Chapter 13 - Playing Cupid

She just had to do it. She had to tell him. She just had to open her mouth and tell him. She'd been over the conversation hundreds of times in her head, at least three since she'd sat down. If he was half as accepting as he was when she imagined it, she'd be fine. Then again, if he was half as cruel as he'd seemed in rest of her nightmares…

"Um, do you want me to say something first?"

Scott's voice jolted Allison out of her thoughts, and she looked up at him with wide eyes. They were sitting in his room, both awkwardly perched on the end of his bed as she played with her phone in my hands, trying to figure out what she wanted to say. She wasn't really sure why she'd come in the first place. Scott wasn't her boyfriend anymore, and inviting herself over to his house had probably been overstepping major boundaries. But for some reason, she felt like she needed to talk to him. Maybe he didn't want to tell her, but she knew that he knew more about what was going on in town than she did. He'd lied to her, her parents had lied to her, and Allison Argent really just needed someone to make sense of it for her. She was going to be honest with him about all of her doubts, and then maybe he would be honest with her.

"No," she answered, shaking her head and giving him an apologetic smile.

"Okay…" he replied, hand tapping away on his knee as he looked around the room.

Where was she even supposed to start? She didn't want to lead with "I know you were lying to me." That just sounded so accusatory, and she didn't want to hurt him. She just wanted answers, plain and simple.

"Do you want me to leave you alone for a few minutes?" he asked, breaking the silence again. Allison furrowed her brow.

"Why would I want that?"

"I don't know. It's just that, um—you came in here and said that you wanted to talk," he started with a nervous grin, "and we've been sitting here for like ten minutes and you haven't said anything yet, and it's starting to freak me out." She cringed, and they both laughed nervously.

"Sorry," she apologized, shaking her head slightly. "It's a little hard to start."

"It's okay," he assured her, with that small smile of his that always gave her butterflies. "I can wait." Allison stared at him for a moment, regretting for the hundredth time that she had ever broken up with him. If he would just tell her the truth, tell her what was really happening, maybe she wouldn't feel so damn confused all the time. Maybe she could stop pretending that she didn't still want to be with him.

"I just…" she began, but immediately trailed off.

How had she planned on starting again? He'd never believe her if she just opened by telling him that she thought her dad was involved with the murders. Maybe he wasn't killing people—she hoped he wasn't—but he definitely knew more than he was telling her. He knew something. Kate knew something. Scott knew something. And they were all lying to her about what happened at school, what was happening in town, about Derek. Everything. She just wanted answers. Maybe she would just start there. It should have been easy. But just like every single other time she was faced with a problem, she chickened out.

"I—I just wanted to thank you for bringing me my necklace today," she gushed quickly, mentally kicking herself. "That was really nice of you."

"Oh." That was all Scott said for a moment, and she tried not to look at how confused and disappointed he was. "Um, it was nothing. You're welcome."

"Even if it was a little creepy that you were following Sadie, Lydia and I through the woods," she added with a small smirk. Scott paled slightly, ducking his head to hide under his fringe.

"Uh, yeah," he replied sheepishly. "Sorry about that."

"It's okay." Allison shrugged, her smile growing slightly. "I mean, we were just like going on a walk before we went dress shopping."

She immediately snapped her mouth shut in horror as Scott's face fell. Stupid. She was just completely rubbing it in his face that they weren't dating and they weren't going to formal together. Stupid, stupid, stupid. So much for not hurting him…

"Oh that's—that's cool," he replied lamely, the clench tone of his voice making her stomach feel like a rock. "Did you—Did you find anything you liked?"

"No," Allison answered immediately, as if knowing she hadn't been successful would make him feel better. "Nothing I wanted. Lydia found a few she was excited about, and Sadie was just kinda…"

She trailed off, remembering just how out of it her best friend had been while they were shopping. Of course, now Allison knew why she'd been just as reluctant as she was to look at formalwear. They were both upset that they couldn't have the dates they wanted to. Which, obviously, was totally not true in Sadie's case. Allison knew how much she liked Stiles, and how excited she was to go with him. But all she seemed to be able to think about was how much Stiles liked Lydia, and it broke her heart to hear her talk about it, but on some level Allison understood where she was coming from.

"Is she okay?" Scott pressed. She glanced over at him, noticing how his face was suddenly lined with concern. She'd known that he and Sadie were friends, but she hadn't seen them interact all that much. A part of her had always wondered just how close they could be, or if Sadie was just friends with him because of Stiles and her. But Scott seemed to be genuinely worried about her, and all she had hinted at so far was that Sadie wasn't excited about shopping. Allison thought back to the day Sadie had asked her about being friends with Scott, when she'd told her that she didn't plan to stop talking to him just because they'd had broken up. Now Allison could see why.

"Honestly?" she asked, shaking her head again. "I don't think she's been okay since Lydia and Jackson broke up." She expected Scott to be confused, ask why that would make her so upset, but he took her by surprise again. Instead, he nodded solemnly.

"Yeah, I know," he sighed. "Stiles has been an idiot."

"Wait," she piped, turning to face him slightly. "So you know…?"

"How much she likes him? Yeah," he answered, bobbing his head again. "That's why I got Stiles to ask her to formal, though. I know he likes her too. He just needed a kick or whatever. Hopefully a date will show them how dumb they're being." Allison's stomach immediately lurched again, her lunch conversation with Sadie playing through her head again at hyper speed. Scott must have caught the look on her face, since a moment later he raised an eyebrow. "What? What's wrong?" Allison ducked her head, raking a hand through her hair.

"I don't think the winter formal's going to be able to fix them…"

"Why not?" he asked, face screwing up in confusion. Allison sighed, wrapping her arms around her torso and sitting a little farther back on his bed. This she could do. She could talk about other people's problems and still be comfortable. She looked over at Scott forlornly.

"I was talking to Sadie at lunch today. She wants me to tell Lydia to take Stiles for formal."

"What?!" Scott yelped, eyebrows shooting up under his hair again. Allison merely nodded morosely. "B-But you said no, right?"

"I couldn't," she confessed guiltily. "She said I owe her for making her come on our first…" She immediately clamped her mouth shut again. She just didn't seem to be able to do anything right when she was talking to Scott. First she brings up formal, then their first date, and she was dangerously close to accidentally mentioning how Lydia owed her for kissing Scott when she still loved him. Before Scott could respond, she shook her head and pushed on. "She'd rather see Stiles be happy and go with Lydia than take her as a last resort."

"But she's not a last resort!" Scott defended, almost angry now. "She never was! Stiles just screwed up because he doesn't know what he's doing! He totally likes her!"

"Did he tell you that?" Allison asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes!" he answered, but then he winced. "I mean, kind of. He was going on and on about her when he was drunk, about how pretty she is and smart and funny and brave. I think it's just that he doesn't know how to like anyone besides Lydia." The flicker of hope Allison had been holding onto quickly went out.

"Well until he learns how to, Sadie's gonna keep beating herself up over it," she reminded him, her shoulders slumping forward. She bit her lip, thinking about the terribly defeated face Sadie had been wearing when she'd explained to her how she felt about Stiles. The problem was that Sadie was almost too nice for her own good. She was a martyr. She was willing to give up her chance to prove herself to Stiles just so that he could go on a forced date with a girl he'd liked since he was little. Allison wasn't sure whether or not her friend realized it, but the fact that she was willing to do that spoke volumes about just how much she liked the kid. Wanting someone to be happy whether you were a part of their life or not took a lot of strength. If she was being honest with herself, Allison didn't know if she'd be able to watch Scott get a new girlfriend who would make him happier than he'd been with her. She didn't even want to think about it. And that was one of the reasons she admired Sadie so much. Sure, she was desperate to show her that she was totally worthy of Stiles, that she shouldn't try to compare herself to Lydia because they were great in different ways. She just wanted her best friend to be happy, and as weird as he was, she knew that Stiles would do that. So if it took getting her together with Stiles to get Sadie the happiness Allison knew she deserved—after all the time they'd spent together, with Sadie listening to her rant about Scott, consoling her after they'd broken up, trying to take her mind off everything by organizing outings with Kate—then she wasn't going to stop until Sadie and Stiles were together.

"Maybe it doesn't matter though," Scott mused, pulling Allison out of her thoughts. She raised an eyebrow incredulously, and he quickly rectified the statement. "I mean, if they go together. They don't really have to be each other's dates to be with each other."

"Well, what do you mean?" she asked. Scott shrugged.

"I mean, they're still friends. They're probably going to speak to each other at some point anyway, whether they're dates or not. If Sadie looks really nice, and—and we get them to dance or something, maybe they'll work it out anyway."

"Is he gonna want to leave Lydia?" Allison asked skeptically.

"Do you think Lydia's going to let him stay with her all night?" he countered with a smirk. Allison chuckled, ducking her head and nodding.

"Good point," she conceded. "I mean, she knows Sadie likes him too. She could probably even force him to dance with her."

"He doesn't need to be forced," Scott corrected. "He likes her, he just… He needs some encouragement. He's not gonna need much by then though. Not if I can help it." He clasped his hands in front of him, staring at the floor in determination. Allison watching him quietly, smile tugging at her lips. It was things like this that made her reconsider her decision to break up with him. He could be such a great person. He'd lied to her and was involved with seriously weird and dangerous stuff. But how could he be such a bad guy if he was this passionate about getting his best friends together? Surely someone who so desperately wanted two people to be happy together couldn't be a bad person. But just because he was good didn't mean he was reliable or trustworthy, she reminded herself. She couldn't fall into that again.

"I still wish they'd just go together," she sighed, shaking her head in an attempt to clear it.

"Well you didn't tell them yet, right?" he offered.

"No, I don't think so," she replied, shaking her head slightly. "At least, I haven't. I don't think she did either."

"Okay," Scott agreed with a nod. "Then we've still got some time. I'm gonna talk to her, too. Maybe we can get her to change her mind?"

"I don't know," Allison sighed. "She seemed pretty determined."

"Hey," he started, making her look up. He was watching her carefully, taking in her frustration. "They're gonna be fine. We'll think of something."

Maybe it was the fact that he'd referred to them as one unit. "We." Between that and the honest, cautious smile he was giving her, Allison couldn't remember why she'd ever been mad at him in the first place. God, she wanted him back. She knew it was stupid. She had completely legitimate reasons for leaving him, but sometimes he was just so great. And maybe he had a good explanation for everything he'd done, something less vague than, "I was trying to keep you safe." She just had to ask.

"That's…That's not all I wanted to talk about…" she confessed, flipping her phone in her hands again. Scott raised his eyebrows slightly, inviting her to go on whenever she was ready. She could proceed at her own speed. And he would wait for her.

Allison took a deep breath. She'd had this conversation with Sadie already, and gotten some sound advice. She didn't think Sadie was wrong. She just felt like she had to tell someone else—like she had to tell Scott. She needed to talk to him. She missed talking to him. And the only way she'd be able to keep talking to him was if she got her answers.

"Okay," she told herself. "Here we go."


A/N: So I don't like writing for Allison's point of view. I don't like the way this came out. But I wanted to write from her perspective because Sadie is her best friend, and it felt almost unfair to have so many for other POVs without discussing her. I hope it wasn't too bad.

I am EXHAUSTED because I did my whole day at NYCC on 3 hours sleep. I did not get to meet any of my lovely readers, I did get into the Teen Wolf panel, I did not get to meet Dylan O'Brien, I did get to speak to Adelaide Kane. Full story's on my blog if you're interested in hearing about my day. Um, beyond that, I didn't get more than like 4 Instagram votes, sooo maybe you guys don't want the Stiles wet dream? I guess you don't. Guess that's up for debate. Voting's closed though. *sigh* Fingers crossed!

Let me know what you think!

-Brittney