It took them two hours to pack up Lydia's car with Stiles' College stuff. He had dozens of boxes, and Lydia wondered what he'd had in there. There was one for his clothes, one with bed sheets, one with shoes, one with books and DVD's, one with cleaning products and one filled with 'all things supernatural' which Lydia guessed to contain Mountain Ash, Wolfsbane and Mistletoe. Probably other herbal remedies Lydia was unaware of. But those were just the boxes she'd seen. There was at least ten other boxes on top of that.
"Text me when you're there." The Sheriff hugged Stiles as Lydia stood against her car door, she allowed them to have some privacy.
"We will," Stiles answered as he patted him on the back. "I'll call you tomorrow, once Lydia has gone."
"Are you sure you don't need me to come up? The station won't mind, I'll call-"
"Dad," Stiles said, a lump had formed in his throat because he didn't want to leave his dad. He was the only person who had been consistent in his life. "It'll be fine, thank you."
"Lydia, when do you go to College?" The Sheriff asked, perhaps to distract how sad he was that his son was leaving.
"Two days time." Lydia nodded and smiled at him. "I'll come say goodbye."
The Sheriff nodded and welcomed Lydia into a hug, she accepted and felt moisture collect in her eyes because she'd forgotten what it felt like to have a fatherly figure in her life.
"Drive safe." The Sheriff kissed her forehead and embraced his son again, this time he was crying and Stiles was too.
A trait she'd come to love in a man was one who showed their emotions, she'd find it weird if Stiles wasn't crying right now, something unnatural about not showing how you really feel.
Stiles' face had gone a blotchy red, his eyes bloodshot and full with tears which he tried to wipe away but more just spilled out. He loved his dad, he'd probably became too attached to him once his mom died and now he had to leave. Although he'd be back at some point, latest would be thanksgiving but he might be back before then.
"C'mon." Stiles nodded toward the car, so Lydia got in and watched Stiles and the Sheriff hug again.
When Stiles got in the car she smiled at him, and he smiled back or at least tried to because he was still crying.
"So this is it." Lydia observed when they had found his room. It was all the way on top floor, and there was no elevator which seemed like their luck.
The dorms had a funny smell about them, like old-Chinese food and alcohol, but she supposed that that was what it was like being a student in College. Even if this was George Washington.
When they'd arrived at his room Lydia heard Stiles' sharp intake of breath. The walls were painted cream, left plain for whatever he'd decide to stick on them. There was two single beds pushed to each side of the wall with no sheets on but a dark blue cushion on each. By each bed sat a rickety bedside table that had one shallow drawer in each. Next to the door, two oak dressers stood next to each other.
"It's kinda small." Stiles commented, but he didn't sound annoyed by it, just like he was stating a fact.
"You'll get used to it." Lydia nodded, she dropped a box down by the door, hoping nothing breakable was in there. In between one of the beds and the dressers there was a door, which Lydia presumed to be the bathroom. "When does your roommate move in?"
"Tomorrow." Stiles told her, he went over to the bathroom door and opened it, poked his head in and observed. "His names Jack, he's from California too and I have his number but-"
"Stiles," Lydia interrupted him, she could sense his anxiety. "You two will get on, you'll enjoy your time here and he'll be as good as a roommate is gonna get."
She came up behind him and wrapped her arms around him and pressed a kiss to his neck.
"I hope so." He tried to smile so Lydia returned it.
"I'll be damned if you came all this way, went through all what you went through to just be put off by your roommate." Lydia joked and Stiles chuckled and nodded, a hand rested on hers.
"I wish you could stay." He sighed and although she was spending the night, she knew what he meant. He wished they had a chance to actually be together, outside of Beacon Hills where they weren't bound together by Supernatural disasters. He didn't want to do long-distance, they both knew how hard that was going to be, he just wanted a chance to be normal with her. And tonight was all they had.
"The quicker we get your stuff unpacked the quicker we can walk around campus and go out for food." Lydia reminded him, he turned around and nodded.
"And then..."
"And then the night will go from good to very good." Lydia smiled, and as she was Stiles pressed a kiss to her lips which took her off guard. His hands gripped at her back as she opened her mouth to him, allowed him to trace his tongue on the seam of her lips. She sighed into his mouth and scratched at his hair.
"Maybe we could do it in reverse-" Stiles murmured. he pulled away just enough to say it and Lydia laughed against him.
"I think we'd enjoy it more if we waited." Lydia said softly, he pouted and Lydia almost shut the door and ripped his clothes off right there and then, but she refrained. She smoothed out his shirt and stepped away leaving him wanting more.
It took them a while to move him in, he stressed about what sheets to put on his bed first, then what he should have left out and in drawers because he didn't want to seem too tidy or too messy, he worried about the posters he'd hung and if they'd judge him for a small wooden box under his bed that he'd filled with Wolfsbane, Mountain Ash and Mistletoe for his own protection.
They also looked around campus, and there was something so fresh and new in the air that Lydia was jealous he'd get to start this life sooner than her. The University itself was beautiful, they didn't go in it because they weren't allowed but they admired the outside. It was tall, who-knows how many stories high with patterns engraved in door-frames and window-frames that added an ancient look to the building.
A large lawn of grass was centered in the middle, and there was students sat in shorts and summer dresses talking, laughing and studying in the setting sun. It was magical. It was different, new and offered so many chances that Lydia could just taste the reality of a new beginning on the tip of her tongue.
They went back to his room and freshened up, Lydia topped up her make-up and re-curled her hair. After that they went downtown to find somewhere to eat and settled for a cute Italian on the corner of a dimly lit road.
"Is this a date?" Lydia asked as she scanned the menu, she tried to find something light to eat so she wouldn't feel like a bloated whale when she went back to Stiles' dorm.
"If it is does it mean I have to pay?" He joked and Lydia smiled, wondered again how she was going to leave him in the morning, how she'd say goodbye to his amber eyes and kiss him for one last time.
"Hey! you said you were treating me." Lydia pouted, she mocked anger and Stiles' face lit up as he laughed.
"I- uh- actually have a present for you." Stiles swallowed. Luckily for Stiles a waitress interrupted them, leaving Lydia slightly irritated because things were getting interesting. But nevertheless she smiled.
They ordered, Stiles a pizza and Lydia a Spaghetti Carbonara. He even ordered wine for the two. He was really going all-out.
"You were saying?" Lydia said casually as she carefully folded her napkin in her lap as she tried equally as hard to keep the blush off her face and her smirk at bay.
"I bought you a present." Stiles smiled, and Lydia met his eye and raised her eyebrows. "Uh-here." He reached into the pocket of his hoodie and revealed a small box.
If they were older she would think he was proposing.
He handed her the box awkwardly, after he stared at it in his hand for a few brief moments and her breath caught in her throat. This was some sort of commitment that Lydia wasn't used to, but something she was prepared to do. She was ready to commit to Stiles, they were doing long-distance. There would be times where they wouldn't see each other in months, and they had to remain faithful, had to remember moments like this.
She looked up and smiled reassuringly, told him she'd like it no matter what it was through her eyes.
Carefully, she opened the small silver clasp that held the box together and opened it. She wasn't sure what she expected, but she didn't anticipate this. A ring sat safely in-between two thin cushions in the box. It was silver, which Lydia loved on jewelry, subtly in the shape of a tiara. Small diamonds dotted the band, the silver molded fancily to curve higher, carrying a bigger diamond at the top. Lydia didn't want to think about the money on this, but she couldn't help wonder how he afforded it.
"Stiles," Lydia whispered. It fell from her mouth like it was something holy, she was breathless, touched by such affection. She'd never known anything to hit her so deep in her heart, but this did.
"It's a promise ring." He scratched behind his ear nervously, like he couldn't understand how she was feeling. "I know what it means to me, it can mean something different to you."
She admired the ring still, Stiles' words ringing in the background. A promise ring, a promise they'd stick together, remain faithful, to love.
"What does it mean to you?" Lydia asked, she kept the ring in the box still, it looked so delicate that she was afraid if she touched it it would burst into a million pieces.
"It means that one day, we'll marry. A promise I'll propose to you, when we're older." Stiles told her, his voice was soft and it went through her.
It warmed her chest and spread down to her toes. She felt electric like this. She felt new, reborn and like she could do anything, be anything. Stiles made her equally as strong as he did weak, made her heart pump more fiercely but made her knees shake.
She wanted this, wanted a future that promised they'd be together. She wanted to wake up next to him every morning and have lazy sex, wanted to wear his flannels around the house, wanted to spend her Saturday nights with him because he was the most entertaining person alive.
"Stiles," She muttered, she wanted to forget the food, take him home and fuck the life out of him because he deserved every ounce of love he could get. She didn't want to do this whole 'date' thing because it meant waiting for hours before she could finally have him.
She got up and walked over to his chair, and tilted his chin so their lips were in line with one another. Their lips were hesitant, maybe because it really meant something now. This wasn't just young-love, it was the kind of love that only happens once in a million.
"God, I love you." Stiles sighed against her lips and hooked a hand around the back of Lydia's head, his fingers tangled messily in her hair. She nearly said it back, but she was going to wait until tonight, when she was actually showing it.
She could've kissed him forever in the restaurant, the lighting was dim and the music playing was soft. The ideal romantic location. Sadly, she pulled away and sat back in her chair after she spotted their waitress coming to their table with a tray full of their food.
"Enjoy your meal." The waitress said as she laid the plates in front of them.
Lydia and Stiles ate fast, they didn't want to waste much time.
"Stiles, look." Lydia nodded toward an ice cream parlor across the road, they were walking up an annoyingly steep hill to make way back to his dorm, and Lydia's feet had started to hurt because of her stupid heeled shoes.
The sign was lit up, and inside everything was blue and pink, it reminded her of the old dessert pace they had at Beacon Hills where she used to go with Allison. It got shut down eventually, no-one wanted to be working a night shift anywhere in Beacon Hills, she doesn't blame them, so it went out of business.
"I'm so happy you pointed that out." Stiles groaned and tugged her hand gently to pull her across the road. "Although, I had another form of dessert in mind."
Lydia goes weak, feels like her legs can't hold her up anymore as liquid heat rushes between her thighs and her stomach slips with excitement at the thought of his head between her thighs.
"Who says you can't have both?" She whispered, her throat dry. She wished she didn't see this place, she wanted to go back to his and be fucked into his mattress now that he's talking to her like that.
Stiles' eyes were losing it, they darkened and glinted as he look at her. His tongue darted out to wet his lower lip and he inched further toward her, he had no control and he didn't mind at all. Neither did she.
"Fuck, Lydia." He sighed and she can felt him gradually get hard against her leg, right outside the large window of the ice-cream parlor, where young kids sat. And cars were driving past them, dark or not, people were around.
"You stay out here and calm down and I'll get the ice cream." Lydia laughed at him, he frowned at her and stood with his back to the wall as he breathed deeply. Lydia ordered him a scoop of peanut butter and a scoop of chocolate in a tub, and she got herself a scoop of vanilla and one of honeycomb. Her favorite.
When she returned Stiles looked a bit giddy, and a little excited but Lydia didn't blame him. She could feel the damp in between her legs, and by time they had ate and got back she was going to be soaked.
"You know me so well," Stiles smiled as he accepted the cup and they began to eat as they slowly progressed up the hill.
"Of course I do," She said offhandedly, she licked her spoon when Stiles looked at her, she unintentionally teased him. "It's me and you."
Although when she said it, she couldn't help but think about leaving him in the morning, or whenever they woke up. She'd think of him when she was driving home after being so thoroughly loved and how he would probably be sat on his bed, maybe crying or maybe not. She knew she would be clutching the steering wheel until her knuckles went white when her tears would blur her vision.
All she'd have for weeks now was this night, the meal, the promise ring, the ice cream and the feeling of being fulfilled after really good sex. She'd hold onto it like a lifeline until the next time they'd see each other.
And she'd have to go to college in a few days, pretend that she wasn't miles away from her other half, but she'd do it because she loved him. She would succeed even better at college than she did at school, she'll prefer it there anyway. Beacon Hills may be her home but she never felt safe there. Although she wasn't sure she thought of home as Beacon Hills anymore, her home was Stiles.
By time she escaped her thoughts her ice cream was finished and they were already on campus. Butterflies erupted in her stomach and it was like Stiles felt it too because he smiled warmly at her and guided her through the dark until they reached his room.
"You okay?" Stiles asked as they stepped into his place. Of course she was okay, she had been waiting for this moment to happen in ages, it was bitter sweet, it was the goodbye but also the hello. A benediction. A curse.
They had tonight to show they loved each other. They had his empty dorm and his shitty mattress and the hours of bliss that was laid out in front of them.
She nodded and pressed her lips to his, he gently pushed her against the door and let him hold her captive in his kiss.