Insufferable Teacher's Pet

Chapter 15

After that way-too-close call in the elevator, Derek sent Stiles away for the rest of the day. It was probably for the best; as much as Stiles just wanted to hole up in Derek's hotel room with him for the week, he was here with his friends. And he did miss Lydia. This would be good for him. It'd be good to have the gang back together again. He just wished to god he could tell someone about Derek. Someone other than Malia, that is. Someone who could give him real advice and not fuck with him all the time about it. Wait...Lydia! But no, he swore to Derek he wouldn't tell, and he'd already broken that promise with telling Malia. Even though Lydia didn't even live in Beacon Hills anymore, and she was amazing at keeping secrets...it'd be wrong. He just couldn't betray Derek like that.

As Stiles walked back toward his hotel, his phone buzzed. It was a text from Malia, telling him they were all meeting at the Golden Steer Steakhouse. Perfect, not too far from the hotel. It didn't take him too long to walk to the restaurant, and by the time he got there the group was standing outside the building. Malia had her arm around Lydia's shoulders, and Scott and Kira were standing side-by-side holding hands. It made Stiles a little jealous, honestly. Seeing his friends being able to show comfortable PDA with their partners, not having to hide and be kept a secret. But then again, it wasn't like Derek was his partner. There was no relationship with them; just sex. But Stiles would be lying to himself if a part of him didn't think about the potential for more...

"Hey, there you are!" Scott exclaimed as Stiles approached them. "Took you long enough."

"Yep, here I am," Stiles replied. What did Malia tell them he was doing? He probably should've asked before getting there. "Why are you guys out here?"

"There's a wait list," Malia answered. "A long one. They said it could be up to half an hour, and that was almost 45 minutes ago."

Lydia walked up to Stiles and hugged him. "It's great seeing you, Stiles."

He smiled, hugging her back tightly. It'd been way too long since he'd seen Lydia. He probably missed her almost as much as Malia. "You too."

The six of them stood outside the restaurant talking and catching up for another 15 minutes before finally being told there was an available table. Lydia kept telling all these amazing stories about MIT and her life in Cambridge; the friends she's made and how they don't hold a candle to everyone in Beacon Hills. Then she and Malia announced that at the end of the semester, Malia would be moving to Cambridge so they could live together. Everyone was so happy for them, and Stiles was too...but he was also a bit somber. It was already bad enough that Lydia was gone, now Malia was going too? And Scott and Kira were so serious now; it'd probably only be a matter of time before they moved away too and Stiles was left in Beacon Hills alone. All because everyone knew what they wanted to do with their lives...except him.

After finishing his fourth drink, he decided to start walking to Derek's hotel. He just told everyone he was really tired and wanted to go to bed early. None of them seemed to protest, but Lydia followed him outside. "Hey, Stiles?"

He turned around, wobbling just a tad. "Oh hey, what's up?"

"Are you okay?" she asked, stepping closer and folding her arms with concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Like I said, I'm just tired."

"It's just that you were pretty quiet at dinner. You seem...off."

He let out an over-the-top laugh. "I'm fine! Everyone else was talking, telling stories, being all couple-y. I just didn't have anything to say."

"You always have something to say. We've been friends for 6 years, and I've never known you to be quiet like this. So what's going on?" She tilted her head to the side, the concerned expression getting a bit more serious.