Gasoline • Martin.

14

Nathaniel Argent was not one for parties. In fact, he hated them. That's why he was confused when he went with his sister to Lydia Martin's house for her birthday. It may be because he wanted to make sure Allison was safe, or given the fact that he actually liked and tolerated Lydia.

When he arrived with Allison to the house, Lydia opened the door with a big smile on her face. Her eyes lit up when she saw her best friend. She opened the door wider for the two to come in, receiving a smile from Nate. "Happy birthday, Lydia."

He tried to stay away from Allison, Scott McCall and Stiles Stilinski but that proved hard when no one, besides the four of them, showed up to the party. Nate exited the big house and walked to talk to Allison, catching the last bit of their conversation.

"Or maybe nobody's coming because Lydia's turned into the town wack job." Nate, furious, stepped closer to them making Stiles froze when he felt a towering presence behind him. "Is your brother, isn't it?" Stiles asked Allison, visibly gulping.

"Be careful with your words, you douchebag." Stiles nodded, still giving him his back, afraid of what Nate Argent could do to him if he faced him. "We have to do something, because we've completely ignored her for the past two weeks."

Nate casted a glance at Lydia, who was at the other side of the pool, looking around for the guests to her party. "She's completely ignored Stiles the past ten years." Nate was amused that the Stilinski boy was so hung up on someone that didn't give him the time of the day.

"I prefer to think of it as me not having been on her radar yet." The explanation was kind of lame if you asked Nate. The Argent boy scoffed, making Stiles freeze in his spot once again. "Desperation is not a good look on you, Stilinski."

"We don't owe her a party," Scott said. Nate cleared his throat before walking around the three. "You continue to wallow in pity, I'm actually going to talk to her to see if she's fine."

Nate walked all the way to the strawberry blonde and leaned against the column opposite her. "Nice house." Nate mentally kicked himself for being awkward and horrible at socializing. He didn't know why talking to Lydia was so difficult for him sometimes.

"Thank you." Lydia smiled before speaking again. "And thank you for coming, I'm sure you had better things to do than coming here." Nate scoffed and looked up at the full moon. His eyes then gravitated for a moment to Scott before back to the girl standing in front of him.

"Nothing is more important than being at a friend's birthday."

The words surprised him; he almost fell in the pool. He haven't call anyone his friend in a long time, not since James was gone. It was the weirdest feeling to say that word out loud again, but it felt good, comforting.

"Thank you for being here."

•••

The party was in full swing after some calls were made and Nate was actually enjoying himself there. He was talking to people he didn't even know went to Beacon Hills. He drank cup after cup of the delicious punch Lydia prepared and soon enough, he was stumbling through the halls of the giant house.