About an hour after Derek fell asleep, I decided to sleep on the floor. There were a few reasons, but the main one was the kiss. I was afraid Derek would wake up and remember that he kissed me, and then things would get awkward fast. If I was on the floor when he woke up, Maybe he would think he had just dreamed it or something. Another reason was because Derek was a bed hog, so I was going to end up getting pushed off the bed anyways. 

The next morning, I was awake way before Derek. I thought about just leaving and going home to avoid any potential awkwardness, but then I remembered that Lydia had his car and he probably wanted it back. I was going to volunteer to take him because I really needed to talk to Lydia. I laid on the floor, scrolling through social media, until eventually Derek sat up in bed with a groan. "Good morning," I teased, setting my phone to the side so I could talk to him. 

"Mornin," he grumbled, rubbing his eyes groggily. "Why are you on the floor? I would have shared the bed," he said, finally looking at me with a confused stare. 

I waved him off, trying to determine how much he remembered. Clearly, he didn't remember that he actually did offer me the bed, so maybe he didn't remember the kiss either. "I didn't want to share the bed with a bedhog," I teased, making him smile. "I thought maybe once you get woken up, I'd take you over to Lydia's to pick up your car. Sound okay?"

He stretched his arms over his head, followed by a yawn. "Maybe we could get breakfast first?" he asked, throwing his legs over the side of the bed to finally get up. He looked incredibly adorable, even hung over. "I think I should probably eat something."

I laughed, standing up as he got out of bed. "I think you're probably right. Why don't you get dressed and meet me downstairs?"

"Okay," he agreed, slipping past me to get to his dresser. I held my breath to keep from blushing and hurried out of there before he could start stripping. 

Downstairs, I was met by Cora and Talia both, sitting the the kitchen table sipping coffee as they gossiped about some girls at school, who's names I recognized but didn't know. They stopped when they saw me, their eyes staring into mine suspiciously. "I wasn't aware you stayed over last night," Talia said, her eyes following me as I moved to sit at the other end of the table. "What time did you boys get in?"

Cora was smirking, but I ignored her. "Oh, not too late. Around midnight, probably," I answered, trying my best to keep Derek out of trouble. "Maybe earlier."

"Interesting," Talia remarked, taking a sip of coffee to hide her own smirk. I was saved from their questioning by Derek announcing his presence while coming down the stairs. 

"Stiles, I'm starving!" he complained, fighting with the shirt that was halfway over his head. He finally pulled it down over his torso and smiled awkwardly as his family. "You guys look suspicious," he noted, grabbing my arm to get me up from the table. "I don't even want to know why. Stiles and I are going to grab some breakfast. See you," he said, and then he dragged me out to my Jeep and we set off towards one of our favorite diners in town. 

"So," I started, once we were sitting in a booth and Derek had his cup of coffee in front of him. "Do you remember what happened last night?" I asked, trying not to pry too much, in case he didn't want to talk about it. 

Derek shrugged, avoiding eye contact. "You mean do I remember when Brett and I got into that fight?" he retorted, shifting uncomfortably. I was silent, because of course that was what I meant. Derek sighed, finally looking at me again. "Yeah, we both had a few drinks in us. He was angry with me because I. . . I was talking about another guy and he thought I had feelings for him. I was just rambling because I was drunk, but he got so mad."

I bit the inside of my cheek, holding back my opinions about Brett. "Has he tried talking to you since last night?" I wondered, glancing at his phone as it sat face down on the table. 

"I haven't  looked at my phone yet," he admitted, sliding it over to me. "If he texted me, could you delete it for me? I don't think I can talk to him yet." 

I slowly took his phone, lifting it to see the screen light up with messages from Lydia, and two from Brett. As much as I wanted to read them, I typed in Derek's password and glanced past the messages to delete them both. "Lydia also texted you. She wants to know if you're okay."

Derek reached for his phone, so I handed it back to him. "I'll talk to her when we get to her house," he said, sliding his phone into his pocket. "Thank you, by the way. For last night." He looked much less uncomfortable now that we weren't talking about Brett. "I don't remember a lot, but I remember you were there for me."

"It was no big deal. That's what friends are for," I said, feeling queasy. I would have done it for any of my friends, sure, but when I saw Brett put his hands on Derek, and over protective feeling washed over me. That had never happened before with Scott. I knew he could take care of himself, and I knew Derek could too, but it felt different. 

After we ate our food and changed the conversation topic to something a little lighter, we hopped back into the Jeep and set off towards Lydia's house. I shot her a text before we left letting her know we were on our way, just so we didn't take her by surprise. We when arrived, she was standing on her porch with Derek's keys in her hand. "Hey boys," she greeted us with a wide smile. 

"Thanks for not totaling my car," Derek teased, catching the keys in his hands as she threw them. He turned back to Stiles, hesitating before asking, "So I guess I'll see you later then?"

I wanted to hang out with him, but I also really needed to talk to Lydia. I gave Derek a guilty smile, nodding. "Yeah, I'll text you later tonight, okay?" 

"Okay," Derek answered, giving Lydia a smile before leaving us alone. I waited until Derek was in his car and driving away before I turned to talk to Lydia. 

"You look like you want to talk about something," she observed, raising an eyebrow. "Want to come in?" 

"Sure," I agreed, nervously walking through the door into Lydia's house. I was afraid to bring up the topic of conversation I wanted to speak to her about, but I knew there was no going back now. I was in Lydia Martin's house, and for once, I wasn't thinking about kissing her. "So, uh, I actually need your advice about something," I started, once she shut the door and they were facing each other. 

"Of course, I'm happy to help," she agreed with a smile. "Do you wanna sit? We can go up to my room," she offered. I nodded, following her up the stairs to her bedroom. Once we were seated on her bed, a few feet apart, she gave me a knowing look, as if she already had an idea of what I wanted to talk about. "So, what's going on, Stiles?"

"Well," I mumbled, staring at her purple sheets as I tried to work up the nerve to tell her what I hadn't been able to tell anyone out loud, not even myself. "I. . . I like Derek," I finally got out. For a moment there was silence, so I looked up, meeting Lydia's eyes. She was smiling, which made me feel a little less anxious. "You were right, the other day, when you said I had changed. I didn't realize it then because I was fixated on this. . . girl- but now I can't stop thinking about him and I don't know what to do about it. He's still with Brett, I think, even after last night."

"This girl," she repeated, leaning forward with a slight smirk. "That was me, wasn't it?"

I wanted to deny it, but there was no point now. She needed the truth if she was going to help me win Derek over. "If I'm being totally honest, it was you, Lydia. I think you're the most beautiful girl I've ever laid eyes on and I thought that I wanted to be with you, but I hardly even know you. Derek, on the other hand-" I trailed off, lost in thought. 

"I get it," Lydia replied with a shrug. "So you want me to help you get Derek now, is that right?" she assumed, correctly. She didn't seem opposed to it, so I felt better about asking already. 

"We've been coming up with these lessons every week. . . lessons to make me cooler so that you would notice me," I started explaining, suddenly feeling so stupid. "He helped me change my clothes, my friends, my dancing. You get it." Lydia was still listening, not really showing any signs of judgement, but I still felt ridiculous saying it all out loud. "And through all of that, I slowly realized that I really like him. I tried to deny it at first, but now I can't. After last night, I don't want anyone else. But if he's still with Brett-"

"Brett isn't good for him," Lydia cut me off, shaking her head in clear disappointment. "Even before he hurt Derek, I never approved. Derek didn't ever seem to like him, but he dated him anyways. I never understood why." She stood up off her bed, pacing around the room as if in thought. "I think we can help Derek see that Brett's not the right guy for him using the same method he was using to help you get me. Let's just pick up where you guys left off."

"Well, we only made it to lesson 14, which technically Erica gave to me, and it wasn't a very good one." Erica had told me to have fun at the party, which didn't really happen, since I was worried about Derek the whole night. 

"Okay, well the next one will be simple," she said, taking a notebook out of her drawer before sitting back down next to me. She scribbled some words into the notebook and then looked at me again with a grin. "Lesson 15 is all about switching teams," she told me, setting the notebook down to the side. "What does this mean, you ask? Let me tell you." She scooted closer to me, as if that would help her explain. "Everything Derek has taught you only works with girls like me. So we have to take all of that and turn it around to fit the other team. Aka, you have to be more gay."

I laughed, shaking my head at her. "Lydia, I'm pretty sure liking a dude makes me pretty gay, doesn't it?" I teased. 

"Not if Derek doesn't know that you like him," she argued, thumping my my shoulder a little too hard. "First things first, you have got to go back to acting like your old self. Derek doesn't like fake people, and he only helped you change yourself so that I would like you. Which could have worked, by the way, if it hadn't been obvious that you had the hots for my best friend."

"Obvious?!" I retorted, suddenly worried that I hadn't been as downlow as I thought I had been. 

Lydia rolled her eyes. "Obvious to me," she clarified. "You weren't interested in me, even when you were trying to act like you were."  She started scribbling more things in her notebook, finally looking back at Stiles with her eyes narrowed. "Okay, so for this to work, I think you have to tell Derek that you're done trying to get with me. You want to take a break from relationships and focus on your friendship with him. We'll come up with some ways you can take him on dates without him knowing it's a date. This could work, you just have to be able to keep what we're doing a secret."

"I can do that," I agreed, suddenly feeling very nervous about this whole situation. When it was Derek helping me get Lydia, it wasn't as nerve wracking, probably because I wasn't so close to Lydia. Now, the thought of rejection killed me. If Derek didn't want me, I wasn't sure what I would do. 

"Great," Lydia chirped, giving me a smile. "Then we'll meet after school a couple times a week to go over the game plan. Meanwhile, you keep hanging out with Derek and using that charm you have to make him fall in love with you," she teased, pinching my cheeks as I tried desperately to get away from her. "Are you going to hang out with Derek tonight?" she wondered, after she had stopped trying to harass me while she laughed about it. 

"I want to," I admitted with a small shrug. "But I think he might need some time after what happened last night. I'll text him later." I dragged myself off her bed, making sure I had all of my things before I could leave. "Thanks for helping me with this, Lyds. Even knowing about the weird crush I had on you only a couple of weeks ago," I added with a hint of embarrassment. 

She laughed, giving me a small hug before pulling away with a reassuring look on her face. "It's alright, a lot of people have crushes on me. But I'm glad you came to your senses. Derek is a great guy who deserves to be happy. I think you could make him very happy."

"I hope so," I mumbled, opening the door to leave. "So I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow," she agreed with a small smile. I returned the smile before leaving Lydia's and climbing into my Jeep to go home. I texted Derek as soon as I got home, asking if he wanted to hang out later that night, but I never received an answer.