But apparently he wasn’t. And now it suddenly made sense why Lydia was so depressed. It made sense why she was miserable and felt like she looked awful, because although Isaac knew he was reassuring her, he didn’t know he was the only one doing it. “He totally sees it,” Isaac said firmly, and there was no doubt in his mind that that was true. Stiles saw it. Isaac knew Stiles saw it, the guy wasn’t blind and he already had an attachment to Lydia in the past. “...I don’t know why he’s not saying it. But he sees it, Lydia. He’s not fucking blind, everybody can see it. Hey.” His brow pinched a little in frustration and when she looked so defeated he took her chin in his hand and lifted it a little to meet his eyes. He stared at her with a directness that was hard for Isaac to do, because he had gone so long purposefully avoiding eye contact. “Right now it doesn’t matter. Nothing matters, alright? He’s not here right now, and later you can worry about what he does or doesn’t see - I know if I asked him what he thought he would tell me that you looked amazing but that’s beside the point - right now all that matters is that I’m telling you, you look great, Lydia. I’m telling you that you look beautiful, and sexy and cute and just-” His eyes moved down to that fucking shirt and he hated himself for even looking, but it was the second time he trailed off and decided it was best if he didn’t say his thoughts aloud. “Everything. You encompass everything that’s just so… attractive, I don’t even know how to say it.” Without using the word ‘fuckable’ and honestly, Isaac wasn’t trying to get hit.
He let his hand fall away from her chin so he could take her hand, shyly brushing her fingertips with his own before twining them. “I’m telling you that. And you know I would never lie to you, Lydia. Even to make you feel better, I wouldn’t lie to you.”
Lydia shook her head. “No Isaac, he doesn’t,” she said firmly, a frown in place. “It’s not that he’s not saying it, it’s that he’s literally asking me what I want him to say. If he saw it...he wouldn’t need to ask. He doesn’t see it, he wants to say the right thing, so he asks. Which, you know, honestly just makes it even worse than if he just didn’t say anything at all,” she concluded, depressingly sure of her answer’s accuracy.
It surprised her a little to have Isaac lift her chin, but she let him, looking both confused and engaged as she looked back at him. He trailed off again and Lydia didn’t miss it this time, either. She wasn’t sure if he’d lost his train of thought this time or had cut it off like last time, but either way it left her hanging.