From Ashes [#?]

?????? ???? [ pavlov's bell. ]

Maddie groaned at the words immediately as the strawberry blonde trailed off. The brunette strode over to the blue plastic bin and picked up the eye. She wasn't sure if it was to rear the conversation in a more productive direction or just to distract Lydia from talking about any type of longing. "We're really not, though."

"So, you and Stiles?"

The tiny glass eye slipped from Maddie's fingers as she gawked at Lydia. The moment she heard the tiny click of it hitting the wooden floorboards, she was on the ground rushing to grab it again. Luckily it hadn't gone far and the slayer found herself standing and straightening her shirt as casually as possible.

"What?" Maddie asked, even though it didn't sound like a question. It sounded more like an accusation.

Lydia raised her eyebrows but her eyes didn't leave the book. "Stiles. He was just here, since you're, you know, attached at the hip."

"Please not you, too," Maddie found herself mumbling. It wasn't the first time someone had made such outrageous presumptions about her and Stiles. Periodically, it seemed to keep happening. From several different people. Who were all extremely ill informed.

"You really don't know how bad that sounds, do you?" Finally, Lydia glanced up at the girl, her stare flat. "Oh, come on. There's a reason people keep saying it."

She was right. In fact, she found it popping back into her thoughts all night. She'd have loved to pretend that she didn't notice how often he was looking at her. How he'd wait after school to give her a ride home. How he'd get that dopey grin and start fumbling over words whenever they would spend more than a couple of minutes alone. The Wonder Woman book was warning; nearly dying because he was distracted by looking at her was a god damned flashing neon sign. "I know, okay? I know. He's not really subtle."

"Um, hello. I know this better than anyone. Believe me." Lydia laughed slightly as if she was almost endeared by it but then cleared her throat, suddenly laser focused on Maddie. "But I'm not talking about him so much as you. You're the obvious one."

Maddie quirked an eyebrow as she sat the eye down, her plan having failed miserably. "I'm sorry, what?"

"You like him." She had put it so plainly that she made it sound like fact. There was no teasing tone like with Allison and no persistence like with Erica. Lydia must not have felt like she needed to sugarcoat it.

She was still wrong.

Maddie crossed her arms and turned away, pacing toward the far wall lined with full cardboard boxes. She focused on the one that had a plastic tree branch poking out of it. She wondered for a second what Christmas was like at the Argents'. She hadn't gotten the chance to celebrate. "He's my friend. That requires a substantial bit of like."

"That wasn't a no."

"I think it was a pretty clear no." Maddie's voice was betraying her resolve; her annoyance was seeping through, turning the words jagged.

"Really? Then what's this?" Lydia asked. Maddie whirled around and her eyes grew wider as she stared at the woman fighting a dragon on the glossy book cover. "Because it looks like a comic book to me."

"Graphic novel." Why did she say that? Right. Xander.

"I don't care. Where did you get it from?" Regardless of her words, Lydia's tone wasn't mean, but more concerned. Maybe a little exasperated.

"Stiles," the name spilled from her mouth before she could catch it and reel it back in. Not that saying any other name wouldn't sound like a lie.

"Did you ask to borrow it?"