Lydia stared at her observer with fearful eyes. She stared at the muscular image in front of her. She choked on her words before she could get them out.
"I-I-I was j-j-just, umm. . ." she managed to get out.
He cocked his head slightly with the raise of an eyebrow.
"Well, I'm waiting." he said staring at the young teen.
He couldn't take his eyes off of what he thought was an intruder. He saw how she shifted uncomfortably as she tried to look for an answer. He could hear the increase of her heartbeat when she looked at him.
"I was running past and your house kind. . . of. . ." she stopped again in fear.
Derek folded his arms and waited kind of impatiently. She nervously looked down at the picture in her hand.
"Y-your the boy from the picture." she said in a distinctive tone.
"Yeah, what's it to ya?" he responded, as he began moving in a little closer.
She looked into his clear eyes and she could feel something spark inside them. She couldn't decide if it was a common feeling or if it was just this persona he was putting on in front of her, in front of everybody. He began to feel uncomfortable with the way she was staring at him, figuring him out. He shifted the way he stood.
"What happened?" she asked out of curiosity and a tone Derek hasn't heard in a long time, care.
Lydia watched as his jaw clentched and unclentched. His eyes shifted as he searched for the words within himself. Noone had actually asked because they cared, he felt people asked out of being nosey.
"What does it look like? The house was set in flames." he answered in a bitter tone.
The young teenage girl jumped back. Derek was used to the reaction of people being afraid of him. He could tell that she wasn't afraid of the threat, but of him being so withheld and mysterious. What he wasn't used to, was people actually wanting to hear his story, allowing him to be a softer and gentler person. He wore a mask of handsomely chisiled features and an ice cold stare. It's been a while since anyone has looked at him the way Lydia was looking at him at this very moment. Her eyes tracing his every muscle and movement. He was beginning to get scared but he didn't let it show.
"Well, obviously! What happened to you?" she said referring to the picture she was now holding up for him to see.
He turned away from the picture in dismay of the thought of the day he took that picture, the last one he took with his family. He looked at the picture in the hands of someone who was completely clueless in what she was doing to him. He came across the last bit of color left on the sheet she held in her hand. He couldn't make out alot of the faces, but he could recognize his own and his mother, father, and sister. The smiles were so real and so faded. It's been so long since Derek had smiled. Well, at least one that he meant.
"Well, I'm 21, not 16. My family is dead and you will be too if you don't leave." he sneered.
"Well, I won't leave easily." She stood her ground, even though she was afraid.
He stared at her holding back tears of unwitnessed feelings. Fear, sadness, grief, anger.
"Lydia. My name is Lydia." she began. "I don't have much to go on, but I'm sure that you don't have to pretend to be a total badass. I can tell that you've been fending for yourself for quite sometime. I know because I do the same thing. We can help each other out.
He didn't want to trust her, he couldn't trust anybody. The last time he trusted someone -gave his heart to someone- his world was seet to flames. But in her eyes her notcied a tiny shimmer of light behind them. Her heart did not jump or increase. He nodded with a twist of his lips.
"I'm Derek. Derek Hale."