"-Are you guys even listening to me?" Stiles asked suddenly, interrupting himself.
"I kind of tuned out as you said 'strawberry blonde hair'." She admitted, staring into their little bonfire.
"But that was at the beginning!" Stiles whined.
"Your point?" She looked over at him, with a raised eyebrow. The teenager just pouted at her.
Scott watched the two in front of him with amusement on his face.
Stiles had decided that another attempt to get the werewolf drunk - as a result of his terrible luck with Allison and his problematic life in general - was worth trying. And he brought her along because misery loves company, right?
Yet it looked like drunken misery only had room for one. Good old Stiles.
Who was currently on another one of his many ravings about Lydia Martin.
"Stiles, I've heard this all before." She sighed in exasperation.
"But she's so beautiful!"
"Everybody knows that Lydia Martin is the most beautiful human being in the whole goddamn universe, okay?" Scott didn't need his werewolf senses to tell him that she was irritated.
"How'd you know I was talking 'bout Lydia?" He slightly slurred.
"Who else would you be talking about?" Scott interjected, speaking before she could say something that might make the poor teenager cry in his drunken state.
"Good point." And then he giggled.
Stiles was hammered. About three fourths of the bottle of Jack was gone - thanks to the Stilinski boy. She and Scott took a swig in the beginning, but Scott wasn't feeling anything and he knew she wasn't a big drinker.
"But she's still hung up on her ex-boyfriend." Stiles was off again. "And a complete douchey one."
"She knows that Jackson's a douche-canoe." She sighed again, turning her head back to the flames. "Everyone knows it. He even knows it, Stiles."
"But why is she with him? He doesn't even appreciate her."
"Trust me, he appreciates her." Neither of the boys had to play third wheel to the former power couple like she had to. Just one of the perks of being Lydia's closest friend, she had told Scott earlier in the year.
"Doubt it." She glared over as the drunk teenager scoffed.
"You sound like a child." Scott hated to admit it, but she had a point.
"No," Stiles giggled again. "You sound like a child."
Scott chuckled at his friend as he shook his head. "I think you've had enough." He reached for the alcohol.
"No!" Stiles grabbed the bottle. "I'm not even tipsy."
"How many fingers am I holding up?" She asked.
"Twelve." He said with conviction.
She had four fingers up in the air.
But he just returned to the previous subject. "And did you know that she's like super smart? She's way too smart for Jackson."
"We know, Stiles."
"She's got to be the smartest girl I know." He sighed happily, that dorky grin on his face as he looked up into the trees.
Scott pretended to not see the hurt look she gave the Stilinski boy, before resting her head on a closed fist and returning her gaze to the fire.
"But why can't she see that?" Stiles asked to no one in particular.
"Maybe she's legally blind." Came her sardonic remark. Scott had to stop himself from snorting at that.
The inebriated teenager ignored her comment. "She just so-" Stiles paused, thinking for a moment before her peered up at her ponderously. "What about you?"
"What do you mean?" She asked and Scott could see the surprise etched across her face.
"Scottie and me over here have relationship problems-" Stiles started to explain.
"Or lack thereof." She commented pointedly.
The Stilinski continued on like she hadn't even said anything. "-but you haven't said anything about your love life."
She looked at him with a more stoic expression than before. "That's because I don't have one." She said evenly. But her heartbeat betrayed her - as if Scott needed the sound of her heart rate spiking up to tell him that she in fact did have boy troubles.
"Bullshit." Stiles pointed at her. "There's gotta be some guy out there that you're crazy about." He took his finger and made a circular motion around the side of his head, as if tell the two that something was crazy.
"That is not some slumber party and that's not going to happen." She dismissed, giving him a hard stare.
"Please tell us!" Stiles pleaded. "We won't speak about it to another soul." He tried to negotiate with the girl. "Right, Scott?" He looked at his friend for backup.
"Yeah." Scott heard himself affirming. She looked at him like he was the one drunk off his ass. "Stiles won't even remember in the morning." The werewolf added.
"That is so true, man!" Stiles cheered before taking another swig from the bottle. "I mean, do you know how it feels to like someone who will probably never feel the same?" Stiles asked up to the sky. It didn't sound like he was asking her specifically, but just starting off on another one of his rantings.
There was a pause. "Yeah, I do." She said quietly.
Both Scott and Stiles turned their heads towards her. "Really?"
"Really, Stiles." She affirmed with a sigh, meeting his unstopping gaze. "It's like, they know you're there, but not really. Or at least not in the way you want them to." She started to explain, looking at Stiles.
"And you keep beating yourself up over it because you know all this already." She turned her face up to the starry sky - away from the teenager. "You know that he'll never see you the way you want him to because he's hung up on some other girl. One that you just know you'll never be able to compete with."
He could feel the eagerness rolling off of Stiles as he leaned in towards her, mouth open and eyes wide. But he also felt the hesitation coming off of her as she spoke. That and her heartbeat quickening with each word told the werewolf that something was up. Scott felt a pang of sympathy hit him. He had a feeling he knew just who she was talking about.
"You try, but you can't bring yourself to hate her because you know it's no use." She blew her hair out of her eyes with a short puff of breath. "And it kills you, but you know it's for the best.
"There's this hole that already feels so deep inside your chest, and yet you let it grow larger and larger whenever he talks about her and you force yourself to suffer in silence," There was a solemn pause before she continued, picking at the grass around her as she spoke, "Because he wants her so bad and who are you to get in the way of him and his happiness, right?" Her voice was starting to sound watery and Scott didn't know if a wasted Stiles would be able to handle her if she got emotional.
"It really sucks, but I just want him to be happy." She resolved quietly. "So I let him go."
There was a heavy silence among the three teenagers, the only sound being the crickets in the trees and the warm crackle of the bonfire.
"I'm too sober for something this deep." Stiles made a grab for the bottle again.
"There's no way is hell you're sober." Scott took the whiskey before the other boy could, ignoring his best friend's whines of protest. "Do you want any more?" He asked her, bringing the bottle into her line of view, which was trained on the fire.
But she didn't respond. Not to what he had offered, at least. He had to lean in a little to hear what she was mumbling. "I just want him to be happy." She looked up at him, her usually bright eyes now glassy and dimmed down to a neutral color that almost scared him. He could feel the depression and helplessness rolling off of her in dark waves.
Scott slid down from the rock he was perched on and crawled over to her. She leaned into his side and his arm wrapped itself around her shoulders, pulling her to him even more.
"Why is it so hard for him to like me back?" He heard her voice whisper.
"Maybe he's legally blind." Was all that Scott was able to say.
She laughed softly before sniffling against the sleeve of the lacrosse sweatshirt that Stiles had given to her earlier that night. Scott remembered the Sheriff's son blushing when he had turned around and saw her in the article of clothing as she climbed out of the Jeep after to two boys.
She had been smiling and laughing at them then, and Scott hoped that the recipient of her unrequited feelings would reevaluate his own before the window closed for good.
Not really sure how I feel about the ending, but it's been in my drafts since - like - forever and I needed to just publish it already. Tell me what you thought, though!
Caught the feels about season 5b or just Teen Wolf in general? come cry with me on tumblr (livelaughloveboo)!
Remember to Smile :) (even when the writers butcher a great show with plot holes and untapped character potential)
~Becca