"Stiles," Lydia said for what felt like the tenth time.

It was actually the third time but she wasn't up for technicalities. She looked at the boy next to her, tapping his fingers nervously against the steering wheel. She noticed him glancing briefly at her before looking back at the black sea of pavement in front of them.

"Stiles." She repeated, this time a bit of the annoyance she was feeling sleeping through.

They were lost. Anyone with two eyes could see that. But Stilinski was head bent on continuing to drive, even if he probably didn't know where they were headed to anymore. She had promised to herself she would not complain. He had asked her out on a date and she had agreed, a bit too fast for her own liking, but she had agreed. How could she not, after everything they'd gone through? They both had had enough of werewolves, kanimas, nogitsunes, kitsunes, hunters and banshee powers to last them a lifetime. They deserved a night out. And, if Lydia Martin were to be honest, she did like Stiles… a lot. Stiles had been more nervous than usual, stammering his way through the formal question of 'will you go out on a date with me?', and Lydia had felt so much fondness towards this boy, who had been through hell and back, that for a moment she hadn't been able to breathe. Saying yes after that had been as easy as breathing. So he had picked her up, driving his banged up blue jeep that was apparently immortal, and had refused to tell her where they were going. That had been a mistake, Lydia did not like surprises. She needed to know where they were going. Her annoyance had started when she realized Stiles was heading out of town. Where was he going? She had asked then, knowing there were only about two places to go on a first date and they had driven past them already. Stiles hadn't answered. Now, they were completely lost and Stiles was still not telling her.

"Lydia." He replied, resembling her tone.

"We're lost." She pointed out, tilting her head.

Stiles kept driving, hesitant for a moment, before bobbing his head. "No, we are not." He protested.

"Really?" Lydia asked almost sarcastically. "Then where are we?"

"We are… we're…" he trailed off, looking around. "Okay, we're lost." He admitted.

Lydia tried not to smile triumphantly at that. He noticed, though.

"Don't look at me like that." He mumbled.

"Right," she said, not even trying to act like she didn't know what Stiles was talking about. "Did you at least know where you wanted to go?" she asked.

"Of course I knew!" he exclaimed, snapping his head to look at her, horrified. "I've been planning this for a very long time now, you know!"

The words reminded her of how much Stiles actually liked her and she blinked. Nobody cared about her as much as Stiles did. Why did it take so long for her to realize it? Stiles shut up then, alarmed over the fact that those words had actually left his mouth. Great, this was going great. He finally got his date with Lydia Martin and he was screwing it up. Lydia sat back, looking out at the green scenery surrounding them. It was dark, only a few street lights around them, but if she concentrated hard enough, she actually knew where they were. Those horrible nights sleepwalking thanks to Peter invading her mind were finally paying off, it seemed. She looked back at Stiles, who was now frowning slightly, and smiled a bit.

"Turn right," she said.

"W—what?" he asked, suddenly alarmed. "Why? Are you hearing something?"

"No." she replied immediately. Stiles had already gone into overdrive, changing gears and turning the steering wheel so the jeep would turn right just before they missed the exit. "Stiles, slow down or I may scream because of our own deaths." She warned, her hand moving forwards and looking for support on the dashboard of the car.

"Right, right, slowing down." He nodded. The jeep slowed down considerably. "Wait, why—why are we turning?"

"Because…"—she hesitated for a second.—"We're undeniably lost. Well, actually, you are undeniably lost. So, I'm deciding where we're going," Lydia said, pressing her red lips in a thin smile at the end.

"Lydia, I don't think that's how it works." Stiles shook his head, taking his eyes away from the road to look at her for a moment.

"Says who?" she asked, lifting an eyebrow. "Now, turn left." She ordered, signaling to the driveway.

He shook his head and did as told. They drove in silence, not really knowing what to say. He had wanted to take her to this one clearing somewhere deep into the woods that had lovely trees and even a small pond. It was incredibly risky, considering it was the woods and nothing ever good happened in the woods, not to mention tonight was a full moon, but they knew all the werewolves in town and, besides, he couldn't stop imagining what her beautiful strawberry blonde hair would look like in the moonlight. The only problem was… he had forgotten how he'd gotten there. And now they were driving in circles. His eyes widened suddenly when ne noticed the small path up the woods where Lydia was pointing. He parked the car quickly and turned to face her, going back to acting like a kid on a sugar rush.

"I'm not lost!" he exclaimed.

"You… are not lost?" Lydia asked, turning to face him.

She was a bit annoyed at his driving skills. There was no way she was letting Stiles drive next time. That thought paralyzed her for a moment. Next time?

"Get out of the car, Lydia," Stiles said, already getting out of the jeep. Well, he was scrambling out of the car, really.

Lydia sighed and did as told. Maybe he did know where they were, she mused in her mind as she saw him get his backpack from the back of the jeep and walk over to where she was standing. She doubted that both of them had had the same idea of a good place for a date, though. Maybe he was improvising. He was most likely improvising.

"Let's go," Stiles said, grabbing her hand and starting to walk into the woods.

It was a good thing she had chosen to wear flats. They walked around the woods, her hand still firmly in his. She didn't mind, not at all. In fact, after the entire ordeal with the nogitsune any kind of contact with Stiles was incredibly well received. It reminded her that sweet caring Stiles was back and that that monster was gone for good. It still made her skin tingle, though. It reminded her of what Allison had asked her oh-so-long-ago; when you see him standing down the hall and you can't breathe until you're with him or when you can't stop looking at the clock because you know he's right out there waiting for you? No, had been her answer but Stiles was quickly changing that. And they had only gone out for a date. Although, perhaps whatever it was that was going on between them had started a long time ago. Why would she kiss him in that one hazy locker room, if it hadn't?

"This was the original plan?" she asked when they arrived at the clearing, not too far from the street.

Stiles let go off her hand and scratched his cheek nervously, walking over to a big rock and sitting on it.

"I know it's not exactly great and fancy or anything but…" He started, talking quickly and fumbling with his bag.

"Stiles!" she exclaimed, putting her hands up to shut him up. "I'm not exactly complaining, am I?" she asked, walking over to him and sitting next to him.

She was surprised, that was all. He had actually taken her exactly where she had wanted to go. They kept doing that, Lydia realized, agreeing on doing things without actually voicing them out loud, knowing when one of them was in trouble, when one of them wasn't exactly happy. Perhaps it was the emotional tether, or maybe it was an aftermath of everything that had occurred. Secretly, Lydia wanted to believe it was the former.

"So…" she started, not really knowing how to proceed here.

"So…" Stiles imitated her. He suddenly got an idea, apparently, for he opened his backpack and took a small package out of it, offering it to her. "Reese's?" he asked with a grin.

Lydia couldn't help it, she laughed as she took the offered sweet. Stiles had made her addicted to these little chocolate cups filled with delicious peanut butter. Who cared if they were fattening? She was scared it was going to be awkward after that, but surprisingly, it wasn't. They talked about many things, mostly themselves, trying to get to know each other better. They knew they'd risk their lives for the other but there were some things they still needed to find out about each other. Like how Scott and Stiles became friend right away in the first day of school ever, or how Lydia somehow still blamed herself for her parents' divorce. Little things, not important to most people, but incredibly valuable to them. They spent hours there and Stiles was more than happy to find out Lydia's hair was even more beautiful in the moonlight than he had imagined it would be.

When he took her back home, all he wanted to do was kiss her. But he settled for a kiss in the cheek instead. She smiled briefly at that before giving him one back.

"Can I drive next time?" she asked boldly, so much Lydia-Martin-like that Stiles didn't even blink.

"Next time?" Stiles stuttered a bit. "You want to go out with me again?"

"I had a good time tonight." Lydia admitted, shrugging.

She really did have a good time. It wasn't perfect and it sure as hell wasn't fancy and extremely planned like her first few dates with Jackson had been, but she had had the best time in a long time.

"Great!" Stiles exclaimed with a goofy grin. "I mean… that's great." He nodded.

"So…" Lydia started, not really wanting to say goodbye but feeling stupid for thinking that way. Lydia Martin was not clingy.

"Yeah, I—I'll call you." Stiles nodded happily.

"Good," she said, pressing her lips together so her smile wouldn't get too big.

"Okay." Stiles bobbed his head.

"Okay." Lydia repeated, this time looking down and feeling like her face would break in two because of her smile. "So, text me when you get home, all right?" she ordered. It wasn't anything new, just habit to know they were all safely inside their homes, which were all practically covered in mountain ash.

"I will," Stiles said, giving her one last smile. "Bye, Lydia."

"Yeah, bye," she said, watching him walk towards his banged up blue jeep.

She closed the door to her room and waited until his text arrived, all the time smiling. Oh, God, Stiles Stilinski was turning her into one of those teenagers that got all giddy over a boy. She was getting worse than Allison and it had only been one official date. He hadn't even kissed her, which was a good thing, though, because who knew what she'd have done if he had. But now that she was all alone, and promising that she would not admit it to anyone unless it was strictly necessary, she could openly admit it.

"I like Stiles Stilinski a lot," Lydia Martin said to her empty room, not really expecting an answer from anyone.