Hey guys. Uh, this is going to be the longest chapter, as I couldn't find a good place to end it. So chapters after this one will be considerably shorter, just so I can update quicker.
Anyway. This story is Stiles/OC, rated T for language, and probably some minor sexual references later, though nothing too heavy. Based post-Season 3A, but with 3B coming out soon, I'm warning you now, it probably won't be going along with the plot of the show. I'll let you know once I know for certain whether or not it will, but I'm hoping to get my plot out in the open before the new season is out anyway. So, yeah... On with the show!
I don't own Teen Wolf. Shock Horror.
"So, have you heard anything from Derek yet?" Stiles asked as he leant next to Scott's locker, as he stacked the books he wouldn't need for the first few periods in there.
"Not much. He let us know that he and Cora are fine, that they're somewhere up north, but he didn't say much else."
"So he's not coming back?"
Scott slammed his locker shut, looked at his friend, and sighed. "I don't think so. At least, not for a while. And not unless he needs to."
"And what about this whole Alpha thing you've got going on? Like, how... I don't even. What?" Stiles threw his hands up in frustration, but before Scott could do any more than shrug, their attention was drawn elsewhere.
"Stilinski!" The boys turned to see Coach Finstock, holding what looked like a balled up piece of paper in his hand. "Think fast!" He threw it over the heads of the other students milling around the hallway, and Stiles leaped to the side to catch it. And while managing to do that successfully, he also managed to knock into a girl, sending the books in her arms scattering along the floor.
"Oh my God, I am so…" Stiles turned around, about to apologise and help, only see the girl he fell into on the floor, trying to retrieve her books. From his position behind her, he managed to get a very good view of her, uh, rear end, and he finished his sentence quietly. "Not sorry."
At that, she turned her head around to glare at him, her wavy, dirty blonde hair swinging with the momentum. Stiles cleared his throat when he saw the irritation in her dark blue eyes, and quickly snapped out of it.
"Shit, sorry." He bent down to pick up the books she couldn't reach, and the pile that she had made of the ones she could, all the while apologising profusely. "I'm so sorry, god, sor-"
"Okay, I get it. You're sorry. It's fine. Just, please, stop apologising." She looked up at him, and he flustered a bit.
"Right, sor-ahhhh. Right." He grabbed her books and stood up as she did the same. "Here." He handed her the books, and looked over her shoulder to see Scott and Isaac trying to hide their laughter from him. He sent a dirty look their way, and turned back to see the girl looking quizzically at him. "Uh. Right. I'm just gonna… Yeah. Okay," He stammered, flinging his arms in the direction of his friends and carrying on that way, so he could fling his head into Scott's locker. He expected to hear some sarcastic remarks from the two werewolves, but when they remained silent, he lifted his head from the locker to find out why.
The girl had turned to face Stiles, picking at her thumb nail with her middle finger, and looked up at the three boys wearing a shy expression. "You dropped this." She handed Stiles the balled up paper that had caused this whole disaster, and he smiled an embarrassed thank you. She turned and was about to walk away, but turned back and cleared her throat. "Sorry, I don't… I'm lost. Could you, uh... Could you help me find my locker?"
"Uh, yeah, sure, no problemo." Stiles cringed at his word choice, threw Scott the paper ball, and took the sheet of paper the girl had in her hands. The girl followed close behind as he started to walk down the hallway a little, towards her locker. He found the right number, and waved his arms in that direction. She smiled and thanked him, then began spinning in the combination written down on the sheet that she had given Stiles.
"So, you're new?" She nodded as she pushed in half of the books in her arms. "It must suck coming in mid-way through the school year." She nodded and quietly agreed, and Stiles got the feeling she didn't really want to talk to him. "Right. Well, um. I'll leave you to it then." He walked back to Scott and Isaac, then turned and begun walking backwards, waving slightly, as he shouted, "Have a nice first day!"
By the time he returned to the wolves, they had spread out the paper against the lockers, and were too busy reading it to pay any attention to his return.
"How in hell did that happen?" Isaac asked, sounding thoroughly bewildered.
"I don't… I don't know. Guess Coach was impressed with his game last season or whatever." Scott sounded equally confused, and Stiles reached over Scott's shoulder to snatch the paper.
"What's going on?" Stiles quickly read what was written on the paper, a list of the lacrosse team, who made first line, who was still on the bench, who made co-captain… "Wait. What?"
"My thoughts exactly." Isaac leant back against the lockers, his arms crossed over his chest, while a small grin spread over Scott's face at his best friend's reaction.
"I made… No. This isn't right. Is this right? Am I reading this right?" Scott nodded, his grin getting wider, and the realisation hit when Coach Finstock walked past, smacking Stiles on the shoulder.
"Congrats, Co-Captain. Don't screw it up."
Stiles took a moment, to let the news sink in, before jumping and pumping his fist in the air. He continued to do this as the boys, shaking their heads, herded him down the hallway towards their first class, all the while yelling, "I made co-captain! I am the co-captain! Ahhh! Co-captain!"
Stiles was still reeling in his victory when the new Chemistry teacher, since Mr Harris was still missing, started the lesson, introducing herself as Miss Willis, and handing out the syllabus for the remainder of the year. It was as she finished handing out the papers that there was a knock on the door, and someone from the principal's office came in, talking quietly to Miss Willis. After the other woman left, Miss Willis introduced the new girl Stiles had fallen into in the hallway, and he hung his head in shame as the teacher spoke.
"Class, this is Adria Knight. She's a new student here from…" She looked expectantly at Adria, who finished the sentence.
"Uh, Detroit." Her voice was barely audible, so Miss Willis repeated her response, and ushered her into the seat next to Isaac. The new girl, Adria, kept her head down on her way to the back of the class where Isaac was sat behind Scott and Stiles, barely looking up from the desk to throw him a quick, polite smile as she sat down on the stool. Miss Willis continued with the lesson, turning to begin writing on the board, and Stiles swung around on his stool, clearing his throat as he did so.
"Heyyyyyyy." He winced a little. "So, about earlier…"
"Please don't start apologising again." She looked up slightly, looking at him quickly before returning to the notepad in front of her. Isaac tried, and failed, to hide his snort behind his hand.
"Right, no, I know. I wasn't-", Stiles reached around to rub the back of his neck, clearing his throat again, and it was at this moment that Scott decided to butt in, smirk in place.
"I think he's apologising less for the knocking in to you, and more for the staring at your ass before actually helping you."
Stiles turned on him, hissing profanities under his breath at his "best friend", when Allison and Lydia, who were sat at the bench in front of Scott and Stiles, gasped in horror, whilst simultaneously trying not to laugh.
"Is everything okay back there?" Miss Willis had turned back around, obviously disrupted by the not-so-quiet chatter going on at the back of the class. Stiles quickly nodded and apologised to the new teacher, before returning to glaring at Scott, who seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself.
As soon as Miss Willis turned her back, Stiles swung around to face Adria again. "Yeah, uh… About that-". She cut in.
"It's fine. Really. Just, please, don't start babbling apologies again."
"Of course. Um. Just... Okay." Stiles swivelled back to face the front, not bothering to pay any attention to what the teacher was saying, or to Scott's very bad attempts at hiding his amusement at his friend's misfortune.
The rest of the lesson went by without much more commotion, and as the bell rang, Adria quickly grabbed her bag, slid her books off the table and into her arms, and nearly jogged out of the classroom. For her first day in the new school, it was going pretty damn awkwardly. First she gets lost trying to find her way around, getting her books thrown from her arms in the middle of a crowded hallway whilst trying to navigate the new building, and then she catches the idiot who hit her staring at her ass as she tried to grab her books before they got kicked around too much. Although, she had to admit, the startled and slightly terrified expression on his face as he realised he'd been caught was not only very satisfying, but also kinda cute.
Not that she thought he was cute or anything. Just his 'deer in the headlights' look. And his rambling. No, he wasn't cute at all. Stupid boy.
Adria made her way quickly but uncertainly through the hallways, trying to keep her head down, trying to blend in to the background, but at the same time not having a clue where she was or where she was going. Not that they hadn't given her a map or anything, but the damn thing was useless. It was grainy, poorly drawn, and half the labels where missing. She was slowly, but surely, on her way to having a breakdown in the middle of the crowded hallway when two of the girls from her chemistry class, the ones who had overheard about that one guy staring at her ass, spotted her, smiled, and began to make their way over to her.
Okay, Ade, act normal. You're just a regular high school girl. They're just regular high school girls. Don't freak out. You'll be fine. Act. Normal.
"Hi." One of the girls, the dark haired one, smiled warmly at Ade as they approached, while the red head looked her up and down, not looking entirely impressed. "It's Adria, right?" Ade nodded shyly. "I'm Allison, and this is Lydia." The red head smiled, cocking her head before continuing to scrutinize Ade's appearance. "So, we overheard that Stiles got a pretty pleasant view this morning." Allison's grin got wider at the light-hearted joke, causing Ade to smile a little, dropping her head to look at the floor.
"You could say that. Though, he was awfully apologetic afterwards."
"Yeah, that sounds about right." Allison looked down at the map in Ade's hand, the one that she had given up on and was very tempted to tear into shreds. "Are you lost?"
"Yeah, a little. This thing is useless."
"I know, tell me about it. I was the new girl last year. It sucked." Ade laughed a little, knowing the feeling.
"You can say that again."
Allison took the class schedule from the stack of books tucked in the crook of Ade's arm, scanning it to check over the classes. Lydia, seemingly done with her appraising of Ade, looked up and smiled brightly.
"So, Adria, what brings you to Beacon Hills? Bit of a change from Detroit."
"Yeah, definitely." Ade felt slightly uncomfortable under Lydia's rather intense gaze. Well, 'slightly' was a bit of an understatement. Come to think of it, so was 'rather'. That girl was scary. "I'm staying with my aunt, Rosa Knight. She owns the Mid-Knight Café?"
"Oh, yeah. Cute." The tone suggested she didn't really think so, and it definitely didn't make Ade feel any less awkward. She was glad when Allison took that moment to pipe up.
"Okay, so you're in most of my classes. And we've got lunch together." Allison's smile was much friendlier than Lydia's, and Ade felt herself relaxing a little. "C'mon, we've got Math together. Lydia, I'll see you later."
"Sure thing." Lydia dropped the plastered on smile when she turned to Allison, looking at the brunette with a much more genuine look. "I'll see you in Biology." And with that, she turned, her hair flying around with her, and strutted off in the other direction.
"Well, she seems really nice." Ade looked over to Allison as she handed back Ade's class schedule. Allison raised an eyebrow at Ade's comment, smiling slightly.
"She's not as bad as she seems." Allison began leading Ade in the direction of their next class. "She's just very… selective, when it comes to her company. I'm sure she'll warm up to you once she gets to know you."
Ade wasn't too sure about that. "Mmm. I don't usually hang out with girls like that. Completely different social circles, and whatnot."
"Yeah, but it's a new town, a new school. It's the perfect opportunity to reinvent yourself."
"Are you suggesting there's something wrong with my current self?" Ade joked. Allison giggled a little, glad to see Ade was loosening up slightly.
"Well, that depends. You're not harbouring any deep dark secrets, are you? No literal skeletons in your closet or anything?" Ade couldn't hear the underlying seriousness of Allison's question, and answered brightly.
"None that spring to mind, no."
"Then I'm sure your current self will be just fine. As will Lydia." They entered the Math class, taking seats near the back, and settled into comfortable conversation. That was pretty much how the next few periods went, as they shared all of the same classes up until lunch, and when they entered the cafeteria, they were trying to stifle their giggling from seeing the Coach trip over someone's haphazardly placed backpack. They could still hear him screaming at the unsuspecting freshman, and made their way over to a table, which Ade could see, much to her dismay, was currently seating the redhead, Lydia, and the smartass that had greeted her so courteously this morning. Allison had called him Stiles earlier. Weird name. Said smartass looked up at their approach, noting Allison, then leaning forward in his seat to talk not-so-inconspicuously to whoever was sat opposite him. Ade saw his shoulders stiffen slightly, as he too turned to look at Allison, who quickly ducked her head to avoid his gaze. Definitely something going on there.
They dropped their bags off opposite Lydia, next to the blonde guy Ade had sat with in first period, and Allison introduced Ade to the table for the benefit of those who weren't in our first period, a set of twins and some other guy, before they wandered off together to join the lunch line. By the time they returned with their lunch, Stiles and the dark-haired guy opposite him were talking to the blonde guy in hushed voices, whilst Lydia very publicly showed her interest in one of the twins. The other half of the twin pair was a little more subtle, his attention purely on the other guy, sat very closely beside him. Once seated, Ade was quickly informed on who was who, thanks to Lydia. Isaac was the blonde, Scott the guy with the obvious thing for Allison, Aiden and Ethan were the twins, Aiden being Lydia's… other half, Ade supposed, and Danny was the last guy who looked very cosy beside Ethan. With the introductions out of the way, Lydia began with the questions, which Ade had been hoping she would be able to avoid.
"So, Adria. You said you came to Beacon Hills to stay with your aunt." Ade knew what was coming. It was bound to come up at some point. "What happened to your parents?" Allison dropped her fork, which she had been using to spear some fries.
"Lydia!" She gave Lydia a pointed look, which Lydia returned with an innocent look of curiosity.
"I was just asking. We have to get to know the new girl."
Allison turned to me with a sympathetic, and slightly exasperated, look. "Pay no attention to Lydia."
"No, it's fine," Ade figured it'd just look bad if she ignored the question now. She turned to Lydia, intent on staring her down. "I moved in with my aunt because my Mom went missing." A hush fell over the table, as all eyes turned to Ade. She kept her eyes trained on Lydia, and took a little pleasure in seeing the cocky look on her face slide slightly. She continued. "And I never knew my dad. Aunt Rosa is the only other family I have."
"Oh, god, Ade, I'm sorry." Allison lifter her hand to her chest, a forlorn expression on her face. Ade shook her head, as though shaking off the pity she was feeling coming off of the people around the table, now staring at her. Lydia changed the subject pretty swiftly after that.
"Right. So, how do you like parties?"
"Sorry?" Ade figured Lydia was trying to get away from the obviously touchy subject of missing mothers, but this was quite a change.
"Parties?" Lydia flicked her hair behind her shoulder, leaning into Aiden's side. "I'm having one this weekend. Sort of a, 'back to school' thing. Everyone's gonna be there." Lydia's eyes flicked over to Allison, and when they returned to Ade, they held a quiet, genuine, smile. "You should come." Ade mulled it over for a second.
"Is this a 'we've got to be nice to her because of her Mom' thing?"
"No!"
"Kinda."
Allison and Lydia replied in unison, but the less intimidating and more friendly smile that remained on Lydia's face told Ade that she wasn't being serious. At least, not entirely. And that brought a smile to Ade's face.
"I'll think about it." That seemed to placate Lydia, for now, and the rest of lunch was spent in a friendly atmosphere that surprised Ade, given that the morning had started out in a less than satisfactory way.
Maybe the day was looking up a little.
That thought flew right out of the window as the final bell rang.
Rosa had specified that Ade leave for the café as soon as school finished. No dawdling, no lingering, no unnecessary socialising. But, of course, Allison and Lydia had wanted to talk to her about the party, which she now knew was on Saturday, that she should be there before six, and she should wear something 'smart and sexy', as Lydia had put it. Apparently, Ade needed to make a very good impression at her first Beacon Hills party.
So, when, after finally managing to say goodbye to the girls, she ran for her old black Range Rover in the parking lot, and sped off, she had to break numerous speeding limits on her way to her aunt's café, just to get there before her aunt noticed how late she was. Of course, that didn't work to plan. Ade had managed to fly in through the doors, run around to the back, and throw on her black apron just as her aunt strode in through the door leading into her office.
"Your shift started ten minutes ago." Rosa folded her arms across her chest, scowling in the general direction of Ade, though not quite making eye contact.
"I know. I'm sorry. I got out of class as soon as I could." Ade bit her lip, watching her aunt look down her nose at her.
"Don't let it happen again. Go." At her aunt's words, Ade let out the breath she didn't know she was holding, forced a thankful smile, and turned on her heel, walking towards the doors that were still swinging slightly from the momentum of her entrance. She had been working here, waitressing and cleaning, since she had arrived at Beacon Hills a little over two weeks ago, just after her mom had gone missing. Since Rosa was the only family she had, other than her Mom, Ade had been sent to stay with her until they found her Mom, one way or the other. The police back in Detroit had kept in contact to begin with, keeping her updated on the case, any leads they were following, asking her questions that could help. But, after a few days of being in Beacon Hills, the calls got fewer and further apart. By this point, Ade hadn't been contacted at all in almost a week. She had about given up hope. She knew the likelihood of ever finding her mom. She'd done the research, heard the statistics. It was after the last call, the one where the officer told her no new information had come in, that they still had no idea where her mom was, that Ade had finally accepted her fate and had begun to unpack. She figured she'd be here a while, and it might be good for her to make her room feel as homey as possible.
Not that Rosa's place felt like home. Rosa was pretty much always at the café, from the early hours of the morning to around midnight. The place was open 24 hours, and Ade was sure Rosa only came to the house to sleep. Not that she minded. She and Rosa didn't get on very well, what with Rosa's serious, no-nonsense attitude that was the complete opposite to her mom's happy-go-lucky outlook on life. She could see why the sisters rarely spoke, why she had only visited her aunt a handful of times in her life. But Ade had kind of hoped that, with her mom going missing, they could come together, bond as a family. Loss and grief was supposed to help that along, surely? Though, it wasn't the case with Ade and Rosa. If anything, it made the distance between them greater. Rosa could barely look Ade in the eye. Maybe that was why she spent so much time at the café, so she didn't have to be near Ade. Didn't accidently run into her around the house or anything. Which kinda sucked. Ade knew Rosa didn't like her, didn't approve of her. She knew why, too. Though, at this point in time, she needed all the family she could get. Trouble was, she didn't really seem to have any.
Ade spent the next few hours splitting her time between waitressing and trying to catch up on her schoolwork when it got quiet. It was only her first day, but she had reading she needed to catch up on, and she what with all the stress of her mom's disappearance, she hadn't done any school work before starting Beacon Hills High. It was as she was sat behind the oval counter that joined onto the kitchen that a shadow fell over the chemistry textbook she was studying from. She turned her head to find her aunt stood above her, hands on her hips.
"Come with me," Rosa muttered, as she turned on her heel and moved out from behind the counter. "There's someone you need to meet, since it looks like you'll be sticking around." She said that last few words with what sounded a little like contempt, but Ade just shook it off and hastily followed her aunt. They made their way along the café, slowing as they neared one of the few occupied booths, where two men were sat, one on each side of the table. The one facing Ade and Rosa as they approached, a man who looked to be around his late thirties, maybe early forties, and wearing a police uniform, looked up when he heard them, and smiled politely at Rosa.
"Good evening, Rosa. How've you been?"
"Evening Sheriff. I've been fine, thank you. I trust you've been well?" The sheriff smiled in answer, and Rosa continued. "You remember I mentioned my niece was staying with me?" Rosa pushed Ade forward, drawing the sheriff's attention to her. "This is Adria Knight, Elle's daughter." The sheriff stood from his seat, holding out his hand to Ade. "Adria, this is Sheriff Stilinski."
"It's nice to see you again, Adria." At Ade's expression, which she could only assume was completely bemused, the sheriff laughed. "Though I don't suppose you remember me." Ade shook her head, a small apologetic smile on her face. "That's to be understood, you were maybe nine the last time I saw you. Your mother introduced us when the two of you came to visit your aunt. I was sorry to hear about her disappearance." Ade smiled a little, nodding her thanks at his sympathy. "You haven't heard anything?"
"Not for a few days, no."
The sheriff shook his head sadly. "I'll be sure to keep an ear out, and let you know if I hear anything."
"Thank you, Sheriff." Ade smiled up at his kind face, thankful someone might be of help.
"Have you met my son? I believe you two are both Juniors at the high school."
Ade looked over to the other guy, who had been looking down at his food until his dad had mentioned him. He jerked his head around to Ade, and her stomach twisted a little as she recognised the dazed and slightly embarrassed expression on his flushed face.
"Why, yes, Sheriff, I have met your son. He gave me a lovely warm welcome to the school this morning."
The sheriff's shoulders sagged as he looked over at his son, frowning. "Oh, what did he do this time?" Ade smiled shyly at the frustration on the sheriff's face, a look she could tell he wore often when it came to his son.
"Dad, I am hurt that you would think I would ever do anything that I should not have done." Stiles threw his arms in the direction of Ade as he continued. "All I did was help Adria find her locker this morning. I did nothing that could be deemed embarrassing, or awkward. And I certainly did nothing that should warrant that look you're giving me right now. Right, Adria?"
Stiles looked over to Adria, a not-so-subtle pleading look on his face. "Sure. Stiles was very helpful this morning, Sheriff." Ade looked over to her aunt, who rose her eyebrows and looked at her watch, hinting that she should wrap things up and get back to work. Or studying when she should be working, at least. "It was very nice to meet you, Sheriff."
"You too, Adria. I hope my son continues to cause you as little trouble as possible."
"I'm sure he will, Sheriff. It was nice seeing you, Stiles." He nodded and smiled in response. "Do you think you could hold off on checking out my ass this time? I'm not entirely sure how my aunt would respond to that in the workplace." With a parting grin at both of their stunned faces, Adria spun around and made her way back to that counter, smiling quietly at the hushed chastising she heard from the sheriff, and the quiet, groaning explanations from Stiles.
Her smile quickly disappeared as Rosa grabbed Adria's arm and towed her towards her office. Once inside, Rosa swung the door shut, turning on Adria with a face like thunder.
"What on Earth makes you think you can speak to a customer like that? To make matters worse, you insinuated that the sheriff's son, the sheriff's son, was making untoward advances on you?" While Rosa's voice was quiet enough to not carry on out into the kitchen, the grave tone of her voice was enough to make Adria take a step back from her aunt, crossing her arms over her chest subconsciously.
"I wasn't-"
"No. You take your things, and you go to my house. I don't want to see your face again until your shift tomorrow, which you will be on time for."
"But I was just jok-"
"Go." The look on Rosa's face, and the fact that she was shaking a little from her anger, told Adria not to argue. She left the room, keeping her head down, and removed her apron, hanging it on the hooks beside the office door, switching it for her bag. After murmuring a soft goodbye to Tony, the chef that was working tonight, she hurried through the swinging doors, grabbing her textbook from the counter, and dashing through the café to the front door, wiping away the quiet tears forming in her eyes.
Stiles felt the air stir as Adria noiselessly rushed past their booth, causing him to look up at her as she walked out into the cold night, her shoulders hunched. His dad had looked up as she passed too, a slight frown of concern on his face.
"Uh, Dad, I'll be right back. I'm just gonna…" His dad nodded in understanding, and Stiles scooted out of the booth to jog after Adria. He caught up with her just as she was unlocking her car, and she turned as he called out to her.
"Is everything alright? You shot out of there pretty quick." He took a few steps closer, and stopped about a foot away from her as she leant back against the car door.
Adria nodded, sniffing a little in the cold. "I'm fine." Stiles cocked his forward a little, running a hand over his hair. He took a guess at what was causing the miserable look on her face.
"Was it Rosa?" Adria's eyes darted to the front of the café, as though the woman was standing right behind him and could hear every word. That was enough confirmation for him. "She seems like a handful. Not exactly the friendliest woman in town."
Adria scoffed. "You can say that again." She rubbed her hands over her arms, trying to ward off the cold a little.
"Sorry, I'll, uh… I'll leave you to it." Stiles began to walk away, but swung back around. "Just... Don't let her get to you. She probably just hasn't gotten any in a while." Adria's face scrunched up in confusion, before she let out a shocked giggle. Stiles smiled and waved goodbye, and made his way back to the café. Just as he made it to the steps leading up to the door, he heard Adria start up the car. Or try to, at least. When it failed to start, she tried again. And again. And again. Stiles turned around as she got out and slammed her door shut, scowling at the car as if she might intimidate it into starting up. She threw her bag over her shoulder, locked the car, and began walking down the street. Words started coming out of Stiles' mouth before he knew what was happening.
"Hey, Adria, wait." She stopped in her tracks and looked over her shoulder at him. "I can… I can give you a ride, if you'd like." She turned around fully now, arms crossed over her chest again.
"No, I'm okay. I don't live too far away, I can walk. Thanks, though." She turned to carry on walking, before Stiles called her back again, walking back towards her slowly.
"I'd really rather give you a ride home." He looked at her attire, jeans, a long sleeved tee and a sleeveless vest coat thing. Stiles had no idea what that was, but it definitely wasn't warm. "It's cold. Plus, its dark. We've had more than our fair share of animal attacks around here." Animal attacks. Stiles mentally scoffed. "I'd rather make sure you get home okay." When she bit her lip and still didn't respond, he made a deal he knew she couldn't resist. "Tell you what. If you let me give you a ride home, I promise to stop apologising for, uh… our, my, mishap earlier on. But only then. I can't promise anything otherwise. I mean, I, uh. I think I feel an apology coming up right now. It's, it's definitely brewing. Yup, that's an apology, alright."
Adria shuffled her feet as she looked down at them, then looked back up at Stiles with an unsure smile on her face that squeezed at Stiles' heart. She nodded quickly. "That would be nice. Thank you." Stiles smiled at her, held up a finger to tell her to hang on a second, before running back inside to let his dad know where he was going. He noticed Rosa filling up his dad's water glass as he got there, and shot her a smile as he addressed the both of them.
"Uh, I'm gonna drop Adria off at home. Her car's not starting." His dad nodded and opened his mouth to say something when Rosa cut in.
"Adria is fine, she can walk. It's not far, and you were in the middle of dinner. She'll be fine."
"Yeah, but what with all the animal attacks over the past year or so…" Stiles shot his dad a look, who nodded.
"Maybe it is best if Stiles drives Adria home. Just in case."
Rosa, oddly, looked a little annoyed by this. Why she wouldn't want a familiar face to offer her niece a ride home on a cold evening, he didn't know. "Stiles, really, she can walk. We live a couple of blocks away, she's walked it before." She paused, looking out of the wall of windows that looked out onto the street where Adria was waiting, before taking on a more ominous tone. "Besides, Adria is more than capable of looking after herself when she needs to. Trust me." Stiles shot a confused look at his dad, who was looking at Rosa with the same expression.
"Um, alright," Stiles began, a little unsure at her meaning. "I'm sure she is, Ms Knight. Even so, I'm gonna give her a ride home. Better safe than sorry, right?"
Rosa smiled, a little too tightly, in Stiles opinion. It looked like her face might crack any second. "Very well. Thank you, Stiles. Much appreciated." Didn't seem like it.
Stiles scratched his head as he turned to his father as Rosa walked back to the counter.
"What the hell was that?"
The sheriff shrugged. "I don't have a clue. I know Rosa isn't the most sociable person, but that was… that was weird, even for her." Stiles nodded his head, looking back over to the counter to see Rosa disappearing into the kitchen. "Well?" His dad's voice pulled his attention back to the booth.
"Well, what?" His dad raised his eyebrows in Stiles' direction.
"Adria?"
"Oh, shh- yeah. I have a girl stood out in the cold waiting for me. Right. Never thought I'd say that. Okay. Catch you later." Stiles grabbed his keys from the table and patted his dad on the shoulder as he ran passed him on his way to the door.
"Oh, and Stiles?"
Stiles turned back as he pushed the door half way open. "Yeah, Dad?"
"Could you at least try to be a gentleman?"
Adria waited out on the sidewalk, picking at the paint on her nails as she waited for Stiles to come back. She had seen him talking to his dad as Rosa stood by, and she could only imagine what her aunt thought about a boy giving her a ride to the house. Better yet, a customer. Rosa took that moment to glance out at Ade. The look was cold and, frankly, quite harsh, considering Stiles had all but shoved her into saying yes. It was at times like this that Ade was glad Rosa spent hardly any time at the house. She wasn't sure she could handle seeing her aunt after that glare.
She looked down, biting her lip, and began contemplating just leaving and walking while Stiles spoke to his dad, when she caught something out of the corner of her eye. Her head shot up, and she peered around the side of the building, down the dark alley beside the café. It's not like she was stupid enough to walk, unaccompanied, down an unlit alley with no weapon in hand, but still. She saw something coming from the direction. Maybe if she just stayed in the light from the street lamps, she could get close enough to see down there…
She grabbed her phone from her pocket, opening up the flashlight app, and held it up so the light shone down the alley. Well. The place was so smoky it only illuminated a couple of feet, but it was better than nothing. She took a step closer to the opening of the alley, trying to see in further, when someone grabbed her arm and pulled her back.
"What the hell are you doing?" Stiles moved so he stood between her and the alley, blocking her view. She looked down at her phone to turn off the flashlight, then shoved it back in her pocket. "Jeez, don't you know better than to take a stroll down creepy alleys?"
"I wasn't gonna go in there, or anything. I just thought I saw something." She looked over his shoulder, trying to keep an eye out for any more movement, but Stiles stepped to the side and got in the way again.
"Really? You see something move in the shadows and you decide to follow it? Have you never seen a horror film?" He swung his arms out to his side, trying to make his point. "Any horror film, any one at all? They will all tell you that following things into the dark is never a good idea."
"I take it you're a fan of horror films?" Ade crossed her arms and leant her weight on one leg, her hip out to the side.
"Big fan, which is why I can assure you, that that," he pointed behind him, towards the alley, "would not have ended well for you."
"What, do you think I would have been attacked by another mountain lion or something? I heard you guys haven't had one for a couple of weeks now."
"Well, uh, yeah. I mean," Stiles stuttered, placing his hands on his side. "You never know. It, uh, it could happen. Those things just pop out of nowhere these days. Totally unsuspecting victims, just, walking down the street one day, then this thing, uh, I mean, this wild animal, just comes out from the shadows, and bam. Your life is changed forever. If you survive, that is."
"Riiight." Adria looked at Stiles curiously. She didn't understand why he was acting so… curiously. Sure, the animal attacks were suspicious, but it wasn't anything the sheriff's son should know about. Unless he knew something he wasn't sharing. No, that's ridiculous. They're smarter than that. "Anyway. Can we, uh, go?"
"Right, yeah, of course. This way." Stiles led her back the way they had come, and opened the passenger door to his light blue Jeep. After she was settled in, he closed the door, and then jogged around the front to climb in himself.
"Okay, so. You're here with your dad." Ade begun as Stiles started up the Jeep. He nodded, looking over to her, waiting for her to continue. "Shouldn't you be in his cruiser or something?"
"Oh, no." Stiles snorted as he backed up out of the parking space. "Dad has forbidden me from riding in any cruiser unless it is completely and absolutely necessary. Like, life or death situation."
"Okay. Why?" Ade frowned.
"I may or may not have listened in on and responded to a few of the calls on the police radio. Mostly may have." Stiles shook his head as Ade giggled a little. Why am I giggling? Since when do I giggle?! "Apparently, that kind of thing is kind of frowned upon in the eyes of the law, so… yeah. Banned from all cruisers. Plus, I was at Scott's house. I met my dad here after he finished work."
"Who's Scott? Wait, it's that guy you were sat with in chemistry, right?"
"Yeah, that's him. The one who said I was apologising for staring at yo- never mind." Ade stifled another giggle at his obvious unease at where the conversation had turned. Then she remembered seeing Scott at lunch.
"Does he have a thing for Allison? Like, feelings?"
"They used to date. Back last year, but, uh. Her family, yeah, her family didn't really like him, and she broke things off."
"Why, is he some sort of ass or something?"
"No, he's not a-" Stiles sighed, then gestured towards the road. "You realise I've been driving down the road with no idea where you live, right?" She gave him directions to her aunt's house, and he turned onto the right road before continuing. "Right, so, yeah. Scott's not an ass. Allison's family just didn't really, uh, approve of him, I guess? I mean, in the end, she broke up with him for her, rather than for her family. And he said he was okay with it, because he thinks they're meant to be together or something, I don't know, I don't understand why he's into all this fairy-tale crap whenever it comes to Allison. Generally, he can be a bit of a downer. But anyway, I'm pretty sure she's sort of seeing Isaac, the guy you were sat next to first period, even though he and Scott are friends, and I have no idea what's going on there right now. Scott doesn't really like to talk about Allison too much lately."
"You talk a lot," Ade interrupted.
"And you don't talk much at all. We make a great couple." Ade raised an eyebrow as Stiles realised what he said and started stuttering. "I mean, not, like, couple-couple, like a romantic couple, no, like a uh, a pair. Yeah, a pair, as in a couple of apples, not a couple of romantically involved people, a pair. Pair. Pair works." His voice broke slightly as he finished the sentence, and he cleared his throat before he glanced over at Ade, wincing in embarrassment.
"I got your meaning." Stiles nodded. Silence fell over the Jeep, and a slightly awkward one at that, as Ade tried to think of something, anything, relevant that she could bring up to talk about. When nothing came to mind, Stiles came and saved them.
"So, uh. How are you liking Beacon Hills? I guess that's a pretty standard question to ask a new resident, right?"
"Right. It's nice. Pretty. I wanted to go and check out the preserve at some poi-"
"I would suggest staying away from the preserve, it can get really dangerous up there. You don't know what's lurking in those trees."
"What, a couple of mountain lions?" Ade joked. She knew damn well what, or more adequately, who, was lurking in those trees, and that's precisely why she intended to pay the preserve a friendly visit.
"You never know. People get hurt up there."
"So I've heard." Stiles glanced over at her again, a frown on his face, before he continued.
"Well, anyway. Did you have a good first day? At the school, I mean."
"It wasn't too bad. Although, there was this one guy who was totally pervy. I swear, he knocked into me on purpose, just for an excuse to check me out." She smiled over at him as he scrunched up his face, a slight smile playing on his lips. Nice lips. Wait, what?
"Ha ha, very funny. I kinda figured if I wasn't allowed to apologise, you weren't allowed to make me feel bad. Oh, and by the way, thanks for bringing that up in front of my dad. Really, because his opinion of me wasn't low enough as it was." He grinned over at Ade, to let her know he was joking, and he saw her biting her bottom lip as she gazed out of the windshield, a confused frown on her face. Because she wasn't distracted enough as it was, she now had to go and start drawing more attention to her lips. While he was driving. Because that was safe. When she didn't respond, he looked over at her again. "Ade?" She shook her head as she was brought back from whatever she was thinking about, and looked over at him expectantly. "Is everything alright? You spaced out for a minute there." She cleared her throat, and when he looked over at her, he noticed a slight blush creeping up her cheek, before she hid her face behind her hair.
"Yeah, everything's fine, sorry. Just, uh- oh, we're here." She pointed across the road to a white and brown house. It was two-storey, with a porch over the front. One side of the house connected to the garage, while the other was cut off by a high fence, that Stiles assumed wrapped around the back yard and went back to the garage. He pulled into the driveway, and turned off the car before unbuckling and jumping out of the Jeep. He heard a few confused noises coming from Adria, but he chose to ignore them as went walked around the front of the Jeep to open her door. She lowered his eyebrows at him as he held out a hand to help her down, but he ignored that too, simply gesturing toward his hand with a nod of his head. He could see the 'what're you up to' look on her face, but she took his hand anyway.
Stiles felt his stomach flip when she slid her hand into his, and he couldn't help but hold his breath as she jumped down beside him. She smiled up at him, a shy smile that sent his stomach doing gymnastics again. He felt himself smile back, and he removed his hand from hers, despite a voice in his head screaming at him to do otherwise, to grab her bag from the floor by the passenger seat.
"Are you being a gentleman to make up for this morning?"
"Well, if I was, I'm not apologising. So, technically, you can't moan about it. Suck it up." He closed the door as she giggled. I swear, that is the cutest laugh to have ever graced my ears. How have I ever managed to live without hearing that laugh every day of my life?
"Stiles? Hey, Stilinski."
"Hmm. What?"
Ade raised an eyebrow at him while smirking slightly. "Could I have my bag back, please?"
"Oh, right, yeah. Here." He held out her messenger bag for her to take, and then turned to walk her to her door. Walking side by side, it was the first time Stiles noticed the height difference. She was wearing heels that caused Stiles to wonder how in hell she managed to walk in them, but even then, the top of her head barely reached his eye level.
"You know, I don't think I've ever had a guy walk me to my door." She looked up at him from behind her long, thick lashes, a small grin on her face, and Stiles swore he was going to melt into a puddle at her feet. He almost didn't mind.
"Well, that's very un-chivalrous. A lot can happen from the car to the door. You could trip, spontaneously combust, get abducted by aliens…"
"Mm, this one time when I was taking out the trash, Godzilla walked by and nearly trampled me. The driveway can be a very dangerous place." Stiles let out a short laugh, letting Ade lead the way up the porch steps to the front door. She grabbed her keys from her bag, turning to him as she did so, then looked up at him again, wearing that shy smile that made his heart beat a little faster. "Thank you, Stiles. You're totally off the hook for this morning."
"Good, because I'm not sure how much longer I could hold those apologies off. Seriously, they've been on the tip of my tongue the whole ride here." She giggled, ducking her head as she did so, and Stiles couldn't help the smug smile that lit up his face at knowing he caused that. She looked back up at him with her big blue eyes, and he was about to say anything that would keep her smiling like that, but before he could open his mouth, a loud howl ripped through the air. Stiles whipped his head around to the direction it had come from, noticing for the first time how close Ade lived to the edge of the preserve. That couldn't be safe. "You should go in. It's cold out." Stiles motioned towards the door without turning back to face Ade, keeping his eyes trained on the edge of the woods for any kind of movement. When she didn't respond and Stiles heard no movement, he glanced back at her to see she was staring at the edge of the preserve just as intently as he was.
"Did that sound like a wolf to you?" Her question caused Stiles to started spluttering.
"What? No, that's not… I mean, wolves haven't been around here for decades. Definitely wasn't a wolf. No, that's… That's ridiculous."
Ade turned to study his face, and looked his straight in the eye as she said, "You're right. What would wolves be doing in Beacon Hills?" Stiles started stammering again, not sure how to respond to that. "Goodnight, Stiles. Thank you for the ride." She opened the door, walked in and shut the door in Stiles' face before he knew what was happening.
Adria leant against the other side of the door until she heard Stiles' Jeep take off down the road. She knew Stiles knew something. No one reacts to a comment about wolves like that unless they know what would be behind that howl. He had tried too hard to act nonchalant, and it hadn't fooled her. It did worry her though. How much did he know? Who else knew? Should she confront him about it? No, she thought. That wouldn't go well. If he knew she knew, he'd ask how she knew, and she wasn't ready for that conversation. She didn't want to scare everyone away just yet.