Wake Up//Stydia AU

07. Reunion

                   

Have you ever watched a cheesy movie with the traditional "welcome home" scene? Well Lydia felt as though she was watching one of those scenes unfold in front of her. This scene though, wasn't cheesy. What she was watching was kind of beautiful. The reuniting of a father and son. A pair, that through it all, are thick as thieves. The girl watched humbly as the two embraced one another. It made her heart swell. She really hoped this would be the weekend could be the one that starts bringing Stiles back. Lydia still found it hard to believe that the boy in front of her ever changed.

Lydia found herself thinking back to senior year. The two were knee deep in one of their numerous study sessions. Graduation was right around the corner and Lydia, surprisingly, was the nervous one.

"Stiles what if college is totally lame? What if the pack falls apart?"

Lydia had been pacing around the boy's room for the last half hour. Stiles was sitting on his bed watching the girl as she walked the length of his room.

"Lydia everything is going to be just fine. You've been dreaming about college for years now! You have nothing to worry about."

Mid step she paused to look his way. "I'm going away! Everyone is staying here and I'm moving across California. What if we lose touch? I can't let that happen Stiles."

She had watched his face lose it's playfulness, and watched how it quickly filled with sadness, and now his eyes burned holes in the floor. "Stiles?"

Lydia still got chills down her spine when she thought about how he looked up at her. He looked empty, and Lydia hadn't understood where it came from. In an instant, the boy's mood had taken a turn for the worse. "Stiles, what's wrong?"

It tore at her heart to see him like this; to see him look so broken.

Stiles motioned for her to sit by him.
"Lyds I've been meaning to talk to you about something."

If nervousness was a person, it would be Stiles from that very moment.

"Stiles?" She remembered holding his hand. It had become a habit of theirs. Neither of them really thought much of it, but despite how often it happened, it never stopped her from feeling a spark when their hands touched.

"I-I decided not to stay here, I'm going to San Francisco. I can't do this any more, I can't be here. I just need some time away ya know? It's not you, or anyone from the pack for that matter, It's just..."

She remembers him shaking, clenching slightly on to her hand.

"It's personal..." Stiles had just barely breathed out the words.

Lydia hadn't known what to say in that moment. She had been confused, it wasn't part of the plan Stiles had talked so proudly about. He never strayed away from the plans, that's how he was.

A moment later Stiles was now the one pacing his room.

"I-I'm sorry. I know this doesn't help you and is probably just adding more stress-"

"Stiles please calm down and just come sit back down." They had both been surprised by how stern her voice was.

Like a lost puppy, Stiles made his way back to where he once sat on the bed.

Lydia had noticed how nervous he was, and wondered why. Sure it meant one more of their friends away, but she was the one that was supposed to be nervous, not him. Stiles was the one who was supposed to be keeping them all together.

"Why did you decide to switch?"

"I'm just tired Lyds. I'm just so tired." Lydia knew Stiles suffered from anxiety, and just like Scott, he took the world on his shoulders. The Stiles she was looking at right now was not the Stiles she knew. This Stiles had bags under his eyes, and sadness across his features.