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Lydia Martin let out a melodramatic sigh, resting her chin in her hands and gazing across the cafeteria at the God-like, physical anomaly that was Stiles Stilinski.
His bright, amber eyes were alight with happiness, playfully shoving his right hand man, Scott McCall.
He sat at the head of a lunch table directly in the center of the lunchroom, his fellow popular teenagers hanging on to the lacrosse star's every word.
Stiles Stilinski was easily the most popular boy in school, proudly wearing the labels of lacrosse captain, student body president, founder of the debate club, and generally the funniest guy in their class.
Granted, he would have also claimed the title of nicest guy in school had it not been for his gem of a best friend Scott.
Speaking of the infamous best friend, the puppy-eyed boy was currently staring unabashedly at Lydia's new-found friend, Allison Argent.
The dark-haired girl had all the unwritten requirement boxes for easy popularity checked off without even trying, and yet on her first day here, Allison had approached Lydia, determined to befriend the isolated strawberry blonde.
The two had become fast friends, their dueling personalities somehow melding together to form the perfect melody.
Truthfully, Lydia was still surprised, and eternally grateful, that a girl like Allison wanted to spend time with someone of her lowly status.
As a young child, Lydia had easily been the smartest girl in her class. Unfortunately, as the years progressed, this skill had become a means for social rejection in the eyes of her peers.
When faced with the choice of smothering her talents for acceptance or letting nature take its course, she had remained on the path of academic success and would do so again if presented with the chance to start over.
Even if that meant falling under Stiles Stilinski's radar, however much that hurt.
"Do you think he's looking at me?"
"Huh?" Lydia was startled out of her Stiles-induced stupor by the melodic voice of her best friend.
"Did you even hear any of that?" Allison giggled at her counterpart, "Or were you too fixated on your mysterious crush? Where is he, by the way?"
"Nice try, Argent," Lydia laughed, "but you're not getting it out of me that easily. To answer your previous question, yes, for the love of God, yes, Scott was looking at you and he has been since the day you stepped foot in Beacon Hills. Honestly, just jump his bones already."
"Lydia," Allison squealed, a blush heating up her face as she nudged the girl, "he could hear you."
"From all the way across the cafeteria?" Lydia raised a brow in disbelief.
"Fine," the darker-haired girl sighed, "honestly, I'm just waiting for him to make a move already. I mean, I've made it obvious enough how I feel, haven't I?"
"God, I wish I had your problems," Lydia sighed dramatically.
At that moment, her rose gold watch chimed softly, alerting the strawberry blonde that it was time for her to make her way to the school library for her mid-day studying session.
"Already?" Allison pouted, not wanting the girl to leave.
"You'll be fine," Lydia rolled her eyes, "just go sit with Jackson or something. See you later, love you."
Allison echoed her last statement as she made her way out of the cafeteria, unaware of a presence covertly following behind her.
♡
"Is that Romeo and Juliet?"
Lydia let out a soft gasp due to the masculine voice beside her as she sat at one of the wooden tables in the library, a Shakespearean play clutched in her hands.
Her eyes widened for a millisecond at the sight of a smiling Stiles Stilinski in the seat beside her, before she pursed her lips and averted her gaze in order to seem nonchalant.
"Macbeth," she glanced at him chastely.
"Oh," his whiskey eyes blinked awkwardly before he regained his easy smile, "well, same thing, right?"
"Sure," she scoffed, "if you consider cheap, overrated romance and one of the greatest tragedies of all time to be the same thing."
"Right," Stiles laughed in unease, obviously out of his comfort zone, "anyways, I'm Stiles."
"Obviously," Lydia huffed.
The girl was so petrified of giving away any hint of her crush on the boy that she masked all emotion with distant disapproval.
"Uh," Stiles cleared his throat, obviously not used to such stiff reactions to his presence, "it's Lydia right?"
"Does this conversation have a point?" she snapped, ignoring the stinging feeling deep in her chest at his complete obliviousness to her existence.
"I'm sorry," his lashes fluttered in confusion, "have I done something to offend you?"
"You mean besides interrupting my study time?" she tilted her head, "Nothing comes to mind."
Besides being the source of her one, crippling, weakness, that is.
"Right, sorry," his brows furrowed at her cold demeanor, "I just figured, you know, our best friends are obviously head over heels for each other but they're both too shy to make a move, and we should do something about it."
Lydia smiled wryly, cursing herself for harboring the delusion that the boy could have approached her for any other reason than to get intel on her perfect best friend.
However, the thought of her friend finally getting together with the boy she was infatuated was an opportunity she could not pass up.
"Did you have anything specific in mind?" she questioned briefly.
"Look," Stiles' hands began waving absent-mindedly as he spoke, "Scott's not exactly comfortable around girls, especially in a school setting. Do you think you could get Allison to come to the game? There's a party at Danny's afterwards and I figured that would be a good place for them to get to know each other."
"Great idea," Lydia snorted, "except, that'd have to involve me actually getting invited to the party."
"Oh," Stiles' pink lips etched into a frown, obviously having never felt the cold sting of social isolation before, "well, now you are. Problem solved."
"Fine," Lydia sighed out, returning to her work.
Stiles sat awkwardly beside her for a moment, waiting for the girl to offer a more lucrative response.
"Are you still here?" she frowned in annoyance as he began drumming his fingers against the table.
"What?" he blinked, "Am I- oh, right. Uh, okay. Bye, I guess."
With that, he got up, glancing back in the girl's direction with a frown when she didn't even look up as he made his exit.
Back at the table, Lydia's heart felt like it was about to beat out of her chest.
♡
"Yeah buddy," Stiles grinned, slapping a hand on his best friend's shoulder, "I made sure Allison's coming to the party."
"Really?" Scott's chocolate eyes lit up, "Do you really think I stand a chance?"
"Of course," Stiles shrugged, "honestly, the biggest obstacle I faced is her best friend. She's a little cold, isn't she?"
"What?" Scott scrunched his nose in confusion, "Lydia's, like, the nicest person ever. I would've flunked sophomore year math if it hadn't been for her."
"Oh," Stiles frowned in bemusement, looking across the hall to where Lydia and Allison were currently talking, "I guess it's just me then."
"You're lucky I love you," Lydia was proclaiming to her friend with a dramatic sigh.
"I really am," Allison beamed gratefully, "I can't believe you're going to a party for me."
"And to a school sanctioned sport event, no less," Lydia added in exasperation, "honestly though Allison, a little suffering is worth your happiness."
♡
Lydia winced as Coach Finstock blew his whistle shrilly for the third time since their arrival, wrapping her arms around her torso to brace herself against the cold.
"Would it be weird to go over there?" her best friend whispered, nodding over to where the players were warming up for the big game.
"About as weird as pretending to be interested in a sport you know nothing about to impress a guy," Lydia smiled caustically.
Allison rolled her eyes, grabbing on to Lydia's pale wrist and dragging her over to where Scott and Stiles were not-so-covertly whispering about Scott's crush.
"Hey," Allison smiled shyly, tucking a tress of dark hair behind her ear as she looked up at Scott through her lashes, "we just came over to wish you good luck."
"Oh," Scott's jubilant grin came out at full force as he looked at her adoringly, "wow, thanks."
"Aren't you going to wish me good luck?" Stiles teased the lighter-haired girl as her counterpart fell into conversation with his best friend.
"You don't need it," Lydia spoke simply.
Stiles blinked as the girl gave him the closest thing to a compliment he had ever heard from her.
"Uh," he tried to fight back the annoying blush threatening to grace his face, "so I was thinking Scott and I would go back to mine to get changed and then we'd pick you guys up at Allison's house after the game?"
"Whatever gets this night over with the fastest," Lydia shrugged her agreement.
"Right," he laughed as she returned to her usual sardonic demeanor.
Soon after, Finstock began barking at them to get their asses on the field, and he and Scott obliged as Lydia and Allison made their way to the stands.
Stiles tried his best to ignore the fact that Lydia's simple words had encouraged him more than any brightly painted sign waving at him from the bleachers.
♡
"What do you think?" Allison bit her lip thoughtfully, "The blue top with the white skirt, or the black top with jeans?"
"I think you'd look beautiful in a trash bag," Lydia spoke, throwing herself backwards onto Allison's bed.
"Lydia, real help please?" Allison groaned, "They're going to be here to pick us up in half an hour."
"Fine," Lydia sighed, sitting up, "do the black top with the white skirt."
"You're a genius," Allison's deep eyes lit up in happiness, "I still don't get why you don't dress up all the time with an eye like yours."
"What's wrong with some good old Barry Allen?" Lydia pouted, brandishing to the Flash icon emblazoned on her shirt.
"Though your dedication is respectable," Allison smirked, "maybe you should branch out a little. Just for tonight?"
Lydia chewed on her bottom lip in thought, and with a glance at Allison's pouting expression, she caved.
"I guess it wouldn't hurt," she admitted, laughing as her best friend squealed in excitement and dragged her towards the closet.
♡
"You look fine," Stiles groaned from the driver's seat of his beloved Jeep, pulling up in front of the Argent's home as his best friend babbled beside him.
"Are you sure?" Scott fretted, "I should have worn a tie, I knew it. I look too casual; she's not going to think I cared enough."
"Relax," Stiles laughed easily, "it's pretty obvious how much you care."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Stiles' retort died in his throat as the two girls made their way out of Allison's house, his gaze fixated on the shorter of the duo.
"Oh wow," Scott gasped out, "she looks-,"
"Beautiful," Stiles finished hoarsely.
Lydia had switched out her usual baggy tee and faded jeans for a form-fitting wine colored dressed that framed her beautifully, a pair of heels, and an elaborate braid resting atop her head.
It wasn't so much the change in style that sparked Stiles' attention – any idiot could appreciate the girl's natural beauty no matter what she wore – as it was the way she carried herself.
She walked with a spring in her step, striding down the path in her heels like she was born wearing them, with an easy smile gracing her plump lips, looking up at Allison as the girl babbled nervously beside her.
"Hey," Allison beamed as the two girls shuffled into the back of the vehicle, immediately being showered with compliments by the tanner of the two boys.
"Damn Martin," Stiles masked his surprise with a lopsided smile, "you clean up nice."
"You look like you need to start the car," Lydia rolled her eyes, but her heart stuttered immensely at the boy's words.
♡
Lydia's eyes widened at the chaos of the event she was currently walking into, shrinking back into Stiles instinctually.
Music blared throughout the house, and drunk teenagers shouted all around her, all desperately trying to be noticed by their peers.
Alcohol presented itself at every glance, and an intense game of beer pong was going on just yards away from them.
"Careful, Martin," the boy smirked down at her, "if I didn't know better I'd say you were trying to make a move on me."
"You wish," Lydia scoffed, the comment spurring her to straighten her posture and follow Scott and Allison inside.
"Maybe I do," Stiles frowned after her.
♡
"First time at one of these?" a low voice sounded from beside Lydia, and she looked up to meet the eyes of a smiling Isaac Lahey.
"What gave me away?" she laughed softly.
"The stiff posture and horrified expression were pretty good hints," he joked, and they both laughed easily, "Don't worry, I hate these things too."
"So why do you go?" she pondered, tilting her head to the side.
"Team spirit or whatever," the blue-eyed boy shrugged, shoving his hands in the pockets of his jeans, "can I get you a drink?"
"Oh, thanks," she smiled at him, "but I don't drink."
"Smart girl," he smirked at her, "what about a water, then?"
"No offense," she pursed her lips, "but I don't make a habit out of accepting drinks from people I barely know at parties."
"Fair enough," his eyes lit up in admiration at her intelligence, "do you have a boycott on dancing with strangers as well?"
Lydia hesitated, but after a chaste glance at Stiles, who was laughing casually with a group of his friends, she relented.
"No," she smiled at the blonde boy, "dancing, I can do."
Isaac grinned, leading her onto the dance floor.
"Lydia Martin, huh?" Noah Tucker, a defense player, was saying across the room, "Who knew she was hot?"
Stiles gritted his teeth at his comment, but refrained from saying anything.
"Right?" Charlie Bradshaw interjected, "I think I might try and get with her tonight. I've always had a thing for redheads."
"She's strawberry blonde," Stiles snapped finally, silencing their laughter with his stony glare.
He crumpled up the red cup in his hand, tossing it to the floor and making his way outside to get some air.
On his way, he froze at the sight of Lydia with her arms encircled around Isaac Lahey's neck, his arms around her waist as the two swayed in the midst of a bunch of grinding teenagers.
His chest burned with something close to anger as she threw her head back in laughter at something the boy said.
He knew he had no right to dictate who the girl spent her time with, they hadn't even spent more than a few days together, but that didn't stop him from clenching his jaw in frustration.
Lydia may not have liked him very much, but she had been his hidden treasure, his own little firecracker of witty remarks and adorable faces of annoyance.
He was more upset than he should have been as the rest of the world began to discover what they had been missing out on.
He grimaced, making his way outside and slamming the door shut behind him.
♡
"Okay," Lydia rambled from her seat beside Allison in the cafeteria, "all I'm saying is Batman is and always will be superior to Super Man, no matter how sharp Clark Kent's jawline is."
"I agree," Stiles grinned, plopping down in the seat across from Lydia, Scott soon following his friend's actions, "Bruce Wayne is the most badass super hero of all time."
Lydia narrowed her eyes at the two boys, looking to Allison for an explanation.
"I told them you'd be cool with them sitting with us," Allison whispered, "sorry."
The strawberry blonde groaned, immediately clamming up and fixing her eyes on a point somewhere across the room.
"What do you think Lydia?" Allison prodded her shoulder, "Lydia?"
Lydia blinked rapidly as she refocused on the amused looking group staring at her.
"What?" she frowned, "Sorry, I zoned out."
"It's okay, you were probably too busy thinking about," Allison tilted her head to the side, making a wild guess, "Matt Daehler?"
"As if," Lydia scoffed, "that guy's a creep."
"What's this about?" Scott asked, wanting to know his crush's inside jokes.
"Lydia has a major crush on some guy," Allison laughed, "but for whatever reason, she refuses to tell me who."
"Why?" Stiles interjected, the conversation peaking his interest.
"Because," Lydia sighed, "it's never going to happen, and saying it out loud just makes the inevitable rejection that much more humiliating."
"Oh please," Allison rolled her eyes, "you could get any guy you wanted if you just put in the effort to talk to them."
"Maybe you're right," Stiles blurted without thinking, "maybe you should forget about the guy and focus on someone more... in your reach."
"Right," Lydia's face fell before she could stop it at his words, the trueness of them not making it sting any less, "I should just move on. No guy like that could ever like me."
"What?" Stiles furrowed his brows, "No, I meant-,"
His words were cut off by the familiar chime coming from Lydia's watch, signaling it was time for her study session.
"I should go," she smiled wryly, "I promised Isaac I'd help him study."
"Since when were you friends with Isaac?" Allison frowned.
"Yeah?" Stiles scowled, "Since when?"
"Since by some miracle a guy managed to give me the time of day without throwing up all over me," she spoke sharply, turning on her heel and exiting the cafeteria.
♡
Stiles sighed in regret, making his way down to the library to apologize for his insensitive words.
After all, it wasn't her fault that Stiles had decided to go all jealous boyfriend on a girl he wasn't even dating.
However, as he pushed open the door to the library, the sight he saw made his blood run cold.
Isaac Lahey was sitting next to Lydia, in his chair, with his arms wrapped around her petite frame as she nuzzled her head into the boy's chest and returned his hug.
Stiles' jaw clenched tightly as a familiar sensation flooded his mind, any thoughts of apologizing being tossed out the window as he made a hasty retreat, stalking down the empty hall before he could be seen.
♡
"Why do you smell like men's cologne?" Allison wrinkled her nose, sniffing her best friend from where they sat on the bleachers watching the boys' lacrosse practice.
"Oh," Lydia laughed, pushing her friend away lightly, "probably because Isaac hugged me."
"Is Isaac your crush?" Allison's eyes lit up in achievement.
"What?" Lydia frowned, "No, he was comforting me as the impending mourning period over the crush I never even had a chance with set in."
"Lydia," Allison frowned, "I don't understand why you're so certain you don't have a chance."
"Well," she mumbled, "it doesn't exactly help when the guy himself tells you to move on."
"You have a crush on Stiles?" Allison perked up in realization, "Oh wow."
"Yeah," Lydia scoffed, "oh wow."
"You're really stupid for a genius," Allison laughed, "you know that?"
Lydia was distracted from responding as Isaac waved to her from the field, the strawberry blonde smiling brightly and waving back at him.
Stiles watched the altercation in resentment, aggressively shoving his helmet on as Coach blew the whistle for practice to start.
The team was having a mock scrimmage, and Lydia watched on with mild interest as Isaac captured the ball and began cradling it as he ran towards the goal.
His efforts were halted, however, as Stiles crashed into the boy, knocking him over and resulting in a groaning Isaac, writhing on the field and clutching his shoulder.
The game was stopped and the boy's team mates began crowding around the boy, all except for Stiles, who was throwing his helmet to the ground on the sidelines and scowling at nothing.
"What the hell, Stilinski?" Lydia hissed out, approaching the seething boy as Allison joined the mass of people around Isaac.
"I- I don't know," Stiles admitted, "I don't know why I did that."
"Stiles," Lydia snapped, "he was on your team."
"Didn't seem like he was on my team when he was cozying up with you in the library earlier," Stiles shot back, before freezing at his own words.
"What?" Lydia frowned in confusion, "Why is that even relevant?"
"I just don't think he's good enough for you," Stiles shrugged, trying to cover his tracks.
"Okay, first of all, Isaac and I are definitely not a thing," she wrinkled her nose, "and second of all, you're the one that told me to move on from my crush because 'it was never going to happen'."
"I meant for you to move on to me," Stiles blurted out, "I wanted you to be with me."
"Are you serious?" Lydia scoffed, "You're the one I was moving on from, dumbass."
"Wait," Stiles blinked, a sense of elation filling his chest, "really?"
"I mean, yeah," Lydia blushed, "of course it was you. It's been you since the freaking third grade."
"Wow," Stiles laughed out, "we're really stupid, aren't we?"
"I'll have you know my IQ level classifies me as a genius," Lydia pursed her lips, "thank you."
Stiles only grinned in response, leaning forward and melding his lips with her own.
Lydia's eyes widened in shock, before she slowly relaxed into the kiss and let her eyelids flutter shut.
Scott whooped from nearby, and Allison let out an elated squeal, despite the still groaning Isaac beside them.
"I'm really happy for you guys, but could you stop making out while I'm experiencing crippling pain?"