That Girl (A Derek Hale Love Story)

Chapter 23

EDITIED

Haylie jogged up the stairs to Jacksons house and before she could even knock the door swung open. "God are you okay?" She asked, not even caring about how annoying he was, she wrapped her arms around his neck. He barely even hugged her back as he shut the door with his foot. "Where's Lydia?" She asked finally letting him go.

"She's through there." He groaned, still trying to put distance between them as Haylie ran into the room and saw Lydia with a blanket wrapped round her shoulders and tears streaming down her face. "Haylie." The second she saw her friend; Lydia jumped from her seat and wrapped her arms around her. "Oh my god it came out of nowhere." She sobbed. "It was a mountain lion it attacked us."

Haylie only squeezed her tighter as Jackson scoffed from the corner. "Let's not forget you were actually safely inside the car." His comment went ignored as Haylie led her friend back to the couch to sit down.

"Do you need me to get you anything? Or take you home?" It wasn't the time to ask about what she saw. She said mountain lion, that was enough for her. "You could come stay at my place?"

Lydia declined all invitations but still sobbed through her story. She was sat in the car waiting for Jackson to come out of the video store when something that looked like a mountain lion jumped through the window after attacking Jackson.

After an hour of consoling, Haylie stood up to leave them alone. "You are okay though right Jackson?" She asked, picking up her car keys from the coffee table.

She watched as his hand went for the back of his neck but nodded. "Yeah, it basically ran straight past me." Haylie nodded but she had known him long enough to know when he was lying. Another knock at the door stopped her from asking anymore. "That must be Max." He mumbled.

Max walked in but stopped short when he realised Haylie was also present. "Hey, I didn't know you'd be here." He said, shoving his hands in his pocket. "I mean obviously you wanted to check on them, that's why I'm here. Although you look like you were just leaving. Did you need a ride or..." He stopped the rambling as Jacksons hand fell on his shoulder.

It was weird, he was a lot more ramble-ly than usual. Like a lot more. "Are you alright?" She asked, pulling on her jacket. He nodded, a red tint rising to his cheeks. "You sure?"

"Yeah. Sorry." She nodded, she felt bad. At least before she had met Derek, she could entertain Max. Hold a normal conversation. But that appears to have disappeared completely.

"Well, I'll see you guys later. Call if you need anything." She said looking at Jackson. "I mean anything."

He frowned but after a second nodded, realising she really meant it and not just for Lydia.

When Haylie approached her house, Stiles also just pulled into the drive. "Hey!" He called, stumbling out of his jeep. "Did you just come from Lydia's?"

Haylie sighed but nodded, still heading up towards their front door. "Jacksons' but I think her mom is picking her up soon."

"How was she? Was it him? Was the Alpha?" She slowly nodded, fumbling for her house key but her fingers shook so much that she dropped them in front of the door. Stiles reached down to pick them up but was surprised when he stood back up to see the tears glossing in her eyes. "Hey. Haylie."

His sister couldn't even respond before letting her head fall onto his chest. Stiles took only a second to recover from the surprise before wrapping his arms around her. "They could have died tonight." She sobbed into his t-shirt. "They could have died, and more people are going to die and we're just here trying to follow his tracks."