Ch. 28

Lennon looked over to the seat next to her. Stiles had his earphones in and had a bored expression on his face, watching the cheesy romantic comedy on the screen in front of him. The past seventy-two hours had been long, arduous and tiring, but Stiles had gotten the brunt of it. He'd told Lydia to her face how he felt about her, and she still chose Jackson when it came down to it.

There was a climactic fight towards the end of that night, ended with Scott winning the upper-hand, having switched out Gerard's pills in the Sheriff's Station with fake ones filled with Mountain Ash, and Gerard getting sicker. Once all was said and done, Lennon and Stiles went home, both silently wondering if their friendships were worth it. Lennon had finished getting ready for bed and was about to turn out her lights when there was a knock on her window.

"Stiles?" she asked as she pushed up the window. "Stiles this is the second story, how did you get up here?"

"I have a lot of adrenaline right now." he answered, setting foot inside of her bedroom. "I'm going with you."

"To bed?" Lennon furrowed her eyebrows confusedly.

"No, to Los Angeles. I need to get away from here for a while." he told her. Lennon shook her head.

"You should talk to your dad first."

"He'll be fine. Lennon, let me go with you." Stiles asked adamantly. Lennon walked over and placed her hands on Stiles' shoulders, looking him in the eyes.

"Stiles, go back home. Go to bed. We'll talk about this in the morning." Stiles shook his head this time.

"I-I don't want to be alone right now." Lennon studied his face and then took her hands from her shoulders, walked over to her bed, and pulled back the comforter and sheets, gesturing for him to get in. Stiles laid down and Lennon flipped of the lights, sliding in next to him. As they settled in the dark, Lennon tugged the duvet up to her chin and turned on her side, her back to Stiles.

The next morning, after a few, lengthy conversations, including a lecture from Kevin after he found Lennon and Stiles in bed that morning, they were packing for Los Angeles.

"You're staring." Stiles murmured, pulling his earphone out and looking over to Lennon, giving her a tired smile.

"I know." Lennon replied. "Why don't you try to sleep?"

"Because this flight is only an hour and a half." Stiles shrugged. "So what are we going to get up to in the City of Angels?"

"Well, we're going to go to my dad's place and unpack, then get something to eat." Lennon told him. "Maybe go see a movie at the Grove."

"Sounds glamourous." Stiles nodded. They continued to talk about L.A. and the plane ride went by even faster. After leaving the plane, they walked through security and to baggage claim, taking back their belongings. They walked to the pick-up area, and Lennon scanned the row of cars before grinning and rushing over to an older gentleman.

"Alfonse!" she squeaked, hugging him.

"Miss McIntyre, it's lovely to see you again." the man patted her back and pulled away, looking her up and down. "You've grown since the summer."

"It must be all that fresh air up north." Lennon grinned. She turned around gestured to Stiles. "Alfonse, this is my friend Stiles. Stiles this is my friend and my dad's chauffeur, Alfonse."

"It's nice to meet you sir." Stiles shook Alfonse's hand.

"Your father is waiting for you at home, shall we go?" Stiles helped Alfonse with the luggage and slid into the back of the town car with Lennon while Alfonse got into the drivers seat, pulling away from the airport curb. Lennon pointed out a few landmarks from growing up and told Stiles a few more stories until they got to the gates of Mr. McIntyre's estate.

"L-Lennon. . .you live here?"

"Every other holiday and one month during the summer, yes." Lennon smiled. "C'mon." she got out of the car and walked up the stairs to the large front doors, taking Stiles' hand in hers and pulling him along.

"Shouldn't we get our luggage?" Stiles asked.

"Nah, that's what the butler is for. If we don't see my dad first thing he'll have my head." Lennon explained. She opened up the doors and stepped in, tugging Stiles into the foyer and letting him look around.

"Wow. . ." his mouth was agape as he took in the ornate chandelier above their heads, the sunlight that streamed through the windows above the door casting miniature rainbows on the marble flooring.

"Come on, let's go find my dad." Lennon moved forward, leading Stiles down the hallway, away from a pristine living room, spotless kitchen and the formal dining room. After turning down another hall, Lennon knocked on the third door on the right, and waited for a second.

"Come in." a deep voice called. Lennon twisted the doorknob in her hand and thrust the door open.

"Hi Dad!" she grinned.

"Lennon!" the tall, slender man stood up from behind his dark wood desk, throwing his arms open and embracing his daughter. After a few moments, the man's eyes opened and wandered over to Stiles, who gave him a sheepish smile and a wave.

"Isaac, I presume?" Mr. McIntyre let go of his daughter and stared down Stiles, who gulped under the scrutinizing glare.

"No, Daddy, this is Stiles." Lennon furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "I told you Stiles was coming with me. I'm not with Isaac."

"Nice to meet you, s-sir." Stiles reached out and offered his hand. Mr. McIntyre eyed it carefully before extending his own, and clapping their hands together in a firm handshake before his cell phone went off.

"I've got a meeting in an hour. How was traffic on the way here?"

"Armageddon." Lennon answered. Her dad nodded and stuffed his phone into his pocket, moving back behind the desk and stuffing papers and folders into a shiny leather briefcase. "Will you be back for dinner?"

"Probably not. You know how these production meetings go." he answered. "I'm sorry, kiddo. I promise I'll make it up to you."

"Okay."

"You kids behave. It was nice meeting you, Miles."

"Daddy, it's Stiles." Mr. McIntyre looked between his daughter and the teenage boy and shook his head, leaving the office muttering to himself.

"What kind of name is Stiles, anyway?"

"I think that was good." Stiles nodded. "I'm fairly certain you dad doesn't hate me."

"He takes a while to warm up to people. I mean, Los Angeles and working in film and television. People are only nice to you so they can get what they want, you know? He's been like that with all my friends." Lennon explained, then shifted gears, getting excited again. "Okay, you wanna see your room?"

"Uh, yeah." Stiles followed Lennon as she bounded out of the room and towards the large staircase in the foyer. She wandered down the hallway at the top of the stairs and stopped at the first door to the left, turning around and looking up at Stiles, who stopped abruptly a few inches away from her.

"Okay, so I may have called ahead and had Murray fix up your room specifically, so it's garishly stereotypical boy, let me know and we can get rid of some things."

"Lennon, let me see the room." Stiles moved and put his hand on top of hers, twisting the knob and opening the door, Lennon shuffling backwards as he walked in. "Woah. . ."

"Is it too much?" Stiles shook his head at the giant, plasma screen TV that was situated on the wall. Underneath sat a pristine Xbox 360, and a plethora of games that would keep any teenage boy occupied for at least three months. The bed was large, covered in a blue duvet and a mound of pillows, a lighter blue quilt folded over the foot of the bed, where his bright red suitcase and faded lacrosse bag sat.

"Lennon, Jesus, do you do this for all your guests?" Stiles asked, looking back at her.

"Just the ones I like." Lennon replied, giving him a smile. "There's one more thing, stay here." Lennon ran out of the room, leaving Stiles alone to look around. He shook his head at the lacrosse poster on the wall by the bed. He was caught off guard by a knocking on the other side of the room, and walked over, finding another door. Opening it, he was greeted with Lennon's grinning face.

"We share a closet!" she told him. "This side is mine," she gestured to the side that already had clothes hanging up, then to the empty side. "And that's yours."

"I never took you to be the girl with a walk-in closet bigger than your garage." Stiles told her.

"Well, the garage is only a few centimeters smaller, really." Lennon shrugged. Stiles squinted his eyes. "I'm kidding you doof! Come on, go get your stuff and we'll unpack."

The two teens grabbed their suitcases and unpacked, playing music from the ipod dock that Lennon plugged into an outlet by her shoe rack. After an hour (it would've been less time had Lennon not made Stiles dance with her to Boogie Shoes and countless other songs) they finished unpacking, and went out in search of sustenance.

"So any chance of running into your L.A. crew?" Stiles asked, hands shoved into his jeans pockets as they walked down the street a few minutes later, in search of a restaurant that Lennon praised for their cheeseburgers. Lennon shrugged and looked up at him.

"There's not much a crew." Lennon told him. "I just never really had any interest in this scene. I mean, I have friends here, but they're not like back home. Here, people want to get to know you for your secrets. What they can hold against you so they can get what they want. It's a lot of negativity and double standards." Stiles looked down at her with a happy, smug smile on his face. "What?"

"You just called Beacon Hills home." Lennon began to smile herself.

"Yeah, I did." she nodded. "It's where the people I love are." Lennon wrapped her arm through Stiles' and pulled herself closer to him as they continued to search for the restaurant.


Isaac clenched his jaw, his hands curling into fists at his side. He took a few shallow breaths, trying to calm his wolf-like territorial brain. He looked up to Scott and searched the boy's warm brown eyes. He had originally planned on telling Scott that he was going on a mission from Derek, and that he didn't know how long it'd take. But that conversation took a different turn.

"What do you mean Lennon left?" he asked. Scott shrugged, slightly regretting being the bearer of this news after Isaac had mentioned he was going to see her next.

"She and Stiles left for L.A. a few days ago. . ." he replied.

"Stiles?!" Isaac cried. "Stiles? Really?"

"Dude, you saw what happened that night with Jackson. She's being a good friend." Scott rolled his eyes. "And honestly, she's not your girlfriend anymore. You need to let it go."

"No, I know." Isaac nodded. He stepped towards the door, faltered, and turned back. "Scott, with Allison, did you ever get the feeling that there was something stronger than love between you two?" Scott stayed quiet for a few moments, thinking, and then answered.

"Yeah." Scott nodded. "I really think there was. Is that what you felt with Lennon?"

"I still do." Isaac murmured. "Scott, what do I do?"

"Hell if I know, man." Scott shrugged. "If things are meant to be, they're meant to be. It'll all work out in the end."

"That's what I used to think with my dad." Isaac shook his head. "That one day he'd realize what he was doing was wrong and would just stop. And then he beat that idea out of me."

"Isaac, I don't know what you want me to say here." Scott admitted, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Lennon'll be back in a month. Maybe you'll find something on this mission or whatever. It might be good for you."

"Yeah." Isaac nodded in agreement. "I should get going. If something should happen, will you give this to Lennon?" he handed a small, thick folded note to Scott. "I just want her to know. . ." Isaac couldn't finish the sentence.

"I'll give it to her." Scott took the note from Isaac's grasp and clutched it firmly in his palm. "Wherever you're going, be careful. I don't want you getting hurt."

"I have to find Boyd and Erica." Isaac said. "It'll probably require some scrapes and bruises. Nothing I can't handle."


Wooo! It's summer! (In the story, at least. . .) Stennon is off on an adventure, and apparently so is Isaac! I hope yall are enjoying the story and ready for things to get interesting! Stennon shippers, get ready for some fun! ;)

as per usual, reviews are adored and absolute love! I love to hear from you all!

xoxo

k