Second Chances - Stiles Stilinski (Season 1)

Chapter 31: Semi-Formalities

Natalie

"And...done!" I hear Eva's voice call out from behind my closed eyes. She had spent the last five minutes alone working on my eyeshadow. I slowly open them, blinking a few times to get used to the amount of makeup on the eyelid.

Lydia steps in behind her and admires her work. "Wow, Eva. If I had known you were that good I might have let you do my makeup," she retorts, turning to touch up her blush in my mirror.

"Emphasis on 'might'," Eva sighs, giving me a look of annoyance. It's nice to spend time with both Lydia and Eva, as Eva treats her with the same little sister attitude as she does with me. "I can't wait until I can go to a high school dance," she looks at Lydia and I dreamily.

I stand up to face my reflection and assess the damage. "Awh, Eva, you actually listened to me when I said I wanted a more natural look!" I say, surprised. My hair falls down loosely in big curls around my perfectly highlighted face. It looks effortless, although I know it took at least two hours to achieve this. Eva does a small bow before grabbing my small silky blue dress that I had bought with Allison and Lydia. The one Stiles asked me to the dance in.

After having sex in a department store dressing room.

"So, Lydia, how come Allison is going to the dance with your boyfriend?" Eva hums as she takes the dress of the hanger. Lydia pauses her lipgloss application and glares at Eva through the mirror.

"Ex-boyfriend," she replies before going back to her reflection. I put on my dress quickly, thinking to myself how awkward tonight could really get.

"If you think about it, Lydia," I offer, "Allison really has no one else to go with now that Scott can't go. And you, well you could get any guy in school to go with you." She looks to the ceiling, considering my proposal.

"All I know for sure is I am done wasting my time being sad about Jackson Whittlemore," she says to herself in the mirror. I shrug the dress over my shoulders. I am secretly glad this is one that doesn't require me to wear a bra.

My mom takes photos of Lydia and I in the living room. I do my duty as a best friend by standing on her right, because it would not be a good night if she didn't capture her good side. My dad teases Eva by pretending to text a boy back in her phone. Lydia opens herself up for the pass, catching the phone and reciting different love ballads while making typing motions.

I look out the window, eager to see the familiar blue Jeep roll up into the driveway. The warm feeling in the air feels almost too good to be true. It's not hard to picture pulling the curtain to the side to see all the danger looming.

Derek's missing, probably dead.

Peter is out there, hungry for revenge and completion of his pack.

The fakeness to my parent's smiles.

Even without supernatural drama, tonight will be a clusterfuck. Allison is going with Lydia's ex-boyfriend. Scott can't even come with us as he's banned from the dance. Now it leaves two-thirds of the trio to fend for ourselves. Maybe it won't be such a bad thing, Stiles and I having the night to ourselves. I play with the edge of my dress nervously.

When Stiles and I are alone, everything feels perfect. I feel things for him I have never felt before. But who is to say it's not because of this pressure vacuum we've put ourselves in by constantly avoiding death together? Does that way that I feel for him translate easily to our every day lives?

I let out a sigh that gets a side-eye from Lydia. All these questions I am rotating through in my brain mean nothing if he doesn't feel the same way about me. She walks over, resting her head on my shoulder. We stand in silence for a moment.