Allison was missing a single thing in her life: simplicity.
Nothing about her life was simple anymore. She had never really understood the cliché of "ignorance is bliss" until her life had turned upside down. She could not believe that two years ago she had no idea that her family hunted werewolves. Werewolves were, in fact, creatures that only existed in bad B-movies. She was just a simple, normal girl until she met Scott, until everything came crashing out into the open.
Allison just wanted to be a normal girl, or at least pretend to be for the night. She frustrated herself thinking about it, until she couldn't take it anymore and sent Lydia a desperate text message.
Can I come over tonight?
Lydia's response came almost immediately.
Of course - xoxo.
Lydia always knew exactly what to do when Allison was upset. She also knew that Allison was upset, even when Allison did everything in her power to hide that. Lydia was so much more than she appeared to be. Lydia was Allison's' best friend for a reason. She was brilliant.
She arrived at Lydia's house pretty quickly. The other girl was right at the door of the large house. She pulled Allison into a quick hug. She looked into her eyes and for a second Allison could see a flash of the real Lydia. She knew for a fact that a lot of Lydia was a facade, a game, but when Allison and Lydia were alone, she saw the real girl behind all of that. "We're having a sleepover, so I hope you don't mind borrowing my clothes," Lydia said with a grin. "You need it." Lydia's ways of dealing with problems were superficial, yes, but Allison needed a dose of the superficial, big time.
They settled in Lydia's room and pretty soon Allison found herself wearing a pair of pajama bottoms that didn't quite fit her. Lydia was sitting at the edge of her bed, rummaging around for nail polish, because apparently the state of Allison's fingernails was something to be worried about. Lydia settled on a bright fuscha type color and then crawled back against the headboard. "C'mere Allison," she said in a low teasing drawl. Allison couldn't help but smile, mouthing 'thank you' at her best friend.
As Lydia started to paint her nails the questioning began. "What's going on darling?" she asked, looking into Allison's eyes seriously. "I love an improvised sleepover as much as the next girl, but I know that something's really bothering you. Spill." She then continued to paint Allison's nails as she waited for an answer with a no-nonsense type of expression on her face.
"I'm…I'm having a rough time," Allison said, looking down at her fingernails. "I just want to go back to the way things were, when everything was normal. You know, wh-when I didn't have to deal with the fact that werewolves existed and that I was in love with one…"
"Trust me, I understand you there," Lydia said with a bitter sounding chuckle.
"Things are very complicated in the world of werewolves…" Allison knew that Lydia was still reeling from the mental violation that she had endured. She hated knowing that the girl next to her had endured so much. She was really nobody to complain.
"I'm also just having a really hard time knowing what to trust," Allison admitted. All her life she had admired her aunt only to later find out that the woman was a cold-blooded killer who had been manipulated by her equally cold-blooded grandfather. Of course, she couldn't really judge people like Kate or her mother, because she'd allowed him to manipulate her to. He had turned her into something she hated, something evil. He had turned her into someone who could have done the things they did. "I used to trust my family, at least. I mean, I trust my father…"
"You two do need to stick together," Lydia said softly, nodding, "but I don't trust anyone either Allison. I mean…except you." She looked at Allison for a brief second and then her attention turned back to the nail polish related task at hand. She was surprised to see that momentary vulnerability from Lydia, who was usually hard to read.
"You shouldn't trust me either," Allison said honestly. She hadn't been honest with Lydia, but it was just because she had been trying to protect the girl. It was stupid and she was surprised that her best friend was still even speaking to her. She felt extremely lucky at that.
"I forgive, sometimes," Lydia said with a smirk and a wink.
Allison shook her head and sighed. Lydia finished up with her nails and then moved so that she was behind Allison. She gave her a tiny squeeze and moved her hands so that she wouldn't mess up her nail polish. "It's okay baby girl," she mumbled. "Things have to get better. They will. Jackson's back with us and well, it's over…right?"
"It's never over," Allison said honestly. Lydia knew that too, she was just trying to be optimistic.
Allison and Lydia cuddled for a long while after that. It was one of those things that, to Allison, should have been awkward but just wasn't. She felt calm in Lydia's arms, totally at peace. Lydia seemed a little fixated on her hair through the whole thing too, running her fingers through it, twisting just lightly. She was very focused on Allison as a whole. It was kind of unnerving but Allison honestly liked it.
"Thanks for doing this for me," she said. "I just really needed to calm down and feel something normal." She wasn't sure how normal it was to cuddle intimately with your best friend, but at the same time compared to the rest of her life, it just was normal. It made sense to her.
"It's no problem Allison," Lydia said, acting as if she was being totally silly. "You're my best friend. This is what best friends do. I'm lucky to have you."
It was definitely not normal when Lydia leaned over and kissed Allison. It was sudden and totally Allison's doing. The girl looked at Allison and then hesitantly drew her into a kiss. Lydia's lips were soft and her actions tender.
Allison pulled away from the kiss in a slightly shocked daze. "Lydia?" she asked gently. "You…you k-kissed me. Why did you do that?"
"I've really wanted to do that for a long time," Lydia said with a gentle shrug.
"Really?" Allison asked, still trying to catch her breath. She hardly understood why Lydia would want to kiss her.
"Yeah," Lydia murmured, looking down at her fingernails. Allison was pretty sure that she had never seen Lydia look that insecure over anything in her entire life. The girl looked absolutely nervous about it.
"What about Jackson?" Allison asked tenderly.
Lydia shook her head. She looked back up at Allison, breathing deeply. "Jackson and I have a very special kind of love," she said, "but we're not romantic lovers. We can't be. We decided that a few weeks ago, actually. Now that he's a werewolf he has a lot more control of…other parts of himself. What we have is special and he'll always be able to come to me for a very…very close connection, but he's not who I want to be with romantically, sexually and I'm…I'm not that for him."
Lydia's words made Allison think, not about Lydia and Jackson but about her and Scott. That was exactly what they were, wasn't it? The two of them were very special parts of each other's lives and they were able to do so much for each other, but where was the romance she wanted?
"Okay," Allison whispered.
Their next kiss was more of a mutual choice. Allison and Lydia moved up against each other, kissing tenderly. Allison found a sweet, natural rhythm in moving her lips against Lydia's. Lydia took a little bit of control, parting Allison's lips and deepening the kiss. She stroked her fingers over Allison's face. Allison couldn't help think with a slight smirk that of course, Lydia was an expert at this. Lydia was an expert at everything.
When they pulled away from the kiss, Lydia smiled at her. Her lips were bright red and her face was flushed pink. Her beautiful hair hung in her eyes. Allison reached over and brushed it out of the way. "Wow," she mumbled with a slight laugh.
"So, is this normal?" Allison asked laughing. "Also, can it be simple? Because I really want some simplicity in my life."
"I'll try my best?" Lydia said with a shrug.
Allison smiled and leaned into another kiss. She decided that kissing Lydia was as good as it got. Maybe it wasn't simple, but it was sweet and it made her feel like she was there for a reason, with a purpose. It felt perfect.