Lightning of Her Skin

"Now you're scared?" The sour-faced man shot at her over his shoulder very suddenly. Sophia wanted to punch him for the stupid, obvious question. They were being circled by two, red-eyed and angry looking wolves that, for some incomprehensible reason, were not attacking. When there was a lack of response the man said, "you weren't scared before. Your heartbeat was steady."

"How the hell do you know about my heartbeat strange man?" Sophia yelled back as her sentence coincided with another jarring howl from the wolf in front of her. Stiles rolled his eyes in panicked annoyance,

"Derek! Sophia! Really? Lovely that you're getting to know each other, having this heart-to-heart and all but can we please focus on the fact that we are being stalked by wolves!?" The trio said nothing after that. They just stood posed in a stand off with wolves. If you had asked Sophia what she thought California might hold for her this would never have entered her wild imagination. Sun, sea and sand had been pretty high on the list although clearly that was not the case for this North California town. Her thoughts, surprisingly coherent, snapped back towards the situation when there was yet more rustling of the leaf decorated forest floor. Three men, one being Isaac Lahey of all people and Scott, were suddenly lurking in the shadows as if they had been there the entire time.

"When I say run, you run. And Sophia? Shoot." 'Derek' ordered her abruptly. As if on cue, or strangely as if understanding, the wolves instantly bounded towards them with vicious growling. Goosebumps rose on her skin. A wolf leapt. A shot rang out. It had caught the wolf in the shoulder and with a whimper it fell back, not expecting the hit. Stiles grabbed her arm and bolted away from the scene, not looking back once. Sophia took heed and was soon matching this mysterious, gangly boy of her in speed. By the time they reached the main road where Stiles' trusty jeep was parked up both were panting heavily. She leant against the hood of the car for support.

"What" a pant, "are you doing" another pant, "outside?" Stiles also tried holding himself but failed. Using his arm as a lever he pressed his fingertips in to the side of his car for grip and dragged himself closer to the girl who had risked her life when he'd expressly told her not to.

"I'm sorry but what?" There was a querying look sent his way. Did he really expect her to stay inside just because he said so, without any back-up evidence at all? Although now she could see why he'd asked she was definitely going to trust his judgement a little more. In fact, it was kind of sweet that he'd even thought to attempt to keep her safe at all, "that was not at all what I expected!" She signalled towards the Preserve with a vague wave, keeping her keen eyes trained on him, analysing him for any dishonesty.

"What did you expect?"

"That your dad was doing some big raid and it was going to get nasty or something!"

Stiles paused a moment, chewing on his lip, "... that probably would've been a very sensible explanation. Listen Sophia. I know you want some kind of explanation-"

Quickly she cut him off, holding up her hand to stop him. She just resisted putting her finger to his lips in a cheesy 'movie moment' move, "I don't want to know. Something tells me I won't like whatever you tell me so just keep it to yourself. I'm perfectly content in thinking that you hunt dangerous animals and that's the reason you've been distracted." Even as she was saying this however, her eyes widened imploringly at him, begging him to affirm her guesses. With a heave of his shoulders, Stiles gave her a broad smile that belied the sigh. He threw an arm around her shoulder and tucked her in tight. Sophia wove an arm around his waist and allowed him to take her to the passenger side of the car,

"I help as much as I can. I research and usually go along for the ride. Now tell me why you have a gun and I'll try and persuade you not to carry one."

On the car ride back to Sophia's house (there was no way she was going to the party exhausted and with muddy feet from the shoes she'd lost somewhere) Stiles had come through on his persuasion albeit unsuccessfully. Once she'd told him that having a gun helped her feel closer to her father when he was away because he'd taught her (this was half a lie, it just made her feel powerful mostly) Stiles had instantly shut up. Guilt overwhelmed her though when he balefully admitted that sometimes he'd hold his mother's old shirt when he felt lonely. The rest was silence until they stood outside her door, with Stiles being a gentleman and ensuring she got there safely.

"I think I could like you Stiles." Sophia said distractedly, as if she hadn't really meant to say it at all. In fact, judging by her detached staring off in to the distance, she wasn't even aware that she'd said it, "despite or maybe because of all the mystery." It was a mere murmur but a murmur loud enough for him to catch. Blinking and with his face making God knows what expression, his mouth moving like a goldfish he stuttered out,

"Could like me? As in, in a 'yeah let's stay at home and make out' kind of way? Or in a 'let's have lunch to discuss comics' kind of way? Because I'm fine with both you know. You seem awesome either way and don't want to feel like we're rushing-" whatever other ramblings could come out of his mouth next were mercifully cut off. Sophia, with an amused twinkle sparkling behind her glasses, had taken the initiative. From the moment they'd met she had wondered what the boy with the invisible conversation partner had tasted like. Were his lips as soft as they looked? Where would those appealingly large hands go? They had been passing questions that she hadn't really thought of again until now.

His lips were as soft as they looked as they tentatively responded to hers. He kept the pressure light, giving her full control of the kiss, giving her the options of going a bit further or pulling away. The baffling presence of chivalry in this light, impulsive kiss only fuelled another kind of impulse. Eagerly she pressed herself in to him, wrapping her arms around his neck and giving the control over to him. He didn't disappoint. One hand settled on her neck and an entire arm snaked around her waist, hugging her so tightly she swore she could feel his stomach through her dress. The taste of him was a heady mix of the gum he'd obviously eaten and something she couldn't define.

When they pulled apart she stared at him, hands on his shoulders, not quite knowing what to say or where that came from. What she'd done hit her suddenly. She blushed furiously, her entire neck and face aflame.

"Well bye!" She yelped, shot inside and slammed the door in his blinking, dazed face.