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After 'hugging it out' for a little while, Lydia and Stiles decide to head back down to the others. They're all sitting on the sofas in silence but as soon as they spot the couple walking into the room, they all stand up quickly.
"What happened?" Allison is the first to speak and soon after her, everyone else starts with the questions.
"Are you guys okay?" Kira asks.
"What did you read?" Scott jumps in. Lydia opens her mouth, about to explain to all of her friends what happened so that they can go on with the night as normal. Well, as normal as they can get.
"It was nothing. Just a misunderstanding," Stiles answers quickly, before Lydia can speak. Much to the red-heads surprise, none of the others ask any more questions about it. Maybe it was something about Stiles' tone of voice that told them to drop it. "We're actually leaving," Stiles adds and Lydia has to try and keep the surprise and worry off her face.
"You are?" Scott raises his eyebrows and Allison frowns at them.
"I thought we were watching another movie?" Ally doesn't bother to hide the disappointment she feels.
"You guys just watch one without us," Lydia smiles at them and then she feels Stiles' hand clasp around hers. Allison continues to look annoyed but the others just nod and agree to let them go without saying anything.
Stiles and Lydia head outside and start walking along the path in silence. Because of the lifts they had, neither of them have a car. Lydia has no idea where they're walking to but she doesn't want to ask, just in case Stiles is still a little pissed about the note. She can't figure out whether he believes her or not now.
As soon as Lydia realises what road they are on, she knows where they're heading. They're going to Stiles' house, probably to get his Jeep so he can take her home. Lydia shivers slightly as the cool night air starts to whip at her arms but she doesn't say anything.
They reach Stiles' house and he opens his front door, grabbing his keys off the hook and then stepping back outside. Lydia's heart starts to beat faster as she comes to the conclusion that he definitely stills thinks she had something to do with the note.
"Stiles," she grips his arm before he can open the car door and he looks over to her. "I know you probably still think that I made a plan with Sophia, but I didn't," she pleads him with her eyes, practically begging him to believe her.
"I know," he replies and then gets into the Jeep. Lydia feels like crying; he says he believes her but he's still being off with her.
She climbs into the other side of the car silently and leans her head onto the back of the seat, sighing to herself and closing her eyes. After about fifteen minutes, Lydia realises they can't be going to her house; they would've gotten there by now. She opens her eyes again and an ice-cream shop comes into view. As Stiles pulls into one of the parking spaces, Lydia turns to ask him what he's doing but stops when she sees him smiling at her.
"You told me you like ice-cream… when we were talking in the Jeep after school," he explains and Lydia remembers the first time they really spoke - in his Jeep, after her two hour detention, when they got to know each other through questions. She smiles as she remembers exaggeratedly telling him that she loves ice-cream and that she could happily eat four whole tubs to herself. She grins wildly at him and leaps out of the Jeep, half running towards the building.
"You coming?" she calls out, turning around to check. He laughs as he walks towards her and she breathes out an internal sigh of relief, glad to know he's not pissed at her.
Stiles pushes open the door for her and they both head towards the counter. Literally all of the seats are available, nobody else is there because of the time. By the time they left Scott's, it was 7:00 and then they got to the ice-cream place at 7:45. Obviously not many people go for ice-cream that late.
"Hello, welcome to 'Ice-cream Palace'," the guy behind the till chirps happily, obviously thrilled to have someone to serve. "What can I get for you?"
"One double vanilla bowl and…" Stiles turns to Lydia to ask what she wants and laughs as he watches her staring at the flavours like a two year old.
"I'll have the same…" Lydia tells the guy, not wanting to seem greedy in front of Stiles. He rolls his eyes and holds up a finger to stop the cashier from going off to sort their order.
"Make that last one a small scoop of each flavour," he tells him and the man nods, happy to oblige considering it meant spending more money.
"I don't have enough for that," Lydia shakes her head but she can't keep the smile off her face; Stiles knows her too well.
"Doesn't matter, I'm paying anyway," he shrugs and Lydia's eyes open wide in shock. Jackson would never pay for her meal. He used to take her out to expensive restaurants and she'd have to pick out as cheap a meal as she could get, even if she didn't like the food.
"You can't pay for this, it's gonna be twenty dollars!" Lydia exclaims, pointing to the sign saying '$1 a scoop'.
"I want to pay. And you also don't have a choice considering your lack of money," he winks and she smiles warmly at him.
A while later Lydia is sat at one of the tables with her enormous bowl of ice-cream. She and Stiles are at one their 'question games' and he's helping out with her bowl because she cannot manage it on her own.
"Are you mad at me?" Lydia chooses this as her question, looking down at the table nervously.
"For the letter?" Stiles asks and she nods, still looking down. "No, of course not. I'm sorry that I didn't believe you, thinking back to it I should have. I know you and I know you would never to that to anyone, let alone me. Especially after what you've been through," he rubs his fingers gently over her knuckles and she looks back up at him and smiles.
"I swear I'll talk to Sophia and get something out of her… answers," Lydia tells him and he just nods. "Your turn," she whispers, knowing she doesn't need to say anything else about it. He knows she didn't do it and that's all that's important.
"What's your favourite place to be?" Stiles questions and Lydia thinks for a moment. How about, anywhere with you?
"The beach," she eventually decides. She has had so many good memories at the beach with her mom, her dad, Ally and Scott…
"Then let's go," Stiles grins, "That alleyway over there leads to the steps," he points out the alley and Lydia suddenly realises they are right next to a beach. She can see the sea splashing along the sand and she can't believe she didn't notice it before – even with the salty smell.
Lydia doesn't need to be asked twice. She stands up, shovelling one last spoonful of ice-cream into her mouth and then follows Stiles' through the alleyway and over to the stone steps leading down onto the sand. Squeezing Stiles' hand she grins wildly and, due to her tugging, they both run down the steps and along the sand.
They have a great time, playing like children in the sand and paddling in the sea. Unlike most people, Lydia loves the sea at night. She would never swim in it, due to the fact she can't see what's underneath her, but she loves how black and shimmery it gets.
Lydia is having such a good time that she doesn't want to leave, but suddenly Stiles grabs her hand and points out the cost guards vehicle as it roams the beach, looking for people.
"We better go, the tide's coming in tonight and he's gonna get us to leave anyway," Stiles kisses her cheek and starts to walk back towards the steps.
"Wait," Lydia grins, noticing a small cave made from large rocks right at the top of the beach, a few meters from the stairs. Stiles' follows her gaze and shakes his head.
"No, Lydia. The tide, remember?" he takes her hand to try and get her to go to the stairs.
"We won't be here long, I just don't want to leave yet," Lydia checks the time on the phone, ten past nine. "I swear when the tide starts coming in, we'll go," she raises her eyebrows in question and gives Stiles' her best begging eyes.
"Okay, fine," he rolls his eyes and allows Lydia to lead him over to the cave. There's just enough room for them both to sit in there, snug against each other, without being spotted from the outside.
It takes ages for the coast guard to get to their side of the beach. So long, that Stiles and Lydia both fall asleep sitting in the cave.
Lydia wakes up as she feels water sloshing around her legs. She opens her eyes and immediately remembers where she is, panicking as she takes it the water filling up their small space.
"Stiles!" she shouts, pulling him out of his slumber. He also takes in the water, quickly standing up and poking his head out of the cave to see how much the tide's in.
"Okay, the tides in pretty far. There's water all around us," he concludes and Lydia's breath starts to get thicker the more she panics.
"Oh my god, Stiles!" she can feel herself start to shake as more water fills their cubby hole.
"Lydia, look at me," he takes her face in his hands and look into her eyes. "We're gonna be okay, alright?" he tells her and she nods even though she doesn't believe him. "We're right next to the pier, so I can get you up there," he takes her hand and stands on top of the large rocks forming the cave.
"Oh my god!" Lydia yelps as she takes in the amount of water around them and Stiles re-takes his position of standing with her face in his hands.
"It's okay Lydia. I'm going to lift you up and I need you to grab onto the pier and help push yourself onto it, okay?" he sounds so calm despite the situation and, surprisingly, it actually calms Lydia down a bit too. She nods and tries to calm down her harsh breaths.
Stiles crouches down, interlocking his fingers and cupping his hands for Lydia to stand on. Trying to ignore the splashing water that hits her every so often as the waves angrily crash onto the rock, she places her foot onto his hands.
"Jump after three, okay?" Stiles instructs her calmly and she sucks in a deep breath. "One," he tightens his grip around Lydia's foot slightly. "Two," Lydia's breathing quickens the more she panics. "Three!" Stiles pushes up on Lydia's foot at the same time she jumps, lifting her higher in the air and allowing her to grab onto the pier with ease.
The hard part is pulling herself up, which brings her to a terrible conclusion: If she can't pull herself up, how is she going to pull Stiles up?
"You can do it, Lyds!" Stiles calls from below her. She groans in the effort, pushing her hands down onto the concrete and she manages to bring her leg up too. This makes it easier, allowing her to pull the rest of her body onto the stone.
"Stiles, give me your hand," Lydia reaches down for him, despite her horrible thought. She knows she has to try. Stiles jumps up for her hand, attempting to grab it but the wall it too high. Of course it is, otherwise the rising tide would flood the nearby buildings.
Stiles looks around for other options and eventually looks back up at Lydia. "I'm gonna head for the stairs, they're not that far away," he tells her.
"No, Stiles don't!" Lydia screams, watching how rough and menacing the waves look as they crash against the pier wall and the rocks around Stiles' feet.
"I don't have any other choice," he tells her and for the first time in the situation, he looks scared. This makes it worse for Lydia – if he looks scared, that means there if definitely something that could go wrong.
"Please, Stiles!" Lydia begs, "I'll call someone!"
"There isn't any time for them to get here, the tides rising," he looks down at his feet and Lydia notices that the rock he's stood on, one a huge looking boulder, now has barely any stone left showing. The water is starting to come up over it and Stiles' shoes are sat in a small pool of sea water.
"You can't swim over there!" Lydia sobs, tears streaming down her face as she panics more and more. "Let me get the ice-cream guy; he's sure to have something to help!"
"That place is closed, he'll have gone home," Stiles breathes out one long shaky breath and then look up at Lydia with a smile - one that she doesn't trust, even though it looks completely genuine. "I'll be fine," he tells her and then jumps into the water.
Lydia screams, searching frantically for him but she can't see in the pitch black ocean. She sprints over to the steps, holding her breath as she awaits his arrival there.
Two minutes later, the longest and most painful two minutes of Lydia's life, he still isn't at the steps. "Stiles?" she calls out for him, praying for a reply. Something to tell her that he's close to reaching the steps. "Stiles!" she yells out again. This is all her fault and she knows it. If she had just left when he tried to get her too, if she hadn't dragged him to the cave…