Chapter 14 - Parental Guidance
Stiles took a deep breath as he walked from Sadie's front porch back to his Jeep, hands shaking at his sides. The night had not gone according to plan. He was just planning on doing some homework—or at least pretend to be doing his homework and playing League of the Mytheval online. But no. They weren't allowed to have one night off. Instead, Peter had to try and attack Scott's mom, and then Stiles had to literally crash their fake date with his Jeep. Mrs. McCall was safe, at least, though she was now royally pissed at him for ruining her night. It probably could have been a lot worse. At least she was currently under the impression that his date night had been ruined too. Cause that was likely.
He tried to keep himself from shaking his head as he hopped back into the driver's seat, shooting his best friend's mother a wary, sideways glance.
"So, uh, where to?" he asked with a pained smile. "Hey, maybe we should go out to dinner, huh? Yeah?"
"Stiles," Mrs. McCall practically growled, and he immediately dropped the joke for his own safety.
"Sorry. Straight back to your house. You got it." He kicked the Jeep back into motion, vowing to keep his mouth shut for the rest of the drive. He really couldn't afford to get into any more trouble.
Unfortunately, Mrs. McCall seemed to have other plans. They only made it about two streets before Stiles became uncomfortably aware of the fact that she was watching him. He shifted in his seat, trying to restrain to urge to crack another joke and running the risk of making her more upset. Thankfully, she broke the silence first.
"So," she began, turning to look out the window. Stiles was relieved to hear that she sounded a little more calm than she had before, though what had caused the change he didn't know. "You and Sadie?"
Stiles's stomach dropped. Of course. An interrogation on the one subject he had really been hoping to avoid. Well, he'd been hoping to avoid the whole reckless driving and date night and what's up with Scott conversations too, but Sadie was still pretty high on the list. He mentally kicked himself again as he replayed the scene in his head again. He just couldn't shut his mouth off. One moment they were two kids going for a drive, the next they were two friends on a date. He could have said anything, that he was giving her a lift because her mom had the car, but instead he'd let word vomit take over and said they were on a date. What was worse, Sadie had not looked amused. In fact, she looked downright angry. Now every time she saw Scott's mom she was going to have to deal with the fact that he'd implied they liked each other as more than friends without her consent.
Stiles's stomach twisted as he thought about the incredulous face she'd pulled after he'd said the word "date." Was the thought of going out with him really that bad? Really, they could always play it off as a friendly thing they were trying that didn't work out. Going on a date with him didn't mean she had to pretend she was in love with him or anything. But even the idea of pretending seemed to disgust her, and he couldn't help but feel the tiniest bit disappointed. Which he was totally allowed to feel, he defended himself internally. He didn't have to like Sadie to be disappointed and slightly offended that she hated the idea of dating him. That'd be discouraging to hear from anyone.
Still, he tried not to think about how disheartened he was. On the other hand, he also tried not to think about how much he'd enjoyed being called "sweetheart," even if it was said sarcastically through clenched teeth after a violent threat. And he certainly wasn't going to think about all the images his brain had produced when Peter suggested that he'd crashed the car because Sadie couldn't keep her hands to herself. Even if Stiles had admitted to himself that he was physically attracted to Sadie, thinking about her slipping her hands down his pants to get him off while he was driving would inevitably lead to an uncomfortable boner, which was not something he wanted to deal with when his best friend's mom was still in the car.
"Ha, yeah," Stiles replied shakily, clearing his throat and trying to drag his mind back to the present.
"When did that happen?" Mrs. McCall asked, turning back to look at him.
"Recently," he laughed nervously. "Like—Like incredibly recently."
"You mind if I ask how?" she pressed. Stiles was about to reply with a wisecrack, until he noticed the tone of her voice. Mrs. McCall didn't sound incredulous or surprised. That was the tone of voice he was used to hearing when he talked to anyone about Lydia. But Scott's mom wasn't asking him how he'd managed to get a date with Sadie, an awkward loser like him with a pretty and popular girl. Instead, she sounded completely pleasant, as if she was actually interested in hearing how Stiles had asked her out on this imaginary date. So he swallowed the joke, changing tactics.
"It's…It's really not what you think…" he admitted, making his passenger smirk.
"Oh, so it doesn't involve you being incredibly awkward and Sadie continuing to indulge you?" Stiles's face got caught somewhere between an affronted expression and a wry grin.
"Uh, no. There was a lot of awkward. That's true." Scott's mother shook her head with a small smile, then suddenly looked up as another thought occurred to her.
"What about that redhead you were always talking about? What happened to her?"
"Strawberry blonde," Stiles corrected automatically, making Scott's mother raise an eyebrow. "Uh, Lydia," he explained shamelessly. "Her hair's strawberry blonde, not red. And yeah, I still like her."
"Then why were you on a date with Sadie?" Mrs. McCall asked.
"Well, for one, Sadie actually talks to me," he replied without thinking. As soon as the sentence left his mouth, he realized it'd been a mistake. Mrs. McCall's curious face hardened into a glare and he instantly shut his mouth.
"God, Stiles, please tell me you're not just going out with her for the hell of it," she ordered. Stiles looked frantically between her and the road, fearful eyes wide.
"N-No! I'm not! I promise!"
"Are you using her to get to Lydia?" she accused, making his jaw drop.
"What?! No! Of course not! I…!"
"She actually talks to me?" Mrs. McCall repeated angrily. "Stiles, you better have a better reason than that for going out with this girl."
"She's great!" he yelped, his hands clenching the steering wheel as he stared down the road. "Seriously, Sadie's awesome! She's smart, she's gorgeous, she's funny. She's amazing, I just… I've always liked Lydia." Stiles nodded slightly to himself at the conclusion. He liked Lydia. He had always liked Lydia. And he could absolutely recognize that Sadie had some amazing qualities without having it mean he liked her. That's why they were friends. Because he knew she was a fantastic, accepting, brave person that he wanted to have in his life, even if he was still working on his ten year plan to make her best friend fall in love with him. Of course, he'd forgotten momentarily that he was supposed to be pretending that he'd just been on a date with Sadie, so proving that he didn't like her was really the exact opposite of what he should have been doing. But for some reason, he almost felt like he needed to reassure himself.
The explanation had been enough to calm Mrs. McCall down. She was watching him closely, considering his argument rather than being angry. After a few minutes though, that silence was just as unnerving, and Stiles's fingers were drumming on the steering wheel again.
"You know, Stiles," she began, her voice tired but resolved, "Change can be hard."
"Um…yeah…" he agreed in confusion, sparing her a glance before turning back to the road.
"Sometimes adjusting can be difficult, and you know, you might not want to do it," she advised, lifting a hand up to her head. "It seems simpler to not do it. But change is good." She gave him a pointed look, making him shrink into his seat.
"Sorry," Stiles apologized nervously. "I, um… I'm not really sure where you're going with this." Mrs. McCall shook her head, waving her hands in front of her slightly as she tried to reformulate her argument.
"Listen, take it from someone who knows, admitting that your feelings for someone have changed…it's hard…" Stiles was about to jump in and defend his feelings for Lydia again, almost out of habit, but the solemn look on Mrs. McCall's face made him stop. "It can be scary," she continued, staring out the front windshield, "admitting that your life has changed enough that these feelings you've had for someone for a really long time are just…different. But if you keep trying to push off that change…it's not going to do anyone any good."
Stiles pursed his lips as he watched his best friend's mother stare forlornly into space. He was not altogether comfortable with the way the conversation was going. He'd gladly let her scream at him until she was hoarse if it meant keeping that sad look off her face that she always got when she thought about her ex-husband. He knew she'd probably already been thinking about him because the whole date thing, but he hated being the current reason he was being discussed.
Unfortunately, before he could think of anything comforting to say, Mrs. McCall snapped back to reality. She blinked hard, forcing an uneasy smile on her face as she looked over at him again.
"I—uh—I'm just saying you shouldn't be afraid of taking that step away. I think it's good that you're taking a chance with Sadie."
"Uh…yeah," he agreed warily. "Well I don't think it went too well tonight, so I'm not holding my breath."
"Yeah," she agreed with a slightly derisive laugh. "Yeah, I guess neither of our plans really went well tonight. But, there's always a second chance. I mean, supposedly." Stiles nodded silently, keeping his eyes glued to the road as he turned a corner and thought over her words.
"I'm taking Sadie to formal," he blurted suddenly.
"Hm?"
"About second chances," Stiles elaborated, not sure why he was still talking. He was only digging himself into a deeper hole, after all. "I'm taking Sadie to the winter formal next Friday."
"Oh!" It was almost a gasp, and this time Stiles thought he heard the note of surprise in her voice, though it might have only been because he'd brought it up so suddenly. "Well, that's great. You've got a second shot to make a better impression."
"I don't know," he sighed, shaking his head. "I just…I want her to have a good time, but…I feel like she's not gonna be happy going with me." He tried to keep the bitterness out of his voice as he thought about how Sadie had talked about Scott at lunch the previous day. Stiles did care about Sadie. She'd quickly gone from being someone unbelievably out of reach to being one of his closest friends, and he wanted her to be happy. But he didn't know how to deal with the fact that she was in love with his best friend. What chance did he have of making her happy when she had to go to formal with him instead of the guy she really wanted? What was he supposed to do about that?
"Of course she wants to go with you," Mrs. McCall dismissed, bringing him back to the present. "She said yes, right?" Stiles nodded loosely in response, remembering how she'd offered to let him out of the date since he'd been drunk when he asked her. Had she wanted him to back out the whole time?
"I just don't want to screw anything up," he sighed, hands tightening on the steering wheel.
Stiles was a little surprised himself by how easily the sentence came. It was true. He was anxious about taking Sadie to formal, that he might do something or say something wrong as he usual did and upset her. Stiles couldn't afford to ruin their friendship. For one, he and Sadie still had to work together on the life or death situation that was currently threatening Beacon Hills, which meant spending a lot of time together. That was only the practical reason though. If he was being honest, Stiles couldn't lose Sadie because…well, she was Sadie. He'd never had a lot of friends, especially not ones that were as close as they were. He just felt completely comfortable with her—well, unless he was feeling uncomfortable, but it was usually the good kind of uncomfortable if anything. Sadie was one of the few people who could truly understand how he felt at this point in his life, if not the only one. She was clued in, knew everything that was going on and the pressure of the situation. She had a single parent that she felt responsible for protecting. And on top of that, she was a completely normal human. She didn't have claws, or super healing powers. She didn't have super warrior training like Allison's family. She was just Sadie. Smart, strong, compassionate Sadie, who still wanted to help him and Scott save people even though she knew the dangers and had only known them for a few months. Having Sadie to talk to, to understand what he was going through… It was one of the only things that had made his whole world being turned upside down bearable. He liked talking to her, even when it wasn't about werewolves or murders—especially when it wasn't about werewolves or murders. He liked how their conversations could go seamlessly from one topic to another, from something Scott had said when the full moon made him grumpy to the filming inconsistencies in their favorite movies. He could honestly say that he didn't know what he'd do without her. Which was why it was so frustratingly, nerve-wrackingly important for him to keep her around. He couldn't mess anything up. Because if he screwed things up with Sadie, he knew it probably wouldn't be too long before he started going out of his mind.
"You won't screw it up," Mrs. McCall soothed. "I know you'll be fine." Stiles raised his eyebrows at the road in slight disbelief as he turned onto the correct street. Scott's mother caught the look, making her sigh. "Okay, so maybe I don't know it. But I do know that even if you only liked Sadie half as much as you obviously do…"
"O-Obviously?" Stiles interrupted, but Mrs. McCall didn't acknowledge him.
"…you'd do everything you could to make her happy." She sent him a warm but haggard smile as he pulled up to the house, throwing the Jeep into park while the word "obviously" rang through his head on a loop. "I'd thank you for the ride," she began before glaring at him, "but seeing as you were the one who crashed in the first place, I'm just going to thank you for not doing it again."
"Ha, yeah," he replied sheepishly, scratching at the back of his neck. "I…I-I am really, truly sorry about that, Mrs. McCall. I just—uh…"
"Didn't see us coming, yeah," she dismissed, waving him off in annoyance. "Goodnight, Stiles."
"Yes!" he agreed with a slight cough. "Uh, night!" He offered his friend's mother a slight wave as she stepped out of the car. Mrs. Call was halfway through closing the door when she stopped, pausing to poke her head back into the vehicle.
"Um, I figure you don't really need to hear this from me, but I'm kinda in Mom-mode right now, and since I'm on a roll I'm just gonna tell you anyway." Stiles raised his eyebrows as she nodded to herself, leaning against the passenger door. "Sadie is a really sweet girl. She's thoughtful, compassionate, responsible, and I'm kind of hoping some of those traits will rub off on you and Scott. So, Stiles, if you hurt her, I promise you that you are going to have half this town on your ass."
"What?! N-No! No I… Trust me, the last thing I want to do is hurt her…" Stiles nodded to himself, but Mrs. McCall was still watching him steadily, clearly waiting for something more reassuring. He sighed, wracking his brains for something to say, something that wasn't necessarily a lie but would agree with the illusion Mrs. McCall was under. "Sadie… She's one of the only girls who's ever paid me any attention, like ever. So, it's just kind of weird getting used to the idea that she actually wants to be around me. And—And on top of that, she's…she's just really awesome. She likes all the same things I do, w-which is hard enough to find as it is, let alone in someone attractive, and uh… She listens to me and…she just gets it. And she's incredible and smart and hilarious, and uh…" He trailed off, horrified to feel that his cheeks were beginning to heat up for some reason. He cleared his throat, wiping a hand down his face. Unfortunately, his hands were warm and clammy, so the action didn't bring much relief. "I really like her," he added, remembering that he was really supposed to be playing a part. "It's kinda terrifying because I don't want to screw up, but uh… I promise I'm trying to make sure she doesn't get hurt at all." That was close enough to the truth. He didn't want Sadie to get hurt, and he was trying to make sure she never did, though he was really concerned about her throat being ripped out by a werewolf, which clearly wasn't what Mrs. McCall had meant. And he was nervous about being around Sadie. He didn't want to mess things up between them, even if they were just friends. So really the only lie he had told her was that he liked her, right?
Stiles lifted his head and gave Mrs. McCall a small smile, which she returned.
"Well, I'm glad to hear it," she said, bobbing her head once or twice. She went to close the door again, but before she could, Stiles stopped her.
"Oh wait, uh…" His left hand reached up to scratch at the back of his neck, her words ringing through his head again. "Um, what did you mean when you said 'obviously'?"
"Obviously?" she repeated, and he nodded fervently.
"Yeah, um—you said that I obviously really liked Sadie, and I just, uh…" He couldn't finish the sentence, but thankfully Mrs. McCall didn't seem to feel that he needed to.
"Stiles, I haven't spent a lot of time with you kids, but I've seen the way you look at her," she explained, an unsettlingly knowing smile on her face.
"The way I, uh…?" he started, but the woman just simply nodded.
"And hopefully Sadie sees it too," she continued without any more explanation. "Maybe then you can get that goodnight kiss, huh?" She grinned, but Stiles simply sat frozen in the front seat. After a few seconds of silence, Mrs. McCall shook her head slightly. "Goodnight, Stiles."
"Yeah, night," he bid absent-mindedly, but his eyes were just slightly out of focus. He didn't move when she slammed the car door, or as she walked up the path to her own house. Even once she was safely inside, Stiles stayed stock-still in his seat.
How did he look at Sadie? Was there a specific way he looked at Sadie? He didn't think there was. Why would he look at Sadie any differently than he looked at Scott? Well, unless he was checking her out, which he did pretty frequently. But he was pretty sure that letting his hormones take control and ogling Sadie's figure was not the kind of look that would make Mrs. McCall think he truly cared about her. If anything, it probably would have earned him a solid smack. So when had he ever looked at Sadie in a way that would convince Scott's mom that he truly and deeply cared about her as more than friends?
And then there was the other thing that she had brought up. The goodnight kiss. Not ten minutes ago, he'd walked Sadie to her door after coming up with the terrible cover story that they were on a date. And then he'd asked her if she thought they should kiss. He'd asked if he could kiss her. He'd asked if she would kiss him. What the fuck had he been thinking? It'd been a first date, and a fake first date at that. There was no reason that they'd have to kiss for it to be convincing. As Sadie had pointed out, he'd crashed the car before they could get to their fake-dinner, so as far as fake-dates went it'd been pretty fake-bad. No girl in their right mind would kiss their date under those circumstances. So why had he asked? Better yet, why would he have been disappointed when she declined? Was he that desperate for physical attention that he was begging for fake goodnight kisses? Is that why his stomach had jumped up into his throat when she'd taken a step closer to him? Was it that he really wanted to be kissed that badly, or…?
Stiles shook his head, running his hands down his face again. No. He was just a very, very desperate teenage boy who didn't know how to control his mouth. He'd go home, jerk off and go to bed, and in the morning everything would be back to normal. He couldn't afford to mess up his relationship with Sadie by thinking like that. He was supposed to have a policy—one that had failed him completely, since he hadn't been able to stop himself from being friends with Sadie. But part two of the policy was to not let himself get too attached. He couldn't like Sadie as anything more than a friend because Sadie would never like him as anything more than a friend. That was the way hot girls worked. They dated hot guys who were popular and suave, not the awkward boys they hung out with and went to for advice.
Not that that was something he had to worry about, he reminded himself as he pulled the Jeep back onto the road. He didn't have to worry about the friendzone. He didn't have to worry the pain that came with liking a girl who liked his best friend. He didn't have to worry about anything, because he didn't have any hot girl friends that he wanted anything more from.
He and Sadie were just friends.
A/N: Boom! Getting close to the end now. Only a few more that I want to put up before I move onto working on the sequel. I hope you guys enjoyed this. It was pretty requested, and Mama McCall threatening Stiles about Sadie had been a reader idea in the first place, so I suppose it's only right that I publish it. Stiles beginning to toe the line with his crush, as we may see and be frustrated by.
I should probably organize some sort of thing to decide if I'm actually writing the wet dream. It'd be the last thing before the sequel if I do. Maybe uh, review or message me with a Sadles headcanon? And if I get more than 10 I'll do it. It can be anything. I just like hearing from you guys, and when I do, you get rewarded. Simple as that.
Anyway, I love you all, and I can't wait to hear what you think!
-Brittney
