Love is a Ruthless Game
Lydia waited on the steps of the High School on a cold Friday in November. She had made plans with Allison on Monday that they would go shopping together later in the week. She needed a distraction from the events of last year. Lydia hoped that doing something with her best friend, even if that was shopping for clothes, would help to take her mind off her current life and the looming feeling that the stories she was told as a little girl; of monsters that live in the darkest depths of the town were real and that somehow her life got tangled up in it.
When Lydia brought up the subject of clothes shopping, Allison was a bit hesitant and told her maybe now wasn't the best time, with tests coming up that they needed to study for. Lydia responded by telling her that they have lots of time to study, and that shopping could be beneficial for them; therapeutic even. Shopping helped Lydia focus; even if that means splurging on materialistic items.
As she waited, Lydia began to examine her freshly painted nails. She had painted them a coat of light pink nail polish the previous night to color coordinate with her outfit for today; a salmon-pink knitted jumper, a pair of denim jeans and a pair of light-brown ankle boots – Unlike her usual blouse, floral skirt, and 5-inch-heels. She wore light makeup, and her strawberry-blonde hair was styled into soft, bouncy curls – which now she slightly regretted as she knew that shortly they were going to be frizzy, judging by the way the dead, auburn and crimson leaves whirled their way across the school ground from a light breeze.
Ten minutes passed and she began to grow impatient, wondering why Allison was taking so long. Just as Lydia was about to call her, the double doors of the school opened abruptly, startling Lydia; causing her to pause what she was doing.
Stiles appeared from the school doors with his schoolbag swung loosely over his right shoulder, and his lacrosse gear in another bag he was carrying in his left hand. He stepped lazily out of the school, dragging his feet along the path with each step he took; looking at the ground the entire time.
He looked tired, she thought to herself, but when he looked up and met her gaze, Stiles immediately looked happier – flashing her a shy smile.
To be honest, Stiles didn't have a good day – actually, he had a very bad day. Firstly, he had missed his alarm this morning due to the fact that he was researching werewolf folklore for most of the night, since his best friend was now one; and Stiles was just... Stiles. To be fair, Scott hadn't actually asked Stiles to research anything for him, Stiles just insisted that they should be prepared for the full moon in a few nights – that and he just didn't want to do his math homework. He knew he was going to be even more late to school because his jeep broke down while driving to school; with no math homework. Already having a bad day, in his first class Mr.Finstock gave the class a pop Economics quiz. "Great." Stiles mumbled sarcastically as he put his things away to take the test. When Math came around, his teacher Miss. Flemming made him stay behind and organize a pile of old papers, then put them into their correct files, because he couldn't use the excuse "The dog at my homework" again (even though he didn't even have a dog.) So, trying to reason with a stubborn coach as to why he was late to practice was because he was helping a teacher didn't get very far. He doesn't even know why he bothered trying; he was still forced to do an extra five laps around the lacrosse pitch for being late, along with his usual practice drills.
So, let's just say that by 5:30pm, Stiles was exhausted; he was planning on driving home and sleeping until Monday morning. But there was just something about seeing Lydia Martin that brightened up his entire day – even if it was gazing at her strawberry-blonde hair from the other end of the classroom, admiring her always immaculate makeup, or comparing how much shorter she looks at 5 "3" on the days that she decides not to wear 5-inch heels – which frankly isn't often, but when she does wear flats, he always thinks that she looks adorable.
As Stiles makes his way over to Lydia that Friday afternoon, he couldn't help but notice how the Autumn sunlight that peered from a cluster of tall evergreens made her hair shine like embers from a burning fire. The light also made her green eyes appear more hazel – illuminating the specks of blue and brown in her eyes more. He set his bags down beside his feet, but before he could even say hello to her, Lydia interrupted him by saying –
"Don't."
"Don't what?" Stiles asked confused. He hadn't said anything yet.
"Don't even think about saying what we both know you're thinking." Lydia said while raising an eyebrow at him and crossing her arms over her chest.
"I wasn't gonna say anything," Stiles answered, copying her stance – a crooked grin on his face just to get on her nerves. "Only that I didn't see you – "
Lydia scoffed at his remark. Clearly, he was referring to their height difference; Why did she wear flats today? she thought to herself.
"– because the sun was in my eyes." He finished. "Obviously it has nothing to do with the fact that you're like a foot shorter than I am." Stiles continued nonchalantly, still grinning at her.
She tsked and shook her head back and forth – looking out at the parking lot for nothing in particular.
"So... why are you still here?" Stiles asked her out of genuine curiosity.
"Well, Allison and I were supposed to go shopping together after school but by the looks of it, apparently not." Lydia said this trying to sound unfazed by it – removing a tiny speck of lint from her jumper, but a part of her was upset that she was stood up by her best friend. Stiles detected the hint of sadness in her voice immediately; of course he did, he paid attention to everything about Lydia.
After she had said this, Stiles scrunched up his face slightly at the realization of something. He knew where Allison was – she was with Scott. Stiles tried his best to act as naturally as he possibly could, but like himself, Lydia also picks up on smaller details about him too.
"Stiles...?" Lydia said warily, not entirely sure she wanted to hear what he was about to say. "What do you know?"
Stiles avoided all eye contact with her, but the more he tried too, the harder it became. He could feel Lydia's eyes burning two holes through his skull and he finally caved in – looking up at her.
"Okay, so don't be upset," Stiles began cautiously, closely watching her reaction, "but I'm pretty sure she left with Scott – saying something about them needing to study for some chemistry test coming up." When he finished speaking, he just watched her; waiting to see how she was going to interpret the new information.
But Lydia just looked... the same, like there was a part of her that always expected the worst, and when it did happen, she was prepared for it. For some reason this hurt Stiles even more. The fact that Lydia had been let down far too many times by the people closest to her. Her Dad, who when Lydia was just a little girl; up and left. Jackson, her egotistical jock of an ex-boyfriend from Freshman and Sophomore year – who constantly put Lydia down and made her feel like being smart was something to feel ashamed about. Now Allison, Lydia's best friend. Stiles figured that's why from a young age Lydia had mastered the act of putting up walls around herself – fearing that if someone got too close, she would get hurt.
It's why last year when Allison set up Stiles and Lydia for the Winter Formal, Stiles told her "Lydia, I've had a crush on you since the 3rd grade, and I know that somewhere inside that cold, lifeless exterior, there's an actual human soul. And I'm also pretty sure that I'm the only one who knows how smart you really are; and that once you're done pretending to be a nitwit, you'll eventually go off and write some insane mathematical theorem that wins you the Nobel Prize," he knew it might be his only chance for him to tell her the truth, what she needed to hear.
Lydia felt annoyed. She was annoyed with Allison for forgetting about their plans and leaving her standing alone at the school, but more annoyed with herself. She should've suspected that Allison would have cancelled last minute to spend time with her boyfriend, even if that was studying.
After Lydia snapped herself out of her trance, Stiles' lips were pulled into a line. He was giving her a look that Lydia was sure Romeo gave Juliet just before he told her a sonnet.
"Why don't you... maybe we could, I mean only If you wanted to... do something?" Stiles fumbled with what he was saying – his words just came out and he didn't know how to stop them. "I mean, with me?" He asked the last question apprehensively.
But before Lydia had the chance to reply, Stiles continued taking.
"You know, just because I don't have any plans... and you don't have any plans – well not any more anyway... unless you do? Then that would kind of mess up the whole plan... I mean not, like there even was a plan," he let out an awkward chuckle, "pfft, no, not like I was thinking about this before right now or anything..." Stiles began to ramble and seemed to almost forget that she was there.
Lydia just stared at him, her eyebrows squinched, head tilted to the side slightly. She thought about saying no at first – but there was just something about the idea of herself and Stiles spending time together, just the two of them that made Lydia feel happy (of course she would never admit this to him). But she wasn't going to give him the luxury of just saying yes, so she thought about teasing him a little bit.
"So, hypothetically... "Lydia drawled out for dramatic effect, "If I were to say yes, where would we be going?"
Stiles caught on immediately and couldn't help the smirk that was now sprawled across his face.
"If hypothetically you were to say yes, it would be a surprise. So, you know, the only way you would find out is if you were to say yes." His arms were crossed over his chest, and he was looking up slightly when he said this. He looked back down at her; a smile forming on his lips at her reaction.
Lydia was impressed by Stiles' out of nowhere confidence, but one thing was the same – she was her and Lydia could crush any guy's ego with a look and one flick of her hair. But little did she know was that Stiles had plenty of experience with being ignored by Lydia – he had since he was eight. It was only in the past year did Lydia even start speaking to him, since her best friend and his best friend started dating. It was only in the past couple of months did they start hanging out, but Stiles still had a talent for making things awkward between them; stemming from his long-time crush on her.
She was looking at him, trying not to find his statement amusing. She gave in of course and laughed lightly because he wouldn't stop grinning at her. "But what if it turns out that I hate the surprise?" Lydia asked him – a playful tone in her voice.
"Then I will apologize for the rest of my life, and we'll never go there again." Stiles told her with a lightness in his voice that finally made her give in and agree.
"Fine. Let's go." Lydia said with a sigh. She was tired of standing for so long.
"Great, I promise you'll love it." Stiles told her while simultaneously searching for the keys to his jeep in his pocket, as they strode for Stiles' jeeps.
They drove in comfortable silence for most of the drive – Lydia looking out her window, while Stiles drove them to their mysterious destination. They spoke about anything and everything – school, homework, what he did over the summer, what she did over the summer, lacrosse and finally how long they had until the supernatural created Havik in town again (even though they spoke about it humorously, they really did mean it).
As the jeep pulled up to a red light behind a few cars, it looked as though they would be there for a while. Stiles began to anxiously tap his fingers along the steering wheel. After a few minutes of waiting, he began humming to a tune Lydia did not recognize. She looked at the time on the radio that read 18:06, then drifted her gaze to Stiles. Lydia first looked at his hands; watching how his fingers curled around the steering wheel; gripping it tightly, then letting go again. Her eyes then wandered upwards – looking at his arms and noted how his sleeves were cuffed at his elbows.
The blue sky began to slowly change from a cool azure to a deep and fiery orange; creating a marvelous painting-like scene before their eyes. The sun, that was perched between two tall buildings at the end road, was shining brightly – casting silhouettes on to every object it touched and illuminating every reflective surface.
She kept slowly taking in the sight of him and was now looking at his face; it was glowing on the side that was facing the sun, while casting shadows and sculpting his features on the side that was not. It brought out the hidden highlights that were dispersed throughout his hair, casting shadows beneath his long lashes, and made his chocolate brown eyes appear like honey; the golden flecks in his eyes reflecting the sun's light.
Stiles looked to his right suddenly; a crooked grin forming on his face when he made eye contact with her – Lydia on the other hand felt her cheeks burning, so within seconds she broke eye contact with him and quickly looked out his window – acting like she was doing that the entire time.
"So, how far along do you think Scott and Allison's study session got?" Stiles asked her with suggestive eyebrows when the traffic began moving again.
"Are you really asking me a rhetorical question right now?" Lydia asked with a small smirk on her face.
"Yep." Stiles replied, emphasizing the 'P' sound and glancing over at her from the driver's seat; then continuing to look ahead at the road.
"Well, if you must know," Lydia began; twisting in her seat slightly to face him better," I'd say it ended a while ago." She told him while fully grinning now.
They said nothing at first, then the pair burst out laughing. Stiles admired how the dimples beneath her cheeks became more noticeable and made a mental note to try and make Lydia laugh as often as possible.
When they pulled up outside an arcade, Lydia rolled her eyes inwardly; Of course he would take us to an arcade, she thought to herself. Stiles removed his keys from the ignition, then a rattling sound followed as he appeared to be looking for something inside the glove compartment. He yelled "Got it." as he pulled out a wallet and shoved it into his jacket pocket.
"So..." Stiles began, looking in her direction with an enthusiastic look on his face. "What do you think?"
"I'm thinking why I am not surprised." Lydia said while removing her seatbelt with a click and applying lip-gloss with help from the rear-view mirror. Once she put her lip-gloss away, Lydia looked over at Stiles; giving him a look that reads 'okay, so maybe you didn't pick the worst place to come to.'
Stiles gave her a crooked grin and looked rather pleased with himself. Stepping out of the jeep, he quickly moved around to the other side to open Lydia's door for her. She thanked him with a smile, as they made their way side by side towards the entrance of the arcade.
As they stepped past the threshold of the arcade, they heard and saw all sorts of things – the sound of clicking and clanking from multiple arcade games, lots of noise from different video games, along with music in the background and the chatter of all the people who were there. They saw bright lights in vibrant colors that were everywhere – all the lights stood out against the overall dark room. The pair made their way inside the arcade and searched for games to play.
"Okay, so maybe this may not be your field of expertise, but I promise to go easy on you." Stiles said as he turned around to face Lydia, rubbing his hands together out of excitement.
"Just because I didn't really go to arcades that often when I was younger, I wouldn't get too hopeful Stilinski, I'm a fast learner." Lydia stated matter-of-facility; raising an eyebrow at the brown-haired boy while puckering her lips slightly.
Stiles didn't know how much he wanted to take back what he said earlier once Lydia really got into it. She had beaten Stiles' highest score of Packman on her first try, when no one could beat him, not even Scott (which Stiles found great joy in that).
They made their way towards the Car Racing games – Stiles thought himself to be a master at Car games (Yes, he knew that was a biased opinion, but he doesn't care) so he had to be good at this game.
"Okay, I'm good at this game." Stiles said out loud as he tried to get comfy in a very uncomfortable chair; getting ready to race Lydia at an arcade car game. Lydia snickered at his comment and looked over at him.
"Threatened?" She asked him as the game was about to begin. Stiles didn't know how to answer that, so he just coughed lightly; grateful that he heard the game say "Three..Two..One..Go!" and turned his head to play. Stiles was happy to note that he had won the race and Lydia was a close second – although for a while near the end he thought she had him.
"What was it you were saying? You know before..." Stiles' voice trailed off – the goofiest grin on his features; eyebrows raised as he looked back at her.
Lydia didn't say anything; rolling her eyes, while gliding sprucely passed him as she made her way towards 'Whack 'N' Win' – ignoring how his eyes followed her every step.
Stiles and Lydia made their way towards 'Whack 'N' Win' and stepped in the cue of people who were eager to play.
What caught Lydia's attention was the vibrant star-shaped lights at the top of the game. She watched as colorful lights moved hastily up and down the numbered stick and stopped about midway. When it was their turn, they stepped right up to the game, as Stiles fed the machine loose change. He picked up the soft, red hammer and held it out to her.
Lydia thanked him with a smile, taking the hammer from his hands. She posited the mallet comfortably in her hands – getting ready to hit the target. As Lydia was about to drop the hammer, she felt Stiles shift closer to her; lightly grazing his hand on her lower back. She didn't move; relishing the way it felt nice there; soothing almost.
"The trick to winning the game is not to aggressively hit the target – but to drop the hammer at a ninety-degree angle lightly." Stiles whispered behind her – all too close to her ear.
"I wasn't aware I was getting a geometry lesson." Lydia told him while twisting her head to the left to get a better look at him.
"It's not, just a tip from a professional." Stiles told her with a hint of pride. Lydia could hear the smile in his voice as he spoke. Stiles circled around her, so he was facing her – leaning against a pilar beside the game.
"So, you're helping me to cheat at 'Whack 'N' Win'?" Lydia asked him – enjoying how his eyes went a little wider and he straightened up more.
"Well, I wouldn't call it cheating..." Stiles drawled out; trying to come up with a good excuse. "Scott and I used to come here a lot when we were kids and I picked up a few tricks along the way. Besides, it works – I won every time."
"You do realize you're being biased, right?" Lydia questioned him; a grin playing across her features. She loves it when she is right.
"You know what, it doesn't matter." Stiles waived; he knew she was just going to contradict anything he said (a habit she must have picked up from him), so he gave up "Play it however you think you should."
Stiles couldn't have been happier when Lydia used his tactic and won the jackpot; an endless line of orange tickets emanating from the game.
When Lydia stood up from gathering all her tickets, Stiles looked as if he wanted to say, "I told you so..."; beaming at her as he rocked slightly on the heels of his feet.
"Shut up..." Lydia answered his unasked question; annoyance soon turning into amusement; Stiles smiling at her was contagious. Pushing the thought to the back of her mind; she looked through the dimly lit arcade that was illuminated by chromatic lights.
The pair walked avidly down the aisles of the arcade – taking in the sight of different games being played simultaneously.
Lydia hadn't realized they had been holding hands the entire time they walked – it was only until they had come to a stop at an Air Hockey game, when Stiles let go to insert a quarter coin into the game did she notice. Lydia felt a strange feeling in her stomach when He let go, like she missed holding hands with him.
Stiles placed the red hockey puck on the shiny surface of the hockey table and walked around to the opposite side of the game – taking his striker into his right hand, while bracing his left hand on the game itself.
Lydia placed her tickets that she had stored in a plastic container, in the middle of the floor beside Stiles' jacket and followed suit, taking her own striker into her left hand and waiting for Stiles to make the first move.
Before today, both Stiles and Lydia hadn't realized how competitive the other was until they came here. Just before the game began, Lydia looked across to Stiles, making eye contact with him; raising an eyebrow, while the corners of her lips rose slightly – silently communicating with him to not go easy on each other. He seemed to understand her as he nodded – a vying look in his eyes.
Even though it was only a game, Stiles and Lydia both played like it was a battle; sounds of clicking and clanking as the red hockey puck slid from one end of the hockey table to the other repeatedly – all the while they were throwing jokes and sarcastic quips at each other – trying to distract the other.
After a close and intense game, Lydia beat Stiles by one point. Stiles collected Lydia's tickets for her, placing them neatly into the circular container along with her other tickets and handed them back to her with a smile. He retrieved his jacket from the floor, while saying how he thought the point that she won by shouldn't have counted; when Lydia asked him why, he wouldn't give her a straight answer. The real reason she won was because as they were playing, Lydia was giving Stiles a coy smile and batting her eyelashes from the other end of the hockey table and well, he got distracted.
"Where do you want to go now?" Lydia asked Stiles when she accepted that she wasn't going to get an answer to her question.
"Um..." Stiles said as he looked around the arcade for something that they haven't played yet. "Got it."
When they arrived at the game, Stiles looked at Lydia; an animated expression on his face that caused her to roll her eyes – a small smile on her lips.
"Basketball?" Lydia questioned, moving closer to him.
"Yeah, it'll be fun." Stiles answered. He was holding a basketball in his hands and held it out to her. "Do you want to go first?" he asked her, stepping aside slightly.
"No, it's fine, you go first, I'll have the next turn." Lydia replied, touching her manicured palm against his forearm for a moment, before pulling it away and leaning her body against the side of the Basketball Game in front of Stiles.
It took him a second to recompose himself – closing his slightly agape mouth, as a slight blush began to creep onto his cheeks. Stiles was surprised with himself for getting the ball in the hoop, but he acted like he knew that would happen.
It was Lydia's turn; Stiles stood aside, making room for her and gave her the basketball. She pushed aside a loose curl that was annoying her – it kept invading her peripheral vision when she was trying to shoot.
"The aim of the game is to shoot for the hoop." Stiles told her sarcastically – a grin plastered on his face.
"Oh no, not this again." Lydia said while looking in his direction. "You do realize I have a 5.0 GPA with an I.Q of 170, right? I'm pretty sure I can play basketball." She told him in a nonchalant tone.
Once Lydia had said that she instantly regretted saying it. Even though now she was more open about being smart, there was still a part of her old self that believed hiding her intelligence to be the best option. It was still so new to Lydia; one of the main reasons as to why she had hid being smart for so long was because she was afraid of being treated differently. She had tried opening up to the people who she thought were her friends, people she talked to when she was with Jackson – but they, even Jackson had laughed at it – acting like being smart was a bad thing. So, from that point on she played dumb; knowing it was safer to blend in than to stand out.
But then Lydia realized the person she was with – Stiles wasn't like most people, if anything he was different from the average person; he enjoyed solving crime, was obsessed with Star Wars, wore plaid flannel shirts every day of the week, even though they went out of style in the 80s, even his presence lit up any room he was in – now that she thought about it, Lydia couldn't imagine hanging out with her friends and Stiles not being there.
Lydia realized the real reason that she was only now more open with her above average intelligence was because of Stiles – the brown-haired boy in plaid flannel shirts who told her last year "And I'm also pretty sure that I'm the only one who knows how smart you really are..." it was because of him and his encouragement.
"Yeah, I know." was all that Stiles says. "I have for a while." There was something about the way he had said it – he told it to her firmly yet patiently; determinedly, like there was not any doubt in his mind; like he had thought about that answer before, that caused Lydia's stomach to erupt into butterflies.
They held eye contact for an extended moment, before Lydia looked towards the basketball hoop – breaking eye contact.
She got the basketball into the hoop on her first try, pride filling her, as she handed the ball back to Stiles.
In an attempt to lighten the mood, Stiles thought the best option was to make her laugh; this becoming the fastest thing to make Stiles genuinely smile – seeing Lydia laugh.
Stiles took the ball from her hand and thanked her. "Nice shot Martin, but I bet you I can get the ball into the hoop with my eyes closed?" Stiles wriggled his eyebrows; the goofiest grin on his face.
His plan to make Lydia laugh was successful; she was smiling widely when she told him, "Okay, try."
Stiles had all the encouragement he needed just from seeing her smile. So, he threw the basketball forward with his momentum; eyes shut. He opened them again once he heard the sound of the ball hit off the inside cage.
Surprisingly, he scored. Lydia was about to congratulate him, but then she had an idea.
"Ooh, you barely missed it, sorry."
"What are you talking about? I got it in." Stiles answered her defensively. Shock soon animating his features; eyes going wide as he knows he's been caught.
"And how would you know that?" Lydia questioned him, trying not to burst out laughing at his reaction. "Weren't your eyes closed?"
Stiles scratched the back of his neck, laughing awkwardly. "What if I said it was intuition?"
"Oh, right, that makes more sense." Lydia replies sarcastically – playing along while grinning at him.
After a few more rounds, Stiles beat her by a few points – she didn't really care; basketball wasn't really Lydia thing anyway.
The tickets won by both of them had accumulated into one large pile of tickets on the floor. Lydia let Stiles keep both of their tickets; telling him she had too many already with a grin.
"Why don't we take a break." Stiles told her, looking around for somewhere for them to sit – Lydia nodded in agreement. Stiles asked her if she could look for a table for them and told her that he would be back in a minute. She found a small table with two chairs beside a wall towards the back of the arcade and sat down.
Shortly after, Stiles returned with two popcorn boxes, filled to the brim with buttery popcorn. He handed her a box of popcorn; a bashful smile on his face as he sat down. Stiles moved the chair that was facing Lydia – he placed it on the next side of the table so he could sit closer to her.
"Thank you." Lydia told him happily as she accepted the popcorn. "You really didn't have to do that."
"I wanted to... plus, there was a discount if you buy two." Stiles replied with a wink – eating a handful of buttery popcorn. " So... what was your favorite part about today?" Stiles asked her, swallowing down the popcorn he had just eaten.
Lydia remembers the endlessly funny moments from today, all the times he made her laugh (which was most of the time they were here) and laughed lightly through a toothy smile; the dimples that were forming on either side of her smile denting her flushed cheeks.
She hadn't even said anything yet, but Stiles was grinning along with her. He loved it when Lydia was herself; happy, laughing giddily together at some stupid inside joke they shared, not caring about how she looked.
"Probably all of it." She answered honestly. "Today was the most fun I've had in a really long time."
Stiles was smiling warmly at her, when he told her "Glad I could help. And now I know that you don't despise me, how about we do something like this again? It doesn't have to be here, but we should hang out more."
"Yeah... we should..." Lydia was about to say, " just the two of us", but didn't want to come across as too forward – besides, even if it wasn't just them on their own, as long as it was with Stiles, she knew it would be the best time.
They finished the last of their popcorn, only leaving behind the un-popped kernels; Stiles finishing his own, along with the remainder of Lydia's since she said she was full and continued their stroll around the arcade.
"Do you want to try win this game?" Stiles asked her, referring to a Claw Machine while extending his right out to her. She smiled and nodded, taking his hand – following him to where the claw game was.
The machine was white and filled with tie-died and ombre colored teddy bears, along with other types of stuffed animals.
When they reached the game, Stiles knelt down – placing a quarter into the machine; he stood up and looked at Lydia. She wacked his chest lightly, telling him she was going to pay for it.
"Oops, my hand must have slipped." was all that Stiles says, stepping back so she could have the first turn.
As Lydia made her way towards the game, she looked at her reflection in the mirror that was at the back of the machine. She gazed at herself for a moment, thankful that Allison was late and that she had agreed to come with Stiles. Lydia looked to the left of her reflection and saw Stiles – who was already looking at her. Arms crossed over his chest; he gave her a wink, followed by a smile.
Lydia smiled a closed-mouthed smile in his direction through the mirror; returning her attention towards the joystick of the game. As she expected, just as she was about to move the teddy bear she had picked up with the claw, it dropped back into the pile of un-won prizes; the claw returning to its original position.
Lydia let out a huff and looked back at Stiles. "This game has to be rigged?"
Stiles chuckled as he came to stand beside her. "Well, obviously. Lyds, the whole point of the game is to control it to win something for yourself – isn't that the definition of rigged?"
Lydia shot him an unimpressed look at first, while she got the same warm, fuzzy feeling she always gets when he uses his recent nickname for her; the corners of her mouth rising slightly. "You know what I meant."
"Sorry, I couldn't help it." He answered, placing one more quarter into the game. "When you're playing, try to find something that's at the top," Stiles began, "don't think about all the ways of getting the prize to the exit; just have a rough idea of your tactic, oh and try not to make too many abrupt stops – the prize will fall more easily... and then slowly move it. Yes!"
He bent down to retrieve the prize; it was a teddy bear that had an ombre pattern; beginning at orange and fading into a light blue and gave it to her.
"Aww, thank you." Lydia thanked him gratefully, taking the teddy bear from his hand.
Stiles' cheeks turned a bright red, as he chewed on his bottom lip slightly. "You're welcome, Lydia."
She stood there, facing him for an extended moment and without warning, she hugged him, wrapping her arms around his back, holding the teddy bear in her left hand. "Thanks for today, Stiles." It took Stiles a second to do anything; then he followed suit, hugging her back; lightly smoothing his hand over her loose curls.
After parting, they made their way towards the exit door; hand in hand. Lydia only had one thought on her mind, and that was she couldn't wait until the next time they spent time together.