Author's Note: Going away for a few days, enjoy this chapter. Please and thank you! Longest one yet! J

Lydia lay awake in bed for a good hour or so wondering if it was a good thing or not to have told Stiles what she was thinking. She hadn't planned on telling him anything, she was planning on the whole flirt without explanation deal. But he had gone up with her on the Ferris wheel and left her no place to go to escape his questionings. She was also surprised with herself. Normally if left in that sort of predicament she would have been able to talk herself out of the conversation but for some reason she hadn't been able to talk herself out of that one. She was made that her plan wasn't going in the way she intended. Mostly she was worried that he would do something careless to get them caught, and she didn't want anyone to know until she was absolutely certain everything was going to work out.

Stiles was on the other side of the house also unable to sleep but because he was excited, and because he drank a soda before bed. He couldn't help tossing and turning, replaying the day's events over and over. Especially the conversation he had with the girl he'd been in love with for so many years. Well maybe he wasn't "in love" but he knew damn well that he cared about her a lot and had at least a crush on her for all of this time. He was so excited that he didn't know if he would ever be able to fall asleep again. Wondering for the majority of the early morning what was going to happen later. He honestly didn't care as long as it was at least as good as the day before.

Lydia woke up in an empty room. It was eight thirty in the morning and she could hear everyone in the next room eating breakfast and laughing. Lydia went straight to the bathroom and grabbed a quick shower, making sure to shave and get clean, and then proceeded to do her hair and make-up. She put on one of her favorite rompers and slipped on a pair of sandals. It was quite rare for her to be seen without make up, and she was not about to start letting people see anytime soon.

"Good morning everyone." Lydia said as she walked out into the kitchen, grabbing a bowl and sitting down at the table before grabbing the box of Special K cereal. A few mornings were muttered to her. "So what are we doing today?" She asked looking around at everyone, some people were dressed, and others weren't.

"Not sure, definitely going on the beach though." Isaac said.

"We were thinking about having a cook out tonight, by the fire pit." Danny added.

"Sounds good." Lydia said, glancing over at Stiles to see what he was up to. He was already dressed and wasn't doing anything interesting, just eating a plate of toast.

"I was thinking we could go shopping this morning or something though. See what's around here." Allison suggested to Erica and (mainly) Lydia.

"Yeah that could be fun, let's do that." Lydia bit her lip lightly. She wanted to go shopping but she had unexpectedly really been looking forward to hanging out with Stiles during the day. She looked back over at him, his face obviously a little less smiley then it was a few seconds ago, realizing she wouldn't be around all day. She smiled softly at him and he nodded his head in understanding. He knew she said they couldn't be too obvious about anything. "We won't be gone all day though, right?" She asked to ease her inquiring mind.

"Oh I was thinking we'd be back a little bit after lunch time. Is that alright, you guys don't need the car or anything?" Allison asked, checking with Scott.

"Nah, we'll just hang out here for the day."

"Ok, I'm going to go get ready then and we can leave."

"Actually do you mind if I stay here?" Erica asked.

'Yeah sure that's fine with me." Allison said before walking back to their rooms. Lydia did her best not to roll her eyes. Even thought they were kind of friends now, it was hard not to be jealous of Erica and her perfectly toned werewolf body. It made Lydia un-admittedly jealous. And the thought of her around Stiles, made it even worse. She knew Erica probably wouldn't try anything, but Lydia didn't have dibs on him and Erica was a flirt. Lydia did her best to force the thought out of her mind as everyone dispersed to various locations to get ready or hang out. Lydia cleaned her plate and went downstairs to the living room. She put on the TV and kicked off her shoes hoping to relax before Allison came down to leave. She had been sitting there for a few minutes before she heard footsteps coming down the steps.

"Hey."

"Hey." She said, looking up. He was smiling down at her. He was wearing a tee shirt and swimming trunks and smelled of sunscreen, obviously ready to play on the beach for a while.

"Can I sit?" He pointed at the spot next to her on the couch.

"Yeah, sure go ahead." She said sitting up a little more. "Sorry, I have to go away for a few hours." She said, looking over at him a few moments.

"It's fine, you'll be back later."

"I know, I was just thinking we could hang out today I guess." She shrugged looking back at the television.

"Really?" He hadn't moved his gaze from her since she had spoken a second ago. Is eyebrows were raised unsure if he had heard her right. He wasn't quite used to all of this yet.

"Yeah." A hint of duh to it, barley glancing back at him until the commercial break came. "Why, you didn't want to?"

"No I did, I was just making sure I understand you correctly."

"What I told you last night was what I was thinking, honestly. If you don't believe me we don't have to move forward."

"No…we can definitely move forward, I believe you ok? I remember what you said; you're interested and want to keep it on the down low for now. I'm good with whatever that means." He didn't want to screw whatever was happening, or about to happen, up.

"Ok, good." She said changing positions on the couch so her body was closer and angled more towards his and rested her hand on top of his. He looked at her and grinned. "What?"

"Nothing, just…"

"Just shut up ok." She bit her lip, his smile was contagious, and rested her head ever so lightly on his shoulder. They sat there peacefully and undisturbed before they heard Allison's steps on the stairs. Lydia quickly sat up and placed her hands in her lap, Stiles got to in awkward position that looked incredibly posed. Lydia tried to warn him with her eyes but he was too busy pretending he was watching the TV.

"Hey are you ready to go?" Allison asked pointing towards the door, bag slung over her shoulder. She was wearing a maxi dress that Lydia thought looked really good on her.

"Um, yeah let me just go get my bag." Lydia ran past Allison and up the stairs. Allison raised her eyebrows at Stiles.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Really, nothing?"

"It's a little interesting that you two were down here all by yourselves."

"Uh…"

"I'm ready." Lydia announced as she took the last step of the stair case. "What's going on? Are you guys talking about me?"

"Nope, no one's saying anything." Stiles said.

"Well okay. Can we go then?" Lydia asked. Allison nodded and smirked.

"Yeah let's go." Both girls left the house and Stiles went out onto the beach with everyone else.

At about two o'clock Allison and Lydia returned with a few shopping bags in hand. Nothing really special just a few beach-y outfits, Lydia had bought yet another bikini but she didn't see the harm in it. Allison tried to subtly see what had happened when Stiles and Lydia had went on the Ferris wheel the previous night and downstairs earlier but she got nothing. They had eaten salads at a small restaurant near where they shopped so they ran upstairs and put on swimwear and grabbed towels to lie out on.

"Look they don't even notice us." Allison pointed out. The guys and Erica were out on skim boards trying to outdo the others.

"Do you want to go out there?" Lydia asked as they spread their bright towels out on the warm sand and kicked off their flip flops.

"Yeah let's go." They both walked over to where the water was lapping up onto the hot sand. "Oh my gosh its so cold!" Allison yelped and Lydia squealed as it reached their toes.

"Hey look, you can see the pier with all of the rides on it." Lydia pointed out, it was out of walking distance but it was neat to look at. All of the sudden a rush of cold came over them.

"AHHH! What the heck?" The jumped and heard laughter behind them, now covered in cool ocean water thanks to their 'friends.'

"Oh my gosh, what the hell is wrong with you?" Lydia squealed shivering, and turning to see what was behind them. Scott and Stiles of course, and the rest of the group was walking over towards them. Neither of the girls were mad, just slightly annoyed.

"Oh come on, it's not that cold." Scott argued.

"Since you guys are already wet, you might as well get in." Stiles suggested. Allison shrugged and inched closer into the water. It was warmer if you were fully in.

"Fine. But my hair better not get wet." Lydia said pointing to her high ponytail.

Whatever you say your highness." Stiles said, mock rolling his eyes. He liked Lydia with or without messed up hair but he liked her commitment to being such a girly girl. Always wanting to look her best in perfectly painted make up and perfect hair, not that he noticed if it was there or not. But he liked that she was so adamant about being in charge of the way people saw her. It probably made her feel more in control.

"Can I help with cooking tonight?" Lydia asked, cooking was something she always liked to do, no one really ever stopped her because well she had her house to herself on most nights. They had been playing on the beach for a few hours and Lydia was ready to be sand-less again.

"Definitely." Danny said, it was his idea for the cook out so they had dubbed him in charge of the whole thing. "I'm going to do the grill if you want to boil the corn on the cob and the fruit salad."

"Sounds good to me, happy to help." It made her feel like less of a bum if she helped out. It was more cutting up foods then cooking them but she was happy to help. She went into the house and threw on a top that made her chest look good but not slutty and a short skirt. She went into the kitchen as Danny walked onto the deck to start grilling the hot dogs, hamburgers, and BBQ chicken, everyone else was on beach still. She found a radio and tuned it to a station that was counting down the top forties. She was singing and dancing along as she began to boil the large pot of water and was taking out all of the fruits from the fridge and setting them on the counter.

"OH MY GOD!" Lydia screamed, causing Danny to look in the window but turned back to the grill when he realized it was nothing. "Stiles why the hell do you keep sneaking up on me today?" She questioned going to the cupboard and grabbing a cutting board and bowl before reaching for a knife from the knife block.

"I didn't mean to that time I swear."

"When did you come inside?" He wasn't wearing his swim trunks anymore.

"Like ten minutes ago, I was going to see if Danny needed any help." Lydia cocked her head at him. "Ok I was going to see if you needed any help."

"Actually you can help me cut up this fruit." She said pointing him in the direction of another cutting board.

"Yeah, I can do that." Lydia walked over to the pot and placed a few ears of corn inside as Stiles began cutting up chunks of pineapple. She walked back over to where he was cutting and stood next to him so their legs were flush against each other. He looked down in moderate shock.

"Yes that's on purpose." She said and they both went back to cutting. Stiles began singing along to the song playing on the radio after the pineapple was cut and he was onto the strawberries.

"Hey I just met you and this is crazy..."

"Stiles stop it." She bit her lip trying her hardest not to laugh, she hated this song.

"But here's my number, so…CALL ME MAYBE." She let herself laugh, it was too hard not to. "Hey by the way you're cutting that wrong." Stiles said gesturing to the cantaloupe Lydia was still trying to cut.

"What are you talking about?"

"No, those pieces are too big."

"Well how am I supposed to cut them then?"

"Closer to bite sized, like this." He took her wrist in his hand and guided it so the knife made smaller pieces.

"Like this?" She said, his hand still on hers but not applying pressure, letting her do the cutting this time.

"When is dinner going to be ready?" Erica asked throwing one of the doors open, making Lydia and Stiles jump slightly. They looked at each other exchanging a quick glance and he quickly moved back to his cutting board. After that everyone began trickling inside to get dressed and ready for dinner. And soon everyone was setting the table out on the deck and both Stiles and Lydia were sad to have had their quiet moment ruined.

Lydia was setting out the food on the counter when Stiles put his drink at one seat so he could claim it. He claimed the one on the end, next to one chair and the head of the table so he could sit by Lydia if she came soon enough and went back inside to get his food. Isaac was sitting on the other side of the table when he got back and before he knew it the head of the table was filled by Danny and Scott sat next to him. He groaned internally but Lydia finally came and sat across from him, so at least he got to look at her. Which became almost unbearable as she licked barbeque sauce off of her fingers, he admired that she could look so beautiful and sexy doing nothing in particular. And he had to laugh at the jokes when the girls at their hot dogs, everyone else did, except the girls.

After they were done eating (and playing footsies again, and again Danny got kicked) and it got dark everyone went to the fire pit to get warm and roast s'mores. After Lydia cleaned the remainder of the kitchen she went to the deck and down the stairs to where the fire pit was. Someone had put some music on and there was some light chatter. It was another windy night out. There were a few empty seats left but the nicest looking one to her was the one next to Stiles. She groaned, trying to decide without standing there looking like an idiot. At this point she didn't care. His chair was closet free one to the fire and he looked warm and inviting. So she plopped down next to him much to his surprise. No one even seemed to notice.

"I'm going to get a blanket, does anyone else want one?" Allison asked, standing up.

"I'll take one." Lydia said and Allison went and grabbed two blankets while everyone ate and enjoyed a few s'mores.

"Here." Allison said handing he best friend a soft blanket.

"Thank you." She spread the large blanket over her goose bump covered legs. Everyone tried to tell scary stories but nothing was really scary or surprising when you lived in a town with werewolves. "You cold?" She asked Stiles, he nodded and he got under the blanket a little bit as well. After a few minutes her hand found his and she gripped it tightly, she even let their fingers intertwine slightly as they sat on Stiles' thigh.

"Well I'm going to head in, I'm so tired." Erica yawned getting up and headed up the stairs. Eventually everyone headed, except Lydia and Stiles who had moved to separate seats to make it look like they weren't staying to be with one another. Luckily being good friends made it look like that's all they really were. After they were sure everyone had gone inside Stiles motioned for her to come back to the seat they both had just been in.

"Do you think anyone noticed?" He asked

"Doubt it, its dark and they were to wrapped up in looking into each other's eyes." Lydia told him finally getting a little more comfortable, laying her head on his shoulder, his arm snaking somewhat awkwardly around her as they slumped against the arm rest.

"Ok good." They both looked into the fire and at the ocean's waves hit the shore in the dark. Her hand was on his knee and the arm he had wrapped around her was absentmindedly playing with her strawberry blonde beach waves. "So would you say so far, that this is working out."

"I'd say so. But lets not jinx it or anything ok. But I had fun today." She said looking up at him. "I'm getting kind of tired though, thinking about going to bed." She said as they both sat up looking at the dying fire. Their faces were close again but nothing was happening.

"After I put this out can I walk you to your room?" He asked, faces a little further apart now.

"Yeah sure that's good." She told him, she stood up and wrapped the blanket around her as he took the hose and made sure there were no more flames left. She let one hand out of her blanket and reached for his, again interlocking, soon they were at her room though.

"Well goodnight I guess." He told her, looking at her lips. The anticipation was killing her but she wasn't up for rushing things. If he wasn't ready, then he wasn't ready.

"Goodnight Stiles." She smiled.

"Goodnight Lydia." He whispered going in for a hug, she could only smile at his awkwardness. The hug was nice though, far better than a normal friendly hug. Her hands were around his neck and her chest pressed against his, and his hands around her waist. She wished she didn't have to say goodnight and it kind of scared her, in a good way though. They let go and she quietly entered her room careful not to wake her best friend who was already suspicious.