Please Don't Forget Me

Chapter 7 - Near Misses

Stiles practically speeded home from school as he parked up haphazardly in his driveway, jumping out his jeep hastily as he rushed inside. "Dad? Lydia?" He shouted out in the seemingly empty house as he chucked his keys into their usual dish near the doorway. His dad doesn't respond and he guessed that he was probably still at work. Although, he heard sudden movements from upstairs, as Lydia appears at the top of the steps. He can't help but release a breath of relief upon seeing her, "you're home." She speaks quietly as he nods. "Yeah I definitely didn't miss being at school." He joked lightly as a small smile formed on her face. "How have you been?" He asks her as she comes downstairs, he seems to only get more nervous the closer she gets to him. "I'm okay...Very bored though, I'm actually glad you're home." She confessed, smiling at him as she finally reaches the bottom. She steps closer to him as he gulps. "Y-Yeah? You are?" His voice was soft, cracking slightly as he spoke, making him quickly cough afterwards to fix it. "Yeah, to be really honest, I um sort of get this feeling of excitement and happiness when I see you. We must've been really good friends..." She concluded, asking it more like a question as he bit the inside of his cheek. Her last sentence hitting him like a ton of bricks as he wished she just understood. "Yeah..we were..." His voice was barely a whisper as he struggled to not get upset, but despite the conversation, he couldn't help but feel that they're having an intimate moment. Lydia then hums lightly in response, like she's satisfied with the answer before she asks him something else. "Can I ask you a favour Stiles?" She looks up at him expectantly as he feels himself get a little worried at what she's going to ask. "Yeah of course, what is it?" He smiles weakly at her as she steps a little closer, the small gap between them doing nothing for his nerves. "Can we um like look at some old photographs you have? I think it might help if I can actually see pictures of the memories." She asked him sweetly as he seemed almost surprised that she asked, he wasn't even sure why they hadn't done that already. "Oh Yeah of course, come on." He smiled politely at her before leading her back upstairs.

Around an hour later, the pair were sat on his bedroom floor, their backs against his bed as photo albums and picture frames were scattered among the floor around them. "I can kinda remember this in pieces now...well mostly just some of the music and my outfit..." she points to a picture that the school took at the winter formal. Stiles scoffs a little at seeing it, seeing him and Lydia dancing together in the background with Scott and Allison not too far away. "We actually went together." He stated proudly as she studies it. "I got bit that night didn't I?..." she suddenly says, almost ignoring what he says, as he turns to her more. "Um, Yeah...Peter Hale..." he answers sadly, he can't help but feel terrible when remembering that night, remembering her bleeding out on the lacrosse field, unable to save her. Forced by Peter to make Jackson take the credit for saving her. Despite it coming in pieces, he was glad that the pictures seemed to working, even if it was only in small bits. "What about this one?" She points to another picture of selfie that his dad took, in the background is Stiles on the lacrosse field during his first game. In the corner you can see Melissa and Lydia sat next to him. Stiles can't help but smile fondly at the memory or it, even though it felt like forever ago now. "Oh that one...that was during my first proper lacrosse game, well the first time I actually got to play on the field with the team." He smiled lightly, remembering how easy life was back then when his biggest worry was making first line. Lydia looks at it closely, tracing her finger across it carefully as he watches her. "I was there... for your first game?" She gives him a genuine smile which he can't help but grin at. "Yeah well to be honest, I don't actually think you were there for me but erm...you did help me score my first goal." He speaks softly as she turns her head slowly to look up at him. Her eyes are bright and he can't seem to look away from them, they're closer than they've been in ages and her can't help but want to kiss her. "Yeah i did?..." she squeaks almost excitedly like a kid, as he nods in return. She turns back towards the photograph, looking at more closely as she traces her fingers other another lacrosse player in the background. Stiles stifles a sigh as he recognises the number on the back immediately, 37. It was Jacksons. "Jackson? Right?" She asks him in slight surprise as he nods, "yeah he was there too." He responds almost bitterly as turns away briefly, before bringing his knees up to his chest. He hated even having to remind her of that Jackass, but he couldn't help but feel a little jealous at the fact that she could remember him so easily, unlike him. "He wasn't himself then though, he was..." she thinks hard for a moment while he's talking, her eyes scrunching up as he can tell she's trying. "...he was a kanima?" She finally says it, asking him if she got it right as he give her a tight lipped smile. "Yeah that's right. He died that night. Well um not really but you know... technically and medically..." he trails off awkwardly, suddenly remembering that night, when Lydia came to visit him in his room. He remembers how frustrated he felt that she was willing to risk her life for a dick like Jackson, that he got so upset he actually shouted at her, revealing to her how much he really cared about her. He tried his best to shake the thought away, he almost hoped she didn't remember that bit. Although, like she could read his mind, he didn't seem to get his way. "I came to see you that night, didn't I?" She took him by surprise as he released a shakey breath. "Yeah you did. I think you was the first girl I ever had in my room." He jested with a shy chuckle as she gave him a sympathetic look, a small smile threatening to show on her face.