Chapter 7

Soul mates were confusing. Derek hated his numbers. Screw that cosmic atmosphere.

Derek had his coffee date with Jennifer while they rode to the next city, because his phone was a portable wifi spot and he was awesome like that. The concert was their main topic, which made it even harder for Derek to not think about Stiles, but that was all Jennifer wanted to hear about. How did Stiles prep for a concert? What kind of mishaps could happen on stage? Was it true someone sabotaged the lights at his first concert?

"Where did you hear that?" Derek asked.

"It's all over the internet. I know the official story is equipment failure, but is that the truth?" Wow did she sound like a reporter.

"We have no hard evidence of foul play," Derek lied, but she smirked, which made Derek sure that she didn't believe him at all.

"And what happened last night?" she asked.

Images of Stiles so close Derek could smell him flashed in his mind, but he pushed them away. That's not what she meant. No one knew about that.

"One of the busses had a flat tire. There were no major delays," Derek said, again lying, but this time she seemed more put-out than smug, so he figured he'd won that round.

"Well that's no fun to write about. I'll have to find a different topic." Jennifer sipped tea this morning instead of coffee. She said she only drank tea when at home because no one ever served the kind she liked, but she could buy the tea bags herself and do it right.

"Hang on. Are you just using me for article ideas?" Derek asked, frowning over his mug. Beside him, but just far away enough to be out of the camera's view, Laura gave an indignant look at the computer, expressing quite beautifully what Derek was feeling.

"Of course not," Jennifer assured. "That's just a perk. Honestly, I just love listening to you talk. You just seem more open when you talk about Stiles and the concert. That's all. I like it when you're open with me."

While the sentiment was touching and calmed his agitation, Jennifer was totally misguided. Derek wasn't being open about Stiles at all. In fact, he was being entirely closed off about the younger man. Bare details, that's all she was getting.

Seriously, there was not a single person Derek trusted enough to discuss last night with. Not one soul.

Soul. Soul mate.

Damn it. He really couldn't stop thinking about it.

"Well then, on a different note – how come you never take off that bracelet?" Derek asked and motioned to Jennifer's wrist despite being just a 2D computer image to her.

With a shrug, she said, "I don't like my numbers and I don't want to be judged by them. When I find true happiness, I want to find it because I found it, not because the universe told it to be so and I blindly followed its lead." She set down her tea. "My soul mate will be mine by choice, not design. Does that bother you?"

"Should it?" It did, truth be told, but he didn't want to tell her that. It was an honorable thought, a perfectly good stance, but since Derek was partially sure she was his soul mate, he'd rather be sure of it and test it out. If she wasn't potentially his soul mate, he wouldn't care at all… but she was and so he did. Surely his soul mate would understand that and reveal their wrist, right? Should he push the idea?

"No, I suppose not." Jennifer smiled and then her eyes flickered down to the clock on her screen. "Oh, sorry. I've got to run. There's a meeting at work today that I'm presenting at. Wish me luck."

"Good luck."

And the call ended.

"I think she loves you and it makes me slightly ill," Laura admitted. "I don't like her."

"What if she's my soul mate?" Derek asked, closing the computer and setting it aside.

"Then the universe is weird, but I'm so glad she's not mine."

It was a good thing neither of them was driving, because Derek turned to face her on the small couch of the second bus and she instantly mirrored the action. Both Hales kept their eyes stony and their expressions impassable.

"What is your problem with Jennifer?" Derek asked with a grunt. After all Laura's talk about wanting Derek to find happiness, why was she acting like this?

"I can't tell if she actually likes you or just wants to sleep with you," Laura said with a wild motion to the abandoned laptop.

"What if it's both? And what's so wrong with that?" Someone wanted to be physical with him. He hadn't missed those signs radiating off Jennifer. But so what? Should he not want that? Wouldn't his soul mate want that? Wouldn't his soul mate be thinking about kissing him and touching him and keeping him for themselves?

'I saw you kissing her and I got so angry.'

He glared at his sister, but he wasn't seeing her.

"What if it's not both!?" Laura shouted and stood. The bus hit a tiny bump and she almost toppled forward, but Derek instantly reached up to steady her, both of their glares falling away. As soon as she had her footing again, Laura returned to her seat. "I just don't want you to invest everything in someone who might not be in it for the same reason you are."

"She could be my soul mate. I met her within the time limit and she asked me on a date," Derek pointed out calmly. "Even if she turns out wrong, wouldn't it be wrong to ignore the possibility?"

With a deep frown, Laura conceded with a nod. Something more was on her tongue, but she knit her brow and then shook it away. "She's just not what I expected for you, I suppose. You've never been overtly sexual and she's… Sorry, I'll stop. And if she is your soul mate, I'm going to be supportive. You're my brother and I'm being insensitive. I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted," Derek said.

There was a weighty silence afterward where Derek entertained the idea that he was wrong, that Jennifer wasn't his soul mate and he'd read the signs wrong. But then he just pictured a door closing in his face and he closed his eyes, sighing angrily.

"And if she isn't my soul mate, I expect you to be supportive in getting a restraining order or whatever I need to get out of it," he said, trying to joke.

Laura laughed sourly and leaned against him, her head on his shoulder. Her legs lifted onto the couch and she put her hand on Derek's knee, where he quickly took it up in his own. And that's how they sat for several minutes, just enjoying the contact.

"I love you," Laura finally murmured.

"I love you too."

He knew, no matter what happened with Jennifer, Laura would be on his side. And with Stiles… Laura really admired Stiles. What would she do if she found out about what had happened between them? What if Derek somehow hurt Stiles? He knew eventually she would just smack him upside the head and forgive him, but would she be on his side? Did Derek want her to be?

'I hate you so much.'

But it hadn't sounded like hate. It sounded empty. Derek remembered the desperate way Stiles had kissed him and sighed. He remembered the way all that tension in his chest had melted away under Stiles' lips. He couldn't stop thinking about every detail of their encounter, over and over, like a messed up version of ptsd.

What if he'd chosen Jennifer and he was wrong? What if he was right? What was he supposed to do now?

There was no show that night, but there was an interview and a photo shoot. As soon as Derek stepped on site, he saw Stiles. The singer was perched on a sidewalk barrier, notebook balanced on his knee, pen in hand. Thankfully, he wasn't in black today, or Derek really wouldn't have been able to concentrate. He looked too good in black. Instead, Stiles wore a grey cotton jacket with a hood, a white t-shirt with a Captain America shield on it, old jeans, and red converse. Obviously not what he'd wear during the shoot.

A young black man walked up to him and Stiles raised his eyes from the paper in front of him. On the way to looking at his new companion, Stiles spotted Derek and frowned. Derek was too far away to hear the conversation, but Stiles jumped up from his seat and quickly walked away with the black man, speaking quickly.

"What's up?" Derek asked, catching Scott's eye before nodding in the direction of the retreating teens.

After a brief glance in Stiles' direction, Scott frowned. "That's Boyd. He helps Stiles write songs, smoothes things out, you know?"

"And?" Derek pressed, following the assistant stage manager/crew liaison as he tried to walk away.

"And Stiles is having trouble coming up with anything new, and he's supposed to start recording in a week, so he's a little stressed out about it," Scott said with an aggravated sigh.

Not knowing what to respond with, Derek just followed Scott silently. He knew singers had busy schedules. This wasn't his first rodeo, after all. Still, perhaps the crammed schedule was keeping Stiles from being able to focus on lyrics. He had a commercial to shoot on the weekend and a concert the following night and then another meet and greet and then Derek didn't even know because he figured Laura would fill him in as time went on, but Stiles probably had the whole thing memorized.

Just outside of a door marked 'wardrobe', Scott stopped and finally faced Derek. "You know you can't just follow me around because Stiles is mad at you," he said.

"What did you say?" Derek asked, brow knitting. Did Scott know? Had Stiles told him? They were best friends, right? So, of course, why wouldn't he tell Scott?

With a shrug, Scott motioned in annoyance behind Derek, back where Stiles had been. "He asked me this morning if it was too late to end your contract. I don't know."

"Wha-" All the air felt like it had been sucked out of Derek's lungs. Was his family going to suffer because of his tension with Stiles?

"Don't have a heart attack. I convinced him he was being stupid and irrational, but dude, what the hell? Yesterday you two had a tiny fight and now he wants to fire you? What did you do?"

"What did I do?" Derek growled, his confusion melting into anger. "Why do you assume I did something?"

"Because Stiles-!" Scott started, determination loud in his voice, but then he faltered and pressed his lips together. After a muffled moment where he struggled for words, Scott frowned again. "No, actually, you could be right. I mean, I did just tell you yesterday Stiles is kind of hard to work with sometimes. You look like a serial killer, but Stiles is-…. Yeah, sorry."

"Right."

At the rate he was moving, Derek would have the whole crew against him by the end of the tour. Fantastic, especially considering his soul mate was most likely among the tour members.

Wait. He was still expecting Jennifer to be his soul mate. Great. Now he was confusing himself.

"Excuse me. I need to go find my team," Derek grunted and turned away from the assistant stage manager.

"Derek, hold up," Scott called to him, and Derek hesitated after only two steps. "I'll talk to Stiles – see what's going on. Okay?"

"Don't go out of your way for my sake." Despite the words, Derek kind of hoped Scott followed through, and while he also hoped Stiles wouldn't give his best friend all the details, a reason why he was holding it against Derek or how Derek could fix it would be extremely helpful.

Derek wasn't present for the interview, opting to send Jordan instead, but that didn't mean he got the day off either. Allison and her team were around, also prepping for the photo shoot, and Lydia made it very clear that she didn't approve of Derek's executive decision.

"Lydia, you seem particularly tense," Laura noted before glancing down at the tablet she held in her hand and tapping something on the screen. Derek knew she was looking over schematics of the arena they would be playing at two days from then and absentmindedly debated doing the same thing. He was usually the first one to look over such files.

"Well someone decided to send away my good luck charm," Lydia replied, not trying to hide the fact that she was talking about Derek. Her eyes even landed on him as she spoke before she pursed her lips and turned away.

"I thought I was your good luck charm," Allison piped up from where she sat getting her hair done.

A sassy smile spread across Lydia's lips then. "Of course you are," she said, and Derek couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic or not. "You're my best friend and I love you. But Jordan-"

Allison laughed. "I know, Lydia. I know." To Derek's ears, even Allison's laugh was quiet in comparison to Lydia. "But don't take it out on Derek. He's just doing his job."

"Well next time he needs to do it differently," Lydia said, turning her faux smile on Derek.

"Duly noted," Derek grumbled back and checked his phone. No texts. Good.

"Waiting for a call?" Allison asked as her bangs were pulled back and she spotted him in the mirror.

Slipping his phone into his pocket, Derek met her eyes in the mirror. "No. Why?"

"You keep checking your phone," she said, motioning a little but trying to keep still.

Lydia almost smirked as she asked, "Girlfriend problems?"

Doing his best not to take it personally, Derek said, "No. She texted me this morning. She's fine." He knew she was just angry about him splitting Jordan and her up, but he didn't trust anyone else like he trusted Jordan and if he couldn't watch Stiles personally, he'd prefer Jordan do it… or Laura, but she'd wanted to be here.

"Family problems?" Allison asked, a sympathetic tone in her voice. She knew all about disapproving parents and relatives, having chosen to leave the family business.

"No. Mom's given us a wide berth on this one," Laura jumped in, but her tone was curious. "So not girlfriend. Not Mom. So then is it St-"

"Hello?"

A new face peeked around the door, followed quickly by a tiny knock. Wrong order, but the guy got points for effort. Curly light brown hair sat unkempt over a nervous face.

"You're just in time, Lahey," the hairdresser, Tara, said in greeting. "She's ready for you."

The new guy scurried into the room and unpacked a case of make-up equipment on an open stretch of table beside Allison. In a smooth motion unexpected from his skiddish demeanor, he pulled out a set of liquid bases and held them up by Allison's cheek.

"You missed the meeting, so we're trying for a white tone first, but Stiles is in red, so you can play with that too," Tara explained.

"Got it," Lahey replied and began applying a base tone in gentle dabbing motions with a brush.

His entrance brought about a silence among the other four. Gossip they didn't mind, but it seemed they each had a boundary around new people. Tara, they'd all met her and been around her before, but the new kid blending cream into Allison's cheekbones? No one knew him.

Of course Allison would be the one to broach the silence and offer an olive branch to the kid. He looked nervous under the weight of the silence despite the intensity with which he worked. As he moved away to switch out make-up, Allison smiled at him.

"So what was your name?" she asked.

"Uh, Isaac," he said and smiled back. He was kinda cute when he did that. "Lahey's my family name."

"Oh. Hi, Isaac. I'm Allison." And she held her hand out to shake.

At first, Isaac seemed confused, but eventually he took her hand. They shook hands and then the rest of the group went around introducing themselves as well. After that, Isaac seemed to greatly relax, so Derek felt a little guilty about putting a tense frown back on the kid's face.

"Today's your first day? Who are you with?" Definitely not the Stilinski tour, but since Lydia and Allison hadn't known him, he wasn't with them either.

"Oh. Tara," Isaac motioned to the hairdresser, "pulled me in last minute. Some uh, family issues kept me from joining up at the start."

Looking up at the dark skinned hair dresser, Derek saw her giving him a slight warning look, like a protective mother lion. As they continued their staring contest, Tara proved to be a master, because not only did she raise one skeptical, testing eyebrow at him, but she did so while still curling Allison's hair. Finally, Derek looked away.

"Welcome to the team," he said, but by then Isaac was focused back on his task of turning Allison into a work of art.

The vibration in his pocket took Derek's mind away from anything going on in the room, including Allison striking up a conversation with her make-up artist. He did his best to calmly lift the phone out and up to eye level.

He had a message. From Jordan. His heart beat heavy in his chest and he clicked open the message, expecting another accident to have occurred or to see that Stiles had gone behind Scott's back and had them fired.

'Stiles says to remind you that he doesn't want to talk to you?' Jordan's message read.

Derek didn't laugh out loud, but there was probably a grin on his face, because Stiles was a child and Jordan was confused.

'Let him know the feeling is mutual,' Derek sent back and then wondered if talking through someone else counted as talking. If avoiding someone didn't entail not talking, he'd have asked Stiles for specifics on their new relationship status… and asked exactly what their status was.

After a minute had passed and Jordan hadn't responded, Derek put the phone away again. If he kept it out, he'd probably send more messages, and Stiles didn't want to talk. Which was fine. Because they had nothing to talk about. This was simply business.

Except he could remember the feeling of Stiles' back under his hands and, damn it, maybe he did want to talk about it.

Preview Chapter 8:

Derek's not imagining it. Jennifer knows more than she should about the tour, and something new and fishy comes up that might spell trouble later. Stiles and Derek might actually be making headway with their relationship. And then later turns out to be now as an electrical problem has Stiles on his way to the hospital!