True Beta

8. Converse

"So what all else did you not tell me?"

Jessica smiled, looking down at her bare feet on Stiles' front porch step. "What did I not tell you, or what did I lie about?"

Stiles mockingly tapped his chin. "Hmm, how about both?" He smirked. "Come on, did you really lie about everything?"

She shook her head with a smile, grabbing another Dorito. "You know, these are stale." She looked pointedly at him, raising her eyebrows.

"There you go changing the subject again!" Stiles raised his hands to an imaginary audience. "Do you see what I have to deal with?"

Jessica laughed, the motion taking her sideways and closer to Stiles, which she was happy with. They sat on his front porch in the cool autumn air the next day before Lydia's party. Memories of the alpha they had taken down were long gone, replaced with smiles and laughter as Stiles invited her over for pancakes with him and his dad. Mr. Stilinski had loved her, clueing her in on stories that embarassed Stiles eternally. She had helped clean up, earning her more points from Mr. Stilinski and a face full of bubbles from Stiles.

"Fine, fine." She swallowed, sitting a little straighter. "Okay. Well, my name is really Jessica, and I really did move here two weeks ago. Three weeks, tomorrow. However, I didn't move here with my family. I, uh, I guess you could say I'm an orphan?" She shook her head. "My uh, first full moon didn't go so well…" She stopped. Stiles glanced up at her and she shook her head. "No no no, not that. Thank God. I didn't kill my parents. The alpha who turned me did. I, um, tried to hurt him, but he knocked me out and ran away. I've been on my own since then, wondering around the west coast and trying to find a pack. After three years of it, I decided to come back here and see how my old home town was. I had kind of given up on finding a pack. And…that's when I met you guys." She turned and smiled at him. "Honestly, I half expected you to be a werewolf, too."

Stiles shook his head, playing with his shoelace. "Nah, just about everyone else is something cool though. I'll introduce you to them all tonight at the party."

"I'm invited to that?" Jessica asked, and Stiles sat up quickly. 

"Of course! Why wouldn't you be?"

Jessica smiled sheepishly. "I dunno, I thought Allison didn't like me."

Stiles rolled his eyes. "She's like that. She's just kinda the jealous type, but she's cool. Lydia's kind of uppity, but you'll like her. I mean, I like her, so I'm guessing you will, too." He stopped talking, watching her for a reaction. "I mean, um."

"I know what you mean." Jessica said with a short laugh. "How creepily alike we are? Yeah, I've noticed, don't worry. I mean we practically wore the same shirt the first day I met you. Hell, we even match now."

Both of them looked down at their clothes. While Stiles had his converse on, Jessica's were only a couple feet away up on the porch. Their jeans were practically the same hue, Jessica's a little more worn in, and they both wore maroon shirts, though Jessica's was baseball style and Stiles' was a flannel.

"Maybe I should change before the party." Jessica mumbled. Stiles laughed, scooting a little closer to her. "I think it's cute."

Jessica's head snapped up, eyes wide as she made eye contact. "What?"

"I said I think it's cute." Stiles made a sarcastic face. "Sue me."

Jessica smirked. "I had something else in mind." Stiles, confused, looked at her, then smiled as she leaned in, kissing her back as their lips made contact.

"Hey! I said you could sit out there, not kiss!"

Jessica pulled back, blushing and turning away from the door. Stiles laughed as he looked over his shoulder. "Sorry Dad, we're leaving soon anyways." His dad waved back good-naturedly, saying something about having fun and being safe. But Stiles didn't hear him.

Stiles was focused on the blushing girl sitting next to him, her brown hair catching the sunlight just right. Her freckles, the one thing that set her apart from him, slowly became more predominant as her blush faded. As she looked up at him, his smile softened, staring into her eyes.

"What?" She asked quietly, a small smile growing. 

He shrugged. "Like I said, I think you're cute." He leaned in to kiss her one more time, then stood quickly. "Come on, let's get going. We gotta pick Scott up."

She followed behind him towards their jeeps. "Okay, but we're taking my jeep."

"Yeah, yeah I know."

Jessica stuck her tongue out at him, and Stiles smirked at her. "Keep that tongue in your mouth, don't want people thinking we got another Miley Cyrus on our hands."

A water bottle cap came flying at him, and he laughed and ducked just in time. It hit the ground just as her voice called across, "Shut up, Stiles."