Lydia Martin walks through the doors of Beacon Hills High School two weeks after the Winter Formal. She stands taller than she has ever stood in this school in her life. Literally. She and Allison had gone shopping during the week and Lydia had come away with shoes that definitely gave her some extra height. She liked it. She likes not feeling like she is invisible, like everyone is staring over the top of her head.

Now Lydia wasn't under the impression that she was all of the sudden popular. She definitely wasn't popular, but there was a difference between what she had been before and what she was now. Before she had absolutely no one. She was the loner, the nerd who people only talked to when she was in their way or they needed help on some homework or project. Lydia took credit for some of that. She had never gone out of her way to like make friends or anything, but still.

But then Allison Argent had moved to Beacon Hills and decided that the small, smart, strawberry blonde was more than worthy of being her friend. It wasn't even like that. Allison didn't see the difference between her and Lydia that Lydia saw when she looked at them; she just saw that Lydia was a good person that needed someone, and Allison being new needed someone also.

Of course, now Allison also had Scott. Scott McCall, captain of the lacrosse team had fallen hard for Allison the moment he saw her and the rest was basically history. Except of course it wasn't "history" per say, but you get the point. Scott had officially asked Allison to be his girlfriend at the Formal and Allison had predictably squealed and accepted right away. So now not only did Lydia have a best friend, but she also had her best friend's boyfriend.

However, that wasn't even the strangest thing that had happened to Lydia in the last few weeks. Lydia laughed a little when she realized it had only been a few weeks. No, the weirdest and mkst amazing thing that had happened was that she had learned that Stiles Stilinski felt the same way about her as she did about him. Stiles was Scott's best friend and the boy that Lydia had been crushing on since she could remember. When Allison had told her that Scott and her had set Lydia up on a date with Stiles for the formal, Lydia had assumed that he was just being polite by agreeing to go with her. But after telling him just as much, Stiles had called her out telling her that she didn't see herself properly. He had admitted to liking her since the third grade and how he thought she was brilliant and basically the best person in Beacon Hills.

Later, Allison and Scott had admitted to both of them that they had been planning this since Allison let it slip that Lydia was totally in love with Stiles and Scott surprised Allison by telling him that Stiles felt the same way.

Lydia smiled at the thought that not only did she have a friend, but she had a friend who actually cared about her happiness.

When Lydia rounded the corner to her locker, she saw that Stiles was waiting for her. He had been doing that all week. Waiting for her. At her locker, after class, at lunch. Lydia couldn't remember a time when she had been as happy as she was just seeing him waiting for her. As she approached her locker, Stiles noticed her and his grin grew.

"Hey," he greeted her as she came up beside him.

"Hi," she smiled as she put in her combination and opened her locker to get the books she needed for her morning classes.

"You're coming to the game tonight, right?" He sounded worried like maybe she didn't want to come. Lydia wasn't aware that the game wasn't just the game and that Stiles had been planning something for her. He was really worried that she'd decide not to come and he'd end up looking like a pathetic idiot.

"Of course," Lydia smiled up at him. Even in her new shoes, she still only stood at about 5' 5" to his 5' 11", but she kind of liked having to look up at him. It made her feel safe for some reason.

As Lydia finished packing her bag, she closed her locker and paused waiting for him to say something next.

"Ready?" he smiled down at her as she nodded and they made their way to class together, something that Lydia had dreamed about for years, but never thought would actually happen.

As they made their way to class, Stiles started telling her about this case his dad was working on. He loved talking about his dad and the work that he did as the sheriff and Lydia loved listening to him talk. She watched him a lot too. When he got really excited, his arms would flail more freely, but when he was really serious his arm movements were more precise. She loved how passionate he was about everything. It warmed her heart.

Out of the corner of her eye, Lydia could see some cheerleaders looking at them incredulously. She tried to ignore them as she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. She had noticed that she was getting a lot more attention since the Formal. Some of it had been negative like being questioned by girls in her classes why Stiles Stilinski would be dating her (to which Lydia would think in her head we aren't dating) and what had she done to him to make him hang out with her? Lydia tried to pretend like she didn't feel the same way, but her insecurities flared up anytime someone would look at them together and she wondered if they really made sense.

However, a lot of the attention she had been getting had been positive. Scott and a lot of the boys on the team had been really excepting of her (and Allison of course) joining them for lunch everyday. They even made sure that there was always a spot next to Stiles for her to sit. Isaac Lahey and Danny Mahealani had been the most excepting of her. Isaac hadn't always been popular and Lydia and him used to hang out in middle school. They had stopped talking once they got to high school, but there was never any bad blood between them and he had been the most friendly when Lydia started hanging out with them. They had even started to study together, because Isaac had asked Stiles if Lydia would help him with some work and Lydia loved teaching.

She had known Danny since preschool and he had always been really accepting of Lydia, so the first time that some cheerleaders had trapped her into a conversation about what Stiles saw in her, Danny had found her and told them to back off and after that they had just clicked. Yeah, she really liked Danny.

Stiles didn't really know about any of the negative responses she had gotten from stepping up on the social ladder, because he seemed to have Lydia-glasses on that were causing him to see everything as better because she actually liked him, man.

Lydia ignored the looks and was laughing at something that Stiles was saying as they walked into Coach's Econ class together. Scott and Allison were already there and had saved them their now usual seats, but as they made their way over to them Coach called "Stilinski!" and Stiles left her to go see what Coach wanted this time.

As Lydia approached Allison and Scott, she forgot all about the way people had been treating her different and smiled at the two people who had become her closest friends over the last few weeks. It was amazing how close Allison and her had become; she had gone from not having any real friends to having like a sister and she was grateful to whatever being made that happen. Scott who had always been nice to Lydia when presented with the chance had become this bubbly, sweet, protecting person who was there literally whenever Lydia needed him which granted hadn't really occurred very much over the last few weeks, but it was nice to know that he was there for her. He had literally told her as much one night.

"Hey, Lydia," Scott had called her over after last Friday's lacrosse game. She had been talking with Stiles, but his dad had just pulled him away to talk to him about something.

Lydia walked over to Scott who was standing toward the middle of the field and she saw that Allison was talking to her parents over by the bleachers. Allison's parents seemed like tough people, but they were really sweet to her and they seemed to really like Scott too. It was nice to have some kind of parental figures in her life, especially a fatherly one. And Mr. Argent was really great.

"Hey, Scott," she said as she finally approached him. "Great game!" They had won their second game in a row and Scott had made the winning goal this time.

"Thanks," Scott blushed which was adorable to watch, because he was one of the humblest people she knew. "Hey. I just wanted to let you know that I think you are really good for Stiles," he started and Lydia was kind of confused but just nodded. "Um, I also wanted to let you know that if you like ever need anything or whatever that I'm totally here, because any friend of Stiles is well you know…" It was unusual to see Scott McCall this ultra popular athlete stumble for words around her like she was something important. She didn't know just how important to these two boys she really was.

"Thanks, Scott," Lydia said genuinely albeit confused. "I really appreciate that." As a slightly awkward silence started to grow between them, Stiles came running over and hugged Lydia as she congratulated him on his win again. Shortly after Allison came over and the four of them went to the only late night diner in Beacon Hills and ordered what would became a tradition of theirs: curly fries and milkshakes (even though Stiles would spend a grand total of two minutes arguing how unhealthy it was until the food got there and his mind changed).

Lydia smiled shaking her head a little to herself as she realized Allison was saying something.

"Hey!" Allison said enthusiastically as Lydia sat down. "Are you excited for the game!?"

"Why does everyone keep asking me that as if I wouldn't be excited?" Lydia smiled a little at Allison as she dug a few things out of her backpack.

Allison eyed her suspiciously, but then decided that she didn't know anything and laughed it off. "Well from what I hear, before a couple of weeks ago you weren't exactly a big sports fan," Allison's dimples were showing with the wide smile she was wearing.

"Yeah, but from what I hear she's always been a big fan of me," Stiles piped in cheekily as he slid into his seat next to Lydia and in front of Scott. He had changed seats knowing how much Lydia liked to sit near the front of the room.

Lydia blushed hard and looked at her notebook as Stiles smiled wide at her and the rest of their conversation was cut off by Coach yelling at them to "be quiet because he couldn't risk straining his vocal chords so early on game day." Stiles rolled his eyes as Coach began class.

After class, Lydia and Allison tell the boys that they'll see them later as they head off in different directions. One thing that Lydia really liked about Scott and Allison is that they didn't feel the need to kiss after every time they saw each other like some of the other couples at this school. Lydia hated seeing those couples act like they would never see each other again.

Lydia had been trying to hide her jealousy over her new friends relationship, but it was hard because here was this guy who she had liked for as long as she could remember and he apparently felt the same way about her and yet he still hadn't asked her out officially for anything. It's not like she needed some passionate declaration or even a romantic date, but it would be nice to like hold hands or something in the hall she thought.

She started to think about his hands then. The few times they had brushed up against her and the spark that had shot through her entire body making her feel as if she had been struck by lightening. He had these hands that were long and skinny, but muscled and veiny, and she didn't really know why, but they were so mesmerizing. All she really wanted to do was hold his hand and never have to let go.

They had almost reached their next class when Allison realized that Lydia was completely spacing out, which she realized was something she only did right after they had left Stiles.

"Whatcha thinking about?" Allison prodded as they passed through the door to their class.

Lydia blushed realizing she had been caught daydreaming, which was something she had been doing a lot more frequently. "Nothing," she mumbled as she pushed a lock of ginger hair behind her ear and took her seat.

"Sure," Allison said unconvinced as she sat next to her.

"What?" Lydia asked taking her notebook from her bag. She uncapped her pen reattaching the cap to the end and daintily wrote the date in the corner of a fresh page as she tried to avoid Allison's gaze. However, Allison was really good at reading her or maybe Lydia was just really bad at hiding her emotions.

"What's wrong?" Allison asked a little concerned now. She didn't know why Lydia would feel like she had to hide something from her.

"Nothing it's stupid."

"Lydia, you know you can tell me anything. Did something happen?" Allison had taken out her notebook too, but was looking at Lydia intently.

Lydia glanced up and sighed. "No, look really it's stupid. But I don't think Stiles really likes me," she looked back down at her notebook as she said this.

"What? Lydia you're crazy! He's totally in to you." Allison was worried that Stiles was being too subtle, but she also knew what he was planning and how much Lydia's insecurities clouded her vision.

"But I'm not really. Look Allison I know you want this to work out, but look at the facts: he hasn't asked me out or really even talked about liking me since the dance; he hasn't like asked me to be his girlfriend or whatever or even talked about it, like Scott asked you like the second the dance ended; and then there is the most obvious reason of why would he really like me?" Lydia had let the wall of all her insecurities break and she was finally letting them all out. Unfortunately she had chosen a rather bad time, because just as she finished the teacher called the class's attention and started lecturing.

A few seconds later, a folded piece of paper landed on her desk. She glanced at Allison who nodded at the paper. She opened it and in Allison's neat scrawl was written, "Trust me. He likes you."

Lydia rolled her eyes and went back to writing her notes trying to push Stiles Stilinski out of her mind for a few hours of peace.

Lydia and Allison headed to their lockers after fifth period to switch out their books before lunch. Lydia was planning on telling Allison that she had a lot of work to do and since she would be busy tomorrow (her dad was coming to spend the day with her) she wanted to get as much done as possible. Also she didn't want to sit around and have to think about whether Stiles really liked her or if she was just being naïve.

She was about to start voicing her plan when she noticed that Stiles was waiting for her by her locker. Okay, maybe he didn't hate her but that didn't mean he wanted to be more than just friends.

"Hey!" He said enthusiastically as she opened her locker getting slight de ja vu from this morning.

She smiled at him as she replied, "Hey." She threw her Calculus book into her backpack, which Stiles noticed.

"Didn't you already have Calculus today? Why are you gonna carry that around for the rest of the day?" He looked at her concerned and confused as to why anyone would want to lug around a 15-pound book if they didn't have to.

"Um… well… actually… I was kind of thinking of going to the library during lunch and finishing my Calculus homework," she said quickly noticing his face twisting with more confusion. "It's just that my dad promised me that we would hang out tomorrow and I haven't seen him for forever and I wanted to get some of my homework done before so I wouldn't have to think about it at all."

Stiles' face had fallen from confused to sad, but he also understood how important it was for Lydia to spend time with her dad since her parents' divorce was still pretty new.

"Oh, yeah that makes sense," he stumbled as he pushed his hand through his hair and settled it on the back of his neck, rubbing it rhythmically to calm himself down. "Um, I guess I'll just, uh… see you after school." He wasn't making eye contact with her.

Lydia hated seeing Stiles upset. She had only really seen it a few times, but there was something about his eyes that made him look like a wounded puppy. And you know what they say about kicking a dog when it's down. Lydia sighed as she drew a smiled onto her face. You can do it, Lydia.

"You know what? I don't think I really have that much homework actually," Lydia smiled pretending to look through her planner at her workload as Stiles' head jerked back up. "I can work on it before the game or like in the morning." She looked back up at him.

"You sure?" He was trying so hard to not let the excitement show in his eyes, but she could see the small crinkles at the corners forming.

"Yeah, it's not like logarithmic differentiation is that hard," she said as the smile that broke on his face caused her to smile too. She closed her locker and they started walking to the cafeteria together. She didn't notice his hand flex as it swung freely at his side as he tried to work up the courage to just take her hand already.

Scott and Allison had left for the cafeteria halfway through Lydia and Stiles' conversation. They had already saved seats for both Stiles and Lydia. After they got their food, they made their way to the table, Stiles starting to get nervous for tonight, not just the game but what he had planned for Lydia and Lydia still worrying that Stiles didn't really like her like he claimed to despite Allison's reassurance and his obvious flustering at the idea of not being with her.

Despite both of their worries, they smiled their thoughts away.

"Guys, guess what Greenberg did in Bio today?" Scott started as Greenberg groaned at the other end of the table and Stiles and Lydia both laughed good heartedly at the hilarious retelling of Greenberg's inability to dissect a frog.

"Hey, Lydia, did you understand the French homework?" Isaac asked her as Scott finished his story.

"I got most of it, but Ally is actually better at French than me," Lydia smiled as she kicked Allison lightly under the table. Allison blushed and then started helping Isaac with his homework.

"Wow, I didn't know anybody was better at school than you," Jackson Whittemore spoke with a bit too much vile in his voice for her liking.

"It's just the one class, I can assure you," Lydia promised as she flipped a strawberry blonde curl over her shoulder. She had never really liked Jackson.

Danny ignored his friend's hostility as she asked Lydia how her day was to which she responded it was going pretty good. They all started laughing uncontrollably again as Greenberg dumped the rest of his lasagna onto his lap.

Lydia realized that even if Stiles didn't like her like her she had at least finally found some friends who were probably the greatest friends that anyone could ask for.

The rest of the day went surprisingly fast and when Stiles beat Lydia to her locker she wasn't really surprised this time. She had started to realize that maybe she was letting her insecurities get the best of her and maybe Stiles just didn't want to rush into anything too fast, which she could respect she guessed.

"Hey, so I was thinking we could go hang out in the library so you could finish your homework and I can worry about the game until I have to go get ready," Stiles was playing with a strap on his backpack while he rambled his plans away.

"That sounds great," Lydia couldn't help the smile that broke across her face at how adorable he was when he was nervous and that he realized getting her work done was important to her.

"So what's our plan?" Allison said as she came up behind Lydia and made to open her locker.

"We were going to go get some work done in the library before the game," Lydia said as she closed her locker.

"Sounds great!" Scott said as he leaned against the locker next to Allison's. "That'll give Stiles and me a chance to strategize." Stiles groaned and rolled his eyes, but he was smiling.

"Or you could do your homework," Lydia quipped.

"Ha. Yeah right. It's a Friday, Lyds. And it's almost game time. It's not the time to be pretending to do homework."

Lydia loved the way that Stiles was the only one who called her 'Lyds'. It made her feel more special.

The four of them made their way to the library laughing as they went. Lydia realized how great it was to have friends who would let her decide what they were doing and didn't make fun of her for wanting to get her work done.

As they sat in the library, Lydia noticed that Stiles was getting more and more anxious by the second. "You're gonna do great," Lydia tried to smile reassuringly at him. Allison and Scott gave Stiles a knowing smirk that Lydia didn't understand, but she decided to brush it off and finish her work.

Stiles and Scott left an hour before Lydia and Allison to go warm up. Scott kissed Allison goodbye after she wished him luck, and Stiles awkwardly waved bye to Lydia as she tried to wish him luck.

As soon as Scott and Stiles entered the hallway, Scott turned to his best friend, "Dude you gotta relax!" Stiles exhaled dramatically. "She's gonna say yes, idiot."

"It's just so much!" Scott laughed and patted his friend on the back and they didn't say another thing about it as they made their way to the locker room to get ready for the game.

Back in the library, Lydia was just finishing up her last problem. When she finished, she closed her book with a dramatic sigh causing Allison to look up at her.

"What?"

"He doesn't like me, Allison."

"Okay, you seriously need to stop."

"But…"

"No, for someone who just completed her Calculus and most of her AP Bio homework in an hour and a half, you are really clueless."

"Thanks," Lydia said trying not to be offended because she knew Allison was just joking, but there was just something about being called stupid that got to her.

"Oh, Lydia. I'm sorry. You know I think you're brilliant, but look just trust me. He likes you. He is just nervous around you."

"Why would Stiles Stilinski be nervous around me? It's not like he hasn't dated before," Lydia thinks back to all the girls she'd seen him with over the years.

"Yeah, but none of those girls were the girl he's liked since he was eight, now were they!" Allison gave her a look that said I-am-right-and-you-need-to-just-drop-it-now.

"Fine." Lydia wasn't one to just drop it, but she realized that Allison was convinced and she wouldn't be changing her mind.

"Good! Okay so now we have an hour to kill before we have to get to the field. What should we do?" She grinned at Lydia and Lydia couldn't help but laugh at how quickly Allison could switch her emotions from one to the other.

"Coffee?" Lydia suggested and they both packed their bags and got in Allison's car to head to the local coffee shop and wait for the game to start.

Lydia and Allison arrived back at the school with ten minutes before the game time. They made their way to the bleachers as people rushed around excited for the game.

The team was just coming out of the locker room, when the girls finally found their seats. Scott had made sure to save them seats, because they all wanted Lydia to have a good view of the field. Lydia was confused, but didn't feel like questioning it.

Lydia noticed that Stiles and Scott were carrying some giant rolled up sheet of bright pink butcher paper out from the locker room. She poked Allison in the ribs causing her to jump. "What?"

"What are Stiles and Scott doing?"

Allison saw them with the poster and rolled her eyes. She was surprised Lydia didn't already know what was going on with the lack of stealth those two had. "I don't know. Maybe it's for the team?" Allison said really unconvincingly and Lydia gave her a look like why-does-the-team-want-pink-butcher-paper, but Allison ignored her.

Stiles and Scott stashed the poster under the bench trying not to rip it. Stiles looked up and saw Lydia looking at him weirdly, which made him blush, but he tried to brush it off by waving to her. She quirked her eyebrow, but he pretended he didn't notice.

Lydia still didn't know what the damn poster was by the time the game started and her concentration was lacking to say the least. Stiles had scored two goals before she even registered that they were winning and decided to put the question of the poster to the back of her mind while the game was going on.

At half time, Lydia was starting to get annoyed because she seemed to be the only one who didn't know what the poster was. As Scott and Stiles got water, multiple people on the team clapped Stiles on the back and his eyes kept darting to her. He smiled shyly at her when he noticed she was watching.

She was about to ask Allison what the hell was on the damn poster, when the buzzer rang and the game started up again.

Forty-five minutes later, Stiles passed the ball to Scott who scored the winning goal and the crowd went wild.

Lydia was hugging Allison so her back was turned when Scott and Stiles went to go get the poster. When she turned back around, Stiles, Scott, Isaac, and Danny were trying to unroll the poster without ripping it. Some people weren't really that concerned with what was happening, but some had stopped to stare at the four boys holding a giant roll of pink butcher paper in the middle of the lacrosse field.

They had almost unrolled it completely and Lydia could see letters were written on it, but it was upside down. Allison sighed and told her to wait there as she ran down onto the field.

"Hey, dumbasses," Lydia heard Allison shout at them as she approached them. She saw her gesturing with her arms and she saw Stiles' face fall as Scott sighed dramatically. Allison gave up trying to be discrete and waved Lydia over with her arm.

By this time, most people had lost interest in the failed sign holding event and were walking off the field. A few people lingered as Lydia made her way off the bleachers and down to where the boys and Allison were standing. They had given up trying to flip the sign over and had instead set it down on the turf. Lydia had thought she'd seen her name and now she was just really confused.

"What?..." Lydia started as she approached and started reading what the poster said.

On the large piece of pink butcher paper was written, in what had to be Allison's handwriting because she had seen Stiles' and it wasn't that neat,

LYDIA, WILL YOU GO OUT WITH ME?

Lydia felt her whole body flush. No wonder Scott and Allison had been acting so weird today. She looked up at Stiles and everybody else started to walk away giving them a minute.

"What's this?"

"My failed attempt to try to do something special for you," Stiles' face was a shade of red she had never seen before. She liked it. "I probably should have gone with something a little more subtle, but I wanted to show you how much you deserve."

Lydia couldn't help the huge grin that was spreading across her face. She couldn't stop herself as she threw her arms around his middle (since she couldn't reach his neck at this angle) and murmured, "yes, yes, yes" over and over again.

He squeezed her back and then looked down at her disbelievingly. "You wanna go out with some idiot who can't even hold a poster the right way?"

"You aren't an idiot, Stiles. To be honest, I didn't think you were ever going to ask me out," she muttered looking down at her shoes and then looking over at the poster as a small smile broke out on her face.

"I told you I liked you, Lyds," he said tilting her chin up with his finger. She smiled back at the grin that had broken out on his face. "So… that was a yes right? 'Cause I know you said yes, but maybe you were like too swept up in the moment," Stiles rambled still not believing that this beautiful, brilliant girl wanted to go on a date with him.

Lydia shook her head laughing a little to herself. She wanted to kiss him. She was still in awe that Stiles Stilinski, the most popular boy in Beacon Hills, was flustered talking to her. "You're an idiot," she mumbled more to herself than to him, but he heard her and laughed. "Of course I'll go on a date with you."

His smile could have lit the entire lacrosse field. Her responding smile was just as bright. "So I know you're spending tomorrow with your dad," he began and she smiled because he remembered. "So I was thinking we can plan like an all day outing for next Saturday…unless like that's too much 'cause I'd totally understand if that was too much," he stopped when he realized that she was looking at him like he was her world. He knew the feeling.

"Next Saturday sounds perfect," she said quietly, but loud enough for him to hear. He smiled and then his dad was walking toward them. She smiled at the Sheriff who she had grown to like over the last few weeks.

"So what did you say?" He asked coyly after he had given her a hug.

"Well, it took a little convincing, but I agreed to give him a shot," she laughed. It had surprised her how easy it was to talk to him. She could talk to him easier than she could her own father.

"Dad!" Stiles stammered as he flushed a bright red.

Both Lydia and the Sheriff laughed and then Allison and her parents were calling Lydia over. She was spending the night at Allison's.

"I'll call you tomorrow," Stiles said as he hugged her goodnight and Lydia felt his lips barely brush over the crown of her head.

"Bye!" She called one last time, her body blushing, as she made her way over to the Argents. They all headed toward the parking lot and her and Allison climbed into her car.

"I told you he likes you," Allison smirked as she started the car and they started their drive to her house.

Lydia woke up early on Saturday morning still feeling the excitement from last night and the anticipation over seeing her dad who she hadn't seen in a few months. She got dressed at Allison's and Mr. Argent made them breakfast, then Allison drove her home.

When she pulled into Lydia's driveway to drop her off, Lydia was still smiling.

"Wow, happy looks good on you, Lydia," Allison laughed as Lydia blushed a little and gently pushed her.

Lydia climbed out of the car and grabbed her bag. "I'll call you later," she yelled as she closed the door and waved as Allison backed out of her driveway. She turned around and practically bounced up her front steps.

"MOM! I'M HOME!" She called as she took off her shoes. She heard her mom in the kitchen so she walked to the back of the house.

"Hi, sweetie. How was the game?"

"It was really good. We won."

"And how was Allison's?"

"Really nice. Her dad made us chocolate chip pancakes that were out of this world." She smiled as she poured herself a cup of coffee. "Has dad called yet?"

"Not yet sweetie, but I'm sure he's on his way." Her mom didn't sound terribly convincing, but Lydia didn't blame her. Her dad had never been really reliable, but she knew he wouldn't blow her off after so long not seeing her.

Lydia took her coffee, kissed her mom on the cheek, and went up to her room where she neatly placed her backpack by her desk. She decided to finish her AP Bio homework as she waited for her dad to call.

When he still hadn't called after Lydia had finished not only her Bio homework, but also her Econ and English, Lydia started to get worried. She plopped down on her bed and unlocked her phone. Finding his number, she clicked on it and the phone started to ring.

It rang and rang and rang until finally, "Hello?" A voice that sounded groggy answered as the line cracked.

"Dad?"

"Lydia, is that you?" She heard a yawn.

"Did I wake you up?" Lydia looked over at her bedside alarm clock. It was almost noon.

"Yeah, Lydia. It's almost 3 in the morning here." He didn't even sound sorry.

"Where are you?" Lydia could feel the tell tale sting of tears forming in her eyes.

"China."

"Oh, I'm sorry, dad. I'll let you get back to sleep. Call me whenever." Lydia hung up the phone before she started crying. He always did this. She didn't know why she thought this time would be different. She curled onto her side on her bed and let the tears consume her.

Fifteen minutes later she heard her door open. "Honey, what's the matter?"

"He forgot about me," she managed in broken sobs. She wasn't as sad as she was upset. She was his only child and yet he couldn't remember promising to come visit her. "He didn't even sound sorry or like he knew what was going on. He's still in China!"

"Oh, baby. I'm sorry. You know how he is. Do you need anything? Do you want me to call into work and tell them I can't come in? I have a big project I'm working on, but I could probably take a day off. We could have a spa day?" Her mom was rubbing her back soothingly.

"No, mom. It's all right. I'll call Allison later and see if she wants to do something." Her mom kissed her on the forehead and then left. She needed to be at work in 15 minutes. Saturday was the only day she had a late start, which meant Lydia had wasted the only time she had with her mom finishing homework, just so her dad could bail on her again.

Lydia lies on her bed for another 15 or so minutes before she convinces herself that she's not going to let her dad ruin her weekend. She rolls off her bed and walks over to her dresser. She strips off the skirt and blouse she had put on to make herself look nice for her dad and in place of them puts on a pair of sweats and a baggy shirt. The shirt didn't really look familiar and she assumed Allison had left it here last weekend meaning that it was probably Scott's, but she really didn't care; it was too damn soft.

After Lydia had changed into more comfortable clothes, she made her way to her bathroom. She looked at herself in the mirror for a few minutes. Her eyes were puffy and her makeup was smeared. She hated that she let her dad do this to her every damn time. She sighed heavily as she began to undo the intricate braids that Allison had helped her create this morning before she left her house.

Her hair hung loosely around her shoulders as she started to take off her makeup. She didn't plan on going anywhere today, so she didn't redo it letting her face rest for the day. After her face was fresh and makeup free, she piled her hair on top of her head in a rather messy bun.

After Lydia was completely undecorated, she got out her phone and called Allison. It went to voicemail. "You reached Allison's cell! I'm not here right now, but if you leave a message I'll get back to you as soon as possible. I promise."

Lydia smiled a little. Allison even sounded sickeningly sweet on her answering machine. She waited for the beep and then spoke, "Hey, Ally. My dad bailed on me. I'm fine. Um. I thought if you were free later, we could um maybe do something. Don't cancel on your family or like Scott if you already have plans. I'll talk to you later. Love you."

Lydia hung up the phone. She sat on the corner of her bed and put on her thickest pair of wool socks. She then proceeded to pad her way down the thickly carpeted stairs to make her way back to the kitchen.

Lydia opened the fridge and stared into it mindlessly for what seemed like forever, but was probably only a few minutes. She decided that she wasn't really hungry, but she grabbed an apple and started heating the kettle on the stove to make a pot of tea. As she bit into her apple, her phone rang.

""ello?" She answered trying to chew quickly.

"Lydia, hey, it's Ally. I'm sorry about your dad that really sucks! I can't believe he did that to you!" Allison sounded really upset.

"Whatever. He does it ever time. I should be used to it by now. So are you busy?"

"Actually, I do have plans with Scott, but he'd totally understand if I canceled," Allison sounded like she was trying not to laugh and then she thought she heard Scott in the background.

"No, Ally. Don't worry. I'm totally fine on my own. I think I'm just gonna veg out today, which I haven't done in forever, so I'm good," Lydia stated trying to keep the emotion out of her voice.

"Okay, but if you need me like at all at anytime, don't hesitate to call! I'll be there in the blink of an eye! I love you!"

"Love you too, Ally. I'll talk to you later," Lydia said as she hung up the phone.

Sighing Lydia made her pot of tea and then brought it into the living room where she turned the television on and started marathoning old episodes of F.R.I.E.N.D.S.

She was about four episodes in when her doorbell rang. Standing up confused, Lydia made her way to the door glancing down at her outfit, but not really caring that she looked like a mess.

When she got to the door, she peaked out the side window and…

"No…" she whispered to herself as she tried to straighten out her clothes. She gave up because there was no way she would look acceptably presentable in the few seconds she had. She unlocked the door and slowly pulled it open.

Standing on her porch was Stiles holding a seemingly filled paper bag and tapping his foot nervously. He stopped fidgeting as she opened the door and revealed herself.

"Hi." He didn't know what to do and his arms were starting to fall asleep.

"Stiles, hi. Um, not to sound rude, but what are you doing here?" She looked confused as she opened the door more fully. He was surprised to realize how beautiful she looked even not all made up. He thought he might even like her more this way.

"Um, actually Allison may have called me and told me what a douche your dad was and so I thought I'd come over and you know like reschedule our date to now…" he spoke as he got more and more awkward with each word spoken. He thought that maybe he had overstepped some boundary.

"Oh…" Lydia was speechless. She had expected maybe Allison to call her later to see how she was, but she never expected someone to come over to check on her.

How was it that this boy that she barely knew or well at least had just started talking to like officially could be more concerned about her than her own father? She ushered him in and told him he could put the bag down on the table, turning around before he could see the tears that had broken through the dam of her eyelids and now were flowing down her cheeks.

"Okay, so I brought Chinese and cookies and Thai and Mexican and some of those pastries that you made me try and some curly fries because curly fries are…. Whoa, hey…" Stiles turned around when he realized that Lydia wasn't responding and he saw her body shaking a little. "Lyds, hey, hey." He walked over to her and looked down at her and then pulled her into his arms.

That's when Lydia really broke down. Wracking sobs hit her hard as this boy, this popular jock who should look down on her but saw something in her, pulled her into the warmth of his body. She was amazed how much the sheer human contact seemed to calm her down. She realized that his hand was rubbing up and down her back as he shushed her, but not in a condescending way in a way that she could tell he was concerned.

He led them to the couch then and they kind of sat down while he still held her. Slowly Lydia pulled away.

"I'm sorry," she breathed as she tried to even her breathing and stop the crying.

"What? No, God, Lydia you never have to apologize for crying. Especially not to me," he was playing with the end of her hair as he spoke, one hand still rubbing up and down her back.

"It's just that I don't understand what I did that was so… so wrong that he doesn't even want to see me. I haven't seen him in months. I just…I try to be so perfect all the time and it obviously doesn't work, because he's never here and then my mom just works all the time probably to get away from me, because I'm probably so annoying. I don't even know why anybody puts up with me. I'm so fucked up," Lydia was trying not to start crying again as she confessed these thoughts that she'd never shared with anyone else.

"Lydia, look at me. You are perfect. And not in the way that you never make mistakes, but to me you are perfect. I don't know what the fuck is wrong with your dad, because if I could I would spend every minute with you. And I'm sure your mom wants to spend more time with you, but she is a really important person in the community and I know she has to do a lot of work. Maybe you should tell her that you feel this way and... I don't know," he was looking at her with this look that said he wanted to help her, but he didn't know how.

Lydia smiled at him shyly calming down more at just the knowledge that she had a least one person who apparently cared more about her than she could have ever imagined. "Thank you," she spoke softly as she laid her head against his shoulder. He relaxed as he wrapped his arm around her and then laughed a little.

"What?"

"How'd you get my shirt?" He pulled at her sleeve a little.

She blushed. "What!? I assumed it was Scott's. Allison left it here sometime last week and it was really soft."

"Scott stole it from me years ago. I wondered where it had gone, but I think it looks better on you," he smiled and leaned forward and kissed her gently on the forehead.

Lydia blushed more.

"Are you hungry?" He smiled at her as he pulled away and she nodded.

"Chinese and curly fries?" She laughed at her request and he just beamed at her. "Do you wanna watch a movie?" She called to him in the kitchen.

"Yeah, you pick!" He said as he pulled out plates and microwaved the food, putting the rest of the containers in the fridge.

Lydia put The Notebook in and grabbed some blankets. Stiles smiled at the TV as he came back in food in hand knowing that this was her favorite movie. He handed her a plate and she handed him a blanket and they curled up next to each other on the couch.

"Sorry, this probably isn't the first date you wanted," Lydia mumbled as she realized he had had something big planned for them.

"What are you talking about? This is better! Plus just because we are hanging out today doesn't mean we can't still go on the date I planned for us next Saturday."

She beamed up at him just as Noah was taking Allie to show her the house he wanted to buy someday. Stiles was staring at her. They had both finished their food and so they were sitting farther back on the couch.

Lydia realized that he was still looking at her and turned to face him. He smiled at her shyly and started to lean down into her. She leaned forward a little, but then stopped short pulling back and blushing.

"Oh, God. I'msosorrydidItotallyreadthatwrong?" His words all blended together as his face turned a compelling shade of red.

"No, it's not that. It's just…um… I've never…uhhhhh…you know…kissedaboy," she blushed as she looked down at her lap. He smiled at her brighter than he ever had.

"Lyds, I wouldn't care if you'd kissed every boy in the world, I like you a lot and unless you don't want to kiss me…" he said trying to brush off the insecurity that was creeping into his stomach. She shook her head quickly and the nerves washed off of him.

He stared into her eyes for a long moment bringing his hand up to brush a piece of hair behind her ear before he started to lean in again slowly making sure she had plenty of time to pull away if she wanted to. She didn't this time. She wanted this more than anything. She leaned into him meeting him halfway. Finally, their lips met in the most perfect way. Stiles' other hand came up to frame her face as her small hands spread out on his chest, lightly gripping his shirt. When they had to part for air, they didn't move very far from each other. Lydia bit her lip trying to stop herself from smiling as Stiles stroked her cheek.

"How was that?" He bit his lip.

"Perfect," she beamed up at him.

They started to laugh through the tension and then everything really was perfect. Stiles sat back on the couch and held his arms out to Lydia, who sunk into him like his arms were where she belonged. She liked the way that Stiles made her feel worthy. She beamed at the television as Allie started playing the piano. She realized if her dad didn't want her, so be it. She had the best friend ever. And this boy. This boy who was all she had ever wanted. She glanced up at him and realized this was just the beginning of the life she had always wanted.