Chapter 16 - Dancing Around the Subject

She had lost count. She couldn't believe that she had actually lost count. It was supposed to be minimal, at the most, and yet here she was and she had lost count. She had not signed up for this. Sure, she had agreed out of the goodness of her heart, and possibly because she felt a little guilty, but she did not agree to be subjected to this. Lydia Martin did not agree to lose count of the number of songs she had been forced to dance to with Stiles Stilinski.

Not that Stiles was actually forcing her, per say. He had been polite, but ridiculously quiet ever since they left her house in the rusty blue death trap he called a car. He'd opened the door for her, formally escorted her into the school on his arm, gotten her a drink, and then proceeded to sit next to her in complete silence, eyes glued to the door. She hadn't minded too much at first. Plenty of people were stopping by their table, greeting her with overly wide smiles and her date with curious looks. After a while though, the band had started up and most people had migrated to the dance floor, leaving her shifting in an uncomfortable chair with an unresponsive date.

It was several minutes before he showed any sign of life more complex than his infuriating, bouncing knee. He suddenly sat up in his chair, stretching his neck to see through the crowd. Lydia had needlessly followed his gaze, knowing exactly what he'd spotted. She mentally patted herself on the back when her eyes found Sadie and Scott by the door. Her best friend looked gorgeous, of course. Even in their time separated, she'd managed to keep her curls perfectly in place, and the pink and blue lights looked killer on the sleek red fabric of her dress. Scott had cleaned up pretty nice too. She was tempted to say they made a cute couple, but she was pretty sure the frantically twitching boy next to her was inclined to disagree. Lydia watched him watch Sadie, raising his hand a few times in an attempt to wave. But each time his hand dropped before it could get more than a few inches off the table. Lydia glanced over her shoulder, watching as Sadie and Scott made their way up the stairs to hide in the bleachers. Stiles accidentally let out a whine of frustration, making her roll her eyes as she took a sip of her drink.

He finally did have his greeting acknowledged, and then he was right back to nervous staring. Lydia waited impatiently for some sort of change, but the boy only shifted in his seat as Sadie moved to the dance floor, abandoning Scott in favor of Allison. And Lydia had waited. And waited. And waited for a good three or four songs, before finally taking control of the situation.

She'd cleared her throat, catching Stiles's attention before looking pointedly at the jumping crowd of their classmates. His mouth had hung open like some sort of dead fish, looking between her and the dancers. He'd mumbled some excuse. Lydia, in response, had raised her hand and gestured toward the spot where Sadie and Allison were laughing and spinning wildly. Stiles's second refusal had died in his throat as he got caught up watching them, leaving Lydia to stand and literally drag him onto the dance floor. She'd carefully chosen a spot near her friends, but not too close, and then positioned herself so she had her back to them. This way, Stiles could watch Sadie longingly over her shoulder until he worked up the guts to go talk to her.

That had been almost an hour ago. Maybe more. And she was still swaying awkwardly on the dance floor with her arms around her best friend's crush. She had half a mind to ditch him completely, but that wasn't part of the plan.

She knew that he'd finally realized he liked Sadie. He'd confessed to Scott during lunch. Scott, in turn, had told Allison. Lydia wasn't quite sure where the two stood anymore, but apparently they were fine with talking so long as it wasn't about their own relationship. Allison had told Lydia, and between the three of them, they'd begun to brainstorm ways to get Sadie and Stiles together without the two going as actual dates. Allison had gotten Sadie on the dance floor. Scott had stolen her away for a song in an attempt to talk her into talking to Stiles.

Apparently, that hadn't worked. Sadie had dropped him after one song, forcing him and Allison out on the floor together before retreating to the bleachers. Lydia had quickly turned to Stiles, waiting for some reaction as she walked away. But there was none. He looked a little frustrated, but even so, he just watched her go. Lydia screamed internally. She knew she was supposed to keep him from chickening out, give him something mindless to do while he worked up his courage—and if his dancing was anything besides atrocious it was definitely mindless—but the charade had gone on for far too long. She'd never been a patient person, and she very close to throwing the boy into her best friend's lap and physically forcing their heads together.

They were rocking back and forth, slowly spinning on the spot. Lydia noticed Sadie sit down next to some blonde girl on the bleachers, but Stiles had apparently lost sight of her. He tried to discreetly whip his head back and forth to find her, and in the confusion he stepped on Lydia's toes. She let out a high yelp of pain and frustration. That was the last straw.

"Sorry! Sorry!" he said quickly, looking down at her with wide fearful eyes before panning over the crowd once more.

"Are you done?" she finally snapped, bringing his attention back to her.

"Yeah. Yes. Sorry. No more stepping on feet."

Lydia rolled her eyes, and it took all of her willpower not to dig her nails into the back of his neck as retribution. "I don't give a shit about the shoes, Stilinski!"

"Wh-What?" he stammered, either in pure confusion that she cared about something besides her feet or because he was taken aback at her rare use of curse words.

"Are you done avoiding Sadie?" she spat.

Stiles's already-wide eyes practically doubled in size. "Wh-What?! No! I'm—I'm not… I'm totally… I'm not avoiding her."

"Oh, really?" Lydia pouted, unimpressed by the argument. "Then please explain to me why we're still dancing in the same spot we were an hour ago."

"Because you're my date," he said, nonplussed. "I—I mean, isn't that what dates do? Dance?"

"Yes," she replied tartly. "Real dates dance. But we are not real dates, and this? This is not dancing."

Stiles raised his eyebrows, looking affronted. "What do you mean? This—We're totally dancing." He tightened his arms slightly around her waist, as if to prove his point.

"No, we are not," she argued. "I am maintaining the appearance of dancing while I wait for you to leave, and you are pretending to engage in some sort of movement that should not be considered as dancing ever while you leer over my shoulder and creepily stare at my best friend."

He gaped at her for a moment, unable to stop his eyes from flicking over to Sadie's spot on the bleachers, where he'd finally located her. "I'm…M-My dancing's not that bad," he mumbled, ignoring the second half of her accusation.

Lydia rolled her eyes in exasperation, taking a deep breath in an attempt to retain some shred of patience. "Go talk to her."

"What?" he asked again. "No, I'm… I'm dancing with you right now."

"You've been 'dancing' with me for about an hour," she said, "and honestly I'm kind of sick of it."

"Oh, well thanks. How do you really feel?"

"I feel like we'd all be a lot better off if you two just stopped being so idiotic and got your act together."

"What is that supposed to mean?" he asked, eyebrows knitting together tightly in confusion.

Lydia glared. "It means, go ask Sadie to dance before I slap you in the face."

"Okay w-why are you so violent?!"

"I'm violent because you're frustrating!" she hissed. "Everyone knows that you like Sadie, so just ask her out and get it over with! Please!"

Stiles stopped short, eyebrows shooting up his forehead and his arms falling slightly slack on her waist. "How do you…? I—I mean, why—why would you think that?"

Lydia had to hold her tongue. Generally, she was a very direct person. Her instinct told her to take the most direct path—telling Stiles that Scott had ratted him out so he would have no way to argue. Then she could shove him off on Sadie and escape. But that wasn't very political. The reason she had gotten herself into this mess in the first place was by being selfish and not thinking about other people's feelings. Stiles wasn't supposed to know that Scott had told her and Allison about his confession. If she told him that, then Stiles would be angry at Scott, and then that could cause several unforeseen problems with Sadie and Allison. So in instead, she had to take the long way around. Use a proof and show her work instead of just stating the answer.

"Hm, and do you want those reasons in chronological or alphabetical order? Or," she continued quickly, as Stiles scrunched up his face and opened his mouth to speak, "should I just list general observations as they come to me and then cite specific examples?"

"General observations like what?" he asked, his voice wavering slightly from nerves.

Lydia smirked. "I could start with the fact that she was supposed to be your formal date."

"We… We were only going as friends," he defended quietly, and Lydia narrowed her eyes at him.

"You drunk called her, Stilinski. To be someone's drunk call, they have to be thinking about you pretty extensively."

"Okay, okay!" he relented. "So I was thinking about her while I was drunk. I thought about a lot of things while I was drunk. It doesn't mean anything."

"What about how you always drive her home? Hm? Spend excessive amounts of time with her?"

"Trust me. I have plenty of reasons I have to spend time with Sadie." Lydia narrowed her eyes even further, skepticism rising. "Seriously!" he defended. "And besides, she's—she's one of my really good friends. Why can't I just hang out with my friend?"

Lydia scoffed. "Friends don't look at each other the way you look at Sadie."

Stiles's face paled, and she smirked, knowing she'd hit the nail on the head. "What do you mean 'the way I look at Sadie'? I don't look… I mean, I don't…"

"Oh, so we're pretending like you weren't ready to jump her at my Halloween party?"

The taunt made the boy's eyes widen comically, and his face flushed pink once more. "You…? Wait, did you do…?"

"So we're pretending you weren't totally breathless when she walked down the stairs in her dress earlier?" she continued over his rambling. "Like you haven't spent this entire party staring at the door until she showed up, and then watching her dance with everyone except you and proceeding to do absolutely nothing about it?"

Stiles pursed his lips, visibly at war with himself. Lydia knew that Stiles had finally come to terms with his feelings for Sadie. Their argument wasn't so much him denying that he liked her, but hiding it. Apparently, just because Stiles knew he liked Sadie didn't mean he was ready for the rest of the world to know just yet.

"So what?" he mumbled, his eyes shooting over towards the bleachers again.

Lydia softened slightly. "So? The only reason we're here together is because everyone keeps telling me how you've had some huge crush on me for ages, and that you deserve a chance. But from where I'm standing, I never would have guessed it was me you were supposed to like so much."

She let that thought hang between them for a few minutes as they continued to dance. She noticed as she turned that Sadie had disappeared from her seat for a moment, only to return pulling a shy, lanky boy behind her. He joined her and blonde girl, letting Sadie sit in the middle as she tried to make conversation. Apparently, Stiles had also noticed the new addition to the group. Or at least, Lydia assumed he had, as they'd suddenly stopped spinning. They were still dancing, but Lydia was forced to turn her back on the bleachers, which meant Stiles remained in the perfect spot to keep an eye on the group over her shoulder. But Lydia didn't mind. Hopefully, a little competition would get the boy moving, asking Sadie to dance even if it was just to keep her away from any other boys.

Unfortunately, as she probably should have guessed, it was not that easy. Stiles seemed to have reverted to the same tactic he had used in trying to wave at Sadie. His arms would loosen on Lydia's waist, drop almost completely to his sides as he took a deep, determined breath. And then he would change his mind, wrap his arms around her once more and glare at the group over her shoulder. She let this go on for a few songs before she decided that it was time to push him forward again.

"Is she still having a nice time with her boy toy?" she taunted airily, earning herself a glare from her dance partner.

"He's not a boy toy."

"Right, of course not," Lydia said with a nod. "He's just a boy she's entertaining herself with until you man up."

"Can you stop?!" Stiles finally burst. "This isn't—This isn't just about manning up, okay? I… I really, really like her. Okay? I like Sadie. Are you happy?"

"Marginally," she said shortly.

Stiles deflated slightly, looking back at the girl in question while he continued. "I like her and… I don't want to lose her. It's not like I'm afraid to actually ask her to dance. I'm just… I don't want to freak her out if she doesn't like me, cause I can't not be friends with her. I… I can't risk our friendship."

Lydia stared at him for a few seconds. Part of her was honestly touched that Stiles cared about her best friend so much. He'd set her up with the boy he thought she wanted, even though he'd clearly been bitter about it, even before he consciously realized he liked her. He watched her with this…this strange amount of emotion. She'd described it as leering before, but that wasn't true. It wasn't a crude or suggestive look. It was the kind of expression that made it look like he was thinking about honest, cute things—slow dancing or cuddling or something—and not just sex. And above all, he was willing to keep his feelings hidden forever if it was the only way to continue spending time with her. Lydia didn't have a lot of experience with wanting someone you couldn't have—except this brief obstacle she was experiencing with Jackson—but from what she did know, that was pure agony. Stiles had to really, really care about Sadie.

However, the other part of Lydia was about to start slapping Stiles senseless for being stupid enough to think that Sadie didn't like him. That was the part that won out.

"Oh my God, come on," she growled, snatching his wrists and dragging him off the dance floor. Stiles tripped awkwardly behind her, offering weak, half-finished protests as she led him towards the edge of the room. Safely off the dance floor, and with a perfectly unobstructed view of the bleachers, Lydia rounded on him. "I seriously have no idea what she sees in you!"

"Wh-What?" he stammered. "W-Who? Sadie?"

"You're twitchy, you're weird, and you're very clearly one of the most oblivious people on the planet!"

"Woah, hey. Thank you," Stiles said, throwing his hands up between them as if holding her off from physically attacking him. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about Sadie," Lydia snapped, "and how terrible she actually is at hiding how much she likes you!"

Stiles's mouth hung open as he stood in front of her, and for a moment Lydia regretted her words. Sadie was her best friend. She wasn't supposed to breathe a word about her secret affections to anyone, let alone the object in question. But Stiles was frustratingly skittish, and Lydia had no idea how to convince him to go through with asking Sadie to dance without attempting to give him some sort of proof that things would work out. Besides, Scott had agreed to break the sacred rules of friendship by talking to Sadie about all the things Stiles had said about her. It was only fair that Stiles receive some insight from Lydia. Sadie would be angry, of course. But right now, Sadie's happiness and love life were Lydia's top priority. She'd deal with the anger later, after Sadie had a boyfriend.

"What… What do you mean?" Stiles asked slowly, his voice exhibiting the ultimate amount of control.

Lydia stomped her foot, putting her hands on her hips. "What do you think I mean, Stiles?! I mean that she likes you. For some inexplicable reason, she's always liked you, and she's terrible at pretending that she doesn't, so the fact that you are just so worried about the possibility that she won't is not only pointless, but idiotic."

Stiles blinked hard, his head shaking slightly as he tried to process her words. "She…?"

"Why do you think she agreed to wear the familiar costume on Halloween, hm?"

"Familiar?" Stiles asked, raising his eyebrows in confusion and making Lydia emit a strangled noise of annoyance.

"The cat costume, Stiles! Why do you think she agreed to change into the cat costume instead of her zombie thing? Why do you think I suddenly don't have to beg her to wear lipgloss or lipstick? Why do you think she still has you hat sitting on her desk? Why do you think she spent hours on a sign to cheer for you at lacrosse? She likes you just as much as you like her, and you're both disgustingly blind to it!"

"Then why am I here?" he demanded. "Why was she so okay with me going with you instead of her?"

Lydia rolled her eyes. "Please tell me you're not that stupid."

"What? That's not stupid! That's a valid question!"

"You're here with me because, believe it or not, Sadie's not as confident as she seems." That statement honestly did seem to throw Stiles a bit. The annoyed glare dropped off his face, traded for an expression of astonishment as he slowly turned to look Sadie on the bleachers. Lydia continued. "She's just as nervous and self-conscious as anyone else, and right now she's under the impression that there's no way you could like her more than you like me."

"But I do," he admitted softly.

"Then do us all a favor and go prove her wrong."

Stiles was still for a few seconds, staring at Sadie and her acquaintances. They were all laughing together about something or another. Sadie was still seated firmly between the two, skirt flaring neatly over her crossed legs as she perched herself on the edge of the bench. The blonde said something, bringing her back to reality. Then the boy was speaking. Sadie sat up slightly in her chair, eyes panning over the crowd in search of something or someone. Stiles quickly ducked his head and turned back to Lydia.

"I can't."

Lydia's carefully composed supportive expression melted into one of quietly seething rage. "Stiles. If you don't go over there and ask Sadie to dance, I am going to punch you in the throat."

"A-Again with the violence!"

"Honestly, what do you have to lose?!" she barked, crossing her arms over her chest. "You like Sadie. I just told you she likes you, so she's obviously not going to say no."

"Why should I believe you?" he objected quickly. "I mean, it's not like you've been a great example of kindness for the last ten years."

Lydia narrowed her eyes. "Sadie's my best friend. If I though you asking her out would upset her, why would I tell you to do it?"

Stiles didn't seem to have a good answer for that. He opened and closed his mouth once or twice before giving up, one hand lifting to rub at the back of his neck. He shot a quick look over his shoulder before letting his gaze return to the gym floor. "What if I screw up?"

"Oh I'm sure you will," she snapped. "But Sadie seems to think your complete social incompetence is cute. Even if it took you a hundred to times to get the right sentence out, she'd probably say it was adorable."

He glanced up at her to check if she was joking, his face flushing pink under the neon lights. He took a deep breath and then shook his head. "No. No. I can't."

"Oh my God!" Lydia grabbed him by the shoulders and physically wrenched him around to face the bleachers. "I want my friend to get the happiness she deserves for once, so I don't care if I have to push you over there myself, you are going to dance with her!"

"Wh-What?! No! I…!"

"Go! Now!" Lydia shoved him forward, making him stumble a few steps in Sadie's direction. He turned back, eyes wide with fear and mouth open to protest, but Lydia only raised a finger to point in Sadie's direction. Thankfully, the boy seemed to have given up fighting, and slowly turned back towards the bleachers, shuffling along as if Lydia had sentenced him to some horrifying death.

Sadie must have realized what was going on at that point, since she'd ducked her head and turned completely towards the blonde girl, hiding her face from Stiles. But after a few seconds, she stood, brushing off her dress and patting her hair down before making her way towards her ex-date. Lydia watched as they met halfway, as Sadie sent her a glare for sending Stiles over to her. But Lydia only smirked.

The couple conversed awkwardly for a minute before Stiles took Sadie's hand and led her towards the dance floor. Lydia breathed a sigh of relief. They'd done it. They'd actually gotten Sadie and Stiles together. Or at least, well on their way. They'd done all they could do, and the rest was up to them.

She poured herself a quick congratulatory drink and downed it, keeping her eyes trained on her best friend and her faux-date. It was time to sit back, enjoy the show, and watch the pieces fall into place.


A/N: Whoo! Okay, so I know that bunches of you wanted the dance from Stiles's perspective, but I had always planned on writing this one-shot instead. Sorry it's taken me so long to put up. I've been doing paperwork and being a responsible young adult this week, which is gross. But now that the bulk of my work is past for a bit, I could update.

And I have some very, very important announcements to make! So first of all, there's only two one shots left in this story before I begin work on the sequel. And yes, one of those two will be Stiles's wet dream. I got my ten Sadles headcanons from all of my lovely readers on tumblr, so if you want to go read some hot, some sad, or some cutesy things about our beloved couple, go check those out. And let's all keep our fingers crossed that Brittney is decent at writing wet dreams...

And the second, probably more important announcement is that the sequel now has a title! Well, it has for a while, but I'm choosing to release it now. The sequel to The Wild Side will be called Right Beside You, and I hope that you guys enjoy it as much as you enjoyed the first installment!

Let me know what you think!

-Brittney