be your own anchor.

[I feel bad too ]

Jocelyn grinned widely. "I still beat you." She said. "It doesn't matter if I beat you by a few seconds or not, it still happened." And she would probably, just to be an asshole, remind him of that constantly. She'd probably never let him forget it actually. That was just how she was sometimes. She wasn't kidding when she said she could be a major pain in the ass when she wanted to be. "I'm probably going to go get a cup of coffee or something...if you want to come?" What should have been a statement, came out more like a question. Her lower lip caught between her teeth as she looked over to him.

---

Stiles had had a thing for Lydia Martin since the third grade. It didn't matter that the redhead strawberry blonde hadn't even given him the time of day until recently, she had just kind of always been perfect in his eyes. But Emily had always been there, and maybe that was why he'd never really given it a second thought. He took for granted that he'd always have her around. Grinning widely, he nodded. "Wait a second, was that some twisted way of giving me a compliment, Potts?" He teased.

[This is like one of the worst feelings.]

Derek shook his head at her. "Yeah, but next time I'm going to beat you. Trust me on that one," he said, giving a shrug of his shoulders. He watched her, quirking a brow as the amusement was obvious on his face. "Coffee honestly sounds perfect right about now," he said easily. Okay, so maybe it was bad that there was a part of him that was agreeing solely because she was like Paige reincarnated, but he was also just interested in her. And he never turned down coffee.

---

"I'm not really seeing how it was twisted, Stilinski," Emily said, shaking her head at him. "I'm pretty sure that I was saying that she'd be stupid to not say yes to you." Would Lydia sit through all three original Star Wars movies with him? Would she argue with him about werewolf lore? Would she be able to help him out and keep him calm, and ease away his anxiety? She wasn't quite sure, and that didn't sit well with her. Stiles needed someone that knew him, and that appreciated him.

[It's horrible. ]

"I'll believe it when I see it." Jocelyn said, a slight grin tugging at the corners of her lips. She honestly wouldn't doubt that he'd beat her next time, he probably would, and she was still honestly pretty surprised that he hadn't beat her this time around. She was honestly expecting to lose that race, even if she had gotten a head start. Not that it was a fair head start, because it certainly wasn't, but no one ever said that she played fair. "Great." She smiled.

---

"A lot of things are twisted when they come from you, Potts." Stiles said teasingly. "Alright, maybe it wasn't twisted at all, but it was still a compliment coming from you. I might need to write this down somewhere. It's an important event in history." He grinned slightly. He loved teasing her, and how they joked around. He could always have a good laugh when he was with her.

[I feel bad for this. Oops.]

Derek shook his head at her, smirking slightly. "Well, it looks like we'll just have to do this again tomorrow so I can prove myself to you," he said. He ran a hand through his hair, glancing down the rest of the path. There wasn't much more of it. "So did you have a specific place in mind to go to? Because I know of a couple of places that you might like, if you're not familiar with it here yet."

---

Emily shook her head at him. "You're so full of shit, Stiles. I compliment you all the time. I don't know what you're talking about," she said, grinning up at him. This was what he needed. Someone that could make him laugh and take his mind off of things. Although she really couldn't imagine Lydia making jokes specifically to get him to laugh. "So are we actually going to eat the food or just stand here and let it get cold?"

"I guess we will." Jocelyn said, shrugging her shoulders. "It's only fair that you have the opportunity to possibly redeem yourself." She smirked slightly. There wasn't much left of the path now, and they'd probably be back to the road in no time at all. She shrugged her shoulders in response to his words. "I really don't know of any places around here just yet. I could really just go for a nice cup of coffee." She let out a quiet laugh.

---

"You? Complimenting me?" Stiles asked in obvious disbelief. "I'm pretty sure that it'll be a cold day in hell when you start complimenting me 24/7, Em." He grinned slightly. "If anything, you wound my ego, which is actually fairly small to begin with." Of course, he was only kidding. Emily always did get him in higher spirits, and he really did have a good laugh when he was with her. She was a great friend. An amazing one actually. "We could have been eating it already if you weren't so hellbent on paying." He shot a playful glare her way before going to grab some plates from the kitchen.

"Possibly? I'm going to beat you. Trust me on that," Derek said. For the first time in as long as he could remember, he felt relaxed. Okay, well not totally relaxed, but much more relaxed than he had been in years. He felt normal just talking to her. He liked it. He liked it a lot. "That's fine. There's one not too far from here. It has pretty good coffee," he said, suddenly trying to remember where they were located. He never went to those coffee shops, so he wasn't totally sure. But he was kind of remembering one that was close. He thought he did, at least.

---

"Shut up, Stiles. It's not that big of a deal," Emily muttered, shaking her head at him. She crossed her arms, smirking faintly as she watched him. She gave a nod of her head, waiting until he turned away before she let her smirk fall into a frown. She needed to stop it. She felt awful for being annoyed that he was so excited to ask Lydia out, but she couldn't help herself. Lydia didn't understand him, and she was sure that it wouldn't end well. But Stiles just looked so happy, and who was she to get in the way of that?

Jocelyn shrugged. "Like I said before, I'll believe it when I see it." She said, a slight smirk tugging at the corners of her lips. She honestly liked how carefree and light this conversation was. It was nice, and she actually felt really comfortable around him. It was kind of strange, seeing as they'd only met for the first time a few days earlier, but it was still nice nonetheless. "Lead the way then." She smiled.

---

Stiles laughed quietly. "I'm only joking around, Em. Lighten up a little." He nudged her lightly in the side as he walked past her. He was completely oblivious to how she was feeling right now. He really had just never given it much thought before. Of course, he cared about her, and he cared about her feelings in turn, but he hadn't really ever thought that him liking Lydia would bother her. It had just never crossed his mind before.

Derek rolled his eyes at her, letting out a low laugh. He was half tempted to win just to get her to stop teasing him. Although, he liked this too much to really want it to stop. "It's this way," he said, running a hand through his hair. "I uh, I haven't been to this place in awhile, so I might be wrong about where it is exactly," he said sheepishly. "But I'm pretty sure that I have the general area."

---

"You know that's impossible for me," Emily replied, frowning to herself as her words fell flat. She needed to stop. Stiles was her best friend - aside from Scott, of course - and she needed to be there for him no matter what he wanted to do. Even if that meant helping him pursue Lydia freaking Martin. So maybe she was jealous that he liked Lydia instead of her. But she couldn't let that get to her. Stiles was most important, and his happiness. And that happiness apparently seemed to lie with Lydia.

"Well, I'm sure we'll be able to find it either way. There aren't many places to look." Jocelyn said, a smile on her face. Beacon Hills was small based off of any town standards, though it appeared to be even smaller seeing as she was used to living in big cities like Chicago and Los Angeles. "If you at least know the general area, I'm sure we can figure it out."

---

Stiles eyebrows knit together in confusion and his gaze shifted back over to her. He'd noticed her change in tone and demeanor. Something was off. He might have been oblivious to certain things, but he could tell when something was bothering her. He didn't know what it was, but it was definitely something. "Did I say something wrong?" He asked, wondering if he had done something. He didn't think that he had, but he couldn't really know for sure until she told him.