***The full chapter title, cause I'm afraid it's gonna be cut off: Unexpected New Discoveries...That I Really Didn't Want To Know
Notes:
I'm excited to share this chapter with you. I think at least everyone is going to have a good laugh reading it. I'll be honest with you the thought just came to my head as I was writing it. Because I was trying to figure out a way to explain why these two characters were friends and I realize that they didn't have to be friends. They could be something else. And that's all the spoilers I will give; please read the rest of the chapter. But at least now you'll know where the part is. You'll know when you get there.
/
Stiles POV:
After Damon sat down again and that whole weird exchange went on, I noticed my mother wasn't smiling anymore. It's not like she was upset, but she wasn't as excited as before.
I wanted to bring the attention away from those two idiots who seemingly are blowing their cover, and I brought the conversation back to myself.
"Mom, how have you been?" I asked innocently enough.
I wasn't making it so obvious that I was trying to change the conversation, but I was still trying to segue into something else away from the clusterfuck that was happening at the other side of the table.
My mom focused her attention on me, and the smile was back in place as if it was never gone.
"Oh, sorry, I hope you take your time with your drink, young man. No need to choke on it; there's plenty where that came from, and you can have all the ice tea that you want." My mother said, slightly smirking.
I felt like she was making fun of Damon, but she continued to answer my original question without letting him have a chance to say anything.
"And I'm fine, Stiles, but I don't want to talk about me; I want to hear about what you've been doing. So come on, tell me all the juicy details of college life."
"Well, college is going well; my grades are as good as they normally are. Lydia is probably going to be the valedictorian. At least with her grades." I said, starting to brag about Lydia because I couldn't really talk much about college because half the time I was in college and half the time I was dealing with stupid supernatural shit.
Also, I've only been in college for two months; my mother doesn't know that I went to Mystic Falls with Peter and did a bunch of stupid supernatural shit there, either. And I wasn't about to bring all of that up right yet. This talk was eventually going to go into the Mystic Falls stuff but a very, very abridged version of it.
"Oh, how wonderful it is, I'm so proud. I'm sure your mother is very proud too. But why don't you talk about when you met these friends of yours. I only know Lydia because, of course, you lived here when you were younger, and you grew up with Stiles all throughout high school, but what do your college friends do?"
The way she asked seemed so innocent that I didn't suspect she was fishing for information, but as I look back on it later, I realized she probably was.
I got swept up in the idea that this was my real mother even though in the back of my mind I knew it wasn't, but for a moment, I got swept up in her aura, and I just forgot for a moment.
But I didn't have a lie prepared, so I just kind of stared blankly at Damen and Rei, hoping they would say something.
Damon stepped up first, so he didn't have to continue drinking, or at least that's what I thought as he pushed the glass away from himself. And never did take another sip after he started choking on it.
"I got into college this year; honestly, I wasn't going to go to college, but it was a last-minute spur decision, and I have the money, so I started a few months ago along with the Stiles. We had a few rough patches at first, but soon we became good friends. I followed him back home because a friend of mine is staying here, and I was hoping to meet up with her, but I haven't seen her yet, so when I do, I'll catch up with her, but college has been pretty fun so far." Damon lied his ass off, but there's no way to tell he was lying because he doesn't have a heartbeat in the first place.
Or at least I couldn't tell; the only reason I knew it was a lie because I knew it was a lie. And my mom didn't seem convinced, but she didn't say anything to dispute it either.
Then she looked expectantly at Rei. Waiting for him to share his story of how we met.
Rei took a deep breath and then very calmly told a lie without letting his heartbeat show that he was lying.
He's got to teach me how to do that.
"Well, the story of how Stiles and I met is kind of funny. I was a peer mentor at college, and he was assigned as my student in a way. But we had met previously before that. A good friend of mine owns an antique shop, and I originally had met Stiles through that. But then we met again in college, and it was a wonderful surprise." Rei fabricated this story, but it was so close to the truth that he didn't really have to lie too much.
He did become my teacher, and we did meet through Eleanor.
I guess those are the best lies, the ones that are derived from truth.
"An antique shop? What did you buy at an antique shop?" My mother asked curiously.
"Oh no, I wasn't buying anything. I worked there for a bit. To make some extra money. I can't rely on Peter forever."
...
"Peter?" My mom asked.
Oh fuck. I slipped up. I started to panic slightly.
Lydia is my savior; at least I didn't have to say it. Again.
"Oh, Peter is my boyfriend. We all live in his apartment as roommates. And sometimes, when we're low on cash, he'll front the bill for us because he has money." Lydia said.
She totally saved me, though, because I almost said the exact same thing. And that would have just led to a bunch of problems that we did not need right now.
Even though Lydia looked disgruntled that she said she was dating Peter, it was easier to play it off.
"I'm sure he's a lovely boy. I once dated a guy named Peter. But it was back when I was really young. When I first moved to town. I haven't seen him or his family around. I wonder if they moved out? I haven't thought about him in a really long time." My mother said, reminiscing.
My brain slowly caught up with what she said, and I had come to a terrible conclusion.
A boy named Peter, who had a family that's not here anymore.
Who else could that possibly be?
And why didn't that asshole tell me he dated my mom?
Oh my God.
My mother and Peter dated.
Oh my God.
Oh my God.
Oh my God.
It seemed Lydia had come to the same conclusion that I had come to because her face looks identical to mine.
But she was brave enough to ask the question,
"Do you mean Peter Hale?" she asked.
"Yeah, that's him. I haven't seen them in so long. It was back when I was in my twenties. Maybe a year or two before I met your father." My mother said, reminiscing again.
Damon and my teacher seemed to catch on to why we were both freaking out. I could see Damon trying to hold in a laugh. As well as my teacher.
They've both found this situation very funny—those assholes.
This was not funny.
This kind of seemed like a nightmare.
Or at least something I never needed to know.
Ever!
Oh my God.
My mom and Peter dated...this is never going to leave my head.
"Lydia, do you know him? Did his family move out of town? I didn't keep up with him after we broke up. I don't exactly remember why we broke up, to be honest. Actually, I don't really remember much about the last few months I was with him. I'm trying to remember, but I just can't seem to remember. That's weird. Huh." My mother slowly started looking confused because whatever she was trying to remember, she couldn't.
For a moment, I thought maybe the Ghost Rider's information was lacking. But my mother's face looked generally confused as to why she couldn't remember. It made me curious, but if she can't remember, then I guess she can't remember.
"I know there was a terrible accident, don't you remember? Their house caught on fire, and Peter is the only one left with his nephew Derek," Lydia said, wondering how my mother somehow forgot that the Hale fire happened, considering she was supposed to be living in Beacon Hills this whole time.
This was all showing proof of the discrepancy between how my mother is supposed to be real and how she is not real, there's not a lot of proof, but there is at least some that doesn't add up right.
Damon seemed to be listening in a little bit more closely to the story. Because he still didn't know what Peter was. He assumed Peter was a werewolf, but he was never confirmed on the fact, and he was curious to get any information that he could.
My mother acted like this was news to her. She looked sad for a moment, and it almost was like she found this out for the first time, but then after a few minutes, she talked as if she knew it all along.
"Ah right silly me, how could I forget. You're right, you're right. It must have just slipped my mind. I hadn't thought about the Hales in a very long time. That's probably why I forgot. Memory is a funny thing." That was the answer my mom gave.
It kind of reminded me of a robot. Like she didn't know the answer, but soon it was just uploaded to her.
It woke me up from my trance of her feeling like my mom. Well, she did still feel like my mom; it just brought me back to reality a bit.
We talked for a bit more after that, but I was still kind of in a daze about all the information I learned that wasn't really helpful to the whole supernatural side of things, but it shocked me so much I didn't even think to ask after that. I actually was about to get up to leave before I got slapped in the arm by Damon, who reminded me to ask about the werewolf thing.
I wasn't going to bring it up.
Actually, if I came here alone, I wasn't going to say anything.
Maybe after a few more conversations, I was going to mention I went to Mystic Falls and see if that released any memories from my mother. Still, Damon and my teacher insisted that I bring her into the loop as quickly as possible.
They said I didn't have to tell her that she was fake because that would not go over well. But I should at least have her in the loop a little bit.
At least that was the decision we made before coming here.
"Oh yeah, Mom, I had something I wanted to ask you about. I was thinking about a way to go about asking you, but I figured I should just come out with the truth rather than going around it in a roundabout way." I said honestly.
My mother didn't know what I was going to say, but she encouraged me to say it anyway. She always did that.
"Well, before I went to college, I stopped off to see my cousin Tyler. I visited him in Mystic Falls, and well, I learned a few things." I didn't elaborate further, but it seems my mother understood where I was going with it.
Because she quickly looked at all of my friends,
"Stiles, I think this is a conversation we should have in private." My mom said, trying to subtly tell my friends to leave.
"Oh, don't worry, they're involved, or at least they know about it." I clarified so that they could stay.
As much as I miss my mother, I really really really did not want to have a conversation with her alone.
It was better if I had backup. It's always better to have a backup.
"Oh... that explains some things. Well, ask away, I guess." She said, sitting back down in her chair.
She looked more comfortable or at least resigned to whatever fate had in store for this conversation.
/
Notes:
So Peter and Stiles' Mother dated in the past. To be honest, I was just going to say they were friends, but then it just came to my brain, and it was so funny to me that I had to add it even though I thought it was kind of stupid. But they're dating, or at least they were. It gives them a reason to be friends when they are younger. Because I have a little bit of a story, I need to tell about them, and this just helps progress because I was unsure how they became friends in the first place, but this makes more sense.
Oddly enough, it makes sense even though it shouldn't make sense, you know. Also, Peter and Stiles' mother should be in the same age range because Malia is Styles's age, so I'm assuming that their parents are similar in age. I think Stiles' mother is a few years older than Peter, but I think within like 5 years or so. At least that's what my brain is guesstimating, so she's not that much older. She was in her twenties in my book, but I don't know how old she was in real life, I should say, but more like in the TV show.
