Chapter 8
Later that day, Stiles took the beginning of his break time to find Erica and ask her about the interesting things Derek had said that morning. He found her upstairs, curled up on a couch reading another romance novel. He plopped down next to her and looked over. Erica lifted an eyebrow.
"Hey, Stiles. How's Derek?" She grinned and looked over at him. "I was thinking about asking him out to coffee later."
Stiles rolled his eyes and smiled. "Oh, please." Erica's eyebrows drew together in confusion. "You and I both know that you don't really have a thing for Derek. He's practically your older brother."
"We aren't related at all, meaning I can have a thing for him if I want to."
Stiles moved closer to her. "Look me in the eye and tell me you would make out with Derek Hale."
Erica's eyes widened slightly. It was barely noticeable, but Stiles was looking for it. He grinned when Erica sighed. "Fine. I find that completely unappealing. Gross, actually." She closed her book and turned so she was facing Stiles. "I basically grew up with him and Laura. Yeah, I realized that he is very attractive and all, but I would never ever…" She shook her head, as if finishing the sentence was painful.
Stiles flailed his arms in the air and stood. "Then why the hell were you messing with me like that? That was cruel and embarrassing." He shook his finger at her, trying to make her feel like she was in trouble. Because she totally was.
Erica smiled sheepishly. It was so different from all the sly smiles she'd been giving him, it made him calm down and sit next to her again. "Laura put me up to it," she blurted out, making it sound like one word. If Stiles didn't already speak like that, he wouldn't have understood her at all.
"What? Why?" Stiles jumped up again. He accidently knocked the table next to him over with his flailing legs. "Crap." He bent over and picked it up, quickly apologizing to the inanimate object.
"Sit down before you break something." He did. "Listen, Laura immediately figured out that you liked her brother. No offense, but it was kind of obvious." Stiles' cheeks reddened. "It's no big deal; she's not mad or anything."
"Good, because I really can't help who I find attractive and if I lost my job over this my dad would kill me and then my Jeep would never get fixed! But I'd be dead so it really wouldn't matter anyway─"
"Stiles!" He fell silent. "You're not going to lose your job, okay? When Laura realized you weren't going to make a move on your own, she asked me to intervene. I was trying to get you guys jealous so you'd ask each other out."
"So that's why you went back and forth between us? Trying to get us both jealous?"
"Exactly. Laura knew you were too self-conscious to make a move." Stiles glared at her. He was not self-conscious. Well, not really. "And she knew Derek would never make a move either."
Stiles scoffed. "If Derek's not interested, why would I make a move now?"
Erica sighed and shook her head. "No, it's not that. It's─"
"Is everything okay up here?" Derek walked into the room. "I heard a crash." He was glaring at Erica, whose hand had roamed to the back of Stiles' neck. She ran her fingers through his hair. Stiles stood quickly.
"Yeah, we're fine," Erica said slowly. "Stiles just kicked a table over."
Derek looked in Stiles' direction. The younger boy held up his hands. "I flail a lot." He moved past him and went to the office to grab his jacket. Somehow, Erica always found a way to embarrass him in front of Derek. Wasn't that the complete opposite of her goal?
Laura was about to say something as Stiles came downstairs with his scarf and jacket, but he interrupted her. "I still have fifteen minutes of my break left and I am using every second. I will see you at one." He left the library and walked down the sidewalk. On his way to the coffee shop, his phone vibrated in his pocket. "Hello?" he answered.
"Hey, Stiles."
"Hey, Dad. What's up?"
"I just got a call that your Jeep is fixed. We can go pick it up when you get off of work." Stiles pumped his fist in the air.
"Finally! It took them forever." Stiles walked into the coffee shop and ordered two hot chocolates. He would have gotten coffee, but he hadn't gotten around to asking Derek the ingredients yet.
"They had a lot of work to do, Stiles. You have to remember that your Jeep is not a toy."
"I know, Dad, I know." They had talked about this a lot, especially after he had rear ended Mrs. McCall. That had not been a fun day.
"You say that, but sometimes I don't think you do. You can be so reckless."
"I'll be fine, Dad. I always am." Stiles stepped back out into the cold and headed for the library.
"One of these days you won't be. I don't know what I'd do if I lost you, kiddo." His voice wavered and Stiles stopped walking.
"Okay, I won't be so reckless. I promise. Dad, nothing's going to happen to me. I'll stop at all the stop signs, I won't speed… that much." His dad huffed. "I've got to go now. My break is up and I'm still a block away from the library."
"Alright, I'll see you later. I love you."
"Love you too, Dad. Bye." Stiles hung up and jogged the rest of the way, somehow managing not to spill the hot cocoa. Laura eyed his as he came back in. "I'm only two minutes late. Relax." Laura rolled her eyes and smiled at him as he moved past her into the backroom.
Derek wasn't sitting at the table, but his book and laptop where there. Stiles set the extra hot cocoa next to his things and headed back upstairs. Derek was searching for another book, but looked up when Stiles rushed past. "Went out for coffee?"
"Hot cocoa, actually. Since you haven't told me what actually in the stuff you get me." He tried to put emphasis on that, hoping Derek catch on. He did, but he didn't seem interesting in expelling the information. Stiles shook his head ask he went into the office.
Derek made his way downstairs. He walked into the room and saw a steaming mug of something that smelled delicious. Laura didn't have any. He went over and took a slow sip. It was hot chocolate.
Derek smiled.
