Stay with Me (Stalia)

Chapter 28

For the next memory, Scott and the Sheriff found themselves in the empty school parking lot. Stiles and Malia were sitting in his jeep in the middle of the lot.

"Easy, easy does it." Stiles said through gritted teeth and Malia launched the car into motion only to stop immediately. "Press down slowly on the gas so it doesn't lurch like that." Scott saw the intense concentration on Malia's face as she tried to slowly ease the car into motion. It rolled painstakingly forward slowly. "Okay you can give it a little more gas." Malia must've pressed a bit too hard as the car shot forward a few feet before she slammed on the breaks. Stiles put the car in park and turned to look at her.

"I'll never get this." Scott heard her say miserably.

"Hey, hey, don't say that." Stiles reached up to tuck a piece of hair behind her ear. "You said the same thing about math and looked what happened with that, you passed and are moving on next year. You have an amazing ability to pick things up quickly when you set your mind to it."

"Yeah, but this isn't math. I can't just memorize a bunch of stuff. What if I never get the hang of this? I'm going to be the only senior who can't drive."

"Alan McCormack doesn't even have his permit yet." Stiles added unhelpfully. Scott heard the Sheriff snort beside him. He turned to see the man watching his son with an amused expression.

"He can be a little bit of a punk sometimes can't he?" The Sheriff said.

"Yes he most definitely can be," agreed Scott.

"Ow" at Stiles' yell they both turned their attention back to the jeep where Malia had apparently just punched Stiles in the arm. "I'm just kidding!" He shouted holding his hands up in surrender. Malia lowered her fist and her expression changed from annoyed to sad. Stiles saw this change and leaned closer to cup her cheek. "Hey, we have a whole summer. You haven't crashed into anything which means you are already doing better than I did on my first try."

"We had to replace that mailbox about 5 times." The Sheriff muttered under his breath.

"I bet by the end of the summer you will be a better driver than me." Stiles' words did the trick and Malia's face visibly brightened. She leaned forward until her lips touched Stiles and gave him a long, slow kiss. Scott suddenly realized that he was intruding on a very private moment. This memory was between Stiles and Malia and was not meant for anyone else's eyes.

Up until this point Scott had never felt like he was invading Stiles' mind. He had been merely sifting through the memories to get to the Stiles of today and bring him back to the present. He hadn't even thought about how precious these memories were to Stiles. These were the moments when he was happiest and Scott suddenly felt like the third wheel who had just decided to invite himself along on a date. He didn't belong there, the Sheriff didn't belong there. Stiles' head was supposed to be his own. Unfortunately his friend hadn't had the best of luck on that front. First the Nogitsune, then Scott and Lydia, and now this. It had been a necessary evil for them to enter his mind then just as it was a necessary evil now. It was the only way to bring back Stiles. As soon as they did that, he could leave Stiles' head along and hopefully would never ever need to enter it uninvited again.

"How many more memories do you think we have?" The Sheriff asked. Scott could tell by the impatience and unhappiness in his voice that he had been thinking a similar thing to Scott. Malia repositioned herself so that she was straddling Stiles, never breaking the kiss. Scott looked away, feeling like a creep for being in the memory.

"Not very many, in fact this could very well be the last one. It happened just a couple months before the Omega's came to town. I guess we are just going to have to go find out."