Chapter 9: A Night to Remember
Lynne could feel the sun shine on her face, she groaned covering her eyes with a hand. Begrudgingly she cracked her eyes open. She found herself using Scott's chest as a pillow, they both were cuddled up on a makeshift cot made out of old tattered blankets on the floor of the Hale house. Sitting up she remembered she borrowed Scott's hoodie before they fell asleep, when she realized it smelled like him she blushed and smiled at the same time. Across the room she noticed Stiles and Taylor cuddled up on the couch, she was relieved knowing Taylor's body temperature was back to normal and that everything was going to be ok. Yawning she stretched her cramped arms in the air but suddenly stopped when she realized two people were missing. Where the hell were Derek and Michelle?
Groaning Michelle tried to bury her face in her pillow. Her eyes shot open feeling someone else in her bed with her. She also realized her right arm was over Derek Hale's midsection. Then she remembered walking into the living room the previous night, everyone else was already asleep except her and Derek. Just when she was about to curl up in an arm chair in the corner Derek offered his bed. "I'm not taking your bed." She whispered looking around hoping she didn't wake anyone up.
"I insist, I can go patrol or something." He grumbled.
"No, you look tired. Come on I won't bite..." She saw his eyes narrow. "Ok bad choice of words, but seriously I'll stay on my side of the bed."
Derek sighed, knowing he was going to lose this argument. "Fine."
Michelle did an internal happy dance as they walked up the stairs. When Derek opened the door to his bedroom she saw just a queen sized mattress on the floor of the room, a black comforter on top of it. Sighing she took off her jacket and boots, there was some part of her that wished he would loosen up but she knew they would have to take baby steps. She had just closed her eyes when she felt the other side of the bed shift, she knew Derek was beside her and that made her sleep like a baby.
Lynne quietly stood from her bed, still looking for the missing couple around the room but no sign of them. Tiptoeing to the stairs she figured they had to be there. Reaching the second level she glanced up and down the hall trying to look in the rooms. Lynne was about to give up when she noticed one door was cracked open. Trying to be stealthy she walked to the door to look inside. She couldn't hold in a gasp seeing Michelle and Derek in the same bed together. She immediately regretted it seeing Michelle pop up in the bed. Lynne was trying to hold in laughter as she saw Michelle come towards the door. "I'm sorry, I didn't see you when I woke up, I had no idea you were...getting it on with Mr. Hale," She snickered.
"Ok, if you can't already tell my clothes are still on." Michelle whispered quietly shutting the door behind her. "And there was no other place to sleep."
Lynne giggled again. "I'm gonna believe that for a couple seconds, but I highly doubt you wouldn't do it with him if you had the chance."
Michelle felt the heat go to her face making her head drop. "Do you know your socks don't match?"
Lynne punched her friend's arm. "Don't change the subject!" She yelled before slapping a hand to her mouth.
"Well let's go see everyone since you just woke them up," Michelle laughed walking over to the stairs.
In the living room Taylor heard Michelle and Lynne's voices but she didn't want to open her eyes just yet. She couldn't believe she was laying so close to Stiles, she had never slept better. If it wasn't for him she wasn't sure she would be able to sleep after her near death experience. His slight snoring made her smile as she opened her blue eyes. Stiles' arms wrapped protectively around her waist, their legs intertwined. Yeah, she could stay like this for a while but she felt someone poke her in the shoulder. "Hey, you awake?" She heard Michelle ask.
"Now I am," She whispered glancing behind her at her friends then back at Stiles. Quietly she rolled over on her side, Stiles' arms seemed to pull her tighter against his chest. "What are you guys doing?"
"I think you should ask Michelle what she was doing." Lynne giggled taking a seat in front of the couch earning an evil look for her friend.
"What are y'all talking about?"
"All of you were asleep and me and Derek just went to bed. Case closed." Michelle explained running her hands over face.
"'Went to bed?'" Taylor gasped with a big smile on her face.
"Not like that!" Michelle exclaimed throwing her hands up.
Taylor felt Stiles stir behind her. "What's going on?" He groaned.
Lynne saw Scott waking up as well. He looked confused seeing an empty spot beside him. "Where did...?" He mumbled then saw the group sitting together at the couch. "Hey."
"Hey yourself," Lynne smiled. "Come over here."
Scott ran a hand through his mussed hair as he plopped down beside his girlfriend. "What did I miss?" He asked looking at everyone.
"Yeah, I'm wondering that too." Stiles coughed as he and Taylor sat up on the couch.
"Oh we were just talking about Michelle and her new beau." Lynne laughed resting her head on Scott's shoulder.
"Guys, I know its pretty obvious I like him, but I'm not trying to push him into anything. Especially right now when we have all this going on." Michelle sighed pulling her light brown hair up into a ponytail. "Maybe something will happen, maybe nothing will but right now I'm just a little scared to do anything about it."
Taylor gave her friend a small smile. "Ok after everything all of us have been through you two are so much closer than I think he's been with anyone in a long time."
Michelle nodded resting her arms on her knees. Unknown to the group Derek was standing right outside the room hearing every word. He knew it was true, thinking to himself everything was true. Michelle had been the first person he actually gotten close to since the fire. She was also the first girl he had romantic interest in since Kate, the girl who pretty much used him to find out secrets about his family. He kept having this nagging voice in his head asking him if Michelle could be like that too? He silenced that voice knowing this whole world was completely new to her, just like it was for the other girls. Them knowing the werewolf secret still unnerved him.
After hearing the room go quiet he decided to make his entrance. "I didn't know my house was going to be a hotel." He announced stuffing his hands in his pockets.
"Yeah, sorry about that," Stiles chuckled rubbing his head. "We'll be on our way soon."
"How are you feeling?" Derek asked glancing at Taylor as he stepped up behind Michelle.
"Back to normal, thank you again for the save." She smiled fixing Michelle's 'Beacon Hills Track & Field' sweatshirt that she borrowed.
Derek nodded. "Look I know you girls really want to go to this prom but I just keep thinking its probably not the best idea."
All the girls' faces fell, Lynne stood from her spot on the floor. "Ok, I know I'm new to this whole 'werewolf' thing but I do know this Samuel guy wants a fight and if he doesn't find you guys at the dance then he's not going to stop til he finds you."
Scott smirked at his girlfriend, he liked the fact that she didn't back down to Derek. "Derek she's right, plus if we're all together we have more of a chance against him."
Derek shook his head, sighing he glanced down at Michelle who was already staring at him. He already knew where she stood with this prom situation. "Fine, you can go but you better keep an eye out for Samuel or his pack."
"Wait, are you going?" Michelle asked.
Derek glanced at the floor then back to the girl who was nervously waiting for his answer. "I'll think about it," He muttered. "Now don't all of you have parents waiting for you to get home?"
Taylor glanced at Stiles' phone. "It's 9 o' clock."
"Yeah we better get going. Thanks again for letting us crash." Stiles sighed grabbing his jacket form the back of the couch.
Michelle waited for everyone to clear out of the living room before walking closer to Derek. "So maybe I'll see you later?"
"Maybe," He sighed. "I'm probably gonna patrol later tonight."
"So I'll see you from my window." She smiled. "Bye, Derek."
When Taylor got home she had to talk to her parents about why her cell phone mysteriously disappeared. She told them it fell out of her pocket when she was running with Michelle, but in reality it was probably somewhere at the bottom of the river. "Why are you wearing two different pairs of sweats?" Her dad asked sitting in his recliner.
"Oh, uh, when we were running I tripped and fell in this huge puddle." She chuckled. "I didn't have any spare clothes and I didn't really want to come all the way home so Michelle and Lynne let me borrow some." Well, that was almost the truth.
"Ok, we'll order you a new phone later today." Her mom sighed picking up the morning newspaper. "And the prom dress you ordered came in this morning. I put in your room."
Taylor nodded. "Thanks mom, I'm gonna go take a shower." She said quickly running to the staircase. In her room, sitting on her bed was a brown cardboard box. Walking over to her desk she pulled out a pair of metal scissors from the drawer. Cutting the tape on top of the box she saw tissue paper on top of her dream dress. Smiling she pulled it out, a white, strapless, sequined dress. Even though she went shopping with her friends, this dress was always in the back of her mind. She had ordered it weeks ago but was worried it wouldn't come in time. Looking in her full length mirror she held the dress up, she knew prom wasn't going to be the way she originally planned but hopefully her and Stiles would have one dance.
At Lynne's house she was laying on her bed searching the internet for cheap but pretty prom dresses. So far she found one that she kind of liked. "There is no way I'm going to find a dress one week before prom." She sighed running her hands through her hair.
"Lynne!" She heard her mom call from down the hall.
"Coming!" Lynne yelled back shutting her laptop.
She found her mom going through her older sister's closet. Lynne's sister moved out right after she graduated, the room was now being used as an office but there was still some leftover clothes. "Hey, I might have found you a dress." Her mom explained picking up a few hangers.
"I didn't really like Elyse's dress though," Lynne mumbled crossing her arms.
Her mom chuckled. "Well what you didn't know was your sister bought three or four dresses for prom before she finally settled on that one."
Lynne scratched her head. "Wait, then why didn't she return them?"
"I asked her the same thing, she just said she wanted to keep them. Anyway between these four you should be able to find one you like."
"Ok." She muttered walking over to the closet. Fumbling through old easter dresses, a graduation gown, and a few winter jackets her eye caught on a red dress. "Wow," She whispered pulling it out from the back of the closet.
Holding it up to see it better Lynne smiled. It was an empire waist, with what looked like cut glass stones on the bodice and along the spaghetti straps. It was perfect. "Mom! I love this one!" She smiled hugging the dress running to her mom.
Sighing to herself Michelle searched another rack of dresses. She was pretty sure she got the leftovers of the mall in front of her. Either the dress didn't fit, was too slutty, or was just plain ugly. Michelle had never been one for shopping so she was not enjoying this experience, usually she had Taylor and Lynne helping her but it was her bright idea to shop for dresses on their own. Muttering a few cuss words under her breath she grabbed a sky blue dress on a rack by itself. She checked the tag, it was actually in her size. 'Maybe this will be all right.' She thought walking back into the changing room she had taken over for the past hour.
Michelle's eyes widened seeing her reflection in the mirror. When she stepped out of her changing room a sales woman said it was a Grecian style dress, a floral strap crossed over the bust to decorate the front. "I'll take it," Michelle smiled.
At school Monday Stiles found Taylor at her locker. "Hey, how are you feeling?"
"Great, my dress came in yesterday," She smiled grabbing a white notebook.
Stiles gave her a weird look. "Your prom dress? I thought you and your friends went shopping for one."
"We did, I kind of already had a dress ordered. So you want to know what you have to wear?"
"As long as its not bright pink I'm fine." He chuckled. "Walk you to class?"
"I'll like that."
In Lynne's Current Events class she was concentrating on a blank sheet of notebook paper when she heard footsteps come up to the seat beside her. She smiled knowing who it was. "Hey," She smiled seeing Scott's familiar dark head of hair placing his bag on the back of his chair.
"Hey you," He smirked leaning over to give her a kiss. "So me and Stiles are going to our tux fittings today after school."
"Great, so I'll be at work by myself," Lynne chuckled. "I already found my dress, how do you feel about red?"
"If that's the color you want its fine with me."
"Very good answer, my friend." She whispered hearing their teacher shut the classroom door trying to get his class' attention.
Michelle was sitting in the school's library staring at a supposed to be essay for her Physics class but so far all she had typed was her name. She glanced around the room to find her teacher, she finally found him leaning down helping another student. Reaching into her bag on the blue carpeted floor she grabbed her phone. She typed a text message to Derek. 'Have you made your mind up yet?' She asked hitting send.
She made sure the phone was on vibrate before setting it in her lap out of sight from anyone. It didn't take long for her to get a reply. 'Not yet.' The text read. Michelle grumbled making the girl next to her give her a weird look. "Sorry," Michelle whispered quickly looking back down at her phone.
'Look, I know a high school dance doesn't sound like the most fun thing but...' She paused trying to figure out what to say. 'I would like it if you came.' Without losing her nerve she hit send.
She didn't receive a reply which made her stomach drop. When the bell rang she exited out of Word and snatched up her bag from the floor. Michelle was about to throw her phone into a wall when she noticed one new text message. Her smile grew rereading the words over again. 'I'll go. For you.'
"Hey, what are you smiling at?" Lynne asked as she and Taylor approached their gleaming friend.
"Oh nothing," She laughed. "But I just may have a prom date after all."
"Really? Who?" Taylor exclaimed.
Michelle blushed. Taylor and Lynne looked at each other. "Derek." They both smiled. "So what are you going to do about a dress?"
"Oh, uh, I already have my dress." She mumbled rubbing the back of her neck.
"Me too." Taylor said.
"Me three." Lynne laughed. "Well, great, I guess we're all set."
"Let's just hope prom is something we'll actually want to remember." Taylor muttered looping her arms with her two best friends.
The rest of the week passed slowly. Derek, Scott, and Stiles kept their nightly patrol, making sure each girl was safe. Each felt some apprehension seeing the moon every night, witnessing it get closer and closer to being full. Before they knew it prom was was upon them. That morning each girl had to do their own routine to be ready that night. Lynne was eating a green apple as her sister worked feverishly trying to get her sisters hair to curl. "Ow! Elyse, that's skin not hair!" Lynne exclaimed almost choking on her apple.
"Sorry!" Elyse laughed grabbing a light pink comb from the counter. "So who are you going with tonight anyway?"
"Scott McCall, I thought you knew that."
"No, I didn't know you or your friends had dates. I can't believe they're even still having the prom after what happened at the spring carnival."
Lynne felt a twinge inside her, now that she knew Scott's secret and what happened during the carnival she realized how much danger she was in and she didn't even know it at the time. "Yeah, well, I guess its going to be ok." She whispered playing with some bobby pins.
Taylor was having her own hair troubles. Since her hair was naturally straight and sometimes had a mind of its own she had to work extra hard for it to cooperate the way she wanted it to. "Tay, Michelle's here." She heard her dad call from downstairs.
"Ok, tell her to come up." She yelled back putting most of her hair up into a hair clip on top of her head. "Hey, how did it go at the salon?"
Michelle did not look happy as she threw her bag onto Taylor's bed. "The lady did not listen to what I wanted."
"What do you mean?"
Michelle pointed to her head. "I wanted a simple updo, she went crazy with a curling iron then pinned all my hair up...and I think I'm losing circulation to my brain its so tight."
Taylor laughed. "Ok, come here and let me see if I can fix it."
Michelle groaned plopping down on the white stool Taylor kept in her bathroom. She flinched when she felt the bobby pins being pulled from her head. "Ow! You know my hair is attached right?" She exclaimed.
"Yeah, I'm aware of that." Taylor mumbled placing the bobby pins on the counter. "Have you heard from Derek?"
"I tried calling him this morning but no answer. I think he just wants to avoid the penguin suit thing."
"He said he's coming so he's coming, this whole prom thing is probably just new to him."
"Yeah, you're right." Michelle mumbled feeling her hair fall on her shoulders. "So what are you doing anyway?"
"I am making sure you look hot for Derek tonight," Taylor smirked. "Just trust me."
Scott groaned hearing someone come into his room. "Go away, Stiles." He mumbled into his pillow.
"Its not Stiles," Melissa laughed. "Come on, lazy, wake up."
Scott sat up rubbing his eyes. "What's up?"
"I thought you might want this." She smiled holding a plastic box with a corsage inside.
Scott grabbed the box from her hands. "I knew I was forgetting something." He whispered opening the lid. Inside were small red and white roses with white ribbon. "Thanks mom."
"No problem, when you told me you were going to Lynne I was really happy for you. She seems like a great girl."
"She is, I didn't think anyone would pull me out of that place I was at when Allison left but Lynne stuck around."
"Well you have fun tonight, don't do something reckless, though." Melissa warned walking out of the room.
"I can't promise that," Scott muttered closing the box again.
He picked up his phone from his bedside table. Dialing Stiles' number he remembered he didn't know what time they had to pick the girls up. "Stiles pick up," He groaned running a hand over his face.
"Hey, I was about to call you, have you heard from Derek?" Stiles asked.
"No, why?"
"Well I mean I thought he was going tonight but I haven't heard from him." He explained fumbling with his white tie.
"I kinda thought he was coming too, I'll go by his house to see what's up."
"All right, well we gotta pick the girls up at 5:30, then its pictures, food, and finally prom."
"Ok, well I'll see you later, I'm gonna go see Derek first."
"Ok, bye." Stiles said before hanging up. He was still having trouble figuring out how to tie his tie.
Michelle was mumbling curse words as she felt Taylor pull and pin her hair into place. "Are you done yet?" She asked.
"Almost," Taylor muttered as she held three bobby pins between her lips. She was having a hard enough fixing her own hair, now she had to pretty much fight Michelle while helping her out. "Ok done, check it out."
Michelle's eyes widened looking at her hair. "Wow, Tay," She smiled. She had a few curled pieces of hair falling in her face but the rest was pinned back in a loose bun but the way Taylor pinned it her hair wasn't going to fall. "Thank you."
"No problem, now we have two hours before the guys pick us up, I haven't done anything yet, and Lynne's still not here."
"Yes, I am," They heard.
Taylor sighed in relief seeing her friend standing in the doorway. She had her dress in one hand, her makeup bag in the other. "I'm sorry it took so long, Elyse was doing my hair." She sighed hanging her dress up in the doorway.
Lynne's hair was down and curled, on her left side her hair was pinned back with a flower hair clip. "Well it looks pretty." Michelle smiled.
"Thanks, I'm pretty sure I inhaled a whole bottle of hairspray fumes to get it like this though." Lynne laughed. "Your hair looks nice too."
"Thank you, its courtesy of Taylor. I'm never going to a salon again." Michelle said. "All I need is makeup."
"Ok, well I'll help you with that." Lynne smiled tossing her makeup bag onto Taylor's bed.
"While y'all do that I'll fix my hair." Taylor sighed. "It sucks being a girl sometimes." She mumbled grabbing her hair curlers.
Scott stuffed his hands in his jeans pockets as he walked up to the Hale property. He noticed Derek's car sitting out front as he made his way closer to the house he saw Derek sitting on the front porch. "Hey," Scott called. "I wanted to ask you something?"
"What?" Derek asked looking at his hands.
Scott sighed kicking a leaf with his foot. "Are you going to prom tonight?"
"I was thinking about it." He muttered. "Someone needs to make sure everything is all right."
"You don't trust me and Stiles?"
"Its not that, its...Samuel always wanted the Hales dead all those years ago. He's going to know he would have lost back then and he sure as hell going to lose tonight."
"So you're coming?"
"I am, but I'm not going in a limo with you guys, I'll make my own entrance."
"Does Michelle know that?" Scott asked as Derek stood and walked into his house.
Lynne was applying eyeliner to Michelle's top eyelids when she asked. "So how's Derek feeling about tonight?"
"I don't know." Michelle mumbled. She was beginning to wonder why she let her friend talk her into letting her do her makeup. "I haven't heard from him."
Taylor was finishing up putting the last roller in her hair when she checked her phone. "You don't think he changed his mind do you?"
Michelle fell silent. 'I hope not.' She thought standing from her spot on the stool, sighing she opened her eyes to check herself in the mirror. "Wow, I do look pretty good if I do say so myself." She laughed eyeing her makeup. Lynne had used a white shimmer with a charcoal color to give her a dramatic smoky eye.
"All you need is lip gloss and you're done." Lynne smiled going through her bag to find her foundation. "Put that on at the last minute."
Michelle nodded walking out of the bathroom to Taylor's bed. Looking back to see if her friends were paying attention, she pulled her phone out of her pocket. No calls or texts from Derek. She had officially lost hope that he was coming. And she felt stupid for believing he would in the first place.
An hour later the girls were ready, all they had to do was put their dresses on. They decided to go in separate rooms in Taylor's house to get dressed. "Ok are y'all ready?" Lynne called inspecting herself in the mirror.
"Ready!" Michelle yelled.
"Ok, one the count of three," Taylor called. "One...two...three!"
All at once the doors opened and the girls stepped out with smiles on their faces. "Red, white, and blue." Michelle smiled as they walked towards each other.
"And we didn't even plan it." Taylor laughed making sure the bobby pins holding her hair were secure. She decided to put her bangs in a side braid pinned at the back of her ear. The rest of her hair was in loose curls bouncing as she walked.
"Well let's go take pictures. We look too good right now." Lynne smirked looping her arms through her friends.
Stiles was buttoning up his black shirt when his dad walked in. "Wow, you clean up pretty good." He chuckled.
"Thanks," Stiles muttered grabbing his tie off his desk. "Can you help? I can never get these things right."
"Sure," Sheriff Stilinski said walking over to his son. "Too bad you're mother's not here."
Stiles nodded his head. He never really liked talking about his late mother. He always brushed the subject off if it was ever brought up. Looking back down he noticed his dad had the tie perfect in no time. "Now why can't I do that?" He exclaimed as he dad stepped away.
"Just takes practice, son." He smiled. "Have fun tonight...but not too much."
"Ok, dad." Stiles sighed knowing his dad had no idea what could go on at prom.
Twenty five pictures later the girls were sitting in Taylor's living room waiting for their dates. Michelle kept checking her phone silently hoping for a text or call from Derek, just some kind of reassurance that he was coming. But it never came. Finally the doorbell rang, Taylor smiled as her dad went to answer it. "Girls, I'm pretty sure these guys are here for you." He announced making Taylor shake her head.
"Coming," The girls smiled standing from their seats, silently they asked how each other looked before walking out of the living room.
Scott and Stiles stood nervously outside on Taylor's front porch, their dates corsages in their hands. Taylor's dad kept sending cold stares Stiles' way to which he bowed his head away. "Coming," They heard from another room in the house to their relief.
Their eyes lit up seeing their girlfriends walking towards them. "Hey you," Taylor whispered her blue eyes sparkling at Stiles.
"Uh...hey," He stammered. "You look...great."
"You don't look too bad yourself." She laughed holding her wrist out for him to put her corsage on.
"Hey Lynne," Scott smiled holding out her corsage. "You look beautiful."
"Thank you, and I have to say, you clean up pretty good too."
As Michelle watched her friends with their dates she couldn't help but feel a little jealous. She crossed her arms as they posed for couple's pictures. Sure, she was happy for them but she wanted her own happy prom memories and she couldn't help but feel she wasn't going to get them.
