I Do Jackson, I'll Always Love You - Chapter 71
~A Teen Wolf fan-fiction collaboration between Miss E Charlotte and Sage Londyn~
Stiles drove his jeep with Avery sitting beside him and Teagan in the back, toward the warehouse where everyone else was.
Luckily for them Isaac had sent a text to Teagan earlier telling them the plan of taking Jackson to the warehouse to meet up with Derek.
Once at the warehouse, Stiles stopped the vehicle outside the building. They could hear the sound of a big fight going on inside, making them all worry what could be going on.
Stiles tightened his grip on the steering wheel then asked again, "Are you sure this is a good idea?"
"Yes!" Both girls yelled back like before.
"Now go!" Avery called out, as she pushed down on his leg, forcing him to hit the gas.
Teagan screamed out and covered up her eyes as she noticed they were about to drive through the building. Avery gasped and grabbed on to her seat belt, even if it was her idea to push the gas, the thought of driving through a building scared her.
With Teagan and Stiles eyes closed, Avery was the only one that saw the kanima standing off to the side, getting ready to attack everyone. Avery yelled to Stiles to turn left, causing the Jeep to hit the kanima and knocked him down.
When the Jeep came to a stop, Stiles cracked one of his eyes open as he asked, "Did I get him?"
Teagan leaned forward as she and Avery looked out the windshield, trying to see where the kanima went. All three teens began to scream when the kanima jumped up and landed on top of the Jeep, looking at all three of them through the windshield.
Avery opened the passenger side door and fell out of the vehicle, followed by Stiles falling out behind her. He reached inside to grab Teagan and pulled her out then grabbed Avery's hand to run far away from the Jeep.
While Avery and Stiles stood behind Scott, Teagan stopped short with a gasp when she saw Isaac lying on the ground covered in blood. For a moment she was worried they were too late and Jackson had killed him, making her heart race at the thought of losing him.
When Isaac heard her heart racing, he lifted his head to look up at her and nodded his head, letting her know he was ok before she could even ask. He was hurting, but thankfully he was healing fast from all the stab wounds earlier.
Teagan saw Allison out of the corner of her eye and turned to look at her. When she saw the guilty look in her eyes, she knew it was Allison that had hurt him. Teagan shot her a dirty look as she went to take a step toward Isaac, for a moment she forgot about saving Jackson and wanted to rush to Isaac's side, but before she could take a step, Jackson appeared in front of her in full kanima form.
Isaac yelled out her name and tried to pull himself up to go save her when he saw Jackson raise one of his claws to strike her. This was his worst nightmare coming true.
"Jackson..." Teagan called out, trying to get through to him, "Jackson I know you hear me. I know you're in there, please you have to fight this. Remember who you are."
Jackson froze and turned his head to the side as he looked at her, like he was trying to remember her. Teagan held the keychain in front of his face as she tearfully added, "You're Jackson Whittemore. The first boy I ever kissed, the first boy I ever loved, the first boy I ever gave my heart to."
Jackson looked into her eyes then looked over at the keychain as she shook it in front of him and asked, "Do you remember this? Do you remember, Jackson? You have to remember."
He reached out with a clawed hand, causing her to hold her breath, wondering what he was going to do. For a moment she was worried it had not worked and he was going to hurt her, instead he took the keychain from her and took a closer look at it as a memory from their past hit him.
It was their one year anniversary and Avery had helped him decorate her back patio with twinkling lights and flowers. He wanted their anniversary dinner at Avery's house since her dad was never home, giving him and Teagan privacy. Since the most he could make was toast, he decided not to try to cook for her, instead he got Chinese food from her favorite place, then later the two laid on a blanket as they looked up at the stars.
- Flash Back -
"Oh I got something for you." Teagan said, as she sat up and grabbed her purse. She grabbed a small wrapped box then handed it to Jackson.
"What is it?" Jackson asked, as he sat up beside her.
"Open it and see silly." Teagan said back with a smile.
Jackson smiled back before opening the box, inside was a silver-plated heart keychain. As he reached inside the box to take it out she said, "I know it's corny and you probably hate it, but I just wanted you to know that you have my heart. You always have my heart Jackson. No matter what happens in the future, rather we stay together for years or break up next week, we're connected and we always will be."
Jackson looked at the heart and saw their engraved initials on it. He knew she was right, they would always be connected no matter what.
"Like I said, I know it's corny and stupid, especially since you don't even have keys." She said with a nervous chuckle. The longer he stayed silent the more she was really started to think he hated it.
"No, no, it's not stupid." Jackson said, as he raised his head to look at her.
"Really?" Teagan asked.
Jackson nodded his head then said, "Besides in a couple of years I will be driving so at least now I have my first keychain."
"Exactly! That's what I was thinking." Teagan joked with a laugh. She laid a hand on the side of his face as she asked seriously, "Do you really like it though?"
"I love it." Jackson answered, then he slipped the keychain into his pants pocket as he added, "I'll always keep it with me."
Teagan smiled then said, "Just don't let your friends see it. You know they will tease you about it." With them being just thirteen she knew how cruel boys could be.
Jackson nodded his head in agreement then said, "It'll be our secret."
"I like that." Teagan said, smiling.
Jackson smiled back then leaned forward to softly kiss her lips before the two laid back down to look up at the stars. She cuddled into his side and sighed happily causing him to chuckle as he held her tight, both had never been as happy as they were right now.
- End Flash Back -
Teagan softly smiled when she saw him begin to slowly transform back to his regular self. Now in half kanima form, Jackson took a step back from her and closed his eyes as he felt himself begin to change, something was different now, he felt like his old self. He didn't feel so lost anymore.
When Teagan saw movement from the corner of her eye, she turned her head to see Derek rushing toward Jackson. She yelled out for him to stop but before she could, Derek shoved his claws into Jackson's stomach at the same time Peter shoved his into his back.
Everyone watched with baited breath as the two older werewolves lifted Jackson in the air. When they dropped him, Jackson coughed a couple of times then fell to his knees in pain. Teagan cried out his name as she rushed over to him and fell to her knees in front of him.
"Teagan ... I-I..."
"Shh, it's ok, Jackson. It's ok." Teagan said, interrupting him.
Jackson weakly reached up to lay a hand on the side of her face as he breathed out,"I always loved you."
Teagan laid her hand on top of his as a sob broke out.
"Do you still..."
"I do. I do, Jackson, I love you. I'll always love you." Teagan cried out, then added tearfully, "You have my heart remember?"
Jackson faintly smiled at her words as he leaned forward to rest his head on her shoulder. She ran her fingers through his hair and cried out when she felt him stop breathing.
Avery watched her best friend hold Jackson for a few minutes then she glanced over at Derek. She couldn't help but think about how devastated she would be if it was Derek she was holding as he died or even Stiles. It reminded her of the hallucination she had at Lydia's birthday party. She felt a chill down her spine as she replayed that terrible scene in her head. She glanced over at Derek again, catching his eye for a moment then turned her head to look up at Stiles, who was standing beside her, and saw him staring right back at her with an unreadable expression on his face.
Teagan continued to cry as she slowly lowered Jackson's body onto the hard concrete floor. She leaned forward to softly kiss his forehead before standing up and turning around to face everyone.
She locked eyes with Isaac for a moment and saw him make a move to walk toward her then stopped short when they all heard a scraping sound coming from behind her. Teagan quickly turned around and saw the wounds on his abdomen heal themselves. She gasped in surprise when his eyes popped open, but instead of his normal eye color they were a bright blue color.
Everyone watched in shock as Jackson slowly stood up and threw his head back to let out a deep growl before suddenly shifting back into human form. He looked over at Teagan with a shocked expression on his face. She let out a surprised chuckle before rushing over to him and jumping into his arms. He held on to her tight with his eyes closed, both missing Isaac's heartbroken look as he watched the two hug.
"Where did Gerard go?" Allison asked, once she noticed he was gone.
"He couldn't have got far." Her father answered.
Avery looked over at Isaac, seeing the look on his face, then said, "It doesn't mean anything Isaac. She's just happy he's ok."
"I hope you're right." Isaac mumbled back, as he continued to watch them. He hoped he didn't push her right back to Jackson, causing him to lose her forever.
~(Days later)~
"Tell me again what kind of vacation you're taking?" Richard said as he sat at the kitchen table with Avery.
Sighing she said, "A mini eat, pray, love vacation dad."
"Explain it one more time." He said, gesturing with his hand for her to continue.
"It's a book dad, they made it into a movie. The author spent a year traveling the world, mainly she spent time in Italy, India, and Indonesia. I've had a lot of stuff happen this year, and I just need some me time. I need to remember who I am. I'm calling it a mini vacation because I'm only spending about two and a half weeks in each country." Avery said, being vague in her response.
"I guess, I just don't understand why you feel like you lost yourself." He admitted.
"It's… teenage girl stuff, dad. You wouldn't understand." Avery finally said, thinking it couldn't be farther from the truth.
Normal teenage girls were worried about formal dances and their faces breaking out, but she and her friends were preoccupied with supernatural beings and occurrences.
Nothing about her life had been normal for quite some time now.
Hearing the doorbell ring, he jumped up and said, "I'll get that."
She nodded and looked back down to the computer print outs of the countries she was going to visit on her summer vacation.
Running her hands through her blonde hair she closed her eyes and hoped maybe she'd find a sense a peace over the summer.
Her eyes drifted down to the tattoo on her inner wrist and she smiled to herself as she thought of the night Stiles had taken her to get the tattoo so she could feel free again.
Then she swallowed hard as she thought back to her hallucination at Lydia's party, the more she'd played it over in her head the more she realized that the meaning behind it wasn't that she was still dealing with what Kate did to her.
No, that would be too simple and nothing about life was simple… not anymore.
The real meaning of the hallucination was her fear of losing Stiles and Derek. She'd known all along that she still loved Derek, but now there was a part of her that also loved Stiles.
Which sounded crazy all on it's own, if someone had told her at the beginning of the school year that the nerdy boy she'd been assigned to sit next to in chemistry would be her boyfriend she'd have laughed in their faces.
For the past year her entire world had been flipped upside down. She'd come close to losing every person she cared about, along with her own brushes with death.
Hearing a soft meow, she looked up to see Annabel Lee sitting on the table in front of her.
Smiling she reached a hand out and petted the small black kitten, "You're not supposed to be on the table." She said, but didn't make her kitten move.
"What's all this?" Stiles asked as he walked in the kitchen and looked at all the computer print outs on the table.
"Hey, I didn't know you were coming over." She said as she stood and faced him.
"I didn't, either. I left a few hours ago to come over here, but then I just drove in circles." He admitted, wiping his sweaty palms on his jeans.
Frowning she wondered what was going on with him, as she also tried to think of a way to explain to him that she was still in love with Derek.
It was impossible to have them both, but it seemed even more impossible to lose either of them.
She'd lost her mom, and even though her dad was there physically for most of her life she felt like he was gone too.
Taking a deep breath she decided to lay it all out in the line. She was going to tell Stiles that she wasn't entirely over Derek, and also tell him that she was falling in love with him too.
If they were serious about this relationship and being together, then they would be able to talk openly and figure things out.
"Is everything okay?" She asked him, at realizing he looked more startled than she did.
He looked back down to the table and stared at Annabel Lee as she laid down on top of a paper that said, India on it with pictures of hotels and tourism information.
"Stiles?"
"I can't believe I'm actually doing this." He breathed out as he ran a hand over his hair.
"I still don't know what's going on." She admitted, feeling more nervous by the second.
"I'm not really sure how to say this, so I'm just going to spit it out. I think you need to take some time and figure out what you want." He finally said, even though he was the one doing the talking it felt like the air had been knocked out of him.
She opened her mouth to start to explain about her summer vacation but then her jaw dropped.
"Are you… breaking up with me?" she asked, her light brown eyes wide as she shook her head back in forth in disbelief.
"I'm probably more shocked than you are." He said, after so many years of wanting nothing more than to be with her, now he finally had what he wanted and was letting it go.
She stood still in a disbelieving silence. She was going to tell him how she felt and suggest they worked through things and here he was breaking up with her.
"You need to figure out what, I guess more like who you want." He restated, when she remained still.
She shook her head back and forth.
"I knew you still cared about him, but I thought you were over Derek. But then that day when we took Teagan to try and save Jackson, I kept watching you and Derek. And…" He paused for a few moments before he shook his head and said.
"You were kind of looking at him like you used to, like when you were together." He said, avoiding her eyes as he spoke.
"I loved him, Stiles… I can't just flip a switch and not feel anything for him." She defended.
"But it was different, Avery. I was standing right there, I know what I saw. I didn't want to see it, but I did." He continued to explain.
"I don't know what you want me to do." She said, as tears burnt her eyes. She couldn't believe this was happening to her, again.
"I want you to be honest with yourself, I don't know what happened but sometime between school on Friday, the lacrosse game and then going to stop Jackson something changed with you." He said, still in disbelief he was ending things between them.
After taking in a deep, ragged breath she admitted, "Peter didn't just tell me about how Teagan could save Jackson. He also said that, I was the one who could save Derek. Peter said that I'm the only one Derek has a connection with, the only one he trusts. His pack had abandoned him…"
"Well, he had no right to put all of that on you…" Stiles concluded after listening to her.
"But he's right. I mean, Derek doesn't really have anyone. If I didn't try to reach out to him, who would?" She insisted.
"So, you what? Feel some kind of commitment to him because he has no one else?" Stiles tried to piece it together.
"No; or at least I don't think so… I don't know what I feel anymore. I mean, I love you but there's still that part of me that loves him." She tried to describe her dilemma, and didn't think before she spoke.
His honey brown eyes widened.
"I'm sorry, I know it's not what you want to hear." She said shaking her head and feeling bad. But also wishing that he wasn't trying to take it upon himself to decide the fate of their relationship.
"You… you just said you love me." He said.
She shifted uncomfortably on the tile floor of the kitchen as her eyes locked with his and she slowly nodded.
"I, I love you too." He admitted, his eyes wide.
"You know, normally the 'I love yous' get said sometime before a break-up, not right after."
He nodded, finding out that the girl of his dreams actually loved him back should have been a wonderful moment, but instead it was one of the saddest days of his life.
He'd finally gotten what he wanted, and he was letting her go.
She stared at him, wishing he could read her mind and see that she wanted him to stay and sort things out with her, not just break up with her.
But then it dawned on her, Derek had chosen his pack over her months ago and now even though it seemed that Stiles worshiped the ground she walked on… he didn't want her either.
"You're right… I need some time to figure things out." she finally said, her voice a little hoarse as she spoke.
For a noble cause or not, it still didn't change the fact that he was ending things.
"I'm always right." He joked, hoping to lighten the mood.
"I'm leaving next week for vacation." She said motioning to the table.
"You're going to Italy on vacation?" He questioned reading the country from the first paper he saw.
"Not just Italy, I'm taking a mini eat, pray, love vacation." She said, as she took a deep breath preparing to explain it like she had to with her dad.
"So… Italy, India and Indonesia?" He asked, looking at her.
Her eyes widened as she gasped, "How did you know that?"
"You uh, have a signed copy of the book in your room. I looked it up online after I saw it." He admitted, with a small shrug.
A few tears slid down her cheek and she quickly wiped them away.
She felt so guilty, she knew Stiles was exactly what she needed. He was always so nice to her, and noticed things that no one else did, he was the safe choice.
But even knowing logically he was the best thing for her, she couldn't stop the strong feelings she still had for Derek.
"When are you coming back?" He asked.
"Right before the start of school." She said, shaken from her thoughts.
"I'm kind of unplugging for the trip, I'll take my phone but I'm not going to talk to anyone, and I'm leaving my computer at home. I really just need some time away from everyone and everything." She explained her tone a bit harsh as she spoke.
He nodded and glanced up at the clock.
"It's getting kind of late… I should probably go." He said, it hurt a little too much to be around her at the moment.
"Yeah, I've got more planning and packing I need to do." She said softly as she followed him to the door.
"I'm still here if you need anything." He said as they stood in her open doorway.
She nodded, as she stepped forward and hugged him.
Wrapping his arms around her, he held her tightly against him.
After a little while he pressed a soft kiss to the top of her head, the small gesture brought tears to her eyes and she pinned them shut.
Stepping back they said bye to each other and she shut the door behind him.
Taking a deep breath she leaned against the door and let some of the tears she'd been holding back fall. As she wiped her cheeks she stopped and looked at the laced up design on her wrist, the tattoo idea he'd had for her.
Her chin quivered and she bit down on her lip as more tears started to flood down her cheeks.
"Avery… what happened?" Richard asked as he walked into the entryway.
"I don't get it, dad. What is so wrong with me?" she whispered out, followed by a rattling breath as she questioned, "For once, I would just love for someone to pick me over their stupid pack or include me in the decisions about what is best for me…"
Seeing her dad's confused expression grow, she sighed, "We broke up."
"Are you okay?" he asked the first question that came to mind.
"That's kind of a stupid question dad." She pointed out as she headed up to her room to be alone.
~()~
Teagan parked her car in Avery's driveway, glad when she saw her best friend's car was there. She'd tried to call her a few hours earlier, but hadn't gotten an answer or a call back.
The only person she'd really spoken to in the last few days was Jackson, she'd been trying to help him control his shifting and he was making pretty good progress.
She'd tried to call Isaac, but he wasn't returning her calls and she was really starting to get the feeling that he was avoiding her.
As she reached the front door it opened and Richard walked out, startled by Teagan.
"Hello." Teagan said with a small laugh at his surprised expression.
"Teagan, good morning. I was just running to the bank for a few hours to sort a problem out." He explained.
She nodded and said, "Avery's home right?"
"Yeah, she hasn't left her room since last night." He answered with a concerned look on his face.
"Is she okay?" Teagan asked worried.
He took a deep breath and said, "I think so. I don't know… she doesn't tell me much about what's going on with her."
Teagan nodded. It was impossible for any of them to really be open with their parents when almost every problem they had was a werewolf or supernatural related issue.
And it's not like Avery and her dad had a solid, open relationship anyways.
"I'm glad you're here though. She'll be happy to see you." Richard called over his shoulder as he got into his car.
Opening the door, Teagan walked into the large house. She started up the stairs but stopped when she heard clanking from the kitchen.
She stood still and waited, a few moments later Avery headed down the hallway; chocolate ice cream and jar of peanut butter in her arms.
She was in a black silk short night gown, with white lace around the bust area.
"T?" she questioned surprised.
"It's after 11… why are you still in your pajamas and what's all of this about?" Teagan asked looking to the ice cream and peanut butter.
"Breakfast!" Avery exclaimed as she avoided her friends eyes and started up the stairs.
"Uh-uh, no way am I falling for that. What's going on?" Teagan asked as she followed her into her room.
"You haven't seen Annabel Lee in a while, she's getting so big." Avery said as she crawled onto her bed and opened the ice cream container.
Teagan started to argue with her again but then she spotted the black kitten curled up on Avery's black and green comforter.
"She blends right in." Teagan said with a small laugh as the kitten opened her green eyes and looked at her.
Picking her up Teagan said, "Aw, she is getting so big. I miss Aspen being a puppy."
Teagan's smile quickly fell as she saw Avery get a big bite of peanut butter and chocolate ice cream.
"A… tell me what's going on." She demanded to know.
Even if her friend hadn't been trying to eat her pain away with ice cream, Teagan would have been able to tell she was upset.
"The world is a messed up place, T." She said softly under her breath.
Teagan looked more confused as she sat down on the bed across from her, needing Avery to open up to her but also not wanting to push her.
"It's so messed up. I mean, out of Jackson and Isaac… Isaac seemed like your safe choice. Obviously, head over heels for you and we thought for sure he'd never hurt you. But he did." Avery said, as she glanced down to her dark bed sheets.
"You're this upset over Isaac and me?" She questioned, doubt in her voice.
"Stiles, he broke up with me." She finally admitted.
"He what?" Teagan gasped, immediately angered by the idea of him hurting her best friend. Stiles was supposed to be Avery's soft place to fall after her breakup with Derek.
"He loves you, I know he does." Teagan continued, trying to figure out why Stiles would have let her go.
Avery let out a small laugh.
"I know, we said our 'I love yous' right after we broke up." Avery said, before she took another bite of the peanut butter and chocolate ice cream as she shook her head back and forth, lately her moods had been bouncing from sad to angry.
With a sigh, Teagan took the spoon from her and took a bite herself as she agreed, "The world is a messed up place."
Quickly trying to change the subject Avery asked, "I haven't seen you in a while. Have you and Isaac sorted things out?" She felt guilty for not checking on Teagan.
After another big bite, Teagan stroked Annabel's head as she said, "Not at all. I've been helping Jackson, he's pretty much got his shifting under control now."
"That's amazing." Avery said as she laid on her side watched Teagan eat.
"We've been getting along really well and I've been trying to spend a lot of time with him since his dad is moving him to London really soon." She continued.
"But if you've been spending all your time with Jackson, where does that leave room for Isaac?" Avery questioned.
"I know it sounds like I've been blocking him out or something, but that's not it at all, A. He's not been answering my calls or even most of my texts. There's always some excuse about why we can't hang out or talk. At first, I really thought he was working with Derek on some sort of mystery werewolf stuff and didn't want me involved. But now I've come to the conclusion that he's just avoiding me." She said, finishing her sentence with another bite of ice cream.
Pulling the container of chocolate ice cream away from her friend, Avery said "Didn't he say he stayed in Beacon Hills for you? That's a really big gesture, so why the hell is he being all shady now and avoiding you?"
"I don't know. I thought we were getting back to a good place, but now… I don't know. I'm not really sure of anything." She admitted, her voice quiet.
"Maybe him seeing you say you still love Jackson freaked him out some." Avery offered, remembering the look on Isaac's face that night.
"I could explain things to him if he'd just talk to me." Teagan defended. The love she had for Jackson and the love she had for Isaac were two very different emotions.
Avery nodded and sat the ice cream and peanut butter over on her bedside table.
"How are so sure that Isaac is the one you want now?" She asked.
"I love Jackson, I'll always love him. He was my first… everything. But I'm not in love with him, not the way I am with Isaac." She tried to explain.
"Ugh." Avery groaned as she rubbed her head.
"Why?" She asked.
After a deep breath Avery said, "Stiles broke up with me so I could decide what, and who I wanted. He said the way I was looking at Derek, it was like something is still there. And I wish I could say it was just that he was my first love, but it's not. I'm still in love with him. But now things are so complicated, because he really hurt me and I'm also in love with Stiles now and no matter what I do… someone is going to get hurt."
Teagan remembered back to when she'd first started to realize she had feelings for Isaac and was still in love with Jackson, it was one of the most confusing things she'd ever felt.
"You want to know the real kick in the face with all of this?" Avery asked quietly.
Teagan nodded, wondering what else it could possibly be.
"I've really been thinking things over and I'd come to the conclusion on my own that I wasn't entirely over Derek. And I was going to explain everything to Stiles… I thought if we were meant to be then we could sort things out, you know?" She said, feeling tears burn her eyes again. Normally she wouldn't be so tearful, but she just felt utterly exhausted from life.
"Did you explain that to him?"
"Didn't get the chance. He decided he knew what was best for me on his own." She said, her eyes narrowed slightly at the idea of someone trying to think for her.
"I'm not defending him or what he did here, I'm madder than hell that he hurt you. But this is Stiles we're talking about… I'm sure it was unbelievably hard on him to end things with you. He probably honestly thought he was trying to make things easier on you." She explained.
Avery watched with a confused expression as Teagan's lips spread into a small smile.
"Hello, broken hearted best friend right here… why are you smiling?" Avery asked.
"I'm sorry, it's just… you're torn between Derek and Stiles. They're like, polar opposites." Teagan explained.
After thinking about it, Avery let out a small laugh.
"Believe me I know, and now that I've been with them both, I can't help but compare our relationships and compare them to each other." She replied, the sad look coming back over her face.
"I know what you mean, I get what you're going through more than anyone. I mean, Jackson loved me but he was more domineering and selfish than Isaac. And Isaac has been nothing but sweet and understanding and it was so different from what I had with Jackson, I wasn't sure how to handle it at first." Teagan said, wishing she had advice to give rather than just relate to Avery's struggle.
Then her smile fell even further. She wanted, no, she needed Isaac to let her explain what was going on, so they could work through their own issues. But that was impossible to do when he wouldn't talk to her.
"Exactly, I mean Derek was the first real boyfriend I had and the first guy I truly loved but he's kind of gruff and not very understanding when it comes to things. But Stiles, he'd bend over backwards to make me happy. Anything that I was interested in he looked into, and he actually brought me flowers before our first date." Avery said, a small smile appearing on her lips.
"And Derek, isn't exactly the flowers and chocolate kind of boyfriend." Teagan reasoned.
"Exactly! But then Derek did notice and do sweet things for me. Like, my bathroom mirror needed replaced and he went out and got one himself and did it. He tried to act like it was no big deal, but the mirror was almost identical to my old one. And so the nice things that he did almost seemed to mean more than with stiles, because with Derek it was rare." Avery confided, before frowning and continuing.
"I guess with Stiles, I just got where I expected him to be there no matter what…"
Teagan nodded, not sure what else to say at the moment.
"I don't think I've ever been this confused in my life." Avery groaned as she flipped over onto her back and stared up at the ceiling.
Laying down and doing the same Teagan said, "I don't envy your situation, that's for sure."
"What are we going to do?" Teagan asked, looking over at Avery.
Letting out a sigh she said, "I don't know, what are you going to do about Isaac?"
"I want to keep calling him, and let him know that things haven't changed with us and I do still love him. But I also don't want to bug him in case he really is busy and I'm just paranoid about him avoiding me. I don't want to seem… I don't know, needy and clingy." She said pinning her eyes shut and shaking her head. With all her heart she hoped that he was just busy and it was in her head.
"It's a tricky situation. Maybe you need to get away, take a vacation or something. That way you show him that you're still moving on with your life and it also gives you an excuse to stop calling him so much. Kind of put the ball in his court for now." Avery offered.
"True, I haven't been on a vacation in forever." Teagan agreed, thinking the idea of getting out of Beacon Hills for a while might be a good thing for her.
"You could go to Verona and write a letter to Juliet." Avery offered.
"I've actually always wanted to do that." Teagan said with a small laugh.
"Duh, you're a romantic, T." Avery replied.
"You're more of a romantic at heart than you like to admit." Teagan pointed out.
"As good as that sounds, traveling all the way to Italy by myself. I don't know…" Teagan contemplated. She wasn't sure her dad would go for that either.
"I happen to be leaving for Italy next week. I'd planned on calling you tomorrow to let you know I was going on vacation." Avery said.
"Maybe a summer away would do us some good. Plus, it would be nice to take a trip… just me and you." Teagan said, raising her head and looking over to her best friend.
"That's so true, with all the drama and boyfriends this past year we really haven't spent that much time together." Avery agreed, a feeling of excitement rising in her stomach.
"I'm taking a mini eat, pray, love vacation." Avery explained.
Sitting up with wide eyes Teagan said, "Oh my god… that's perfect!"
Avery sat up and smiled at her friend, "I love not having to explain things to you. I had to explain it to my dad a million times."
"What about stiles?" Teagan asked.
"He saw my autographed copy of the book and looked it into it on his own." She explained.
Waving a hand and dismissing the questions about her past boyfriends. Even if she was still hurting, she had her best friend and because of that she knew she'd pull through it.
"This summer is going to be perfect, A." Teagan said as she leaned forward and wrapped her best friend in a tight hug.
A/N- Thank you so much for reading! ^_^
Only one more chapter to go before we're done with this story.