29; Out Of My League

Cassidy glanced around the dark room with a confused look on her face. She walked down an aisle, glancing at the shelves full of movies as she walked past them. She had no idea how she got back to the movie store or why she was even there, and if being back there wasn't bad enough, it seemed like she was there all alone or so she thought.

Feeling a presence toward the back of the building, she turned around and looked over in the area she felt that someone or something was standing in, but didn't see anything.

She didn't wanna be here. The last time she was there was terrifying enough, but at least she had her sister by her side. With that thought in mind, she glanced around, looking for her.

"P-Parker?" Cassidy called out for her sister. "Parker, where are you?"

"All... alone." She heard a sinister voice say. She couldn't exactly tell where the voice was coming from, it sounded like it was coming from all around her.

"W-Who's there?" Cassidy whimpered out as she glanced around again.

"Poor Little Red Riding Hood is all alone." The voice added, ignoring her question.

"What?" She breathed out as she turned around to look at the back of the building, where she felt like someone was standing at earlier, but still didn't see anything.

"All alone... well except for the big bad wolf." The voice continued with an evil chuckle from behind her.

She gasped in surprise as she spun around, coming face to face with the most frightening monster with bright red eyes she had ever seen.

A blood curdling scream escaped her lip when the creature in front of her opened it's mouth, flashing a row of sharp teeth at her before it pounced forward to attack her.

Cassidy screamed out when she felt someone grab her by the shoulders and began to shake her. She snapped her eyes open and jerked away from the hands holding her, her back slamming into the headboard of her bed.

"No, no, don't touch me." She whimpered a few times until she realized the person that was reaching out to her was her sister.

"Cassie? Cassidy, are you okay?" Parker asked with a concern look on her face. She had been in her room, trying to figure out how the alpha could possible know about a knife that only the Hale family knew about, when she heard her sister screaming from her bedroom.

"Yeah, sorry." Cassidy breathed out. She took a few deep breaths to calm her racing heart, realizing it was only a silly dream and she had nothing to be scared about.

Once she was more calm, she looked at Parker and added,"It was just a dream."

"Sounded like more than just a dream." Parker pointed out as she reached forward to brush a lock of hair from her sister's face.

"Okay, it was more than a dream." Cassidy admitted as she pulled her knees up to her chest. "It was a bad dream. A very, very bad dream."

"What happened?" Parker asked as she watched Cassidy wrap her arms around her legs, holding herself tightly.

"It was stupid." Cassidy said, shaking her head. "I feel stupid for letting it get to me."

"You're not stupid." Parker argued, then asked again."What happened?"

Cassidy took a deep breath then began to say,"I was back at the movie store. Only this time you or Jackson weren't there, but..."

"But what?" Parker asked when she paused.

"But something was there." Cassidy quietly answered, like she was scared the monster would jump out at her if she spoke to loudly about it. Shaking her head, she tried to get those blood red eyes from her mind, then added,"I don't know what it was, but it was something and it spoke to me, then when I turned around I saw these bright red eyes. It was scary."

"That- That does sound scary." Parker nervously said, wondering if Cassidy saw more than she thought. To test her, she added,"But, thankfully we were all okay and it was only a mountain lion, right?"

"Right." Cassidy agreed. Not sure why she dreamed about something else trying to attack her. She didn't see what was in the store last night or did she?

Maybe the dream was her subconscious mind trying to show her something she didn't even realize she had seen, but she had never heard of a mountain lion having red eyes and they definitely don't talk, so what could it have been in her dream?

"Hey, Parker, can I ask you something? Honestly?" Cassidy asked as she looked over at her sister.

"Of course."

"Are you sure it was a mountain lion? I mean you actually saw it?"

Parker glanced down at the comforter on the bed as she wondered how she should answer. Should she keep lying to her or finally tell her the truth and scare her even more than she already was?

Looking back up, she opened her mouth, then quickly closed it when she saw her sister's trusting eyes looking back at her.

She opened her mouth again to answer, but before she could say a word, her cell phone beeped, letting her know she had a new message. She choose to ignore it and continued to look at Cassidy, trying to figure out how to answer her question.

When her phone beeped again, Cassidy glanced down at the phone in question as she asked,"Are you gonna get that?"

"I, um.. I'll get it later. You asked me a question and to answer your question-"

"It's okay." Cassidy interrupted with a head shake. "It was a stupid question and I don't even know why I asked it. I mean, of course, it was a mountain lion, what else could it be?"

When the two sisters heard the phone beep again, Cassidy softly smiled, then added,"Besides that sounds pretty important."

"Sorry." Parker breathed out as she stood up from the bed and glanced down at her cell phone to read the messages.

She couldn't stop a smile from appearing on her face when she saw it was from Derek. He was only talking about the alpha and asking if she wanted to workout with him, but just the idea of him texting made her happy. It was a big improvement from him pushing her away and insisting he didn't need her help- looks like maybe he wanted her help after all.

"Let me guess... Derek." Cassidy spoke up, getting her sister's attention.

"What?" Parker asked confused as she looked away from her phone.

"Text from Derek?"

"How did you know?"

"The 'Derek' smile on your face."

"What's a 'Derek' smile?"

"It's a special smile you get anytime you talk to Derek, talk about Derek and I'm gonna guess think about Derek." Cassidy explained with smile.

After hearing about her sister's past with Derek and hearing how much they cared about each other, she was rooting for them to get back together. She just wanted to see her sister happy.

"So, are you two back together yet?" Cassidy questioned.

"No." Parker stated with a shake of her head.

"Why not?" Cassidy asked confused.

"Why are you so concern about my love life?" Parker joked.

"You know I'm nosy." Cassidy answered with a shrug, then seriously added,"Plus, I just want you to be happy."

"I am happy."

"But, you would be happier if you were back with Derek."

Cassidy saw Parker smile at her comment as she looked back down at her phone, reading back over the messages from Derek.

"You should go see him." Cassidy suggested, then added,"Tell him everything you're feeling."

"It's not that easy." Parker said back.

"Of course it is." Cassidy argued. "Parker, life's too short for easy. You have to go for what you want; be happy. If last night taught me anything, it's that."

"I get what you're saying, I do, but for now I think it's best we just stay friends."

"I still think you should go see him. Maybe he thinks differently."

Parker looked down at the messages again and wondered if Cassidy could be right.

When she first arrived back, Derek did everything he could to push her away, but now he was reaching out to her and asking her to workout with him. He was the one seeking her out now.

She wanted nothing more to be back with him- which was something she didn't even realize she wanted until he was back in her life; she craved him, just like she did when she was younger.

Was she ready to start something with him again? What if he left again? She wasn't sure if her heart could handle that kinda heartache again.

Looking back at her sister, she said,"Even if you're right, I can't leave you."

"Why not? It's not like I'm a child. I can handle staying home alone" Cassidy stated. After the night they had, she planned to stay home from school and camp out in her bedroom.

Pulling the comforter up to her chin, she added,"Besides I'll probably just sleep for the rest of the day."

"I think I have some sleeping pills lying around if you want to take one." Parker suggested. She knew Cassidy had a hard time sleeping the night before. The nightmare she had before was just one of many during the night.

"No, that's okay." Cassidy said, not liking the idea of taking medicine. Shooting her sister a serious look, she pointed toward the bedroom door and added,"Now, go to Derek."

Parker bit her bottom lip as she thought about it. Oh, who she was kidding, of course, she wanted to go see him. She just had to be sure she was being careful with her heart this time. She feel too hard, too fast for him as a teen- this time she told herself to go slow.

"Okay, I'll go, but call if you need anything, okay?" Parker said to her.

"I will, I promise." Cassidy said, then added,"Now go! Don't worry about me."

"You're my little sister. I always worry." Parker said back with a smile, before she turned and walked out of the bedroom.

She made her way downstairs, grabbing her jacket and slipped it on while opening the front door. She jumped back and gasped in surprise when she saw Stiles on the other side of the door.

Stiles yelled out when he saw the door open before he could knock. He laid his hand over his heart, then said,"Jeez, Parker! Could you stop doing that?"

Parker chuckled at the scared boy and shook her head. Somehow she kept sneaking up on him and scaring him.

Resting her hand on the door frame, she sarcastically said,"Oh, I'm sorry, Stiles, next time I'll be sure to knock on the door before I open it, just in case you're on the other side."

"That would be helpful, thanks." Stiles said back as he walked into the house without an invite.

"Sure, come on in." Parker mumbled, then she turned around to face him. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at school right now?"

"School is the least of my worries. I wanted to check on Cas." Stiles said, then asked,"How is she?"

"She didn't sleep well last night- which is why she's not at school today, and I actually had to wake her up from a nightmare a few minutes ago." Parker answered.

"That's what I was afraid of." Stiles mumbled as he ran a hand over his face with a sigh. He hated that she was going through this and there was nothing he could do about it.

"Is she asleep now?" He asked.

Parker shook her head and said,"No. She was planning to get more sleep when I left her room, but she should still be awake, and I'm sure she'll be happy to see you." Grabbing her keys by the door, she added,"Plus, you can keep an eye on her while I'm gone."

"Where you going?" Stiles curiously asked. He didn't give her a chance to answer as he added,"Wait... are you off on another 'errand'?"

Parker rolled her eyes at his question with a small chuckle, remembering when she referred to seeing Derek as an errand and he called her out on it.

"Yes, I'm off to see Derek." When she saw Stiles make a face, she sighed and breathed out,"What?"

"It's just... I'm worried about you. I mean, are you sure getting involved with Derek is a good idea?" Stiles questioned, then lowered his voice and added,"He's a freaking werewolf, Parker."

"I'm well aware of what he is, Stiles." She said back with a small chuckle, then added,"And I've known him for years. I've been in the werewolf world longer than you have. I know all the dangers and I can handle it."

"Okay." He softly said. "It's just... you're not only Cassidy's big sister, we all see you as a big sister. Me and Scott, I mean, and we're just worried about you."

Parker smiled at his words, then leaned forward to give him a small friendly peck on his cheek. It was nice to know they all felt that way, but she knew she would be okay, which is what she told him before walking out the front door.

Once Parker was gone, Stiles made his way upstairs and slowly opened Cassidy's bedroom door, even if Parker said she was still awake, he still wanted to be quiet just in case. He poked his head in and saw her laying in her bed, curled up to a big, fluffy pillow.

"Hey." He said to her.

"Hi." She whispered back.

"Can I uh, can I join you?" He questioned as he gestured toward the bed, asking if he can lay with her.

Cassidy didn't say anything, instead she nodded her head and patted the mattress beside her. Stiles smiled as he walked across the floor and laid down beside her on his back. He felt himself bursting with happiness when she tossed the pillow she had been laying on aside and scooted closer to lay her head on his chest.

"I'm glad you're here." She softly said as she rested an arm across his stomach.

"I wouldn't wanna be anywhere else." He said back as he kissed the top of her head and held her close.

He might not be able to keep the nightmares away, but he could try to comfort her. He knew his dad wouldn't be happy about him skipping school, but at the moment he didn't care, he was going to be there for her and try to cheer her up the best he could. He would deal with the consequences later.

•••

Parker walked into the Hale house and glanced around for Derek, then felt her breath catch when she saw him doing shirtless pull ups in one of the doorways. She bit her bottom lip as she watched his body go up and down a few times before he let go of the door frame, his feet hitting the floor with a loud thud.

Derek turned around to see her checking him and smirked when he heard her heart racing as he took a few steps toward her.

"You know, I gotta say I was surprised when you texted me and asked if I wanted to join you for a workout." Parker said, watching him walk closer to her.

When he was in front of her, she added,"I thought you didn't want me involved in any of this."

"Well, I can tell no matter what I say you're not going to listen, you're going to do what you want just like you always do."

"It's about time you realize that I'm always gonna get my way." She joked.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." He said, rolling his eyes. "Now, come on, we got work to do."

"Just tell me what to do first, big bad wolf." She teased with a laugh.

"Well to start with, you can stop calling me that." He said back as he shot her a look.

Parker chuckled at the look on his face as she slipped her jacket off, leaving her in a loose fitted tank top, her black sports bra visible from the sides.

Derek couldn't stop himself from checking her out when she was turned away from him. His eyes traveled down to the tight black yoga pants she was wearing until he made it to her butt- her butt was always his favorite feature of hers and the pants fit them well.

Parker tossed her jacket on the floor then turned around to face him, catching him checking her out. She took a step toward him and said,"Looks like someone is thinking about a different kind of workout."

Derek didn't say anything as he walked behind her and laid his hands on her shoulders, before running his hands down her bare arms until he reached her hands. With her smaller hands inside his larger ones, he raised his arms, bringing hers up with his as he raised them over their heads to stretch.

Leaning toward her ear, his lips inches from it as he whispered,"Maybe someone is."

She grinned, then turned around to face him and looked down at his lips for a moment. Raising her eyes up to look into his, she said,"Maybe someone else is too."

He smirked at her comment and watched as she took a step closer to him, noticing she placed one of her feet behind his leg. He wondered what she was doing, until she spoke up,"Or maybe someone's just trying to catch you off guard."

Derek lowered his eyebrows in confusion and opened his mouth to ask her what she meant by that, but before he could say a word, she laid her hands on his chest and pushed him backwards, causing him to trip over her foot and fell to the floor, landing on his back.

He looked up at her, a low growl escaping from his lips, causing her to chuckle. "Oh don't be a grouch. You have to admit that was good."

"Yeah, not bad." He said, holding out a hand and asking her to help him up. As she placed her hand in his, he added,"One little problem though."

"What?" Parker asked, but didn't get an answer, instead he pulled her toward him, causing her to land on top of him.

She gasped in surprise as he rolled over, pinning her on to the floor with her hands over her head. Leaning forward, he said,"You let your guard down."

"Okay, fine, you win." She snapped. "Now can you let me go? That kinda hurts."

Derek released his hold on her hands and shifted his weight to keep from crushing her. She surprised him when she wrapped her legs around his waist and flipped them over. She straddled his body and wrapped a hand around his throat, not squeezing, but just showing him how easily she could.

"Now who's guard is down?" She teased.

"You know I can easily flip you back over, right?" Derek said back as he sat up a bit and leaned back on his elbows.

"So why don't you?" She asked.

Sitting up the rest of the way, he rested his hands on her butt and teased,"Maybe because I like the feel of you on top of me."

"Is that so?" She questioned with a smirk on her face.

"Mm-hm." He nodded as he laid a hand on the side of her face and leaned in closer until their lips were inches apart.

The two were still for a moment, neither one making a move to close the gap. For a moment, Parker saw the old Derek; the one she had fallen for a long time ago, the one who would laugh and joke all the time before the fire that took his family away and turned him into the hard man he become.

It had been a long time since she saw that trace of a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye and she had missed that. She wanted nothing more than to close the gap between them, but she needed to know something first.

Tilting her head to the side, she softly asked,"How do I know this isn't a trick?"

He laid his other hand on the other side of her face and looked into her eyes. "This isn't a trick." He answered, his tone matching hers.

At his words, she subconsciously licked her bottom lip and felt her eyelashes flutter close. She sensed him inching closer to her, but after barely feeling his lips against hers, she felt him quickly pull back. She snapped her eyes open, worried she would see regret on his face, but instead she saw he looked worried.

"What is it?" She asked as he looked around, using his werewolf hearing to listen for something.

"Someone's here." He mumbled.

"What?" She asked, not quite hearing him.

Turning back to look at her, his eyes turning bright blue for a moment, he said,"Someone's here. Go!"

The two scrambled up from the floor as quickly as they could. Derek laid a hand on the small of her back as he ushered her toward the back of the house where a back door use to be and pushed her out onto the back porch.

As he went to turn around to go back into the house, she reached out to grab his hand to stop him. "Wait... Where are you going? You can't go out there. It's probably Kate and some of her buddies." She hissed.

He nodded his head, then said,"I know, which is why I have to go out there. I need to distracted them so you can sneak out of here."

"Derek, no." She pleaded with him.

Laying a hand on the side of her neck, he brought her toward him for a quick kiss. When he pulled back, he locked eyes with her, then growled out,"Go!"

Derek walked back into the house and heard a male voice, one of the hunters with Kate, say,"No one is home."

"Oh, he's here." Kate said back. "He's just not feeling particularly hospitable."

"Maybe he's out burying a bone in the backyard." One of the other hunters said.

Kate turned her head to look at him as she said,"Really? A dog joke?" Seeing his face fall, she added,"We're going there and that's the best you got?"

Looking away from him, she glanced around the dilapidated house and said,"If you wanna provoke him, say something like, 'too bad your sister bit it before she had her first litter'."

When that didn't get a reaction, she tried again,"Too bad she howled like a bitch when we cut her in half!"

She turned around when she heard a loud growl and saw one of her hunting partners being thrown through the air. After he fell to the floor with a thud, Derek appeared in the room, growling at them. He made his way over toward Kate and the other hunter, knocking the other hunter to the ground.

Kate smirked at him as the two faced off, until she pulled out a taser stick to electrocute him and knock him to the floor with a painful groan.

"Wow. This one grew up in all the right places." Kate said as she slowly circled around him. Hearing a floorboard creak, she lifted her head and called out,"Wouldn't you agree, Parker?"

"She's not here." Derek growled, hoping Kate didn't hear Parker creeping into the house. He should have known she wouldn't listen to him and run when he told her to. He should have waited until he saw her actually leaving before he turned his back on her.

"Of course she is. I'm not an idiot, Derek. Her car is right out front." Kate said back, then added,"Plus, right at this moment she's trying to sneak up behind me and doing a terrible job at it."

Kate turned around and ducked right as Parker swung a board toward her head. Kate quickly straightened up and moved the taser stick to hit Parker, until she kicked the stick from her hand and knocked it to the floor.

"Parker..." Derek breathed out as he tried to stand up to protect her, worried about what Kate would do to her. He wished she wouldn't try to stand up to Kate, but once again he wasn't at all surprise that she was. That was just the way Parker was.

"Well, well, looks like someone has been training." Kate said to Parker as she saw her raise her fist and take a fighter's stance.

"I don't need to train to beat your ass. You're not as tough as you think, Kate." Parker said back.

"Really? You think so, huh?" Kate chuckled, then added,"Let's see what you got then."

Kate swung her fist toward Parker, which she was able to easily block. She swung toward Kate but missed when Kate sidestepped her. She turned to face Kate, ready to throw another punch, but before she could, Kate threw one of her own, connecting with her stomach and knocking the breath out of her.

Parker doubled over and tried to catch her breath, giving Kate the perfect opportunity to elbow her in the back and knock her down to the ground beside Derek.

"You know, Parks..." Kate began to say, causing her to cringe at hearing her use the nickname that was reserved for family and friends only. "I gotta say I'm hurt... I thought we were friends."

"So did I. Until I found out you were a backstabbing bitch." Parker snapped.

"Oops, guess my secret's out." Kate said with a shrug like it was no big deal. "But I gotta say it feels nice not having to pretend to actually care about you and your petty little problems anymore." Circling around the couple, she continued,"Whining about Derek... whining about Camden... all you did was whine, whine, whine.

"It reminds me a lot of someone else, but who?" She questioned out loud, coming to a stop. She pretended to think it over, then snapped her fingers. "Oh, right, I remember now... Your little sister.

"She's what, sixteen now? I met her, you know. She's a lot like you at that age. Naïve, trusting and-"

"You stay the hell away from my sister." Parker threatened her.

"Oh, sweetie..." Kate said with a chuckle. Leaning down toward Parker, she added,"Are you really trying to threaten me? I think you just more than proved you can't handle me, so why don't you save those threats for someone else."

"Now!" Kate called out as she straightened up and added,"What do you say we all stop fighting against each other and fight together?" She began to pace in front of Parker and Derek as she continued,"We have a common enemy; the alpha, and we could help each other. You two tell me who the alpha is and we'll take care of it. Problem solved."

She paused for a moment, waiting for one of them to answer, but when neither one spoke up, she added,"Okay, how about this? You tell me who the alpha is and I'll let you two walk right out of here. I won't lay another hand on either one of you this time. What do you say?"

Kate saw the two look at each other for a moment and read their expressions, causing her to smirked. "Unless you two don't know who the alpha is."

She turned around with a chuckle and reached into her coat to pull out a gun. "Well look who just become useless."

While Kate's back was turned before, Parker felt Derek grab her arm and in a flash the two were up and heading for the door as Kate turned around and began to shoot at them.

The two ran to Parker's car, Derek jumped behind the wheel as Parker got into the passenger seat- thankful she had left the keys in the ignition when she had arrived earlier. Derek threw the car in drive, driving away from the house as quickly as possible.

•••

Stiles watched the ending credits roll on the television screen, then looked down at Cassidy, who was laying in front of him on the couch.

After Parker left and Cassidy realized she couldn't fall back asleep, Stiles suggested they watch a movie together- one he guaranteed would make her laugh her ass off, but now that he looked down at her and saw the blank expression on her face, he realized he had failed her.

He leaned down to kiss the side of her head and kept his lips against her skin as he mumbled out,"I'm sorry."

"Hm? Why are you apologizing?" She questioned as she turned her head to look at him with a confused look on her face.

"I thought that movie would be funnier."

"It was funny. You picked a great movie." She said, hoping to reassure him. But when it seemed like her words didn't help, she leaned up to lightly press her lips against his for a sweet kiss, then pulled back and added,"I'm serious, Stiles, it was really funny."

"I didn't hear you laugh once." He pointed out. Brushing a lock of hair from the side of her face, he added with a sigh,"I just want to make you laugh, I want to make you happy."

"You do make me happy." She corrected him as she rested her hand on the back of his neck. "Very happy." She added, before she pulled his face toward hers, softly kissing his lips again.

Stiles grinned against her lips before tilting his head to the side to deepen the kiss. Feeling a tingle from his head to his toes as their lips continued to move together.

Every time he kissed her he felt like he was in the middle of a dream world that he never wanted to wake up from. He never wanted to stop kissing her or touching her, but he also didn't want to pressure her either- especially after what she went through the night before- which meant as much as he hated to, he had to remove his lips from hers.

He gave her one more small kiss before pulling back and looking down at her. He lightly caressed her cheek, just wishing she would smile, just once. Ever since he saw her in the movie store parking lot after the attack he had not seen one of her real, genuine smiles- the bright smile that always made his heart flutter when she flashed it at him and he honestly missed it.

"I have an idea." He said out to her.

"What?"

"How about I order us a pizza- your favorite kind- while you pick out the next movie? Whatever you want." He suggested. It wasn't the best plan, but he hoped after eating her favorite pizza while watching her favorite movie she would at least be a little happier.

"Sounds good." Cassidy said, giving him a small smile. It wasn't the smile he wanted, but it would do.

"Great!" Stiles said happily. He gave her a quick kiss then stood up from the couch as he pulled out his cell phone to order the pizza. "I'll order us a large hamburger pizza, do you want cheese sticks too?"

"Of course." Cassidy said, standing up and walking over to the floor to ceiling shelves by the huge picture window to look over her DVD collection.

While she looked, Stiles quickly placed an order to the local pizza place, then walked over to her. He wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and rested his chin on her shoulder as he glanced over a few movies titles.

"Did you find anything yet?" Stiles asked her.

"Hm, I'm trying to decide between those two." Cassidy answered as she pointed to two different movies.

Neither movie was one he wanted to watch. He wasn't very picky with movies and would pretty much watch anything, except for movies that had singing or musical numbers in them- which happened to be her favorite kind- so, of course, the two she picked had one or both in it, but for her he would watch 'em.

"Either one is okay."

Turning her head to glance at him, she said,"Liar. You hate both."

"True, but for you I can love them."

Cassidy turned around in his arms and wrapped her arms around his neck before leaning forward to kiss his lips. She whispered out a, 'thank you', after the kiss as she rested her forehead against his.

Stiles open his mouth to tell her she didn't need to thank him, he would do anything for her, but before he could say a word, they heard the doorbell ring, interrupting their moment.

"That was fast." Stiles mumbled as he took a step back to head for the front door, thinking it was the pizza he had ordered earlier- instead he was surprised to see Isaac on the other side of the door.

"Isaac? What are you doing here?" Stiles asked with a confused look on his face. He knew Isaac and Cassidy talked some, but didn't know they were close enough for him to be coming to her house like they were best friends.

Hearing a male voice, Isaac looked up and tried not to look disappointed when he noticed it was Stiles that opened the door and not Cassidy. He opened his mouth to answer him, but before he could say a word, he heard his favorite sound ever- Cassidy calling out his name as she rushed over to the door.

"Isaac, hey!" Cassidy said with a genuine smile on her face as she hugged her friend. This was the first time she had actually seen him in a while. Since starting things with Stiles they two had not seen each other much.

Stiles looked on in shock, not missing the huge smile on her face- the smile he had tried to bring out all day, but no matter what he did, he never saw it, until now- until she hugged Isaac.

He definitely didn't think they were the 'hug each other' type friends, but apparently he had missed a lot while he was helping Scott with werewolf stuff.

Isaac looked between Cassidy and Stiles, seeing the happy look on her face, but the annoyed look on Stiles. He cleared his throat then said,"I, uh, I didn't mean to interrupt but since you weren't in school today I just wanted to check on you.

"Plus I heard about the animal attack at the movie store. There are all kinds of rumors floating around school and I just wanted to see with my own eyes that you are okay." He added.

"I'm okay, thanks." Cassidy said to him with a smile.

Feeling Stiles snake an arm around her waist and pulling her tightly against him, she cut her eyes over at him, wondering why he was suddenly acting a bit possessive.

While she was looking at Stiles, she missed the look on Isaac's face when he saw what Stiles did, as if he was letting Isaac know she was his.

"I um, I also wanted to bring you your homework." Isaac said, slipping his book bag off of his shoulder and opening it up to pull out a few sheets of paper.

"Thank you." Cassidy said as she went to take a step toward him to take the papers, but was held back by Stiles' arm around her. She looked at him again with raised eyebrows, silently asking him to let go- which he finally did, but he wasn't happy about it.

She took a step toward Isaac and thanked him again, causing him to shrug like it was no big deal. "It's no problem. I know how much you hate to get behind."

"I do. I really hate it." Cassidy chuckled as she reached out for the papers, his fingertips softly grazing against hers, causing her to quietly gasp and look up at him for a moment until she heard Stiles clearing his throat from behind her.

She softly smiled at Isaac and took a step back to stand beside Stiles, feeling guilty from the fluttering she felt when hers and Isaac's fingers met. She couldn't feel anything from him, she has a boyfriend, who was also her very best friend and she cared a lot about. She could only ever think of Isaac as a friend- that was it.

"Well I guess, I'll um, I'll see you later." Isaac said, giving her a short nod and went to turn around, but before he could take a step she called out his name to stop him.

"You could hang out with us. We were going to eat pizza and watch a movie." Cassidy suggested, missing the look on Stiles' face. But there was nothing wrong with hanging out with a friend, right?

"That's okay. I don't want to interrupt anymore than I already have." Isaac said, feeling like he was butting in on a private moment. He tried not to feel disappointed, he shouldn't be surprised the two started dating. He knew all along that Cassidy liked Stiles. Besides it's not like he ever stood a chance.

Cassidy lowered her eyebrows in confusion when she saw a frown come across his face and wondered what was bothering him. She definitely wasn't going to let him leave now, he looked like he needed a friend and since she was his friend, she was going to be there for him like he had been for her when she needed someone.

She reached out to lay a hand on his shoulder, then said,"Don't be crazy. You're not interrupting. We would love it if you hung out with us, right, Stiles?"

"Mm-hm." Stiles said with a fake smile and a nod when she turned to look at him, but when she turned back around he shook his head, hoping Isaac would see and decline the offer.

"See! Told ya!" Cassidy said to Isaac. She loosely grabbed his wrist and pulled him inside as she said,"Now, come on in."

Stiles watched Isaac walk into the house and rolled his eyes dramatically, before following along behind them both into the living room.

When he walked into the room, he saw Isaac nervously sitting on one end of the couch while Cassidy stood back over near the window to look at DVD's again with her back toward the two boys. Stiles clenched his jaw when he saw Isaac's eyes glance over at her to check her out for a moment, before quickly looking away with a guilty look on his face.

He walked over to the couch and sat down on the opposite end from Isaac. Picking up the remote control from the coffee table in front of him, he began to flip through the channels and tried to keep himself from saying anything that he might regret later.

"So, um, what movie were you going to watch?" Isaac asked as he looked down at the arm of the couch, picking at a loose thread while trying not to check her out again.

"I'm not sure yet." Cassidy answered without turning around. "Any idea, guys?"

"How about 'She's Out Of My League'?" Stiles suggested with a hint of sarcasm. He cut his eyes over at Isaac as he added,"Ever see that one, Isaac?"

"Actually, I have. It's a good movie. The right guy gets the right girl at the end." Isaac fired back, taking himself by surprise. Normally he didn't say things like that to people, but he was really getting tired of the looks Stiles was sending him.

Before anyone could say anything else, the doorbell rang again, causing Cassidy to turn to face them as she said,"Now that's probably the pizza. I'll go grab that and you two decide on a movie."

"So what are you really doing here, Isaac?" Stiles asked, once they were alone.

"Just hanging out with a friend." Isaac answered back.

"Since when did you two become such good friends?" Stiles questioned.

"Since you started standing her up and disappointing her." Isaac said back as he turned his head to look at him.

Stiles turned his head to look back at him with a frown. He hated himself for standing her up, but now he hated it more at finding out that while he was screwing up, Isaac was stepping in to save the day.

Before anything else could be said, Cassidy walked back into the living room with the food. She stopped in her tracks when she saw both boys looking at each other. Unable to read their expressions, she asked,"Did I miss something?"

"Nope. Nothing at all." Stiles lied as he leaned back against the couch with an annoyed look on his face. This was going to be a long day.

•••

A/N; Thank you to everyone reading and/or adding the story. Also big thanks to RHatch89, alicestilinski, randi101, clemsontigermz, ScornedxRose, LunaEvanna Longbottom, poorxbrokexcollegexkid, Mkay-212, HotChick9076, Undeniable Weirdness, Chella8181, Vanillastar, EmeraldSwan92, Lucy Greenhill, Phoenix, anilla696, MessintheMirror, LionHeartMisfit, UltimateLoveStorys, hannah, ChasingWolves, VintageLove69 and weekendrusher for reviewing.

Happy reading!
xx