Sterek Stories - A Collection - I

To be young and in love - part 3

Dolores Freedman prides herself in having a good eye for people. And she knows everyone in Beacon Hills, having lived here for her whole life. And the people know her.

No longer being a spring chicken, Dolores still likes to be there where the action is. And on a saturday morning, the action is found in the local supermarket. Which is where Dolores is, sitting comfortably in the coffee corner located smack dab in the middle of the store. It's the ideal location to keep an eye on things while young Lucy Decker - fourth generation of the family that owns the supermarket - is doing her grocery shopping for her. It's a great system: she gives the young lady her list and Dolores herself can sit down and enjoy a complimentary cup of coffee, while the other shoppers walk by her and stop every now and then to have a chat.

Her daughter always tries to take her to the large chain owned store on the edge of town, yet Dolores likes the familiarity of this small supermarket. She doesn't need a 24-pack of toilet paper, the package with four rolls they sell here is more than enough. Besides, she doesn't mind stopping by multiple times a week. She's 89 years old, what else is she gonna do with her days?

She stirs some creamer into her coffee and idly watches the shoppers that walk by. It's still a bit early, so there aren't that many people yet. There's Stephanie Miller with her kids. The youngest sits in the cart and the two older boys, twins, each have a hand on the side of the cart. Dolores eyes the young woman's stomach, having heard from her grandmother that she's pregnant again. It's still early, so the bump isn't visible yet through her coat.

"Good morning, Mrs. Freedman," Stephanie says when she pushes her cart by the coffee corner. Her kids don't have eyes for the old lady at the little table, the candy aisle is right there too.

"Good morning, dear."

Several more people walk by, all wishing her a good morning. She knows them all, if not their parents. Like Derek Hale and Stiles Stilinski, who just walked in. The two are shopping together, sharing a shopping cart. The Hale boy pushes the cart while the sheriff's son loads up their groceries. Hale has a shopping list in his hand, making the other push in close every time he wants to check the next item on the list. Young Stilinski is a lively boy, a real chatterbox. Dolores can see him talk his friend's ear off and although Hale is more of the strong and silent type, he seems happy to listen to the mostly one-sided conversation. He just nods or answers in short sentences, all the while keeping his friend on the task of shopping. He even has to steer the Stilinski kid in the right direction sometimes, with the press of a hand on his back or on his arm.

The two make an odd pair: the son of a man of the law and an exonerated murder suspect. Yet Dolores never thought the Hale boy murdered his sister: if you've lost almost your whole family to a house fire, you're not gonna suddenly kill the ones that are left six years after the date. The kid just has his looks against him, with the permanent scowl on his face and his insistence to wear a leather jacket every day of the year. He has a handsome face, if only he would smile a little more. When he first returned to town, he had recently lost his sister and shortly after that his uncle died after having been in a coma for years. Most people wouldn't see a reason to smile in those circumstances. However, the boy has surrounded himself with a group of friends since then. Most of 'm are a little younger than him, but companionship is not dependent on age, if you ask her. He deserves to not be alone, especially after all he's been through. Dolores has always liked the Hale family, they've been in town for even longer than her own family. She remembers when the kids were young, when she'd see them on the playground every now and then. The Hale kids were always running and clambering up on things, seemingly never running out of energy. Like a pack of wild wolves, she used to say to her late husband.

She sees the two boys weaving through the shopping aisles, their cart filling up more and more as they come closer to the coffee corner. The Stilinski kid reaches up to grab a box of cereal from the top shelf, his head turned back to talk to his friend. He's always been a klutz as far as Dolores can remember, so of course he knocks two more boxes off the shelf. He's lucky his friend has quick reflexes: the Hale boy is in his space in the blink of an eye, pressed up close so he can reach over Stilinski's shoulder to prevent the boxes from falling. Dolores notices them lingering close, notices the heated cheeks of the sheriff's son and the shy way the Hale kid ducks his head, the hint of a smile on his lips. She smiles to herself. Oh, to be young and in love.