"I am so tired of telling you the same thing over and over again," Malia fumed, applying a second coat of coral gloss over her lips. "He was at the club, he needed to use the washroom, he found you there puking your gut out, he helped you, and he dropped you at ours since he knows me. Favour for a friend of a friend. There's nothing more to it."
"What about the text?" Kira questioned, glancing at Lydia's quickly darkening expression.
"We've been through this," Malia glanced once at Kira who dropped her gaze and then at Lydia, who fumed back steadily anyway. "Lydia was drunk, whether she wants to accept it or not. What matters is that she is safe, and she is with us at the moment, unharmed. Seriously guys, we are talking about what happened over a week ago."
"Stiles," She huffed as she turned away from the bathroom mirror, "Has. Nothing. To do with it."
Lydia threw her hands in the air. "Fine, I am just being paranoid. Leave Stiles. But who is this guy Aiden? He sent a DM on Instagram last Thursday and I only get DMs from those who are following me."
"Who is who?"
"I don't understand why you keep your profile private."
Kira leaned over to check the unopened "hey" beside the profile picture of a particularly beefy boy.
"Might as well as go with it and say hi, he's hot."
"That's not the point."
Malia laughed and placed a hand on Lydia's shoulder. "Lydia, the times I get drunk I often start making out with trees. And you here, you accept one follow request from a local Hercules and start questioning the point of your existence."
"Girls," Kira waved nervously between the two unrelenting girls, half laughing herself.
Allison choose that moment to step out naked from the shower, curtains wrapped around her.
"Give me a razor, I have like twenty minutes left." She urged, without any opinion or interest in the matter at hand whatsoever.
Kira, relieved at something to do, began digging through the toiletries while Malia openly checked Allison out, before softly saying, "Let's dress up Scott's prize first."
The three other girls chuckled and watched the prize struggle to hide her blush, and Lydia let the topic reluctantly drop. It's Allison's special day, Malia is all tips and advice and condom supplies, Kira is humming a tune and it's hard to be frustrated at any of them for long.
You say that I'm messin' with your head
All 'cause I was making out with your friend
Love hurts whether it's right or wrong
I can't stop, 'cause I'm having too much fun
She watched Allison's new love interest come down the stairs from the Veterinary Sciences wing, and immediately approved judging by the shirt she knew to be undoubtedly borrowed from Danny. Malia approached him first, even teased the guy with words she didn't catch and he shook his head exasperatedly at her before smiling so wide at Allison that Lydia felt her own cheeks hurt. Exchanging looks with Allison, she gave him one of her genuine smiles. "I knew this guy since day one, he has a Kawasaki KX, so he's in my good books," Malia explained as Allison and Scott left, already holding hands. "He's cute, though," Kira nodded dreamily.
Lydia didn't miss how Allison glowed at the guy. The tapping of her feet in anticipation, prior to his arrival. The intake of breath when he appeared. The questioning eyebrows at Malia's too-close-for-comfort acknowledgement. This better work out, she promised to no one, eyes boring into the back of Scott's head, as Kira and Malia giggled about something and made their way to yet another frat party.
"No room in the schedule, huh?" Kira sighed at Lydia when she hesitated at the foot of the stairs.
"I am a TA for chemistry, remember?" She replied, still unsure.
"You dressed up with us, meaning you took this decision right now." Kira said, looking sad.
"Which means you are lying about having TA work now, since you never just forget a timetable." Malia piped in, eyebrows furrowing together again.
"So you are still anxious about Wednesday."
"And annoyed at me."
"No, she isn't annoyed at you, Malia."
"Trust me? I think..."
"Girls," Lydia interjected loudly. The two stopped, Malia thin lipped, Kira looking dejected, and she felt a pang of guilt. This was the first Friday in Springfield she wouldn't be spending with any of her three best girlfriends.
"It's just that I usually do all the TA Harris needs on Mondays, and Thursdays or Fridays. It's been only been Mondays and Thursdays for the past five weeks excluding last week, when I couldn't really go on Thursday, after, well. He hasn't left any message and I am a tiny bit surprised. Plus if I check the Thursday sheets today it will be much less traumatizing a routine for next Monday. And yes, I did just think about it now. It has nothing to do with anything that happened at the Nemeton."
She watched Kira and Malia look between themselves and decided the conclusion wasn't theirs to make.
"I guess I will see you tomorrow," Lydia said with finality, stepping back. Her red pumps had already started feeling uncomfortable. "And Malia, I am not annoyed at you. Promise."
She waited till she could return Malia's slow, but sure smile and then walked into the empty corridor.
So what if I go out on a million dates
You never call or listen to me anyway
I'd rather rage than sit around and wait all day
"What in the bloody fucking hell?" Lydia screamed at nowhere, barely noticing a ton of papers flying around her frantically and the body in front of her moving in similar but unsynchronized frantic rhythm to catch them.
"Miss, that was my line," the boy said just as irritably. He had his back to her and was trying to catch the papers that had not fallen to the floor yet. Excuse me?
"Though slightly more profane than what I would usually say to a random lady stranger who walks straight into me despite the fact that this wing should at this time be peacefully empty of all six inch high heel yielding girls, one of which almost stabbed my crotch by the way, which would have ended my lack of sleep for three nights gloriously, three nights without even a goddamn coffee for Christ's sake, not that you care, do you, you wouldn't have just nearly shoved that Dracula shoe in me and not-so-nearly-but-actually knock my last two hours worth of hard work out into the air like they are free invitations for Coachella otherwise..."
Lydia listened in horrified fascination, still on the floor, to his speedy rambling, which had no signs of stopping, trying to ignore the massive amount of pain in her right ankle.
He turned to her, the two watched recognition flick across each other's faces, and Stiles's eyes widened considerably.
Unfortunately, the mask she counted on since forever had already slipped, she was pretty sure she was reddening, and not gracefully so.
"Which is a lot of graciousness, you know, for a growing sleep deprived boy."
Lydia had forgotten by then how Stiles had begun his sentence, so it didn't make sense to her. She was more interested in why the fuck was he still looking at the papers for even a second long after he finished that awful rant and actually looked at and recognized her, without an apology, or even letting a hand out.
"Sorry, I just thought you'd have gotten up from the floor by now." He sighed and extended his hand. It was a familiar one. She remembered clinging to it desperately for balance as they somehow managed their way to the parking lot the night she didn't remember much of otherwise. "Where are you hurt?"
Late in being so courteous, growing sleep deprived boy. "Nowhere." She was impossibly enraged, not at the uncalled for collision, but at his utter lack of sincere attention to her. Sure she had gotten rid of her high school facade a long time ago thanks to Allison, but no boy had completely disregarded her presence until this one.
Also, she was pretty sure that the real reason she was so ticked off at him was because of her ankle, and the fact worrisomely made her more emotional than rational.
"I can see that," He says, squinting at her position exaggeratedly.
His voice resonated in her head and brought back with it an oddly vivid flashback of him examining her in a dim unisex restroom, saying the same words.
"It's not that bad," Lydia lied.
"Yeah? Try getting up," Stiles challenged, his hand still out for her.
She looked up at him with unusual hatred and involuntary scrutiny, will you look at those moles girl, and attempted to get up.
Her scream of pain echoed in the hallway.
You're on your knees, beggin' please "stay with me"
But honestly, I just need to be a little crazy
All my life I've been good but now
Ooohhh
I'm thinking "What the hell?"
She had been desperately trying to remember the lyrics of that stupid song Kira had been humming earlier, all to make her mind focus on something else besides the pain, but Stiles was so far not helping. Not even with the packet of ice he brought straight from the nurse's office, super sneaky if he was gone for only five minutes because Ms Morell doesn't stop asking questions, in fact the more the boy seemed to be around her, the more upsetting news he brought along.
"I swear you are a freaking banshee," Stiles accused, reordering his precious papers with one hand and rubbing his ear with another. He looked at her and smirked, actually smirked, and stacked his work, that should have been mine, on the opposite side of the table she sat on, pressing the ice to her ankle. She didn't trust herself to reply; this was a particularly bad mood she was in. She had already cursed herself a million times in the past ten minutes for not going out with Malia and Kira; and Lydia never cursed herself.
Meanwhile, Stiles sighed beside her. "I can only say sorry so many times."
She was oddly anxious to get out of there, not only because she had a major sprained ankle that made her unable to walk, but also because his fingers drumming on the table made her feel like she should say something, but she wasn't sure what. The only thing that had chances of coming out of her mouth then were pointless obscenities.
"How long have you been in the advanced chemistry class?" she finally settled for the most uninteresting question.
"Since my second day here."
His fingers stopped drumming on the table and the sudden absence of vibration piqued her curiousity. When she stole a glance at him, wishing she didn't want to, he was trying hard to smother laughter.
"What?"
"Don't pretend like you don't hate me."
That was it. She moved her good leg down from the table. "I am leaving." She announced tightly.
"You want to get into my arms so soon?"
Lydia groaned internally.
All my life I've been good but now
Oooh
I'm thinking, "What the hell?"
"It's not even that funny," she grumbled as Allison plopped down on her bed laughing again. She wondered about the last time she had seen Allison so happy. Eighth grade, when she won her first national level archery contest.
"Hey, it was you who opted for a night in checking some stupid chemistry papers."
"I know, it's killing me." Lydia replied without emotion. "Think of all the other ways I could have found out Harris found a new TA just 'cause he couldn't deal with one day of unchecked papers. That guy needs to get work done on his own, you know. Where was he today, actually? He informs whenever he is on a leave. And apparently Stiles didn't know anything about it either."
Allison propped herself up on her elbows and smiled so brightly at her Lydia felt all the negativity around herself start disappearing.
"Or maybe he should have just appointed a less hot guy for a TA who doesn't make you go all speechless and embarrassed and unable to function. And awfully red, should I happen to mention it."
Lydia threw a pillow at her.
"I didn't see he was inside, and I wasn't expecting anybody to be inside. He just came out so suddenly and I was about to go in, so it was bound to happen. It's still his fault though."
"Oh Lyds, I am barely interested in all that." Allison said, rolling her eyes. In the entirety of the last two hours after coming back from her first proper date, Lydia had not seen her stop smiling even for a second. She looked funny like that, her dress half undone, rolling her eyes with a continuous smile, half teasing her roommate, half lost in her own thoughts. Lydia felt a sudden fondness for Scott.
"Then what are you interested in?"
"Did he carry you bridal style all the way back to dorm?"
"Give me back that pillow so that I can throw it at you again."
If you love me, if you hate me
You can't save me, baby, baby
All my life I've been good but now whoa "What the hell?"
The song is "What the Hell" by Avril Lavigne. I know it probably doesn't make sense with the context but I just keep the music in the background, just as a sneak peek into Lydia's playlist. And OH I AM SO happy that I got like 8 follows on this story haha I am new so. By the way the Nemeton is a club.