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She raises one delicate brow and states, “You’re kidding.”
"People normally make that a question, not a statement," is his answer, a rare smile pulling at his lips as he continues to stand his ground, brown eyes bright as looks at her, "But I always stated that you were above the norm, haven’t I?"
Scoffing at his attempt to deter her, she throws her hair over her shoulder and orders, “Who is going to be there.”
"Yet again, a statement instead of a question."
A look is given.
"Me, of course, since this whole thing was really my idea to begin with, Scott, Melissa, my dad, Kira, Derek, Liam, his friend Mason-is that the kid’s name? I don’t know-and you, hopefully."
"Malia-"
"-doesn’t understand the need and has left town with Braedon to look for someone called ‘the Desert Wolf’. So are you RSVPing or not?"
It’s obvious that he’s trying to cover up how much that last statement is bugging him, so that is the only reason she relents with a heavy sigh and a bored, “Fine.” thrown in.
"Thanks, Lyds! It starts at seven at Scott’s!" The smile that crosses his face is brighter than the last one and it makes up for the fact that she now has to add a few more people to her shopping list.
It wasn’t that she had never done Christmas before, or that she was indifferent to the holiday season-the commercialism behind it, yes, but the general feeling of good cheer, not so much-the problem had always been the hassle of watching her parents fight over who ‘got’ her this year.
It was like watching two dogs fighting over a bone and she was tired of being that bone.
So it was with no small amount of glee that she informed them she would be spending the day away from home and saw how their faces just dropped.
"But Christmas is a time for family!”
Lydia doesn’t know the look that she had on her face just then, but it was enough that both of her so-called parents took a step back when she answered.
“Exactly.”
The first thing she notices when she enters the house is that it’s loud, the second being that there seems to be more people in here than what was originally planned on.
"Nice to see you too, Lydia." Issac Lahey states from his position on the living room couch, letting her know that she said that outloud. "Don’t worry about not having presents for us, we’re not staying long."
"Issac, don’t be rude." Chris Argent looks… better than he had the last time she had seen him, a full beard covering his face and a not as lost expression in his eyes. "It’s good to see you, Lydia. Let me give you a hand."
"Lydia!" There’s a general hubbub of noise that seems to be coming from the kitchen, she can’t really tell as she’s handing off her gifts, but then Scott, Stiles, and Kira are standing in front of her with matching smiles as they welcome her in.
It’s a bit of a blur after that; whenever she was with her parents, there was always some sort of itinerary planned, a checklist that they went through, but here it’s just joyousness and utter insanity.
She loves it.
Derek sitting on the couch in complete ease with the man that arrested him is also a bit of a surprise, but it’s been a while since those first traumatic days and Lydia’s just glad that there has been time enough to let bygones be bygones.
Dinner is delectable and she tells Melissa, Stiles, and Derek(something that surprises her for a moment before the realization kicks in and she’s immediately turning her attention to something else) so and can’t help the giggle that slips past her lips at their matching looks of pleased embarrassment.
The leftovers are being divided up and she’s just putting on her shoes when a voice behind her asks, “You’re leaving?”
Turning, she sees Kira is the one that asked her, but Scott and Stiles are not-so-subtly trying to listen in. Melissa whacks them with a spatula when their inattention almost redecorates the kitchen in cranberry red.
"Isn’t that what you do after dinner?"
"N-no, we were planning on watching some holiday specials…" Kira’s eyes grow wide as something seems to occur to her, "Unless you were going to spend some time with your parents and we-"
"No."
Kira blinks.
Lydia slides her shoes off and makes her way to the living room, heart tripping at the fact that Issac and Chris are sprawled across the couch, looking like they’re two seconds from going into what Stiles had referred to as a ‘food coma’.
"Is there a particular one you had in mind?"
Kira moves from where she’s standing by the door and a few minutes later is joined by the rest of the group as they call out everything from It’s A Wonderful Life to Nightmare Before Christmas.
Settling in, Lydia finally understands what they meant when they say ‘…and his heart grew three sizes that day.’