No Judgement , Stiles Stilinski ⁴ ✓

[ 10 ] you're looking at me like you hate me

🎶 honest , the neighbourhood

010. YOU'RE LOOKING AT ME LIKE YOU HATE ME

                              "WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED BACK THERE?" Stiles asked Aspen as he barged into her room, she sprung up from where she was lying down beneath the covers, sitting up to look at him with wide eyes, not expecting him to be here.

"Stiles—what are you doing here?" she asked, a little snappy, reaching over to her bedside table to flick her lamp on, "It's late— I'm trying to sleep, which is what you told me to do!"

Stiles walked on into her room, closing the door behind him. He didn't sit down anywhere, he looked restless, he stood in the middle of her room, looking straight into her eyes as she opened her mouth to speak—but no words came out.

"What was all that with Theo, huh?" He asked, his voice sounding as snappy as hers did. "I don't trust him either—but watching you snap at him like that? It's almost like you know something that I don't!"

"That's not true!" Aspen shot back, finding herself absentmindedly spinning the promise ring around her finger.

"Really?" Stiles scoffed, narrowing his eyes at her, "I don't believe you."

"Well it's the truth!" Aspen cried out the lie, throwing her duvet off of her as she looked up at him, standing in the middle of her bedroom. Her heart was beating rapidly, feeling like it was either about to beat right out of her chest or sink to the pits of her stomach.

"You haven't told me everything that happened in New Orleans, have you?" Stiles said with a stern jaw, growing angry at her for being so secretive. "Something else happened— just tell me what it is!"

"I— I have told you everything," Aspen lied, the hesitation in her voice giving it away, "I— I swear—"

"Stop lying!" Stiles cut her off in an angry yell, "For once in your life, just stop lying to me, Aspen! You said you weren't gonna do this to me anymore!"

"Okay— okay!" Aspen gave in, scrambling to her feet out of her bed, the large t-shirt she had fallen asleep in falling mid-way down her thighs, "You're right— I haven't told you everything..."

"And why the hell not?" Stiles shot back, his jaw sharp and stern as he clenched it with anger, "I gave you the chance to be honest with me— and instead you chose to lie. Hell—I shouldn't be surprised, right? This wouldn't be the first time."

"I didn't tell you— because I didn't want you to look at me the way you're looking at me right now." Aspen replied, her voice quiet and defeated, as she swallowed a pained lump in her throat, keeping her eyes on his, her heart physically aching just from the way he was looking at her right now.

And she hadn't even told him yet.

"And how exactly am I looking at you right now, Aspen?" Stiles shot back, lowering his voice like she had.

"Like you hate me." she said in a cracked voice, "You're looking at me like you hate me..."

Silence filled the room after that. Aspen felt her hands grow clammy with anxiety, and Stiles' gaze on her softened ever so slightly. He wasn't sure what to say right away. For a few seconds, they just stood, meters apart in the dim light, looking at each other without a word.

And then Stiles took a step forward, about to reach for her hand, and then decided not to, and said "I... I don't hate you, Asp. I could never hate you..."