Stiles ran a hand over his face, listening to his cell play the last notes of his ringtone. It faded to silence before it beeped again, once, twice and then a third. He groaned and rolled over, burying his face in a pillow that still smelled like Lydia.
He groaned again.

She had left hours ago, kissing him goodbye softly and gently, before they fell back into bed and he finally said goodbye to her with another kiss an hour later. He was still in the same spot that she had left him, shirtless, ruffled and confused.
He had kissed her countless times, he knew what his best friends lips tasted like. He knew what she sounded like when she moaned his name. He knew what her skin felt like under his hands, how perfectly she fit - his phone rang again.
He yelled aloud, a strangled noise coming from the back of his throat as he rolled out of bed with a thump, stretching across the rug and grabbing his balled up jacket. Stiles yanked out the persistent device from his pocket and hit 'accept'.

"What?"
"Dude what the hell? Where have you been, I've been trying to get a hold of you for hours!''
Scott's voice was concerned and hardly audible over loud background music. Stiles sighed guiltily. He fell back down onto the mattress, the phone to his ear.
"Sorry man, I was studying - couldn't find my cell''. Stiles winced, he hated lying to his best friend, "Where are you anyway?''
The pounding music was growing in his ear and he could hear Isaac yelling in the background.
"Danny's party, remember? That's why I'm calling, we're all wondering where you are…''
Stiles swore under his breath, moving up and over his window. He pulled back the blinds to see his dad's cruiser still missing from the driveway.
"All of you? Who's there?''
Scott's voice grew louder as he yelled over the bass, "Just the usual, Kira picked up Isaac and I earlier. Allison's been trying to get Lydia to come out too - we haven't seen her since you's both bailed after lunch - where the hell did you both go anyway?''
The alpha's voice pitched with curiosity as he remembered his friends absence.

Stiles stuttered and tripped over a discarded shoe, "Uhh, I felt, um sick - so I headed home early…'' He closed his eyes as he awaited his friends reply.
Scott paused.
"Huh. That's what Lydia told Allison. Hope you didn't catch anything from each other…''
Stiles almost choked on his own breath, "Shit, uh no. No, we're never in, uh, close proximity to, well, you know - swap diseases and, um, stuff''. The boy swung his arm out at his wardrobe at his own stupidity. His regretful choice of words was short lived as his friend simply laughed.
"Yeah, sure man - just get your ass over here - Hey, Allison! Over he- Yes, Lydia! Finally!''
Stiles reached for a clean shirt at the mention of the girls name. He was confused and needed to speak to her, to see her - to anything. How was he supposed to act around her? Their friends?
"Stiles, you there dude?"
"Yeah man - on my way".

Stiles pushed his way through the throng of familiar and unfamiliar students, muttering apologies as he went. He heard rather than seen Malia and Isaac ahead of him, their raucous laughter flowing over the loud music that filled the crowded room.
He watched as Allison spotted him, grinning and yelling happy greetings from their spot on a couch. Scott slapped him on the back with a grin as Isaac chucked a bottle of beer into his hands. He caught it, smiled back at his friends and muttered 'hello' back. He did it all with his eyes trained on the strawberry blonde that sat on the arm of the couch.

Lydia met his gaze with her own, her smile slightly awkward but still warm and familiar. She could still taste his lips on her own and his hands on her body. She looked away, taking another long sip from her cup. She smiled and laughed distractedly at something Kira said.

Stiles struggled to get near Lydia for hours, the two friends constantly being intercepted and dragged away by drunken students they knew from school.
When Stiles finally managed to escape from a game of beer pong with the lacrosse guys, he turned back to the sofa he last seen his friends - only to find Isaac and Malia alone and wrapped up in one another.

Stiles winced and looked around for the rest of the pack, not seeing any of them and cursing the fact that he didn't have a set of werewolf senses of his own.
He edged closer to the intertwined couple, his nose scrunched and his arm extended. He prodded Isaac on the shoulder.
"Hey Isaac, you've got a Malia on your face''. He chuckled at his own joke but his laughter died down as the couple pulled apart to scowl at him.
"Oh - right, well now that you're both not eating each other… Have you guy's seen Lydia?''
Isaac groaned at his friend, returning his attention to Malia as he waved Stiles away with a rude gesture of his hand.
They went back to kissing.
Stiles huffed in frustration as made his way through the dancing crowd, finally spotting Allison and Scott in the kitchen. He made his way towards the couple, almost feeling bad for interrupting their private moment.

Allison was perched on the counter her long legs swinging happily as Scott stood between them, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear as they chatted to each other with grins on their lips. Before their said lips could become attached, Stiles joined them - tapping his beer bottle against Scott's in greeting.
"Alright, man?'' Scott was perfectly sober whilst Allison was much more carefree, her arms curling around her boyfriend's neck as she joined the boys in conversation.
"I'm starting to feel like a fifth wheel here guys - have you seen Lydia around?'' Stiles scratched the back of his neck casually, his voice strained as he tried to act nonchalant. The urge to pull on the front tufts of his hair was overwhelming.
"She bumped into that Matthew guy she's been seeing, they went out to the garden about ten minutes ago.''
Allison peered over Scott's shoulder as she said this, her words casual as she appeared to not notice her friends reaction.
"Matthew? You mean the douche she bailed on, on Valentines Day?'
"Uh, I guess?'' Allison shrugged her shoulders, pouting as Scott swapped her cup of punch for a bottle of water. They pair didn't notice Stiles walk out the patio doors and into the cool night.

It was quieter outside and Stiles spotted Lydia almost instantly. She was sat on sun lounger next to the fire pit and her hair glowed like a beacon. She was sat next to a guy who looked almost as small as she was, with mousy brown hair and striped shirt. His hand was on her leg.
Stiles hated him.

Without thinking rationally, Stiles made his way across the decking, stopping behind Lydia as her conversation with the strange boy slowed to a stop. She looked up at him as if she sensed him there. Stiles knew she had. It was the same pull that had led him across the garden to her.
"Stiles, what're you doing?'' Her words were polite but Lydia's brow was furrowed as she looked up at him. Stiles glanced down at her and saw the love bite he had give her earlier just below her dress collar.
He swallowed thickly.
"Uh, didn't realize you had company'', He glanced at the boy who was sneering at him from his seat beside Lydia, "I just, I just thought you uh, might be cold. So-''
He handed her the lacrosse hoody he had brought with him earlier on the walk over and was too busy eyeing Matthew to see the blush creep across her cheeks as she took it from him with soft eyes and a smile.
"Thank you, Stiles''.
He nodded at her. The Matthew guy hadn't said anything and he was still sizing Stiles up.
'Yeah, try it pipsqueak, I know three werewolves and a girl who resembles Pikachu'.
"Stiles?"
"Huh?"
He was interrupted from his own thoughts as Lydia gestured to the boy, "This is Matthew. Matthew, this is my-'', Lydia stuttered over her words, "My friend, Stiles''.
Neither boy held out their hands to shake, instead nodding curtly at one another. Stiles stood with his hands in his pockets, his lips pursed as Lydia's words processed in his mind.
He shook his head slightly, taking a few steps back from the couple.
"Uh, right, well I'm going to head, I think… Uh, need me to walk you home Lydia? There was actually something I wanted to talk to you about.''
Stiles stood a few feet away from the girl, watching her as she clutched his hoody to her chest. She bit her lip before opening her mouth to reply, her eyes so wide, so soft and so full of tenderness as she looked back at the boy who seemed so nervous around her.
"Actually I could give you a ride home'', Matthew spoke up, his hand squeezing Lydia's knee as he talked, "I haven't been drinking and it would beat having to walk home with Stiles here, no?''
The boy smiled smugly, his eyes watching carefully for Stiles' reaction.

Lydia stammered over her words and she tried not to look at Stiles as she accepted Matthews offer with a polite, tight smile.
"Um sure? Yeah - I guess I can't seem to think of a reason why not…'' She trailed off, looking at Stiles as he studied the ground.
"Great! That's settled then", Matthew stood and smoothed down his shirt, "I'll go grab you another drink then".
He walked across to Stiles reaching up slightly from his small stature to pat Stiles' shoulder.
"I'll get her home safe, you seem like the overly protective, brotherly friend'', Matthew guffawed obnoxiously, walking away from the two and back into the crowded house.
Stiles scrunched up his nose as he watched the boy saunter away and he turned to Lydia with a half smirk, "Do you want to tell him, or shall I? Protective brother type my ass…''
"Stiles, not now''.

Lydia's eyes were pleading as she stood to join her friend, careful not to reach out to him like she wanted to, like she would normally.
The boy turned to look at her and frowned, wondering where her change of attitude had came from.
"Lydia, what? I thought you said that guy was a douche - he is a douche''.
Lydia sighed as she looked up Stiles with an indignant expression.
"No, those were your words, I merely said that he -''
"Couldn't make you come like I can?''

Her stomach dropped at Stiles' words, his sudden confidence and the hand that he placed on her waist. Heat surrounded them as they stood together in the cool night and she swallowed thickly. Lydia didn't dare meet his gaze that she could feel burning into her.
"Stiles…" Her voice was weak and it came out as a whisper. His thumb ran circles into her waist, his long fingers curling around her back.
"Let me take you home Lydia, I don't like that guy''.
His voice was low and it resonated through her like chocolate and was almost powerless underneath his touch, at his words. She felt weak. It scared her.

Lydia chanced a quick look at the boy and was speechless when she found warm, brown eyes that were hooded and dark, gazing down at her. She bit her lip and watched in fascination as he licked his own unconsciously in reply.
"Matthew's coming back".
"I don't care".
"Stiles…"
Lydia moved out of his embrace and he allowed her, stepping away slightly as Matthew returned with an overfilled glass of beer and narrowed eyes.
"They ran out of punch so I brought you some beer, you'll drink that, right?''
Lydia was looking at the floor as she nodded and took it from him, gulping the amber liquid down and wincing at the bitter taste - her skin was flushed, her lips red and her cheeks pink.
"Weren't you leaving, bro?''

Stiles peeled his eyes away from Lydia to raise his eyebrows at the boy. He cleared his throat and fought the urge to whisper out for Scott or Isaac and their claws.
"Uh, yeah - I guess I was'', he slapped Matthew on the back a tad too harshly to be considered friendly, "See you, bro''.
He backed away with a tight, sarcastic smile - stopping when he reached Lydia. She was perched back on the sun lounger and he hunched down on his knees to look her in the eye.
"You need anything, Scott and Isaac are still inside. You need me, you call and I will be here in a second'', he swiped his hoody from the chair beside her, pulling it gently over her head as the cool wind whipped her hair around her face. He smoothed it back.
He pushed her still half full glass away from her, only giving her a look of warning as he did so. She pursed her lips at him but didn't argue. Stiles dropped a quick and almost undetectable kiss to the top of her head as he stood, walking backwards from them.
He made sure Matthew heard him as he told Lydia to text him when she got home safe.

Stiles walked away and continued looking over his shoulder until he was out the back gate and he could no longer see Lydia sitting bundled up in his sweatshirt, watching him with wide eyes as he left her alone with another guy. He sent Scott a text to tell him to watch out for Lydia and then he walked the pavements alone to his house.

It was two thirty am when Stiles cell beeped and vibrated underneath his pillow, rousing him from his restless sleep. His voice was hoarse and his eyes were still closed as he answered, blindly pushing at the buttons.
"Hello?''
"Stiles, I'm outside. I need you''.