Stiles was standing in front of his best friend's crush's gun owning parents, waiting to see if making out with a girl who hated him had tricked them. Needless to say it was a tense situation.

In the interest of selling it, he wrapped his arm around Lydia's waist and pulled her in close to him. She rested her hand on top of his. He threaded his fingers through hers and started tracing small circles with his thumb. He was just about to absentmindedly plant a kiss on the crown of her head when-

"I can drive her home, Mr. and Mrs. Argent," Lydia chimed in giving Allison's parents a winning smile. "It's no problem. Really."

"You're sure? You won't be busy?" Mr. Argent asked, a hit of suspicious in his voice as he eyed Stiles.

"If you're worried about him, don't." Lydia indicated Stiles with a tilt of her head. "He can't stay up past 11:30 on a school night."

"She may be exaggerating, but not by much." Stiles gave Lydia a squeeze and she giggled and rested her head on his chest.

Mr. Argent laughed, his stiff expression completely transformed.

"Alright," he said, looking at Allison who beamed back at him. "But home as soon as the movie's over."

Stiles grinned, positive that he deserved a gold medal in wingman-ing. And so did Lydia.

"Sure," Allison agreed.

"It was uh- nice to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Argent," Scott mumbled before following Allison to the car.

"Keep her in line, Lydia," Mrs. Argent whispered to her daughter's friend, clearly only half joking.

"Of course," Lydia grinned before extricating herself from Stiles' embrace. "Let's get out of here, babe."

They walked to the car together, hand in hand.

"Babe?" he questioned in a low voice.

"Do you think that was too much?" she asked, nervously.

"I think they bought it."

They arrived at the movie theatre with only a few minutes to spare.

"We'll get snacks," Stiles told them, holding Scott back.

"See you in there," Allison said, mostly just to Scott.

Allison was grinning at her. She had been grinning at her since her parents agreed to let them go to the movies. Lydia was pretending it was because she was excited about getting to spend more time with Scott and she was sure that was part of it. But she knew why Allison had been giving her a knowing smile for the past twenty minutes.

"Shut up," she told her.

"I didn't say anything," Allison said, still smiling.

"And yet, somehow, your point is coming across pretty clearly."

"It just looked like you had a good time kissing Stiles. That's all." Allison settled into her seat.

"I did that for you," Lydia insisted.

"Thanks for sucking face for my benefit," Allison replied. "I'm really impressed with how much you committed. You're a great friend."

"I'm just saying it looked pretty convincing," Scott commented as he covered their popcorn in butter.

"It had to look convincing if Allison's parents were going to believe it. Which they did, so... you're welcome." Stiles gestured and almost spilled the sodas they'd bought.

"If you did like her, now might be a good time to kind of... test the waters. You are on a date with her."

"And when she found out I set this up, she barged in on me in the shower and yelled at me. Trust me, she's not interested."

"And that's not a problem, because you're not interested in her, right?" Scott asked, his face the picture of innocence.

"Right," Stiles said.

"I'm just saying," Lydia tried not to roll her eyes at Allison's tone. "You're technically going out on a date with him right now. You danced, you kissed, and now you're at a movie with the guy. What's wrong with testing the waters and seeing if you actually might like him."

"I don't like him," Lydia replied reflexively.

Allison rolled her eyes.

Scott and Stiles walked into the theatre. For a second Lydia caught his gaze. He hesitated before giving her a small, uncertain smile. Shocked by this small moment of vulnerability, Lydia's breath hitched.

"I don't," she insisted in a voice barely above a whisper.