Lesson #11: Learn how to dance

The problem at hand was making me nauseous. Here I was, a beautiful girl finally showing me attention, but my eyes kept falling on someone else, no matter how many times I tried to stop myself. When his laugh reached my ears, my eyes traveled to him, because I wanted to see that smile. When he got up to get something to drink, my eyes followed his every move. I was struggling to focus on the original plan.

"Hey, Stiles," Lydia said, sitting down on the couch next to me. Scott, Isaac, Boyd, and Derek were sitting on the floor playing Mario Kart. Scott was winning, but that was due to him spending all of his free time only playing video games. "You playing winners?" she wondered, teasingly.

"I think Isaac's losing," I laughed, glancing at her to see her pretty smile. It didn't have the same effect on me as Derek's, but the more I got to know her, it would. I was sure of it. "Scott and Derek would kick my ass for sure, but I might be able to beat Boyd."

The boys were too busy fighting it out for first place to hear me teasing them. Lydia chuckled, shaking her head as she watched them scream and yell at each other. When she turned back to me, her voice was lower, so that they definitely couldn't hear her. "Can I talk to you for a minute?" she wondered, gesturing to the kitchen. My heart immediately started racing. Why did she want to talk to me alone? And what about Derek telling me to play hard to get? Should I go with her? "It's nothing bad," she assured me, as if she could sense how uneasy I felt. I probably showed it on my face. I wasn't good at masking my emotions.

"Alright," I agreed, letting her take my hand to lead me into the kitchen. Derek's eyes caught mine as she led me away, but I couldn't read his expression. I was sure he'd kick me about it later, because I wasn't really playing hard to get. If Lydia wanted to be alone with me, I wasn't going to object. No matter how confused I was about my feelings.

Once we were alone, she hoisted herself up on the kitchen counter, just sitting there quietly for a long time. I put my hands in my pockets, unsure of what to do. Was I supposed to start the conversation? I had no idea how to talk to girls, especially pretty ones who usually wanted nothing to do with me. "Can I ask you something?" she started, already making my heart race again. What was she going to ask me? My palms were sweating inside my pockets, I was so nervous.

"Yeah, sure," I replied, swallowing the lump in my throat. Suddenly, I wished Derek was there to tell me what to say. Or maybe to change the conversation around, so I wasn't making a fool of myself. "What's up?"

She hesitated, a small smirk playing around the corners of her mouth. "I don't want to assume anything, or make you uncomfortable. . . but I've noticed that Derek has been acting strange lately. And I've noticed how much you've changed. The new clothes, joining the lacrosse team, that weird head nod thing you and Derek have going on. I was just wondering. . . are you two close?" It seemed to be a harmless question. Or you would think, by the way she was innocently smiling at me, as if she wasn't asking if Derek and I were basically dating.

I was at a loss for words. I had no idea how to even reply to that question. I wanted to jump off a bridge or something. Go into hiding for the rest of my life. Anything other than answer that question. Lucky for me, the door flung open and saved me from having to answer. But unfortunately, that was where my luck stopped, because it was Derek who walked into the kitchen. "What are you two kids up to?" he asked, innocently. His shoulder brushed past mine as he moved towards the fridge. It was a small kitchen, so I didn't mention it.

"We're having a conversation, which doesn't include your input," Lydia retorted, rolling her eyes at his nosy self.

He laughed, his eyes lingering on me for a few seconds too long before he looked at her. "My bad," he said, grabbing a drink from the fridge. "I was just thirsty. But I guess I'll leave you to it." Again, as he passed by, his shoulder brushed mine. Maybe I was reading too much into it, but that was weird, wasn't it? The way Lydia was looking at me confirmed my thoughts.

She waited until Derek was long gone before raising an eyebrow in my direction. "So, are you?" she asked again, leaving me no option to get out of it this time.

I tried to find a way around the question, but I was coming up blank. I had to tell some form of the truth. "I wouldn't say that we're close," I argued, adding an extra shrug. "I sometimes help him with his homework, but that's about it. Why do you ask?"

She gave me a suggestive look, like she knew something I didn't know. "I'm not stupid, Stiles," she countered, narrowing her eyes at me. "I know my best friend. Something's up, but you're the only thing that has changed. Unless there's something else I don't know."

"What are you implying?" I retorted, trying to cover up my nerves with a fake annoyance. I was nervous about talking to her, but now I was nervous because she was making me talk about Derek. He was the last thing I wanted to talk about with her.

She sighed, jumping off the counter to get closer to me. "I'm implying that you two have something going on, but he's keeping it from me. I may seem like a stupid, popular girl, but I'm actually very smart. I notice things, even the smallest details. He's been a lot happier lately. He was actually excited to watch lacrosse tryouts, which baffled me. He hasn't been hanging out with me lately. It has to be you. He likes you, doesn't he?"

Now I was very much overwhelmed. She was talking too fast in that accusatory tone of voice and it was making my head spin. Derek didn't like me, and he never did. We were just friends, if that. I probably ruined us being friends by being too awkward. "No, he likes someone else!" I blurted out, trying to put some distance between us. I realized that Lydia may have been too much for me to handle. Maybe having her as my girlfriend wasn't the smartest idea I'd ever had. But she was beautiful, and smart, and clearly she cared about her friends if she was this worried about Derek. Or maybe she was just being nosy. Derek would have told her about Brett if he wanted her to know.

She put her hands on her hips, her eyebrows raised. "Oh?" she answered, stepping closer after I had put some space between us. I was against the table, so I had nowhere else to go. "Who?"

I had to lie my way out of this one. I couldn't just go around telling all of Derek's secrets. "I have no idea," I mumbled, trying to scoot back even more, but the table was in my path. "He didn't tell me anything, I just saw a text from someone by accident when I was helping him with homework the other day."

She twirled a piece of hair around her finger, smiling flirtatiously. "So, if you're not with Derek. . . you're single?"

Did she just ask that? Lydia Martin just asked me if I was single. There was no way. I stared back at her, my mouth probably hanging open. I froze. She waved her hand in front of my face to bring me back to reality. "I-I mean, yeah. Yeah, I'm single."

"You want to be my date to a party this weekend?" she asked, a cute but mischievous smile on her lips. "Derek is going with me too."

I almost immediately said yes, until I remembered that I was supposed to be taking Erica. I couldn't just ditch her. Anyways, Derek told me to play hard to get when it came to Lydia. That's what I was going to do. "Sorry, I'm going with someone else. Maybe next time," I offered, a sad excuse for a smile on my face as I tried to get away from her. I was tired of all the interrogations.

Lydia tried to object, but I was already out of there. I took my place back on the couch, hoping she wouldn't come back to sit next to me. I still wanted to take her on a date, make her my girlfriend, or whatever. She was just going to be a challenge. Girls were like that, I guess.

"Guys, I think I'm done," Derek was saying, as he handed his controller off to Allison. "I'll just watch the next few games." He stood up off the ground and turned to face the couch, raising an eyebrow at me before gesturing to the spot next to me. "Seat taken?"

I bit back a small smile and shook my head. "Be my guest." He plopped down on the cushion next to me, maybe a little too close. Lydia had just walked back into the room as he sat down. Her eyes found mine easily as she smirked. I rolled my eyes and looked away from her judgmental glare.

After a few hours of pizza and video games, everyone was tired and decided to go home. Derek and I were the last to leave. We said goodbye to Scott and then went out to Derek's car. It took a few minutes of us driving before he said anything. "I'll pick you up for school in the morning, since your car is in the parking lot," he offered. I guess since Lydia knew Derek and I were acquaintances it wouldn't hurt anything if I rode to school with him.

"Okay, thanks," I answered, giving him a small smile as I glanced over at me. He took one hand of the wheel and rested it on the middle console. I have no idea why my mind went straight to the image of us holding hands, but I quickly pushed it away. "Did you have a good night?"

"Yeah, I did," he answered, turning down the radio so we could talk. "What did you and Lydia talk about?" he wondered, giving me a suggestive eyebrow wiggle. I rolled my eyes and smacked his arm playfully. "It looked serious," he accused.

"No," I laughed, brushing that comment off. I wasn't going to tell him the whole truth. He didn't need to know that Lydia assumed we were together. "She, uh- she asked me to go to the party with her this weekend."

He looked surprised when I said it, glancing between me and the road as if he were waiting for me to say more. "Well what the hell did you say?" he demanded, impatiently.

"I said no," I replied, shrugging it off. "I'm taking Erica."

It seemed he forgot about that, because when I mentioned it, he made an O shape with his mouth and sighed softly. "At least you're playing hard to get," he teased, elbowing my ribs playfully. I shoved him away, carefully, because he was driving and I didn't feel like actually dying. Maybe metaphorically, but not for real. "Listen, two lessons in one day. Lesson number 11: learn how to dance."

If I had been drinking something, it would have been spit all over the dashboard. Dancing? Hah. No way in hell. "Yeah, that's a big fat no," I retorted, shaking my head. There was no way I was learning how to dance. I practically had two left feet!

"Too bad," he argued, pulling up in front of my house. I wasn't getting out until we talked about this more. "If you want to look cool at this party, you have to be able to dance."

"No!" I was not going to humiliate myself in front of him while he tried to teach me something I would never pick up. There was no way. "Derek, I can't-"

He shut off the car, unbuckling his seat belt. "You can't, or you won't?" he retorted, getting out of the car. For a second, I just sat there, frozen. I had no clue what he was doing, until he was flinging my door open and leaning over me to undo my seat belt. "Here's a quick mini-lesson, but we'll go into detail tomorrow after my homework." He dragged me out of the car, shutting the door behind me. Once he dragged me onto my lawn, he wrapped his arms rather aggressively around my neck and pulled me against him. "Slow dancing isn't usually done at parties as much as at prom, or some cheesy shit like that. However, there is a type of slow dance that IS done at parties pretty often."

I almost felt like crying in that moment. "Derek, I really don't want to," I complained, my arms at my sides as he rolled his eyes. My heart was racing as he pulled me closer, our face inches apart. I wanted this to be over so I could avoid the embarrassment.

He chuckled a little, grabbing my hands to force me to place them on his hips. "And I really don't care," he retorted, yanking me closer until our forehead were practically touching. Now, you're playing the role of the guy in this scenario. I'm the girl, so I move a little more than you do. All you have to do is follow my movements." He loosened his grip on my neck, but his hands stayed behind my neck. His face was inches from mine the whole time. It was fine for a minute, while I stood there, but then he started to move his hips in a way that made it sort of hard for me to breathe. Never in my life had I ever felt that way just by watching someone move. "Stiles, if you don't move with me, I look like an idiot."

"I-I don't know," I mumbled, but he grabbed my hips with one hand and jerked me towards him, until I started to move with him. It was really awkward, but I did it for him. He was only trying to help. How was he supposed to know that my feelings for him were really getting in the way of our plan to get Lydia to fall in love with me? How was he supposed to know that watching him move his hips like that was making me feel all sorts of things I never knew I could feel? "Is this okay?"

He smiled, almost seductively, unless I imagined that part. "It's great, Stiles," he praised, slowly letting his arms slide away from me. "You've got that one down. Tomorrow, we'll go over dirty dancing, and the stupid dances that people who don't know how to dance do at parties."

My body almost felt numb, or a sensation close to that. After his touch left me, I couldn't move. "O-Okay," I mumbled, watching him walk back to his car.

He looked over the top of his car at me, giving me a grin. "I'll see you in the morning. I'm bringing breakfast!" I smiled back, trying to ignore my racing heartbeat. He climbed into his car and started it up, but he didn't drive away until I was inside my house. My dad was already in bed, so I went straight up to my room and took a shower before crawling into bed. While I slept, my dreams were filled with the scene from the lawn. Derek's arms around my neck, his hips swaying to the music in his head, and our faces so close we could have kissed.