Scott McCall wished someone had told him years ago that your first love was never your last love. That the chance of growing up and marrying your high school sweet heart were almost nil, a one in a million chance. That would have been nice.
Well, yeah, his mom had told him but that totally didn't count. Mr. and Mrs. Stilinski had been high school sweethearts, so Scott thought that mattered in some grand scheme of things.
When Allison ended things "for good" at the end of their senior year, he still thought it was just temporary. She was going away to school, some small liberal arts place in upstate New York or Vermont or something like that, most of the pack was staying within driving distance of Beacon Hills. Even Jackson had come back to attend college close in-state, but Allison always insisted that she was never pack. She would come back after those four years and everything would be okay, Scott was sure of it.
Even after Mr. Argent had told him that Allison was extending her stay at school for another year or two, deciding late into her junior year to add a Sociology major along with her Psychology one. He was just so sure she would change her mind and come back.
But September came around, and Allison never showed. October came and went, so did November, and December looked like it was going to pass the same way. Scott hadn't wanted to give up hope, but even he could feel his luster fading.
It was late into December when it looked like things were looking up, though. It was two days after Christmas and the veterinary clinic had been particularly busy the night before, so he and Isaac had wound up pulling an all nighter with Doctor Deaton (both of them were still a little under four years away from their veterinary degrees). The three of them had been exhausted and Scott had volunteered to pick up the coffee. It wouldn't really help him or Isaac, but it still felt like a nice gesture.
He picked the tray up from the counter and turned to walk out, only to almost smack into the woman behind him. "Oops, sorry, I just–" he stopped and looked her over, "Allison?"
She gave him a weak smile, her hair was a little longer than when he had last seen her, probably closer to the length it had been when they last met. "Scott, hi…how are you?" she reached around him to get her own drink from the counter, vanilla latte with cinnamon, he didn't even have to smell it to remember.
"Um, great! Awesome! How about you, when did you get in? I didn't see you at Thanksgiving."
Allison shrugged, sipping at her coffee, "I didn't come home, Dad usually comes to visit me, but…" her thumb kind of traced around the lid of the cup, "I had to get some things for my apartment, see what I could ship over after the holidays."
"Oh…" he bit his lip, "Where are you moving to?"
"Just a small place off campus with a couple of roommates. Nothing special."
"Oh."
"Yeah."
Scott could already tell the coffee was getting cold in his hands, and he didn't want to disappoint Isaac and Dr. Deaton, plus he knew if he didn't get home soon he would probably pass out while he was driving. But, Allison…
He swallowed and smiled at her, "I kind of need to head back to work, but maybe we could meet up tonight? Catch up and get dinner? There's a new Vietnamese place, Stiles raves about it all the time. Can I call you?"
Allison smiled at him, her heartbeat sounded a little off but that could have just been nerves. "Sure…yeah. Do you still have my number?"
"Yeah! Yeah sure! Seven, okay? I can text you when I get home. See you tonight!" He quickly made his way out of the coffee shop, his own heart beating out of his chest. Maybe things were going to be okay after all.
He spent more time than usual getting ready that night, excitement thrumming through his entire body. He dressed his best, brushed his teeth twice, he even put on cologne despite the fact it made his nose itch like crazy. He wanted that night to work out.
He borrowed Isaac's car so Allison wouldn't have to sit on the back of his bike, showed up on time, and tried to keep the conversation light on the way to the restaurant. Even at the table, they seemed to avoid the topic of them.
Scott asked her about school, how it was going (fine, lots of hard work) and if there was as much supernatural shit there as there was in Beacon Hills (no, just a coven that keeps to themselves). Allison asked him about the pack (they're fine, Jackson and Lydia are still hopping around the idea of marriage, Stiles and Derek are as annoying as ever) and if he was still living at home (yes, mostly because he didn't think he could stand sharing a house with Stiles and Derek the same way the rest of the betas except Jackson did).
He swirled his chopsticks around in his pho, "So…"
She took another bite of her own dish, something he couldn't even pronounce much less remember, it had rice and clams. "So…"
"I missed you a lot."
"…I missed you too."
"How long are you staying?"
"Just a couple of more days, then I have to head back. I'm taking a winter intersession course."
"That's not a lot of time."
"No, it's not…"
Things stayed a little awkward after that.
He managed to convince her to head out with him to the preserve for a little while, "for old time's sake." She was a little reluctant, but agreed that she had missed the view while she was away.
He opened her door for her, continuing the slightly one sided conversation he had started in the car. "Derek rebuilt the house a couple of years ago, he wanted the whole pack to live there but Jackson is still with Lydia down in Pasadena and I can't stand seeing him and Stiles suck face. I don't care what Stiles says it's so not 'the same thing' as when we were together."
"He really thinks that?" Allison still wasn't really over the problems between her and Derek, she probably never would be completely.
"Yeah, I know, it's so dumb. But whatever, it makes him happy." He sat on the hood of Isaac's car, patting the spot next to him. He felt like he was soaring when Allison sat down next to him.
They didn't say much at first. Allison didn't seem to want to talk, but Scott just had to break the silence.
"Are you going to come back after you finish school?"
"Probably not…I'm thinking of moving down to New York City for my Masters, it depends how my grades turn out."
"How come you decided to go so far away?" He felt dumb after asking, worried she was going to be super pissed off at him and demand he drive her home right that second.
But Allison didn't seem mad, "I just…there's too much here, Scott. I needed something different."
"But, you never called or answered any texts or…"
"I needed to forget, Scott."
He felt his heart sink at that, he reached helplessly for her hand, "Even me?"
She just gave him this sad look, she took his hand in hers and ran her thumb over his knuckles, just like she used to. "I needed to forget, Scott. I'm sorry." She let go of his hand and slid off the car, "Maybe you should take me home. It's getting late."
They didn't talk the entire car ride home, Scott didn't even remember if he actually said goodbye. He drove back to the Preserve and dropped off the car so he could pick up his bike before heading back to his own home.
His heart wanted to still believe everything would be okay, but every other part of him just wanted to curl in bed and forget himself.
