He Said She Said

Break Your Heart

Malia sat at the table, her finger sliding below the words as she read. If she failed History... Well, failing classes just wasn't an option for her anymore. She wanted to be better than that. She wanted to graduate with her class, side by side, not have to wait to find out if she passed summer school.

A body dropped into the seat next to her. Theo Raeken. She felt her body tense automatically. Why did he always seem to show up at the wrong moments? "So. How are you holding up? I heard about you and-"

Annoyance hit her like a wave and Malia rolled her eyes, not even bothering to look at him. "Believe it or not, I don't care to talk about my ex-boyfriend with you." She couldn't help but notice the slight amount of bitterness that had crept into her voice at the word boyfriend.

"You must want to talk to someone."

"If I feel the sudden and ridiculous urge to cry into a carton of ice cream, I'll be calling Lydia and Kira, not you," Malia snapped, still not even looking up at him.

"Why would you call Lydia? We can both smell it on him, Malia," Theo said quietly. "Those pesky feelings that just never quite-"

Something in her snapped. She turned to him, fixing her eyes on his, hoping that he could feel her annoyance and irritation radiating into him. "What do you want?" It escaped as a growl, frustrating her at her inability to hide how much he had bothered her.

No, she wasn't stupid. She knew Stiles had feelings for Lydia. She had always known, she thought, but she had told herself that it didn't matter. No one stayed with their first boyfriend anyways. But she hadn't expected it to hurt so badly when she ended it: for both their sakes.

"Careful," Theo said, a small smile tugging at his lips. "Better hide that coyote. The librarian won't care for it like I do."

Shit. Malia turned her thoughts to her anchor, focusing on it, until she could feel the shift happen. She glared at him before looking back at her homework. "I have work to do, Theo."

Theo's fingers began to drum on the table. "I'm just saying," he said simply, as if he wasn't walking a thin line, as if he wasn't making her pulse beat rapidly, "that he's an idiot. If I were Stiles-"

"You're nothing like Stiles."

"Is that such a bad thing?"

Malia had no answer for him. Was it? Was it really? She cared for Stiles, that was true... But he wasn't perfect and she couldn't exactly assume everyone was the same as him. Right? People were different. She knew that.

"Listen." Theo's voice fell an octave lower as he leaned towards her. His scent overwhelmed her as he did so, something in her snapping to life, something that she didn't like, something that she couldn't even name. "I just wanted to say that I'm sorry. I like Stiles but I think that he messed up. And if you need to talk..."

"I'm fine." Was he not listening? She didn't want to talk, especially to him.

"But if you want to talk," he insisted. "I've got a pair of ears that love to listen and I also have werewolf hearing. What a handy coincidence." She couldn't help it. A small smile started to pull at her lips when she pursed them instead, determined not to give him the reaction he was looking for. "I'll let you study. But." He grabbed her arm and Malia felt something like an electric shock shoot up her arm into her chest, shocking her just enough that she didn't realize he was writing on her arm until it was too late to stop him. "So you don't lose it." And he walked out of the library.

Malia gave a small scoff, pushing a piece of hair out of her face. She looked down at her arm and rubbed at it automatically. She didn't want it. But... Maybe it would be good to have? No. She didn't need any help, especially from Theo Raeken.