from her face. "You were right. That was fun. I want to go again."