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Decksdon was a nice town. It was a little bit larger than Beacon Hills and more urbanised, and had lots of cafes selling good food.
Unfortunately it had an odd love for one-way streets, a severe lack of street signs and the street lamps needed maintenance.
Which was how Stiles found himself stuck on some dark side road in front of some closed shop houses under a flickering lamp, seemingly nowhere near Aunt Stefanie’s. The donuts he’d been sent out to get were turning cold in the jeep.
He had two options: one, call his dad or aunt, admit that he was lost and couldn’t remember how to get home from the store, and endure a long round of ‘I told you so’ before someone actually came to pick him up. Two, work this out on his own.
He opted for the latter because 1. Aunt Stefanie didn’t drive. She cycled everywhere but her bicycle didn’t have any lights and he didn’t want her of his dad cycling around in the dark. and 2. he’d gotten out of worse, weirder situations on his own before.
He tried his phone GPS first. Unfortunately he needed to be connected to a service and had used up his monthly data. None of the nearby shops had a WiFi signal he could use.
His next plan was to see if any of the shops had left brochures outside their doors with ‘How to Get Here’ maps printed somewhere, but was distracted by the silhouette of someone at the corner of the street crossing the road.
Stiles squinted. It was dark, but he could recognise that figure anywhere.
What was Lydia Martin, smartest, most beautiful person on the planet, doing in Decksdon?
Stiles hurried down the street and turned, jogging to catch up. Was the universe finally conspiring to help him? He could get directions and finally talk to Lydia Martin for a good reason.
Damn, Lydia could walk fast for someone wearing such high heels. It took Stiles a while to catch up. Then again, she had been wearing them regularly for about four years now. He figured that was enough time to get used to such shoes.
He pulled up just behind her and reached to tap her shoulder. “Hey, uh, Lyd - “
He was expecting a nice, perhaps a little awkward self-introduction, then he would ask for directions, Lydia would provide them, then maybe they’d chat about school a bit and he’d offer her a ride to wherever she was heading.
He did not expect Lydia Martin to scream at him.
But holy crap -
Stiles jumped back in shock and his eyes started stinging. He stumbled around, trying to explain himself, when a sharp pain erupted from his groin. He groaned and doubled over, ears still ringing.
“Oh my god - Stilinski?”
Lydia Martin knows his name.
His eyes were hurting like the devil was throwing a dance party under his eyelids and he’d probably have to explain this horribly embarrassing event to his dad later but at that point of time it didn’t matter because Lydia Martin knows who he is.
Smart, beautiful and badass.
“What?”
Did he say that out loud?
He tried to open his eyes. It hurt too much and he started groaning again.
Somewhere to his left, Lydia was apologising and explaining how she knew his name.
“ - until I saw your hoodie, with the Cyclones logo that I realised who you were, um, I go to Beacon Hills to, I’m Lydia Martin - “
“I know,” Stiles managed. This is not how he imagined his first conversation with the girl of his dreams. But when have things ever gone according to his plans?
Speaking of plans…
“I need directions,” he blurted out, interrupting Lydia’s string of apologies. He explained his situation, gave her his Aunt’s street name and asked if she knew how to get there.
She knew. Well of course, he thought through the still-throbbing pain in his lower body and the stinging in his eyes, Lydia Martin knows, like, almost everything.
They walked to his jeep. Well, Lydia walked and he stumbled blindly. Then he dropped his keys and had to crawl around trying to find them. He heard Lydia sigh, and a few moments later his arm bumped into her as she joined him in his little search. He jerked and knocked his head against the door of his jeep. Good job for a first impression.
“Give me your keys,” he heard her say.
“Sorry, what?”
“You can’t drive, Stilinski,” Lydia huffed.
“Stiles,” he informed her.
“Huh?”
“That’s my name - Stiles. You don’t have to keep calling me ‘Stilinski’.”
“Stiles…” Lydia echoed, like she was testing the name on her tongue. Stiles could picture her brow furrow as she said his name again. “Stiles…Stilinski? What the hell is a Stiles?”
He laughed, feeling around for the door handle. “Well, you’re looking at one.”
His hand was slapped away from the jeep door. Dammit, Lydia was hard to distract. “Give me the keys, Stiles, I’m driving,” she said sternly.
“But no one drives my jeep!” he whined. No one except him. And Scott, that one time they made a bet and Stiles lost, but that was irrelevant.
Lydia probably rolled her eyes as she snatched the keys out of his hand. “You’re half blind, Stiles,” she muttered somewhere in front of him. Stiles felt her hand grab his forearm in a vice grip before he was dragged towards the passenger side and shoved into the jeep.
“Okay, fine, but take good care of my jeep okay? Don’t push the brakes too hard, don’t go above seventy if we have to pass one of those cobblestone roads - like those are so eighteen-hundreds - and the stick gears might be a little rusty but don’t yank on it because my friend did that once and it came out and - “
Something heavy landed in his lap, followed by something lighter.
“Wash your eyes out if you ever want to drive your jeep again,” Lydia told him.
Stiles picked up the two objects. The first was the water bottle he kept in his jeep. He recognised it because it had unique grooves in the sides. The second item was smaller and softer and it took him a while to figure out that it was a pack of tissue paper. He thanked Lydia and proceeded to spill half the water all over himself.
When he was done, his eyes still felt like they were opened underwater but at least he could open them now. He was itching to rub them but Lydia had warned him not to, saying how he could infect them.
He watched Lydia in the driver’s seat and briefly wondered why she knew how to drive stick before he decided that Lydia Martin was exactly the type of person who would learn to do so for fun. He though about all the times he’d seen her picking out books at the school library or town public library. One of those books could have easily been about automechanics.
“Which house is your aunt’s?” Lydia asked, snapping him our of his day dream.
“Oh, number eighteen - the one with the curved roof.”
They pulled up in front of the house but neither made a move to exit the jeep. Stiles took a deep breath. “You know how to get to…wherever you were going from here?”
Lydia nodded. “Sorry for pepper spraying you,” she said.
“It’s alright,” he assured her. “You were just defending yourself. I could have easily been an evil stalker.”
The corners of her lips turned up slightly and Stiles’ heart did a small victory dance. He made Lydia Martin smile! Oh hail the universe, at least something good was coming out of this night.
Lydia picked up her handbag and pulled opened the door, but then she suddenly turned back before she hopped out of his jeep. “How long are you staying in Decksdon?” she asked him.
“Just until this weekend,” Stiles replied. “Why, what about you?”
“I’m staying with my cousin until the end of summer,” Lydia answered, lowering her head. Then she looked up at him again. “I’ll see you when school starts then?”
Was that hope in her voice?
“Uh, sure.”
Then Lydia really smiled at him - a shy smile, pulling her lips in a little. “Thanks for not being a stalker, Stiles,” she said, and hopped out of his jeep.
Stiles watched her back as she walked to the end of the street. She turned back at the corner and they waved before she disappeared behind the last house. He smiled and shook his head, heading back to his aunt’s.
“Oh finally,” the Sheriff said when Stiles closed the front door behind him. Then his father turned away from the TV screen and did a small double-take when he saw Stiles. “What the hell happened to you? And why are you grinning like that?”
Oh right, his eyes were probably still red and swollen.