Stiles sat in front of his work desk, laid back against the leather of his seat while using his feet to thrust the chair into a slow spin. His stare was focused on the ceiling.
It's been a week since Stiles and Ariel had started hanging out again and with how much his facial muscles hurt from the all grinning. He had to deduce that he was having a good time.
Everything was the same yet different somehow. She was opening up in her own comfortable pace. She smiled a lot not in the smug sultry way she used to but a genuine smile that lit up her beautiful blue eyes. They hung out as usual, sometimes at his place or taking strolls outside. She would borrow his books to read and then bring them back the very next day and talk avidly about them.
He liked the way she was fascinated by the simplest of things but then again most things in the modern world were pretty new to her. It was strange but he found some internal pleasure in teaching and showing her all there was to know. She absorbed his words like a sponge.
It saddened him knowing that she never had a proper childhood—of course she never told him the reasons behind it—but he guessed as much from her lack of knowledge of...anything Disney related. The girl didn't even know who Popeye was.
His eyes shot open, the chair spinning stop. He sat alert and honey orbs glittering in a new idea. Stiles cursed himself for not thinking about it before but, even worse, not realizing he had been doing it this whole time. There was so much they could do, so much he could show her and there was only another week left in the holiday. He threw his body on to his desk. Frantically searching for a notepad and pencil and then immediately began making a list, grinning manically all the while.
Ariel was in the middle of climbing up the side of Stiles's house in the direction of his window. She reached up and gripped the frame of the window and raised herself only to meet a pair of wide honey eyes, she was startled at first.
"Hey," He greeted. Ariel had snuck on people many times in her life, having it done to her was a new feeling.
"I see I am losing my mystique." She murmured staring at his grinning face. Stiles leaned back and offered her his hand which she took and climbed into through the open window.
"Well I was waiting—pacing actually—hurry lets go." She gasped when he suddenly began dragging her out of his bedroom and down a flight of stairs.
"Do you even know where we are going?"
"Yes because it's my turn today." He replied rushing through the house with her stumbling behind him.
"Your turn?" She echoed. He nodded eagerly opening the front door and stepping outside.
"Yeah, I made a list!"
"A...list?"
"Just come on." He insisted pulling her after him. Ariel tried not to trip and fall in his hasty nature when he tugged her along.
"We have to stop at my garage first—"
"Oh, you are going to play the drums for me?" She asked vague eagerness in her voice. Stiles stopped in front of his open garage and looked to her.
"Well no uh—I need to pick up something."
"Your drum sticks?" She cut in, her dark brows raised in sly inquiry. He shook his head in disbelief.
"You are really insistent aren't you?" Ariel could sense Stiles was still not comfortable with playing the drums for her and she didn't want to seem too pushy. She averted her gaze to the interior of the garage, absorbing the sight of the various objects. His pearl-blue drum kit stood in the far corner of the garage. Among various cardboard boxes and shelves filled. There was a convenient space spared in the middle of the garage. She guessed it was for his jeep which was parked out in front of the house.
She looked to find Stiles knelt before a box, frantically rifling through it. She cocked an eyebrow at his antics.
"So what are you looking for?"
"No it's okay I got it, ah-ha!" He pulled out some wrench of some kind and then getting to his feet.
"What is that?" She asked the mental object was L shaped and small in size. She guessed it to be the length of her palm. Stiles suddenly swiped the object away from her view and hide it in his jean pockets.
"Oh you will find out." He said mysteriously. Ariel narrowed her blue gaze on him.
"Now I am starting to think I should fear for my life."
"Is this your bike?" Ariel asked, poking one of the handle bars of the dark green mountain bike with much interest. She discovered the L shaped device to be some wrench of some kind because Stiles was on his knees beside the bike tightening bolts the entire time they arrived at the park.
"Well yeah I use to use it all the time to get to school but then I got my Jeep, I really miss riding this baby." He mused fondly and petted the metal bars of the bike.
"So we came out here so you can ride your bike again?"
"Actually we came out here so you can ride it."He smiled and she stared in surprise.
Stiles stood to his feet "A bike is one major part in my childhood days, it's kinda like a rite of passage and I figured since you don't know most things about being a child you probably didn't know how to ride a bike."
"Great deduction and accurate," She said smirking at him, but then her glimmering stare wavered at the sight of the bike.
"Will it be difficult?" she asked unsurely.
"I had training wheels so we will have to skip that and go straight to the intermediate level."
"What makes you think I'll actually consent to this?" His smile immediately fell.
"But I...I brought it all the way out here and I having been planning it like all day, but if you don't want to that's fine there are plenty more on the list." He stuttered out, pouting his lips at her all the while. Ariel felt her uneasiness melting away.
"Since you went through the trouble, I suppose its fine." She muttered trying to see nonchalant, he beamed at her.
"Yay," He was practically trembling in excitement.
"Okay so these are the breaks you press down on them to slow the bike, and keep your feet on the pedals and well that's how you get it to move." Stiles explained as Ariel sat on the bike with her hands on the handle bars. She tried to avoid showing how truly nervous she was.
"It seems simple enough, what did the training wheels do?" She asked. Stiles looked to her in bewilderment. What purpose did she have in asking about a piece of apparatus that wasn't even present?
"They are just extra wheels that get attached to the bolts in the wheel at the back, on either side, they provide balance."
"So balance is the main priority here." She mused lowering her gaze back to the bike. He blinked in realization, her intentions befalling on to him.
"I am starting to think you've never done anything without analyzing the situation beforehand." He stated she looked to him with gleaming eyes and her signature smirk.
"Think or know?"
"Know, definitely know." He muttered all knowingly. Ariel turned her attention back to the bike, hesitantly she decided to give the pedaling a go. She braced her feet on the pedals.
"Whoa careful."Stiles quickly grabbed her by the shoulders and steadied her before she fell.
"To keep balance you have to keep paddling." He informed softly, even though her expression was devoid of emotion but he noticed the way she gripped the handle bars, so tightly that her knuckles were practically white.
"What happens when I stop?" She demanded looking up at him. Stiles tried not to get lost in her electric blue eyes and moved his stare to her legs.
"Well just use your legs like stands basically." He said, she shot him a flat look.
"Could have used that information beforehand." She snapped, he smiled.
"Well you are learning as you go." Ariel was not used to being so gently explained to. Stiles could see that so clearly from the way her tense expression softened, nodding she turned her stare to the bike to try again.
"We can scratch' learning to ride a bike' off the list, and add get new bike" Stiles grumbled just as he shut the door to his jeep. Ariel was sitting on the seat beside him with her arms crossed stubbornly.
"The 'using my legs as a stand' didn't work as well as you said it would." She retorted he gaped at her.
"It would have if you didn't jump off the bike last minute and I had to watch it crash into a tree." He exclaimed his hands gesturing animatedly at his bike behind them. She rolled her eyes.
"I don't like any form of transportation that I need to operate, why do you think I never drive my car to your place?"
"You have a car?!" He shrieked "What kind?"
She smiled, obviously amused by his lack of concentration on one subject.
"It's a car, does it matter what kind as long as it does its job?" She mused.
"YES!" He cried, throwing his arms into the air out of exasperation before slumping back on his seat.
"How about you bring it over sometime?" He suggested.
"Um, how about no."She concluded, Stiles frowned.
"Oh come on, I just taught you how to ride a bike and how to destroy one too apparently." She sighed and narrowed her eyes at him and in that moment Stiles knew he already won.
"Fine, one time and then don't ask me again." He itched to do a little happy dance but instead smiled and revved the engine of his jeep back to life.
"What's next on the list?" She asked curiously as he drove them out of the park and back onto the main road.
"You'll like the next one."
Ariel and Stiles stood in the middle of his living room and she stared at him with a pink balloon at hand.
"So let me get this straight, if the balloon touches the floor then I lose?"
"Well if I pass the balloon to you and you don't hit it in time before it touches the floor, then you lose same thing applies to me." She cocked an eyebrow at his words.
"What's the point of that?"
"Nothing it's just a game!" He exclaimed getting agitated by her lack of processing the idea of the game.
"Do I win anything?" she asked unfazed by his abrupt exclamations.
"Your childhood, does that count?" He retorted sarcastically. She rolled her eyes and tossed the balloon to him which he caught with ease.
"Alright I am going to start." He said taking measured steps back and then bringing the balloon in front of his body before swiftly punching at it. The balloon flew up and in her direction and Ariel squatted away with ease.
"This is so silly." She grumbled watching Stiles run about the room at an attempt to stop the balloon from hitting the ground.
"Whoa did you see that I missed the floor by like a centimeter." He pointed out enthusiastically while panting for breath. His brown eyes darted to the balloon that was speedily floating in her direction.
"Quick get it, it's going to hit the floor." Ariel didn't make an attempt to move and the balloon touched the floor before bouncing a few times. Stiles thrust his hands into the in celebration.
"Ha-ha one for me, none for you." She watched him pull out a notepad from his trouser pocket before writing something down, this intrigued her.
"You are keeping score?" She asked, he smiled.
"Yeah, you feeling motivated now?" He wondered while wiggling eyebrows at her and strangely enough, she was.
Stiles was beginning to discover many things about Ariel...other than her last name. She had a strange aversion to any form of transportation that demanded her efforts but she loved her driven around. He noticed that in the way she would sticks her head out the window and enjoys the breeze. He didn't mind, she always looked so peaceful in that moment.
She loves tea, Stiles doesn't recall ever seeing her consume water or any other beverage. It was always that tea she brought in her thermos. Stiles could also conclude in the moment as he struggled to breathe, that Ariel was extremely competitive.
"Come on one more round." She said bouncing the balloon on her hand. Stiles sat on the couch, his chest heaving.
"I don't think there is enough space on the paper, not to mention I can't move body." He grunted trying to sit up, she shot him a flat look.
"Oh right, your lack of stamina." He didn't appreciate her teasing tone.
"Fine one more game, but let's make it interesting." He suggested she stared with high interest in her azure eyes.
"Alright, how so?"
"We can only hit the ball from the tops of furniture." He was pleased with the idea. It was a challenge and his living room didn't have much furniture other than the coffee table and the couches.
Ariel was staring at the couch unsurely, before looking to him "Is that okay, I mean would your father would be okay with it?"
"Yeah its fine, it's more fun this way." He assured but she seemed unconvinced.
"I'll take off my shoes." She said, tossing the balloon to him before beginning to take off her trainers.
"You know the whole point of this is not having a care in the world right?" He reminded as Ariel took her sneakers by the ankles and carefully placed them beside the door. He was surprised by this.
"I must still be respectful, it's not my house." She stated and climbed on the sofa opposite the one he stood on "Well Stilinski, this is a failure you shall not soon forget."
"What?"
"Mindless banter, I just assumed that's what happens in such a situation, it said so in your comics I read—"
"No no I get that, I just wasn't expecting it—ahem." He cleared his throat behind a clenched fist to hide his smile and held the balloon in his other hand.
"Forget you will want to when me defeating you will destroys your dignity." She grinned at his words and took a stable stance on the couch, her feet sinking into the upholstery.
"Not as badly as you destroyed that sentence with your lack of grammar."
"Oh ha-ha—Think fast!" He abruptly punched the balloon in her direction but to the side of the couch. Ariel was quick and leapt in to the air and smacked the balloon and so began the game.
"I got it." Ariel exclaimed with the balloon flew over them right above the coffee table. She quickly stepped towards the edge of the couch at the same time as Stiles stretched over his.
"No wait it's on my side!" He said reaching out to the balloon but the plastic grazed over his fingers tips before Ariel's hand came flying out to smack it. The moment she did she lost balance and went tumbling forward. Stiles gasped and quickly grasped her by the wrist and pulled her towards him to avoid her having a collision with the coffee table, but when the weight of her body hit his they both went falling back.
Stiles groaned eyes closed and sat up on the couch with a struggle. The back of his skull throbbed when it bumped into the edge of the back rest rather roughly.
"Hey are you okay?" His eyes snapped open at the sound of her soft concerned voice. Ariel was kneeling between his legs, her hands rested on either side of the couch to elevate her weight from his body. He was enchanted by the intense blue of her eyes and her pretty face being so close to his and her plump lips parted so temptingly.
"Yeah I am fine." He strained to speak. She moved back a little allowing him room to sit up, and she was resting her rear on her ankles, staring at him.
"You bumped your head pretty hard." She mused reaching out to his face. He froze when her fingers combed through his dark hair to feel the bruise on the back of his head, but just from her simple warm touch, the throbbing began to elevate.
"Well I...feel...fine." He murmured. She looked to him and then there was this instant connection that felt unbreakable. Her stare was like a caress, taking in each of his features so attentively. Stiles liked the way her reddish hair tumbled down her shoulders in waves, he wanted to know if those tendrils felt as soft as they looked.
He was suddenly aware of his hands resting on her waist. He guessed it happened when he pulled her body to his mid fall, they felt numb. His heart was pounding so loudly. Stiles feared she could hear it and worry he could go into cardiac arrest but she continued to watch him with such fascination.
Suddenly the door bell chimed startling them both, his shoulders flinched and he snapped out of his stupor. Ariel's gaze darted to the main door, sitting up alert and aware that they weren't alone anymore.
"I should go get that." Stiles said and cleared his throat. She nodded wordlessly and moved to get off him and he grasped her elbow to support her. He quickly jogged to the door and yanked open the door.
"Scott!" He exclaimed startled to find his Beta best friend standing at the threshold of his home. He grinned but then his smile fell at the state of Stiles.
"Hey, were you working out?" He asked.
"What, no." Stiles said a little too quickly, stepping aside to allow Scott access into his home.
"Then why are you all red and sweaty?" McCall asked. Stiles cursed himself for his own body's reactions. Of course he would be blushing from that much closeness to Ariel.
"Oh come on in I'll show you."Stiles wanted his best friend to meet Ariel, he had wanted it for a while but at the same time he didn't want to disturb the Beta's studying. He eagerly pushed Scott in the direction of his living room.
"It's because I—" His explanation came to an abrupt halt when he found the absence of Ariel beside the couch.
"What?" Scott asked, wondering what Stiles was fixating on.
"She is gone." He murmured his stare immediately darting to the open window in the room.
"Who?" His best friend echoed, his brown eyes glittering in confusion. Stiles didn't know where to begin, especially when the sinking feeling in his chest was the only thing in his thoughts.