Right Beside You | Stiles Stilinski | Two

31 - Forward

Maybe it was optimistic to think that was the end of my day. One parent fired, one parent turned murderer, one injured best friend, and one death seemed like it would have been enough on our plates. And yet, the hits kept coming.

Derek had called as soon as Deaton had given Scott the all clear. He would be up and moving in an hour or two, though he'd be weak for a few days. Whatever state he was in, he was coherent enough to ask Derek to remind me not to tell Allison about what had happened. It was a ridiculous request, something I was sure was going to get us into trouble later, but he wanted to be the one to tell her. So for the moment, I had to keep my mouth shut. I just had to confront that dilemma a lot sooner than I was expecting to.

I cleaned my smeared makeup off my face before changing into my pajamas. I collapsed face-first onto my bed, thanking every benevolent supernatural power unknown that it was Friday night, and it had been the last day of school before spring break. I could sleep off the stress for the next week without worrying about whether or not I'd finished my homework or missed a reading. But just as my hand reached blindly to turn off my alarm, I heard the faint noise of my phone vibrating on the mattress.

My eyebrows pulled together, and I lifted my face out of my pillow to squint at the bright screen in the dark. I shouldn't have been surprised, given the kind of day I'd had, but I still wasn't used to my phone ringing at all hours of the night for supernatural emergencies.

I cleared my throat, trying to sound more awake than I felt. "Ally?"

"Oh!" I could hear Allison's breath shaking as she paused. "You're...you're up. I'm sorry. I don't—I don't know what I was thinking. Just—go to sleep, Scarlett. I'm sorry."

"Ally, what's wrong?" Suddenly, I was no longer pretending to be awake. I sat straight up in bed. "What happened?"

"What didn't happen?" she asked with a bitter laugh, then worse, a sniffle. "You were right, Scarlett. God, you were so right. About everything. I feel so—so stupid! I just—"

"Okay, Allison, where are you?"

"I—I'm in my car, outside my house. I...I don't think I can go in. Not after tonight."

"Then don't. Do you feel okay to drive?"

"Um...yeah, I guess."

"I'll wait for you downstairs. You can stay here."

"No, Scarlett, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have—"

"Allison, it's fine. It's the first night of spring break. You can sleep over."

She hesitated, but after a few seconds, she let out a shaky sigh. "Okay. Yeah, okay, um...thank you, Scarlett."

"I'll see you in a bit," I said, smiling supportively even though she couldn't see it.

I jumped out of bed, hissing as I flipped the lights back on. I pulled out a second pair of pajamas from my dresser, then padded toward my mother's room. I tried to shake her awake without giving her a heart attack, but with my mom, that was pretty much unavoidable.

Her whole body convulsed in shock as she woke up, and she blinked up at me in alarm. "Wha...?"

"Sorry," I said with a wince. "Allison just called me. She had a really bad night. Is it okay if she stays over?"

"Huh? Uh, uh-huh."

"Okay. Thanks. Go back to sleep."

Mom collapsed back on her pillow, and was out in under a second. She probably wouldn't even remember the conversation tomorrow, but she couldn't say I'd never asked.

For the first few minutes, I tried to sit patiently on the couch; it wasn't working. I could already feel the bubbles of anxiety floating up from my stomach, where I'd pushed them down out of necessity earlier in the night. Now, with nothing to do but wait and nothing to keep me company but questions and concerns about Allison, they were on the rise again.